The New Zealand Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1870.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 2004, 21 June 1870, Page 3

The New Zealand Herald.

TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1870.

SPKCTKMUR AOKNIMI. •'Cive ctct man thin* ear, but few thy Tolce ; •Jake each nun's censure, but roserTt thy judgment. This above all,—To thine own nelt be true , And it must follow, ae the nisht the day, Thou cans't nnt then be false to any man.

:. Wk lately noticed that it was in conc tcmplation at liomu to establish a it Government Insurance and Annuities '• Oilice liariiiß the State guarantee, v such a department ol'ihe Government indeed as was, thanks to the present ' C Colonial Treasurer (Mr. Vogel), created in New Zealand by the " Government Annuities Act, ISG9." Some of the arguments that have been uaed at '! home in J'avour of such a step arc su la iirt-gnant with interest to insurers here s, as well as there that we do not hesi »- tate to reproduce thorn, in the hope ir that our doing so may save many L *'. from after disappointment and seriout ' 5 loss. It is but a few days since thai

[ we published a letter from one who, having effected .111 insurance in .1 foroiKii office, found himself in this position; and if tin's bo the casein the matter of insuring property, how much more liable to risk is the insurer of a life or the purchaser of a deferred annuity. The least substantial company in existence may last the year out.'in the first case, but in the latter the company and its fortunes have, to be trusted over an indefinite number of vears. over, indeed, a lifetime. What, per-eentage of them stand this test m.iv be gathered from the statements contained in a petition to the House of Commons by the bankers, merchants, and citizens of "Hanelicsler, that of nearly four hundred assurance companies established in Greul Britain up to the vear IStis, not more than one hundred and twenty, or less than one third were then in existence, and I hat at the date of the petition more than liftv were 111 process of being woundiip'bv the Court of Chancery. Such being the ease, we can scarcely blame the general public for imprudence in not having more largely availed themselves of the proferred services of such institutions. more especially the working classes, who have less time and opportunity for judging <>f the relative soundness of I his or that coinpanv. ruder such circumstances, it was clearlv the dutv ofthe liowrninent to piovide for tliepublie that which the insurance companies, as a whole, did not —:i sccurily lor investment beyond all doubt and i|iiestion; and. at the same time, in doing this they arc also able to afford this security at a lower rate ihan the companies, requiring neither extra stall' nor costly building with which to carry on their business, and having their own Government securities in which to invest their accumulations from time to time. As a proof of this, we may compare the: tables of premiums on an assurance of £100 paid at death of the insurer in the New Zealand Government tables and in those of a, first-class company, the Colonial Life Assurance Company before us. The annual premiums of assurance in the former securing .CI OO at the death of the assurer is, if commenced say at fwenty-tiveyearsofago,.CL Us. Lid.; in the latter £1 I9s. Sd.. and so on, in similar proportion, whatever may bo the age at which the assurance , is effected. Rut it is not so much the 1 saving in the amount of annual premium", payable, though that is considerable," as the certainty of security afforded by the Government scheme that is of" the most importance. In trusting to a company, however large its eapital, or promising its prospectus, the assurer has really not , -ing on which to rely, but the character, iutegritv. and prudence ot the men concerned in the management of the ] company's business. The security is reallv amoral one. All this, however, is changed when the Government j takes the matt.-r in hand, conducts the business of assurance with its own j ollicers, itself invests the money, and 1 is responsible for any loss incurred in i such investment. liven were the cost j .it' assurance greater in the Govern- j ment otlice. instead of being less, we \ should naturally expect to find that it \ was more largely used. .lust as a j savings bank is preferred by small ( investors of the working classes, hi , - j cause thev know their deposits are safe beyond the risk of accident on , monev panic, so in the c:is,> of life . assurance, prudent men will avail ; themselves of the opportunity now afforded them. It is not to afford a cheaper means of assuring that the Government has taken this step, but to encourage provident habits among the people generally. Hut, even in competing with established companies, no one has ground of complaint. It is driving no local company out of the field, and iliterli res only with branches of foreign companies, whose agents collect and remit home all the premiums they can, but on whose account not a pennv is ever invested in the oil,my. The «juestion of risk then being thrown aside \re trust to see the opportunities afforded by the Government largely availed of by persons of all classes in the colonies, who would otherwise at death leave their families Bcantilv or altogether unprovided for. There is not a laboring man in the province who could not afford to assure iis life for a hundred pounds, which commenced at say thirty years of age would cost him annually a sum of £2 Oα. Gd., or if paid quarterly 10s. •Id., or less than a shilling a week—less than the. cost of his tobacco, or his dailv glass of beer or spirits—and yet for this small sacrifice he could secure to his widow and family a sum of £100 on his death, though that event happened the daj after his assurance was etfected as n.ueli as if it happened fifty years later. And this applies equally through all classes, for wo have continually instances before us, even in this small community, of widows and families left in comparative poverty or dependent on friends where the husband and father might easily have afforded to have made ample provision for them by means of life assurance. The fear of investing in bubble companies, of trusting even the best conducted and most firmlj established over a period of what might perhaps extend to half a century has, we know, done much to check the provident habits of the people in this direction. Now, however, this excuse is cut from under our feet, and we trust that the establishment of the Government Assurance OlHco will do much to alleviate and avert family distress in the future. The New Zealand Government does not confine its operations simply to effecting assurances on the whole oi life, hut grants immediate, and deferred annuities. Here again the element ol security is most valuable. For instance, a man may assure his life lot £1000, as provision for his widow ai

liis death, but lie cannot rest sure that the money will bo securely invested for her benefit ; either it may bo securely laid out nnd produce but a verv scanty income, or, if larger in- , tcrost bo obtained, interest and principal may bo lost together. In the immediate annuities granted, the Government provides a sure and profitable investment for the life of the person in whose favour the annuity is made, for if the widow be only nineteen years of she receives an annuity equal to :" trifle over ten per cent., if thirty years of age over eleven per cent., forty years nearly thirteen per cent., and so on according loiigc, the highest per eenta!;e given being thirty per cent, where the annuitant is seventv years of age. The business of the assurance department lias been added by the C!"vernment to the work of the I'oslolliee, and at most of the principal posl-oilices in the colony all iieces-<ary information can be obtained gratis by lliosc wishing to bei'aine int'-urcrs. ISo fee is charged in ell'ecling a policy <-r for medical inspection, '!"' "i>'v t'" st falling on the assurer being that of proving his date of birth if rct|iiin d. We dismiss the subject in the earnest hope that the < Jovcriiineiil, having done its duty to the publie, heads of families will in turn d>> theirs in availing themselves ofthe opportunity of providing with sunn-thing liUe security for their families when they are no lunger with them.