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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7646, 25 May 1886, Page 4

In another column will bo found a summary of the Government Life Insurance Association for the year 1885. which has just been to the policyholders. From the particular* -*iven it will be Bteu that, notwithstanding the unpropitious agitation occasioned by aome of the proceedings of the Central Board to which exception was taken, a good business has been done during the year. The new business is said to have beeu in excess of that done in 1884, and to have risen above the average of the last live years. It must be gratilying to the policyholders to learn this, as the clamour excited nqainst the management of the Boaru whs calculated to interfere with the prosperity of the institution. To this we felt called upon to draw the attention of the policyholders at the time, and are pleased to be now in a position to congratulate them on the fact that the injury resulting from the agitation in question has not been so great as might have been anticipated. As the policyholders are aware, there are several proposals for effecting a change in the constitution of the Board, with the view of securing a more satisfactory management of the association's affairs. These have already appeard in our columns, and they will be found re-stated in an address to the policyholders, published in to-day's issue, by M . G. V. Shannon of Wellington, who ij a candidate for a seat at the Board which has become vacant. These*, briefly stated, are : —First, that 1 the control of the association revert to the Government; second, that the Board be reduced to six members, three to be Government officials, and three to be elected by the policyholders, the Government to appoint the ch lirinan ; and third, that the Board consist of seven members, four to be elected by thn policyholders, and three non-official members to be nominated by the Government, the election of the chairman to vest in the Board. The last of these proposals is j the one Mr. Shannon is in favour of, and he asks the policyholders to support him on this ground. Mr. Shannon, as he states, has hitherto held the position of a nominated member of the Board ; but, finding that this in some way interfered with his freedom, ho now desires to attain to the honour of being an elected member. The strange thing, however, is that he still favours the idea of having nominated members on the Board. To be consistent with himself his contention ought to have been that all the members should be elective. And, frankly speaking, we do not see that there is any ground tenable between this position and that of handing back the management of the association to the Government. If, with a combination of the nominative and elective elements, the Board has worked badly hitherto, it is difficult to see how a mere change in their proportion would remove the causes of friction. Experience has shown that the affairs of the association were managed better and more economically when wholly under the control of the Government than they have been since they were handed over to a Board. This the report of last year's proceedings shews, and we are inclined to think that the majority of the policyholders will be disposed to vote for falling back upon the old order of things.