LIFE INSURANCE V. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 807, 12 June 1879, Page 2

LIFE INSURANCE V. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

[To the Editor of the HEftALD.] Sir, — At the present time strenuous efforts .are being made by the various Life Insurance Offices, to induce work-' ing men — Lc, mechanics and the laboring class generally^— to insure their lives for a lar^e sum, payable at death, or at an advanced period of life ; but having thought over the matter, : I fail to see that Life Insurance, as conducted by oompanies, is at all adapted to the class I have named. The first objection is the uncertainty of employment. : -There are at present many good mechanics and industrious men idle, and if a life premium falls due 'at a time like this, it is the first thing that would be thrown aside. Men must pay their butcher, &c. and in the event of continued depression, these Life Companies will not give one penny for the relief of their poor members. The same argument will hold good in the event of sickness :or-acci-dent. # A doctor's bill may be heavy ; time is lost ; but a man's life beiii" insured makes aio provision for any of these things. - Bus if turn to the Benefit Societies of our time, we find these, are the objects ever kept in view ; for, by a fixed sum in sickness (paid weekly), the accident of a broken limb, or long loss of time, does not bring upon a workman's family the severe distress which must be felt if no provision is made in this way ; and better still, if "by loss of employment, a man is poor, he can ask for lielpvfrdpt hfs members, and' if is given cheerfully. These societies extend their funeral benefit to £100, if the member wish to to pay for so large a sum, and the expense of management is small compared with that of any Life ' Company^ however carefuily managed. But the great object of men assooiating in a Benefit Society (in the colonies at least) is the provision for medical attendance and medicines, paid fortnightly, if members please— not saved ; not averaged from annual premium — but paid, to make permanent provision both for metnbera, their wives, and families in this respect. I have the greatest faith ill the principle of Life Insurance, but only for men of settled incomes, or who are not short of a pound on the slightest depression, and my only desire is to prevent men being dazzled by large prospective benefits, while the present is unprovided for. I am, etc., Odd Fellow.