MORE GOVERNMENT INSUR ANCE MYSTERIES.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 41, 25 June 1881, Page 453

MORE GOVERNMENT INSUR ANCE MYSTERIES.

THE MYSTERIOUS BONUS.

The greatest pull the Government insurance agents have over agents of other offices is the fact that the premiums charged by the Government are lower than those charged by other Insurance companies. The agents of the other companies, as against this, have been able to point to the large sums divided amongst the policy holders in the companies they represent. But the Government insurance agents, not to be taken aback, have all along emphatically declared (and in so declaring they have been backed up by the responsible heads of the department) that the bonus to be divided by the ■Government amongst its policy holders would equal, even if it did not eclipse, the bonus divided by private companies. There is a sort of patient trustfulness deep down in the breast •of the ordinary Englishman which causes him ±o shrink with horror from the bare idea of his Government authorising the publication of untrue statements. This truthfulness is of a very touching character, and does greater credit to the ordinary Englishman's heart than his head. It is no doubt this peculiarity of the English temperament that up till now has allowed the •statements of the Government Insurance Department in the matter of the bonus to go unchallenged. Facts are generally supposed to be stubborn things, but even hard, solid facts will hardly <cause the ordinary Englishman to lose faith in one of his national institutions, and as we are all aware (worse luck) the Government Insurance Department is one of our national institutions. Now, here is a solid fact : A gentleman in Auckland insured his life for the same amount, in the same week of the same year, in the Government office and in a private office. This was_ about eight years ago. Since then he Las received £67 bonus from the private company, and not one single halfpenny from the Government. Ever since the last quinquennial investigation by the Government Insurance office, when it was decided that the policyholders should wait another five years before handling their bonus, all interested in the Government have been anxiously looking forward to 1880, when their mind«» were to have been set at rest as to how much they were to receive. In 1880, owing to the incapacity of the Government actuary, the books had to be sent Home to be worked out by English actuaries. This entailed an apparently unavoidable delay, but not a murmur was heard from the policy-holders. They were patient, and they had implicit trust in their Government. As time wore on, and a whole year was passed, an occassional inquiry was made as to when the division of profits would take place. Rumours were then circulated that the actuary's report had arrived from England; that it was a most satisfactory one, but that its

contents could not be divulged until Parliament met. Well, now Parliament has met, and one Avould have thought that the authorities would have taken the earliest opportunity of laying such a report as this before the public, who are so deeply interested. But no. Eyes eagerly scan the telegraphic Parliamentary news in the vain hope of seeing some mention of this mysterious bonus, but only to meet with disappointment. Surely some hon. member might kindly put the question to the Great Mogul, because, in truth, if there is no bonus the policy-holders haA'e been most shamefully deluded, and every day that passes places them in a worse position. Had they not insured in good faith with the Government, they would haA^e insured in some other office, when by this time they would have netted a considerable sum in profits. Noav, of course, they are just as many years astern as they have been years insured with the Government.