Pecuniary Value of a Husband and Father.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume I, Issue 27, 27 November 1879, Page 4

Pecuniary Value of a Husband and Father.

(Banking Record.) Suppose a man earns £SOO per year for the support of his family, what capital does that represent I A family investment cannot be fairly estimated as netting mere than live per cent., or £SO yearly per £IOOO invested; £SOO per annum therefore represents a capital of £IO,OOO. In fact, such a capital, securely invested, would not equal in pecuniary value the fruits to a family of the labor of a man who yearly brings home ,£SOO in cash, since lie would at odd times, do and see to many things which without him the family would have to hire for. ItiS indeed strange that well-to-do, intelligent business 'men do not oftener thinW of this relation of their’own lives and labors to the support and welfare .of thier families.' It is still more strange that thoughtless women, and even children old enough to reflect, do not properly prize the valuable capital that exists in a diligent husband and father If this were adequately estimated by them, it could not fail to command a prudential provision against any sudden loss of such an important financial resource. Suppose that a man owned a house, uppu the income, of which alone his family would be dependent for a subsistence in case of his death, would he allow that, property to be uninsured for a single day ! -Would he or would his family risk the liability of having only a heap of ruins instead of the productive investment ? This is a world in which the bread-and-butter question is a reality ; and the pecuniary value of a husband and father is a reality that should be considered.