FRIENDLY SOCIETIES AND LIFE INSURANCE.

Evening Star, Issue 3677, 4 December 1874, Page 2

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES AND LIFE INSURANCE.

To the Editor, Sir,—lt may be fairly qm-stioned whether it wo dd not be of advantage to have friendly Societies changed into a higner form of a-sociation. It doe. a t a ff ct the question by at once admitting that these soo.etiea are on the w’hole, fulfilling the design they were originally i-.ten.ied to fulfil, but s nee even tue latest legisl turn on the subject, the change hat has taken place in the social and material copoirion of those f r whom these societies were mainly established is so gt« .t that what might have been considered sufii? cu nt then is mad. qiate now. a ml altuough tins change has been felt all over the world the great demand for manual labor iu these Colonies has materially tended to raise the position of the Colonial workmen above those of the same cla.s in Europe. There can be -nothing, therefore, exceptional ip their case that requires spec al legislation or a separate class of institutions. It it iq found that for the res of the community, vhc ordinary form of life assurance is the best form of Provident Association, it must be the best also for the working iu n. It is more than possible that the subscriptions and other foitns of contribution exacted fro.o members ot F ien lly .societies might be more productive of oeuefit to tnose concerned, if otherwise employed. If these fu nis were invented in a well consul uied mutual assurance soci- ty. on modern principles, they wou d go far to relieve th- rf the insured of all atixioty for the future. The average amount c..nu ibut. d by a member of one ..f these socier e> w.m.d be sufficient to insure for LISO to L‘2oo in ihe event of death. A table i o r allowance during sickness could be ado ted. cal uUed en more equitab.e firm than the pvesent mode m ÜBe here by Fru-u iy vSocietits In latt, there 13 no . euent which a Friend!v \ C^ ty P rt,f V s e8 to confer on its members - an ordinary Lif Assurance ocietv could not petlorm equally well, besid. a an a-i \ antage not to be overlooked. wmk!» a Life Amrato'ce AaVdcfatidn VonM Jjfcve oVtjp

one of these ‘-oi-ieties. would he he perio r ica ! knowledge rf the state of its affairs. A 1 tbe'present time the numbers of the Friendly Societies have no more knowledge of th' financial post* ion of the several lodges than had Actne«n of his fate before he took the unhallowed peep, except what may be gained by a vacuo comparative computation. To change the societies at present in Dunedin into a Life s-urance Ansociafi n would involve ’no particular difficulty ; and with the adherence of gocietir s in other parts of New Zealand, an association could be formed rivalling the Australian Mutual itself. It has been said by those interested in the Government Life Assurance, that it is almost impossible to prevail on working-men to get their lives insured. On consideration this ought not to be wondered at. As well might any other class cf the community, who were already insured to the fullest extent of tbeir means, be asked to double the value of their policies. The workingman’s Lodge stand* in the way ; and as in many instances he is a member of several lo ges, he cannot afford to join a Life Assurance Society. The Gpvernnv nt Industrial Branch of Insurance. designed to me< t the case, is crude in inception and cumbrous in evolution • and the only possible advantage to be gained by joining it would be the luxury of having to pay from five to seven and a-half per cent, higher than in the Australian Mutual. I hope the few hints here given will be thought over by those more immediately concerned. Tbev have the mattrr in their own hands, and for any improvement in the manner indicated they must dep nd upon themselves and their own officers.—l am, &c, Urquharx Macpherson. Dunedin, December 3.