GOVERNMENT LIFE INSURANCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 270, 5 March 1877, Page 2

GOVERNMENT LIFE INSURANCE.

We desire to call the attention of our readers to the advertisement appearing in' another column in reference to the Government Insurance Department. The main features brought prominently forward are these:—That the sum 0f~£12,191 was the ascertained amount of profit made by the department during its first quinquennial period. That this and all further profits will be divided every fifth year amongst the insured, and that, as compared with private companies, a saving < f from 15 to 20 per cent, will be effected by insuring with the. Government. Undoubtedly these, together with the State guarantee offered by the department, form the most attractive features of the scheme, and we are free to confess that it is to us a matter of oome suprise that, with these facts before them, any considerable number of persons should be found who prefer to invest their money in the majority of private offices. In these times it is highly desirable that a wise discretion should be exercised in matters of this kind. To the majority of the population a present and continuous saving of from 15 to 20 per cent, is an advantage of no mean order, and one which few would be justified in ignoring, especially when, as in the present case, the security is, so to speak, absolute. The fact of so large a profit as £12,191 having been made by the department during the first five years is also highly significant. If, with the necessary heavy preliminary expenses, and the comparatively small premium income, commencing with nil, so much could be done, what may not be expected during the succeeding qninquiennial periods? We understand that those who insure now will participate in the first division of profits in 1880, and we would strongly advise all who have not yet taken any steps in this direction to do so without loss of time.