The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1220, 8 March 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1870.

Is the over-crowded old-world cities, and indeed wherever poverty has, as it i were, come to be regarded as the normal state of existence, philanthropists have found a hopeless acquiescence in such a state the greatest obstacle to their efforts for ameliorating the condition of the people. No doubt while society is governed by the laws at present in force, comparative poverty must be the lot of a vast majority of the human race, but it does not necessarily follow that that poverty should be allowed to go on increasing and intensifying itself, with all its concomitant ignorance, vice, and misery, until it assumes an aßpect and magnitude , too hideous to contemplate. Indeed, in many states it has already reached a breadth and depth of wretchedness, and a height of audacity, which threatens to unhinge the whole social fabric. Myriads of human beings, all over the world, seem never, to dream of raising themselves from the status of their birth, but submit with desperate, one might say malignant, resignation to what they practically regard as a decree of fate, and instead of trying honestly to gain a footing in the rank above them, seek happiness in courses which sink them still deeper in want and woe. Happily, however, there are still left teeming thousands who, with braver hearts and nobler aspirations, face the great battle of life, and, fighting on through many obstacles, are well content if, at its close, they have been but moderately successful in their aims. The conviction that it is within the compass of one's power to acquire comparative wealth, is possibly the strongest of all incentives to steady and earnest application in the particular pursuit in which a person is engaged, and the more nearly such a possibility approaches a certainty, the more likely is it that the course marked out will be perseveringly followed. So keen, however, is competition in all departments of industry, that only an exceptional few can hope to seize the golden prize, and the great mass will find their best efforts baffled by circumstances they could neither foresee nor prevent. To the credit of humanity, few are sordid enough to pursue riches purely for their own sake. In most cases the mainspring of action is a love of independence, and a laudable ambition to secure themselves, and those dependent on them, against the risks and accidents of life. Any man, however obscure, in whom the best instincts of nature are not wholly dormant, must be concerned for the comfort of his own latter years, should he Jive to old age, while his anxiety is immeasurably augmented should there be a family dependent for their welfare upon the tenure of his health and life. To such an one nothing could be more conducive to present happiness than the knowledge that a competency had bsen provided for both ; that by his own prudent foresight, and from the proceeds of his own industry, he had raised a defence against penury for his own declining years, and placed those dear unto him beyond the necessity of accepting the charity- of strangers, or experiencing the pmchings of want, in the event of his untimely death. Any scheme, therefore, which places such a provision within the reach of those whose means always will be limited, is a public blessing, and the more accessible it is to the struggling poor* the greater the national benefit. Availed of first, no doubt, by the comparatively affluent, as its advantages become recognised and its security established, its influence will gravitate downwards through the humbler classes, inducing hope for the future, and with it habits of temperance, frugality, and thrift. Ail benefit societies have done more or less of good in this way, and the numerous Lite and Annuity Assurance Companies stiE more ; because they guarantee, under certain easy conditions, not only to refund an equivalent to the gross deposits, with interest, | but seenre at once to the assured, at a j small premium, a fixed sum of conj siderable amount. The insurer has thus the immense advantage of securing for his family, at an early period of his life, a sum equal to — probably in excess of — what would be the total savings of his whole life i | were he even living to old age. Unfortu- ' j nately, however, these associations have not | in all cases been established or conducted on sound principles. On the contrary, frequent failures, disclosing fraud on the part of promoters and directors, and I involving ruinous loss to thousands of I investors, have created a very widespread distrust of such institutions amongst the very classes for whose benefit they are specially adapted. The great majority of small tradesmen, and the working classes — those who live by the wages of their

labor, mental or physical — have little j time or inclination to make discriminating j enquiries touching the permanency of competing offices, and the cousequence ia that, restrained by doubts touching. their security, a great many eschew that 1 mode of investing their , savin is, while & probably still larger number do not save at all, beinaf deterred from making a commencement by thoughts of the slow--, ness of the process of accumulation. The first thing therefore to be com sidered in any system ot insurance, ia that its absolu f e security to the insured should be placed beyond the possibility of doubt ; the second, that it should offer to the insured the largest possible benefit consistent with its own safety. These desiderata are to be obtained in many of. the offices now in existence, but are, perhaps, best to be met with in the insurance policies now issued by various govern--ments. Much might be said of the political wisdom of the plan, creating as it does a strong conservative element in j the state, but it is of its social and pecuniary benefit to the population that we have now to speak. We look upon it as a fortunate thing that the Q-overnment of New Zealand has thus early adopted the scheme, as a knowledge of its advantages may reasonably be expected togrow with the population. At the last session of the General Assembly, an Act was passed inaugurating the system, and j a Gazette issued on the 14fch ult. contains a large amount of information as to the working of the measure. From it we learn that the business of the department is to be done through the Money Order Offices in connection with Post Office?, most of which will, no doubt, be made places where proposals will be received, an'rl' where all necessary information and printed forms required may be obtaiueol'j Premiums are payable in one sum, or in periodical instalments, at the option of the insurer. The policies will permit of travelling throughout all the Australasian Colonies, and also to Europe in times of peace, and provision is made whereby persons, desirous of doing so, may surrender their policies and receive baetf a certain proportion of the amount paid up. Default in payment will not be held to annul the contract, if sufficient reason can be shown to the Commissioner 1 , the lapse being condoned on payment of arrears and such fine as may be deemed equitable. Premiums may be paid at any of the offices, in lieu of that at which the contract was entered into, on due notice being given, and policies, after having run a certain time, may be assigned Thepremiums appear most liberal towards 1 the assured. Thus, from the table before 1 us, a person insuring, at the age of 2p years, the sum of £100, payable at his death, would require to live to about 80 before he could have paid in the amount in actual cash, the annual premium being only £1 14s lid. Again, a person of the same age, making a single payment of £31 2s 4d, also secures a hundred pounds at his death, occur when it may. Under the Annuity table we find the calculations equally favorable to the public. At 25, the payment of £100 secures ,an annuity, commencing immediately, and lasting during life, of £o 6s 3d. Although the proclamation does not stipulate when the Act is to come into operation, it may be surmised that, the machinery being now completed for its successful working, no great delay will interfere with its being set in motion.