THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 117, 23 February 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. FRIDAY , FEBRUARY 23, 1872.

The benefits to be derived from Life Assurance, ;t very important subject at all times, is now being prominently brought before the notice of the Thames public; and if they do not avail themselves of the advantages ottered it will not he from ignorance of the existence and merits of the system. Mr Thompson, the agent of the Australian Mutual Provident Society delivered an able and exhaustive lecture on this subject on the 11th instant, at St. George’s Hall, and he is to he followed on Tuesday next by Mr T. F. McDonogh, the Travelling Commissioner to the Xow Zealand Government Insurance and Annuity Department. Wc presume the point this gentleman will make is, that itheing conceded to be a desirable thing to take out a policy, it is hotter to invest in Government securities than another stock—a subject upon which very much may he said on cither side, and opening up a very wide Held for discussion. Mr McDonough recommends the inhabitants of the Thames to come and hear his explanation of the advantages afforded by the Government office, which, as he says, simply means the People’s office, before taking out a policy of Life Insurance “hi any company or office, mutual or otherwise.” The lecture will be delivered at the Academy of Music on Tuesday evening next. We have no doubt the subject will be ahlv handled by the lecturer, and as the admission is free, we have no doubt there will be a large attendance. To a milling population the scheme of life assurance is especially applicable. The occupation is in itself dangerous, and it is essentially a speculative business. Those engaged in it arc very liable to the temptation of spending money when they have been lucky, in the hope, which is often delusive, of again being equally fortunate. To such persons a life assurance society is calculated to ho of most essential service. To those who are in receipt of weekly wages, from which they can save something, however small, and this a numerous class, such an institution will become the best guardian of these small savings. One of the best articles upon the advantages of insuring in the Government office which has come under our notice appeared in a recent issue of the ‘ Wanganui Herald,’ as follows :

“The system of Government life insurance is as defensible on grounds of public expediency as Money Order Offices and Post Office Savings Banks. In each

of these Government does that which, fete several reasons, cannot he done with thoSsame'beneficial results by cither privs to firms or public eompanieH. The objefctionfHrat Government,. is interfering with privatcg4tiiterpri.se is met by the inquiry, whether the public are tbe 'gainers by fhe ; netter security a government is able to oiler. In all sic'i questions the principle itsedf is cvo'ved from general results or experience. Money Orders may be said to interfere with the operations of bankers, but it was found that the latter had not the machinery for effecting the same benefits. In the thousands of towns where no banks exist, there are post offices, from which consideration the inference is obvious that banking facilities could not be extended to meet the wants by Government. With respect to Rost Office Savings Banks, experience is somewhat different from Money Orders. Here it was found necessary, first in England and then in her Colonies, to protect a class, or many classes, which needed protection. The poor man who deposited his five shillings a week in a savings bank could not be expected to spend a portion of his time,even if lie had the education, to examine the operations and test the responsibility of the concern with which Ijff entrusted his earnings. Being placed'at the mercy of others lie had to accept implicit} the statements lie received from time to time, and when bankruptcy came, as it often did, lie could not upbraid himself with neglect of duty, for he never supposed it to be bis duty, in not having ascertained the position of the institution. To mourn over his loss and abide by it was all that was left to him ; and if he was not disheartened in saving for ever, lie had to seek a similar receptacle with possibly similar contingencies. The highest names gave him no guarantee. A few years ago the “ District Savings Bank ” in England with the Earl of Shrewsbury as president, and several members of parliament as directors, failed hopelessly, and paid only a small fraction in the pound to its creditors. The Bilston Savings Bank, with a rector of the Church of England as manager, became “ embarrassed,” the manager was convicted of having embezzled the funds to an enormous extent, and received two years penal servitude. To como nearer home, we arc all familiar with the history of the Wellington Penny Bank. Would any one then maintain that Government was not bound to step in and provide the most efficient remedy for such a state of tilings ? It is the first duty of Government to protect those who aro unable to protect themselves, and, if we may adopt the maxim of Bentham, “ to study the greatest good of the greatest number.” Life Assurance appears to us to require even more control than either of the other two. When a man insures his life lie should have a guarantee not only that the office issuing the policy is sound and solvent at the time, but that it will be solvent to the estimated maximum duration of his life. AH the vicissitudes that could possibly occur to an office during say forty years arc elements in the calculation. The question therefore is, can the majority of those who insure their lives provide hj- any care or discretion rn their own part for the security of the money which they invest during an extended period ? It is unnecessary to dwell on the hardship to a family through the failure of an insurance company. Experience comes in and shows that insurance companies do often fail, and that though their solvency fora time is a ncces sarv consequence of the nature of their business, their soundness for thirty-five years is a contingency depending on a variety of causes over which the insured can have lint little control. It follows that a system of Government insurance is demanded by the public weal, as the security depends on, if we may so express it, an immovable basis. The security of this Colony rests on the credit and faith of all civilised governments, on the security offered by the country and all its wealth, on the whole of its inhabitants, and is therefore indubitable as far as wc can conceive of anything depending on the moral recognition of civilised society. This cannot be said by any company whatever, however well-managed or wealthy. From the beginning we have accepted the legislation establishing Government insurance as a priceless boon, from the security it offers, and hence the effect it will have in encouraging provident habits among the people. The Government tallies are on a low scale, as low, we believe, as was found possible to make the department self-sup-porting. The regulations arc far more liberal than those of many companies. To give an instance or two, wc have seen in the regulations of a company that policies are liable to forfeiture should the. insured persons die “from habits of iutenqe ranee, or disease or injury therefrom, or if lie should lie convicted of felony.” There have been se/eral fatal accidents in this community which might have been referred to intemperance, and it, would have been a great hardship for the families to have been left destitute through such a provision. And it may he asked, why should conviction for felony destroy tlie prospects of a family? The Government scheme does not contain these illiberal provisions, but even goes so far as to provide that if a person die by his own hand, by duelling, or by the hands of justice, the Commissioner shall lie hound to pay the “ surrender value ” of the policy. Wc trust that the Government system of assurance will create a general feeling in the public mind of the moral obligation to provide for the future. We cannot speak too highly of a principle that tends to promote ties of family affection, to foster habits of industry and forethought, and to increase the sense of selfrespect and independence, inseparable from a knowledge that while provision is being made for the helpless, the worst that may come will not leave them destitute or the objects of a fickle charity.— Wanganui Herald.