GOVERNMENT LIFE ASSURANCE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 250, 14 November 1872, Page 5

GOVERNMENT LIFE ASSURANCE.

The district (A Heatfcqotc .returned as its representative ia the House .of Representatives in the room of the preeenjb .Qolpnial Secretary, Sir John Cracroft Wilson, C.8., an estimable man, but whose eccentricities of mind and temper mar his usefulness as a politician. When more than a month ago in his place in Parliament he tabled a resolution "For a return showing the names of all persons who have insured their lives in the New Government Insurance Office since )& was opened, the amount of premium paid by .each (ft the insured ; the amount fur which each insurance' has been effected, and the total liability of £b,e on account of the same," we thought it s^pif. a stupendous piece of folly, if net of dow»rigjs impertinence, and that the House would so regard it, and thame the mover into withdrawing it. But no, Sir John pressed for his return, though at the time it was pointed out to him. that it was as extraordinary as it was uncalled for, and that Parliament

might with as much propriety ask for a return ■ showing who are the shareholders in tho several banks in the Colony, with the amount of dividends they have drawn during a given period. This iVI.P. of undoubted honor and the stricte t honesty, as he is fond of teMug us, could have no desire to pry into other people's affairs. His action was dictated by patriotic motives, and resulted from his having heard, not only in New .Zealand, but also from what he could not but consider vui'y good authority in SyWney — that "the New Zealand Government insurance office was doing a dangerous kind of business in this res>pect, that lives that wero somewhat doubtful had been iusured by it at lower rates of premium than would have been exacted by private offices. He had also heard, in Wellington, that individuals who could not get insured in private offices had beeu able to effect insurances in the Government office." Here, then, we have the whole of Sir Cracroft Wilson's reasons for moving his resolution, and what do they amount to ? Why, that on the strength of having "heard" something on what he believed to be good authority, he had come to the conclusion that the Government were doing an unsafe business. A mere report, it would seem, possibly emanating from persons who had reasons of their own for trying to damage the Government scheme, was enough for the honorable member.

We have not yet received the official report of the subsequent debate ; but learn from the L>{tlelton Times that after the resolution was tabled Mr Gisbprne, now the permanent head of the insurance department, prepared a statement for the Colonial Treasurer in reference thereto. "Sir Cracroft Wilson's motion," ho observed, "would, if carried, violate an honorable, though perhaps tacit, engagement between the Government iusurance office and the insurers, that their negotiations and transactions with the office shall be confidential, and would also frustrate every prospect of successfully carrying on the business of the department, for it is not probable thet persons would make proposals with the knowledge that their names and the particulars of those proposals are to be publidy paraded. Even the .appearance of such a motion on the Notice Paper is, in a case whore honorable confidence is involved, prejudicial. Iv order to illustrate how careful this department is as to secrecy, I enclose an envelope in use with the word ' Private' conspicuously marked on it. Such a publication in the c*se of private companies is unheard of, and the idea of it would be scouted." All this is as true as it is forcibly said, and it is to be hoped that no similar attempts will be made to violate the privacy of the department. Ia another part of his statement Mr Gisborne points out that with respect to the ascertainment of the Colonial liability on account of insurance, it is obvious that the proper mode of arriving at a true conclusion on the subject is, au actuarial investigation aud calculation in respect of each policy— a process involving considerable time, labor, and cost. This investigation, he further points out, aud accurately, is made by most private companies every rive years, and, in the case of a new company, not until about the fifth year of its existence. The Government Insurance Offica is now in the third year of its existence, and Mr Gisbarne, with teliable precedents at his back, including the English bovcrnmeut scheme, suggests that the actuarial inquiry should not take place till after the close of another year. The English Government Insurance Act prescribes, as he notes, that a valuation should be made after the first tive years, and afterwards quinquennially. To these opinions and suggestions, which are well-founded and reasonable, he adds a little information of a general character. The department, he says, is progressing favorably : " The annual incidental expenditure is considerably reduced, and the income rapidly increasing. The arraugement made for securing the investment of the assets as trust funds, and the receipt of compound interest thereon, is an important guarantee of success, The limit, of insurance in each case for some time laid down in the department is L2OOO ; but before that, a few policies were issued for L3OOO. The very restricted limit imposed in England — LIOO, I thipk — is 110 dqubt the cause of the failure of success jn the Government insurance department there. I have already issued 2060 policies." Mr Vogelin replying, told hon. memlcrs " they must guard themselves in that House from lending too ready credence to reports which might be circulated by private companies, and which muht sometimes reach honourable members through a medium which made it utterly impossible for them to recognise the original source of the reports: aud he said that without intending the slightest disrespect to the source from which the honorable gentleman obtained his information." Mr Yogel had no objections whatever to a thorough investigation ; iudeed, he advocated, if we understand his remarks aright, tho appointment of an Actuary to make the inquiry after the lapse of the usual time, and if the Legislature should wish, in the meantime, to ascertain how the business of the department is conducted, '' he should be most willing that the honourable msuiber for fleathcote should, next session act as a committee, whose duty it would be to make a full examination and to report as he might consider advisable. A report of that kind might be drawn up without trespassing on private affairs ; and from the honourable gentleman's known high character, a report signed by him would be very much to the benefit of the institution, as giving to the country assurance that it was being properly conducted."