The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1882. LAPSED POLICIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1170, 5 September 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1882. LAPSED POLICIES.

Life insurance is doubtless a boon to mankind. Under ics provisions probably nearly one half of the families in this colony ate more or less provided for iii the event of the death of their bread winners. The rapid developementof this business in New Zealand, owing to the vigorous ceinpetition ' between the Government and private offices is, however, not without its drawbacks. Trading in life assurance I is a profitable speculation to nine offices 1 out of ten, Though the prenium be

I low, and the bonus high, there is always an ample margin for splendid I offices, gorgeous agents, magnificent 1 medical staffs, and wonderful actuaries. J Is it the low premiums that maintain [ all this paraphanalia ? .We fear not. j It is rather the lapsed policies. A man 1 is induced by the persuasions of an 1 agent to insure his life beyond his means. For a year or two he battles with his quarterly or annual payments, I and then the times comes when he gives up the fight, and lets his insur- ' ance run out. His policy is declared to be lapsed, and his money, which he has paid as a provision for his family, swells the profits of the institution in which he is no longer insured. The , Government office is supposed to be less i ravenous in taking lives than other dices, and yet we learn from its annual report that during the past year 897 of its policies lapsed. This means B that nearly a thousand families who had been provided for by insurances, were cut adrift, that the money which . had been paid for their benefit, was absolutely forfeited. What does this forfeiture mean to the Government Office I Simply that it is relieved from 3 the ultimate payment of sums amounting probably in the aggregate to £250,000, The immediate profit it makes may only equal £IO,OOO or ) £15,000, but why should a public institution, conducted under the auspices of a Government, be allowed to benefit by these forfeitures. Of course it may be said that the individuals who have ' allowed their policies to lapse ave to blame. This may be admitted, still it does not relieve the Government of the charge of plundering their customers to the extent of ten or fifteen thousands per annum. i>o doubt other offices do , the same thing, but then they are not on the same footing as a Government Department. The large number of lapsed policies is evidently the weak point in the Government insurance scheme.