The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 1883. GOVERNMENT INSURANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 254, 28 September 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 1883. GOVERNMENT INSURANCE.

The New Zealand Life Insurance Department is not an institution which commands confidence, and the undesirable consummation is mainly attributable to sundry and various defects of management, and peculiarities of administration, which have been characteristic of the Government system. Every now and again the internal working of the scheme comes to the surface m an unfavourable light, . and a considerable section of the policy- ' holders are beginning to wish that they had invested their savings m some other manner. There is a kind of vague undefined feeling abroad that the department is not efficiently managed,and its local agents are perpetually complaining of various acts of oppression and injustice to which they have to submit. Our readers will remember that some short time ago a great fuss was made over the inauguration of the Industrial Branch, specially devised for the benefit of the working class, of which great things . were expected. Agents and sub-agents were appointed all over the country, and the new branch was to be a local and financial triumph. Well, it was all a flash m the pan. Before long the Industrial Branch was knocked m the head, though so quietly that but little was heard of its demise at the time it occurred. We now learn from trie Wairarapa Daily that m that district the Government are putting a pressure on their policy holders to give up their policies and accept a surrender value, which is something less than the amount they have paid m. Our contemporary considers that m doing this the Government are guilty of bad faith to the working classes. If their industrial scheme has blundered, they were bound m honor to take the consequences of their own laches, and not saddle the loss on to the insurers. It is evident that, to say the least, there is gross mismanagement m the Government insurance department. This is our opinion also, and has been for some time. In fact the greatest mistake was m the Government having anything to do with life insurance, as has been abundantly proved during the last few years. We greatly fear that within the next few years very grave complications will arise, which may have the effect of materially diminishing the value of existing policies, and causing both the Government and policy holders very serious trouble and anxiety.