As the operations of the Government Insurance and Annuity Office have only extended over a few months, and as the scheme is only in process of introduction into many localities, it is manifestly impossible to get exact information respecting the amount of business done, or tell how far the prediction, freely hazarded soon after the measure became law, as to its importance and utility, is likely to be realized. In the Report of the Post Office recently issued, the Postmaster-General states that this information will be supplied, in proper course, in his Report for 1865. Meanwhile, the following facts, which have been ascertained by the examination of some hundreds of proposals, will probably interest some of our readers.
The average age of the persons who make Life Insurance proposals to the Government is thirty-five years; the sum for which they propose to insure is, on the average, 76l. Out of the whole number of persons,—
| 40 | per cent. propose to pay their premiums | annually. |
| 25 | " " " " | monthly. |
| 22 | " " " " | quarterly. |
| 6 | " " " " | half-yearly. |
| 6 | " " " " | weekly. |
One proposer in each hundred proposes to pay his premium in one sum; and twenty-three per cent. wish the payment of their premiums to cease on their attaining the age of sixty.
The proposals come from all classes of the community; thus—
| per cent | |
| Clerks in public and private offices contribute | 32 |
| Porters, messengers, letter-carriers, and labourers | 22 |
| Mechanics, artisans, and skilled labourers | 18 |
| Tradesmen | 17 |
| Clergymen, and professional men generally | 6 |
| Women | 6 |
Of those who make proposals for the purchase of Annuities, 56 per cent. are men, and 44 per cent. are women; and the amount of Annuity which they propose to purchase is, on the average, 26l. The average age of the proposers for the purchase of Annuities is fifty-eight years.[205]
A longer time will doubtless be necessary to develop this further measure into the same successful operation which has followed the adoption of the scheme out of which it sprang. It is more elaborate than the Post Office Bank scheme; it will appeal, as has been properly said, to a higher class of men, to a higher quality of prudence. Time, perhaps, more than anything else, must mature it into success. It rests entirely with the public,—especially with employers of labour, and the more intelligent portions of the working and small tradesmen class,—whether or not the unique and comprehensive facilities which we have been engaged in discussing shall have been framed and offered in vain, or whether or not a new era has dawned on those who are desirous of making small, sure, and safe investments for their own old age, or provision for those they may leave behind. We wait, as it were pen in hand, to chronicle the result. Meanwhile, those who have the interests of the humbler and more defenceless portions of the community at heart could not do better than endeavour, at any rate, to spread a knowledge of a scheme which, while benefiting the people individually, must also, by giving to each a stake and an interest in the prosperity of the country, tend to increase the stability of existing institutions.
In justice to Mr. Gladstone and the Legislature, it ought to be widely known and remembered that these measures have not been originated to be a source of profit to the revenue of the country; that, however successful they may eventually be, they will bring no gain to the National Exchequer. The Tables of working, and the mode of working, have been prepared with great care; the former by eminent actuaries, and the latter by equally eminent official men: and although some of this care and attention have had for their object the security of the Government against loss, the premiums are intended to cover the liabilities and working expenses, and no more. If, therefore, those classes who can do it will not now secure themselves against misfortune and disaster, it is plainly no one's fault but their own.
[195] We have not space to go over the ground of the change; nor is it necessary, seeing how imperfect was the amendment introduced in 1853. Mr. McCulloch, however, in his Statistical Account of the British Empire, vol. ii. p. 712, may be said to have summed up in the following sentence the reason which sufficed to induce the Legislature to amend the Act of 1834:—“The influence of the Act (1834), so far as it extends, is subversive of accumulation, and goes to encourage the selfish and unsocial propensities by tempting individuals to consume their whole property during their lifetime, without caring anything for those who might come after them. Had Government given facilities to the middle and lower classes for insuring sums for their wives and children in the event of their death, it might have been highly advantageous. But the system they have set on foot does not encourage providence, but extravagance; and if extensively acted upon, would be so very hostile to the public interests, that it would have to be put down by legislative interference.” We should think that there could not be much chance of successful legislation if it were based upon such arguments as the foregoing; and successful it was not.