Mr. Edward William Lowe, the Resident Secretary of the New Zealand Branch of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, has been associated with the business of this grand institution since 1868. Mr. Lowe belongs to one of the oldest families in the colony of New South Wales, his grandfather having settled there in the year 1813. Born in the month of September, 1847, at Penrith, New South Wales, he was educated at Sydney. After three years experience in a merchant's office, Mr. Lowe entered the Sydney office of a fire and marine insurance company, with whom he remained a like period. He joined the Australian Mutual Provident Society as a clerk on the 19th of June, 1868, and rose rapidly in the service. When the directors decided to open up business in New Zealand, Mr. Lowe was appointed accountant of the branch, and crossed the Tasman Sea to Wellington in company with the late Mr. Joseph Dyer, who had been appointed Resident Secretary. He has thus been connected with the New Zealand branch since its inception on the 1st of July, 1871. Mr. Lowe held the position of accountant for over five years; on the death of Mr. Joseph Dyer at the end of 1876 he became acting secretary, and early in 1877 he was appointed to the important position which he still holds. Under Mr. Lowe's management the Australian Mutual Provident Society has had a prosperous career in the Colony.

Mr. E. W. Lowe.

Mr. Charles Augustus Schultz, Accountant of the New Zealand branch of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, was born in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1862. Educated at private schools and at the Sydney Grammar School, he joined the Society as a junior in 1877, at the head office, Sydney. After eight years Mr. Schultz was promoted to the office of subaccountant at Melbourne, and in 1894 he was transferred to Wellington as accountant for the New Zealand branch.

Mr. Theo. Harrold Ritchey, Chief Agent for the Australian Mutual Provident Society, is a native of Dublin, where he was brought up in the Imperial army, which he left in 1874, and came out per s.s. “Atrato” to take the position of superintendent of the Canterbury Orphanage. He held this position for three-and-a-half years, after which he was a teacher under the government, and subsequently English master at the Dunedin High School. He acted as secretary at the Wellington Musical Festival in 1894, which occupied six nights, and was a splendid success. He is now honcrary secretary of the Wellington Festival Chorus and Harmonic Society. Mr. Ritchey's office is at Imperial Chambers, 6 Featherston Street, and his private residence at 121 Willis Street.

Mr. T. H. Ritchey.

Citizens' Life Assurance Company, Limited. New Zealand branch, Custom House Quay. Mr James F. Lane, acting resident secretary. Bankers, Bank of New South Wales. Head offices, 21, 23, 25 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. Directors, Messrs. Jas. P. Garvan (managing director), John See, M.P., W. J. Lyne, M.P., Dr. J. J. Power, F. B. Freehill, M.A., and F. Copper. Acting general secretary, Mr. John J. Garvan; F.S.S.; actuary, Mr. Wm. R. Davey, J.P., F.F.A.; ordinary branch secretary, Mr. W. A. Smith, J.P., F.S.S. This Society, although a comparatively young one, has by its magnificent results in its past nine years, earned the right to a place in the front rank of Australian life offices. Founded and conducted on the same lines as those of the mighty Prudential of Great Britain, it met with astonishing success from the very outset. Its ramifications now extend throughout Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, chief offices having been established in the capitals, and agencies in almost every town of any importance in the colonies named. It will be seen that the board of directors is a powerful one, amongst its members appearing the names of gentlemen acknowledged to be leading lights in the financial circles of New South Wales. The managing director, Mr. Jas. P. Garvan, was at one time Minister for Justice and afterwards Colonial Treasurer, the latter position having also been filled by Mr. John See, of whom a character sketch appeared in a recent number of the Review of Reviews, while another director, Mr. W. J. Lyne, is at the time of writing leader of the Opposition in the New South Wales Parliament. The business of the Society is divided into two branches—ordinary and industrial. So much succees was met with in the former, that it was found possible in 1895 to declare a bonus for the year at the rate of £2 per cent. on the sums assured by all profit-sharing policies. There is every indication that this excellent result will at least be maintained in future years. Total abstainers are placed in a distinct section, the profits of which are separately ascertained, and divided amongst its members, who thus reap the reward of their abstinence, since a low rate of mortality is one of the chief factors of the success of any life assurance corporation, and it is admitted that the longevity of total abstainers as a class is greater than that of the general population. In order to meet the times, the Company published in 1895, rates for twenty year endowment assurances, the distinctive feature being that for the first five years half-premiums only are charged. This table has proved decidedly popular. In the industrial branch premiums are accepted from a penny per week upwards, and from ages one to seventy, almost one thousand agents being employed to collect these from the policy-holders. Prompt settlement of claims has always been a distinguishing feature of the Society, as numberless letters of thanks from satisfied claimants testify. Under certain of the tables fully paid up policies are granted after a certain number of years, a distinctly novel feature in the history of industrial assurance, while the Society's Table K. brings the question of a national old age pension scheme within the realms of practical policies. The Citizens' page 530 policy-holders now number 170,000; it pays eleven claims every working day, while its funds have quadrupled in the last five years. An annual actuarial valuation is made of the business in both branches, and annual bonuses allotted to with profit-policies in the ordinary branch, and so well organised is the internal machinery of the office that the results of the valuation, notwithstanding the enormous labour involved, have been declared at the annual meeting of the Company held in February, not two months after the close of the books for the financial year.

Mr. James Francis Lane, Resident Secretary of the Citizens' Life office, has been in the service of the Company for nearly ten years. He was born in Sydney in 1869, and educated in his native city. After eighteen months spent in a lawyer's office, Mr. Lane joined the head office of the Company in Sydney in 1887. He has been right through the various grades of the service, being first promoted to the position of cashier, and in 1889 becoming chief clerk of the Brisbane office. As the Queensland climate did not suit his constitution, Mr. Lane was re-transferred tc the head office, where he had charge of the “new business” department for some time. Subsequently he was promoted to the position of superintendent of the South Sydney division, from which office he was removed to New Zealand in April, 1894. After having charge of the Auckland branch, Mr. Lane was appointed to succeed Mr. W. W. Bain, F.S.S., as resident secretary of the New Zealand branch in January, 1896. Mr. Lane was married in 1891, to the only daughter of Mr. Thomas Eagle, of Sydney, and has one daughter.

Mr. J. F. Lane.

Mr. Arthur Edward Gibbs, Secretary for New Zealand for the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, is a native of Penkridge, Staffordshire, England, and was born on the 4th of January, 1860. Educated at Malvern College, he went into business with his father, Mr. William Gibbs, as an iron merchant for some years. Subsequently Mr. Gibbs, senr., became district manager for the Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation, and it was in connection with this company that the subject of this notice gained his first knowledge of insurance. In September, 1883, Mr. Gibbs left the “Old Land” by the Orient liner “Sorata,” arriving in Melbourne in November of that year. He at once joined the staff of the Colonial Mutual Life Office as clerk. Four years later he was promoted to the position of accountant of the New Zealand branch and in June, 1890, he accepted the office he now holds. Mr. Gibbs was married in England in 1882 to Miss Nicklin, of Stourbridge, and their family consists of four daughters and one son.

Mr. A. E. Gibbs.

Mr. Peter Denny Leslie, Chief Clerk of the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, Limited, was born at Dumbarton, Scotland, and educated in Glasgow. He served his three years apprenticeship in a shipping office in Glasgow, and left there in 1885 to join his parents in New Zealand, they having emigrated to the Colony some years previously. He entered the service of the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society at Dunedin in April, 1886, as a junior clerk. When the Society changed its head office to Wellington in 1890, Mr. Leslie was promoted to the position of chief clerk. He is a member of the Star Boating Club, and has interested himself in the advancement of association football since his arrival in the Colony; since 1893 he has represented Otago on the council of the New Zealand Football Association. Mr. Leslie is married, and has three children—two sons and a daughter.

The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States: Sole office for the Society, Lambton Quay, Wellington; Head Office, New York. New Zealand Director, Mr. H. D. Bell, M.H.R.; Resident Secretary, Mr. George Ross. This Society was organised on the 25th of July, 1859, for the transaction of life assurance business on the mutual system. From the first this Society has been noted for the liberality of its dealings with policy-holders, and it claims to have been the first Company to introduce the tontine form of life assurance. Its success has been phenomenal, and few offices can record such results as those of this great institution. The Society complied with the laws of New York State that all Companies must provide a capital of not less than 100,000 dollars (£20,833) to be held by the State Insurance Department as security for the policy-holders. This capital, on which not more than seven per cent. can be paid, looks very insignificant beside such figures as £38,550,198, the present assets. The Society claims to have a larger surplus over and above all liabilities than any page 533 other life assurance society. The total as on the 31st of December, 1894, was set down at £7,787,459. Business was opened in New Zealand in the year 1884, and for some years a large amount of business was secured. The Society is not at present competing for new business in the Colony. Its policy-holders within New Zealand are assured for a sum of £400,000, the annual premium income being about £15,000 annually.

Mr. George Ross, the Resident Secretary, was born in Dunedin in 1857. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School, and returned to the Colony in 1876. Entering the office of Messrs. McLandress, Hepbury and Co., auctioneers, of Dunedin, he continued in that firm's employ till 1884, when he joined the Equitable on the opening in Auckland of its first office in New Zealand in 1887. On the retirement of the late Mr. W. A. Thompson as General Manager, Mr. Ross was appointed Resident Secretary and transferred to Wellington, where he has since lived.

New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department. Among the advanced institutions for the benefit of its people of which the Colony may fairly be proud is one which merits special attention on account both of its progressive character from a social point of view, and also because of the very remarkable success it has achieved since its establishment, now more than twenty-five years ago. This popular institution is the Government Life Insurance Department, which, under the grand advantage of a State guarantee, insures the lives of the colonists for their own benefit and for that of their dependent successors. The State, by Legislative enactments, is responsible for the perfect safety of all the departmental funds, and also for the due payment of all claims under the policies when death or maturity occurs. The contract conditions display ample liberality; and these, coupled with the colonial security, are duly valued by the people, as is shown by an ever-increasing clientele taking advantage of the beneficial provisions. This insurance institution is believed to be unique in the history of modern states. It forms the only example of a Government proffering the advantages which it undoubtedly possesses for the benefit of the public at large, rich and poor alike. For although in the Home Country there has existed for more than thirty years a post-office insurance system, yet notwithstanding its age and its opportunities, the progress of that institution has almost been crab-like-backward. Hence it is now little more than the shadow of a name. This has resulted from two causes. At the inception of the scheme in Great Britain, vested interests succeeded in restricting the operation of the post-office insurance system to very narrow limits. Secondly, the postal officials made no attempt to popularize and propagate even that limited modicum of State insurance. Thus practically the State scheme at Home, although over thirty years old, has fallen into premature decrepitude. Very different has been the history of the Government Life Insurance Department in New Zealand, which was inaugurated in order to provide unquestionabl State security to the assured. Accordingly, in the year 1869 the Legislature of New Zealand passed a life insurance law, by the philanthropic provisions of which every person insured under its conditions rests absolutely and safely shielded, and firmly assured that whatever may happen, the full value of his policy is practically as certain to be paid when the claim accrues as that the sun shall rise in the morning. So long as its surrender value keeps the policy alive, so for certain is payment of the due amount, with all allocated bonuses, pledged by the full power and possessions of the Colony. It is not surprising, therefore, that with such inviolable State guarantee, the New Zealand Government Insurance Department has, since its establishment, grown in extent and prosperity which it is claimed is unsurpassed by the progress effected in a like period by any other life insurance office within the wide scope of the British Dominions. The following particulars showing the growth of the Department are of interest:—Beginning operations in 1870, when the whole population of New Zealand was about 240,000, the Government Insurance Commissioner by June of the following year had issued 459 policies insuring £206,361, and four annuities for £352. Next year the figures showed 1809 policies for £667,671, and ten annuities £698, with an accumulated fund amounting to £15,154. The following table specifies the subsequent progress effected, the figures relating to the undernoted years :—

In addition to the above, there are 181 annuities in force for £8924 per annum. The annual income from all sources has now reached £380,000, of which £254,204 consists of premiums and £115,274 interest, rents, etc. The most recent account of the history and present position of the Government Life Insurance Department is that contained in the latest volume of the New Zealand Year Book just issued by the Registrar-General of the Colony. As this narrative supplies many interesting facts and figures which merit preservation in a permanent form, the subjoined particulars are extracted from

Head Offices of the N.Z. Govt. Life Insurance Department, Customhouse Quay, Wellington.

page 534 the Year Book. After mentioning that the first policy was issued by the Department on the 26th of March, 1870, the Year Book gives a consolidated revenue account for the period to the end of 1894, and further valuable information as follows :—

These figures show that during the twenty-five years embraced in the statement, premiums have been received to the extent of three millions and-a-half, and considerably over a million-and-a-half has been returned to policyholders or their representatives. The investing of funds on freehold mortgage is controlled by a Board, consisting of the Colonial Treasurer, the Public Trustee, the Commissioner of Taxes, the Solicitor-General, the Surveyor-General, and the Government Insurance Commissioner, who may not lend on any property more than three-fifths of its value. There is now over half-a-million invested in this manner. The following summary of the most recent balance-sheet (December, 1894) shows the manner in which the assets are invested at the present time.

It does not appear that any explanation has been previously given of the New Zealand Government system of non-forfeiture, which is so very comprehensive in its scope. Whenever a policy-holder is so unfortunate as to be unable to pay his premiums, the office looks after his interests and advises him without fees or fines of any description. An account is opened in connection with the overdue policy, which is automatically kept alive as long as the surrender value is enough to pay a quarter's premium. The policy-holder is of course debited with interest on the premiums overdue, but he is kept insured as long as his account is in credit, for the Department does not seek to make any profit whatever out of surrendered or lapsed policies. During the last year (1894) twenty-nine overdue policies fell in by the deaths of the persons assured under them, and, though on many of them not a penny of premium had been paid since 1886, 1887, 1888, and so on, the premiums as they fell due had been deducted by the office from the surrender values, thus enabling the Department in one year to recognise claims on twenty-nine overdue policies to the amount of£7900 exclusive of bonuses. This feature is common to nearly all Australasian insurance offices, but it is claimed by the Department that under its particular system there is accorded to individual policy-holders the utmost degree of liberality consistent with justice to the general body. The actuarial policy of the Insurance Department has from the first been based upon the advice of eminent professional men. The last valuation was conducted by the Department's actuary, Mr. Morris Fox, upon general lines approved by three leading English actuaries—Messrs. A. H. Bailey, Ralph P. Hardy, and George King. The result of this valuation, covering a period of three years, was to divide a cash surplus of £140,000 amongst the policy-holders, while at the same time special reserves were made in order to still further strengthen the finances of the Department. The policies valued and the reserves held against them will be seen in the following summary :—

The accumulated funds at the end of 1893 amounted to £2,128,590, so that there was a gross surplus of £190,000, of which £50,000 was carried to reserve, and £140,000 was, as already stated, divided amongst the policy-holders. In future the actuarial investigation will be made every three years. Notwithstanding the commercial depression which has been felt so severely during the past year (1894), the department has been able to secure about the normal amount of new business, the following being a condensed summary of the new policies issued during the year :–

It will be noticed that the endowment assurances issued during the year, although slightly less in amount, exceed in number the whole-life assurances by fully 400. The growing favour in which endowment assurances are held by the people is a healthy sign, showing that a real desire exists to make a provision for old age. The great majority of these endowments mature at an advanced age: those issued in 1894 mature according to the following table :–

“During the year a combined insurance and annuity scheme for Civil Servants was initiated. In return for monthly deductions (amounting to about £5 annually for every £100 of salary) the Insurance Department contracts to give a uniform insurance of £100 until the age of sixty is attained, and after that age an annuity varying with the age at entry. Those who elect to pay a small extra premium can have the insurance continued beyond the age of sixty until death. These policies, placed in a separate table, will be merged in the general business of the department, and will share in the periodical distributions of profits. At successive valuations the necessary reserves will be made to fully cover the liability which will have accrued upon each of the contracts, and consequently there will be no danger of future trouble in connection with this scheme such as has overtaken so many pension schemes as the result of inefficient conception and inexpert administration.” Though the low rates of premiums charged for insurance were fixed at the outset without any view to profits, yet the results have been such that substantial surplus profits have been obtained, and as these have been declared by law to belong to the policy-holders, insured persons enjoy the double advantage of paying lowest premiums and receiving satisfactory bonus additions to their policies, plus State security. Four divisions of the profits have been made since the starting of the office, and allocation thereof now takes place every three years. If a claim arises during the currency of those three years, an interim bonus is allowed, apportioned to the time elapsed since the immediately previous valuation. The following table shows the surplus profits divided heretofore, and their equivalents in reversionary bonuses added to the sums assured :–

The amounts specified are actual results after making ample reserves for all possible contingencies. These figures form a brilliant record for an existence of twenty-three and a-half years in a small colony like New Zealand. A spacious building—represented by the illustration at the head of this article—was recently erected in Wellington for head offices. The building forms a conspicuous object on a prominent site, and is one of the handsomest structures in the City, providing ample accommodation for the head office staff of the Department and its numerous tenants. Among the latter [may be mentioned the firms of Stafford, Treadwell, and Field, Morison and Atkinson, and Kirk, Atkinson, and Wilson, barristers and solicitors; Deacon and Co., shipping agents, and the Greymouth-Point Elizabeth Railway and Coal Company, Limited.

Mr. Josephus Hargreaves Richardson, the Government Insurance Commissioner, succeeded to that responsible office on the retirement of Mr. F. W. Frankland, who, in 1890, resigned in order to accept an important appointment in the Atlas Insurance Office in London. Mr. Richardson, who was educated at Nelson College, where he was a mathematical scholar, was second in order of merit in the Senior and second in the Junior Civil Service Examinations for the whole Colony in 1874, taking in the former a first class in English and mathematics. In that year he was offered and accepted the position of cadet in the department of which he is now the head. Mr. Richardson has effected several valuable improvements in the organisation of the office and its methods of working, and under his control the department has largely prospered, and continues to make satisfactory advances. Mr. Richardson is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries of Scotland, a member of the Institute of Actuaries of Great Britain, a member of the Actuarial Society of America, a Fellow of the Institute of Incorporated accountants of Victoria, and a Fellow of the Institute of Incorporated Accountants of New Zealand.

Mr. David Mitchell Luckie was born at Montrose, in Scotland, where his father was a merchant. He began life in a mercantile establishment, and while yet young, he became a clerk in a law office and assistant assessor under the Property Tax Acts, and in that capacity acquired a considerable knowledge of law. He contributed articles to the county journals during this part of his career, and having a natural bent for journalism he left the study of the law and became reporter and sub-editor of the Montrose Review, and afterwards editor of the John O'Groat Journal, Wick. Here he remained for some years, when he was offered the editorship of the Arbroath Guide, and shortly afterwards was engaged on favourable terms to embark for New Zealand to edit and take a share in the Nelson Colonist. On leaving Arbroath he was entertained by the leading citizens at a banquet and presented with a purse of sovereigns. He arrived in Nelson in 1863, and on the day after his arrival the Nelson people were startled by a slashing condemnation of the policy of the Ministry of the day, who were believed to be thwarting the efforts of Governor Sir George Grey to exhaust all avenues of peace before resorting to war with the natives. The article displayed a thorough grasp of New Zealand politics and finance. This astonished the quiet citizens of that city, but Mr. Luckie had the advantage of sundry New Zealand Blue-books during a four months' voyage, and also of a fellow passenger who was well up in colonial politics, and as the first leading article by no means exhausted the subject the Colonist soon became the most quoted paper in the Colony, and Mr. Luckie a notability. He was placed on the Commission of the Peace in 1869, and soon found his way into the Provincial Council, and afterwards in 1872 to Parliament. About the same time Sir Julius Vogel, recognising Mr. Luckie's journalistic capabilities, offered him the editorship of the Daily Southern Cross in Auckland, which was accepted and he there wielded a trenchant pen. His “Kaskowiski” hoax is still remembered. Briefly, it was a telling account of the suppositious descent of a Russian frigate upon Auckland at the time of the war scare, and described how the Russian captain took possession of the mayor, the banks and the principal merchants and held them as hostages. The hoax was perpetrated in Monday morning's issue, and all Auckland and the suburbs were in a state of terror and amazement at the news. The canard had an object, which was to call attention to the defenceless state of the Colony, and it was the means of inducing action to be taken in that direction. The story of the “Kaskowiski” was reprinted last year in pamphlet form with an appendix embodying various useful opinions and statistics regarding national defence, and the naval and military forces of the nations of the world. While in Nelson (where the writer of this sketch first met him on his arrival in the Colony, and has observed his career ever since), Mr. Luckie did good service, leading to the discovery and capture of the Burgess and Sullivan gang, the four notorious criminals who were guilty of numerous murders on the West Coast and the Maungatapu Mountain in 1866. On the discovery of a goldfield at Wangapeka in the interior, he successfully exposed page 536 and frustrated the efforts of various provincial officials to secure large sections of the field to themselves and their friends to the exclusion and detriment of the genuine miners who had taken up claims; all of which tended to add to his popularity. The subject of this sketch remained with the Southern Gross until it amalgamated with the New Zealand Herald in 1876, and he then became editor of the united papers, and remained at that post until 1878 when he took charge of the Wellington Evening Post in which responsible position he remained until the following year when he became Commissioner of the Government Insurance Department. Since then the history of the progress and success of that institution is associated with Mr. Luckie's presence there. He was chief of it until 1889 when two serious attacks of illness rendered him physically incapable of continuing to hold the premier place in the department, so he took the assistant commissionership, which office he now holds. Full information regarding the progress of this successful institution will be found in another part of this work. As a journalist Mr. Luckie had few equals in the Colony. He had, and still has that remarkable instructive insight into a subject which enables the true newspaper editor to intuitively grasp the b arings of a subject, and there and then to dissect it and lay its virtues or its objections plainly before the public in understandable language. His conclusions were generally correct, and his facile style of writing frequently interspersed with classical references and apposite quotations was always agreeable and convincing. He is an authority on philology, and his knowledge of Scotch legends and quaint sayings is unequalled. In 1885 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society of London.—J.W.

Mr. Morris Fox, the Actuary for the Government Insurance, has gained his high position entirely by his own abilities, thus giving another instance that sterling merit alone is sufficient to secure rapid promotion. Mr. Fox was born in Leicestershire. England, in 1858, and was educated at Stonegate and Amersham Hall, in Oxfordshire. His father and forefathers were Leicestershire farmers; but it was decided that Mr. Fox should make some use of his undoubted mathematical abilities, and with this object he was articled as an engineer. This, however, was not quite congenial, and the embryo actuary left for New Zealand in 1880, per ship “Maraval.” Not long after his arrival in Wellington he was taken on as an extra clerk in the actuarial department under Mr. Godfrey Knight, who was quick to recognise his aptitude for figures by making permanent the temporary employment. Under Mr. F. W. Frankland in 1888, Mr. Fox was appointed assistant actuary, and two years later he succeeded to the actuarial chair. Mr. Fox has natural abilities of a high order; and when he had more leisure than now falls to his lot, he was always ready to lend his assistance in charitable performances, and to all kinds of genuine sport. In 1884 he was secretary of the Wellington Cricketers' Association. Mr. Fox is a member of the English Institute of Actuaries, and also of the Actuarial Society of America.

Mr. John B. Gillison, the Actuary and General Manager, has a high reputation throughout the colonies. He is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, London, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries, Edinburgh, and joined the Mutual Association of Victoria in 1883, as secretary of the Adelaide Branch. He was transferred the next year to the head office as actuary, and two years later assumed the responsible position of general manager and actuary, which he has held ever since.

Mr. R. S. Williams, who has charge of the branch of the Mutual Assurance Society of Victoria for the districts of Wellington, Napier, Palmerston North, Wanganui, Gisborne, and Blenheim, was born in the County of Kerry, Ireland, but has lived for many years in the colonies. He has been in the service of the page 538 Company for about ten years, having occupied the position of accountant in Dunedin prior to taking charge of the aforesaid districts. His experience has largely helped to extend the operations of the Society in the North Island.

Mr. Alfred Gilbert, Secretary and Public Officer of the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, has passed through all grades in the service of the Society. He was born in London in 1857. Educated at private schools at Brighton and Reading, and afterwards at the City of London school, he then entered a mercantile office in the metropolis. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Gilbert came to Auckland per ship “Glenlora,” and for three years after he was engaged in the Island trade on his own account, and on behalf of well-known firms. In 1881 he entered the Norwich Union Fire office in Auckland as clerk, and after three years experience was transferred to the Mutual Life office as accountant. Mr. Gilbert speedily gained promotion. In May, 1886, he became district agent at Wellington, and in less than five years he was raised to the position of secretary in Christchurch for the South Island. In June, 1894, a change was made in the management of the New Zealand branch of the Association. Up to this time the business had been managed by a secretary for the North and for the South Islands; it was now decided that the business of the Society should be controlled from one head office in Wellington, and Mr. Gilbert was selected to fill the important post of Secretary and Public Officer for the Colony.

Mr. John Robert Morrison, Accountant for the New Zealand branch of the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, was born at Port Macquarrie, New South Wales, in 1868. He was educated at the Fort Street school, Sydney, and on leaving, joined the head office of the Mutual Life Association of Australasia in January, 1884. In 1893 he was promoted to the position of accountant, and for nearly a year was stationed at the Society's Melbourne office. Returning to the head office, Mr. Morrison was on the staff in the actuaries' department till his appointment as accountant in the New Zealand branch in December, 1895.

Mr. Charles Frederick William Hartmann, District Manager of the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, was born in Wellington in 1862. He was educated partly at the Nelson College and partly at private schools in England, whither he was sent to complete his education. On returning to the Colony he entered the civil service as clerk in the Postmaster-General's office, which position he resigned to go into business on his own account. For some years he was a member of the firm of Allen and Hartmann, wine and spirit merchants, Grey Street, Wellington. Mr. Hartmann joined the Mutual Life office as district manager in the early part of 1895.

Mr. Charles Augustus Hayes, Chief Agent for the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, was born in London on the 15th of July, 1864. Educated at Cooper's Company school, he learned the business of a stamp printer in his native city. Coming to New Zealand in 1880, per ship “Lady Jocelyn,” Mr. Hayes joined the stamp department five years later, and held the position of assistant in the office till 1893, when he resigned office and joined the Mutual Life Association of Australasia as canvasser. In June, 1894, Mr. Hayes was promoted to the office of chief agent. He was married in 1881 to Miss Thompson, daughter of Mr. Robert Thompson, of Auckland, and has two sons and two daughters.

Mr. Sidney G. Martin, Resident Secretary of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia, has been associated with the Society for many years. Born in Nottingham, England, he came out with his parents to Victoria as a boy in the year 1869. Mr. Martin was educated at the Scotch College in Melbourne, and leaving school, joined the head office of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia as a junior clerk. He has devoted his life to the service of the Society, and has gradually advanced in position. For three years before coming to New Zealand, Mr. Martin occupied the office of accountant to the head office of the institution, and previous to that was accountant to the Queensland Branch. In 1888 he was appointed to the position of resident secretary of the New Zealand branch, which office he still holds.

Mr. Joseph Kew Harty, Accountant to the National Mutual Life Association, was born in London, in 1856, and page 541 educated at Blackrock, Cork, and Tullamore (in Ireland). The ship “Orpheus,’ brought him to New Zealand in 1875, his first landing place being Port Chalmers. After occupying various positions in Dunedin mercantile houses till the year 1879, he came to Wellington, where he became clerk in a leading printing establishment. In May, 1881, he joined the National Mutual Life Association, as accountant—a position which he still retains.

Mr. J. K. Harty.

Mr. William Lingard, District Manager for the National Mutual Life Association, was born in the south of Ireland in the year 1846. His father, the late Captain Lingard, fought under the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. Then transferring to the 25th, he shortly afterwards sold out and settled down in Ireland, where he held the position of resident magistrate for many years. Mr. Lingard, who was being educated for the army, becoming very deaf, he was obliged to abandon the idea of a military life, and eventually came to New Zealand, landing in Auckland in 1863. Martial law having been just proclaimed, he, with many others, had to march to the front, where he took part in several skirmishes. Subsequently settling in Wanganui, he devoted himself to country pursuits, volunteering in 1865 and 1868 into the “Alexandra troop of lancers” and the “Kai Iwi” troop respectively. In those stirring times in that district he, with many other of the early settlers, saw a considerable amount of service. The fact that the New Zealand Cross was presented to him for saving a comrade's life while under heavy fire speaks for itself. After this he purchased a farm in the Wanganui district, next he invested his capital in a brewery venture, and finally he joined the National Mutual Life office, in which he now holds the above position. Mr. Lingard married the daughter of the late Mr. Joseph Soulby, of Wanganui, and has four daughters, his only son having died at an early age.

Mr. W. Lingard.

The New York Life Insurance Company. Head Office, New York. Chief Office for the colonies, Sydney. Agents, the Bank of Australasia, Custom House Quay, Wellington. This Company is not at present competing for business in New Zealand, being represented here in order to collect premiums on existing policies and to pay claims as they arise.

New Zealand Accident Insurance Company, with unlimited liability. Office, Featherston Street. Wellington Superintendent for Wellington district, and the South Island of New Zealand, Mr. Ralph Levoi. The head office of this Company being in Auckland, full particulars will appear in the Auckland volume of the cyclopedia.

Mr. Ralph Levoi, the Superintendent, was born in London on the 15th of December, 1844. He came to New Zealand per ship “Chapman,” arriving in Wellington in March, 1863, having travelled as a companion to Mr. Arthur Joseph, a nephew of Mr. Jacob Joseph. For several years Mr. Levoi was in the employ of Messrs. J. Joseph and Co. Leaving Wellington early in 1870, he visited Canterbury, where he stayed about two years. The next seven years were spent on the West Coast, Mr. Levoi residing respectively in Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport, Wimea, Foxes, Charlestown, and at other settlements. About the end of 1879 he removed to Auckland, and early in the following year joined the staff of the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company, which had just been established. After four years successful work as canvasser for the Company, Mr. Levoi propounded a scheme for the further development of the Company's business: On the invitation of the directors he laid his plans before them and they were adopted, with satisfactory results, Mr. Levoi being appointed superintendent for the South Island and Wellington, which position he still retains. Mr. Levoi has taken part in local politics. He was a member of the Wellington City Council in 1894, and while in Christchurch was for two years a member of the Waimakariri River Board. He is a member of the Jewish faith, and has held office as committeeman, treasurer, and president of the Christchurch Hebrew Congregation, and is now a member of the executive body of the Wellington Synagogue. Mr. Levoi was married in 1885 to the second daughter of the late Mr. B, Levy, of Wellington, and a niece of the late Mr. L. Levy.

The Scottish Metropolitan (Accident) Assurance Company. Head office, Edinburgh. Chief office for New Zealand, Dunedin. Wellington agency, 12 Featherston Street. Agent, Mr. Alexander Simpson. Bankers, National Bank of New Zealand. Fuller notices of this and the two following companies will be given in the Otago volume.

The Live Stock General Insurance Company of New Zealand. Head office, Dunedin. Wellington agency, 1 Grey Street. Agent, Mr. L. H. B. Wilson. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. This Company insures live stock against mortality. It also undertakes plate glass insurance.

New Zealand Plate Glass Insurance Company. Head office, Dunedin. Wellington agency, 12 Featherston Street. Agent, Mr. Alexander Simpson. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand.

The Fire Underwriters' Association: Chairman, Mr. R. M. Simpson; Secretary, Mr. H. M. Lyon; Lambton Quay, Wellington. Founded in 1875, the Society is supported by the whole of the fire offices doing business in Wellington, and exists for the purpose of regulating the tariff.

The Marine Underwriters' Association: Chairman, Mr. Andrew Campbell; Secretary, Mr. H. M. Lyon; Marine Surveyor, Captain William Bendall, Lambton Quay, Wellington. This Association was established in 1875. Most of the marine companies are members of the Society, which deals with matters affecting the tariff, but one of the principal objects is the employment of a marine surveyor, who certifies to damaged goods and inspects shipments with a view of preventing casualties.