The Short Title of this Act is “The Government Life Insurance Act, 1908.”

This Act is a consolidation of the enactments mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:—

Savings.

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

The Governor may from time to time, by warrant under his hand, appoint a Commissioner for the purposes of this Act, to be called “The Government Insurance Commissioner” (hereinafter called “the Commissioner”).

The Governor may also from time to time appoint a fit person to be the Deputy of the Commissioner, who shall be called the Deputy Government Insurance Commissioner.

On the occurrence from any cause of a vacancy in the office of Commissioner (whether by reason of death, resignation, or otherwise), and so long as such vacancy continues, the Deputy shall have and may exercise all the powers, duties, and functions of the Commissioner.

The Deputy Commissioner shall act as such Deputy in the name and on behalf of the Commissioner in case of the illness, absence, or other temporary incapacity of the Commissioner, and also (notwithstanding that no such temporary incapacity exists) in all matters in respect of which he is authorised by the Commissioner so to act.

Such authorisation shall be by writing under the hand of the Commissioner, and may be either general or in respect of any special matters.

The fact that the Deputy exercises any power, duty, or function of the Commissioner, or does any act for the Commissioner as aforesaid, shall be sufficient evidence of his authority so to do, and no person shall be concerned to inquire whether any occasion has arisen requiring or authorising him so to do, or be affected by notice that no such occasion has arisen.

The Commissioner may from time to time, by writing under his hand, delegate to any officer of the Department all or any of the powers, functions, or duties conferred or imposed on the Commissioner by Part II of “The Life Insurance Act, 1908,” and in every such case the officer to whom the delegation is made shall for the purposes of the delegation be deemed to be included in the term “secretary” as defined in that Act.

The Governor may from time to time appoint and employ such actuaries, clerks, and other officers as may be necessary to the execution of this Act.

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted,—

No such Order in Council shall be inconsistent with this Act, and every such Order in Council shall take effect on the day of the gazetting thereof, or such later day as is fixed therein.

The Commissioner may from time to time enter into any contracts that may be lawfully made by any person for the sale of life annuities, and for insurance on a life or lives, and for the granting of endowments, and any contracts whatever dependent on the contingencies of human life not repugnant to public policy, under such regulations and in accordance with such tables as may from time to time be approved by the Governor in Council under section seven hereof.

The Commissioner may make such contracts under the authority of this Act, either directly at his own office or through the medium of societies or agents duly authorised by the Governor in Council for that purpose, and under such regulations as the Governor in Council prescribes, and the said societies and agents may be authorised under such regulations to receive such fees as are therein fixed for the purpose.

The Commissioner may grant deferred life annuities on condition that the purchase-money shall be returnable, but without interest, to the person beneficially interested in such annuity or, after his death, to his executors or administrators.

In no case shall such purchase-money, or any part thereof, be returned after the first payment of the annuity has become due.

Where a person who has contracted under this Act for the purchase of a deferred life annuity by annual payments becomes unable, after having made one or more such payments, to pay the residue thereof, the Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, at the request of the person beneficially interested in such annuity, grant to such person a life annuity, immediate or deferred, equivalent to the amount of the several payments so made by him, instead of returning the amount of such payments in money.

The Commissioner may in like manner grant deferred life annuities on condition that the money shall not be returnable.

Where a person contracts under this Act, by payment in one sum, for a deferred life annuity, the Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, at the request of the person interested, grant an immediate life annuity instead of the deferred annuity, and in such case the deferred annuity shall forthwith be cancelled.

Any person having contracted under this Act for the payment of a sum of money on death may, subject to the approval of the Commissioner and to regulations made from time to time by him, direct in writing that the sum payable at his death be commuted for an annuity for life, to commence at his death, and to be paid to any person nominated in such writing; and thereupon the person so nominated shall be entitled to such life annuity as is equivalent to such sum of money so payable after death as aforesaid.

The Commissioner may refuse to contract for any annuity, or for any payment on death or other event, in any case where he is of opinion that there are sufficient grounds for so refusing.

The Commissioner may increase the premium in proportion to the badness or ineligibility of the life proposed in cases of sums to be secured at death or otherwise.

In every such case the Commissioner shall act in conformity with any rules made by the Governor in Council and for the time being in force for determining the ineligibility of lives and the extra rates on account thereof; but if no such rules have been made or are in force, the Commissioner may fix the extra premium in each case.

In any action or other proceeding under this Act the Commissioner may sue and be sued by his title of “Government Insurance Commissioner” without any other name or title.

By his title of “Government Insurance Commissioner” the Commissioner may sue and be sued in all actions arising out of any act, deed, matter, or thing made, omitted, entered into, done, or suffered relating to the Government Insurance Department by or against the Commissioner, or His Majesty, or the said Department as one of the Departments of the Government, or the. policyholders of the said Department as a body; and no action by the Commissioner shall abate or be dismissed by reason only that such action is brought in the name of the Commissioner.

The Commissioner shall not be personally liable on any contract entered into by him under this Act or in respect of any such action or other proceeding.

No action brought by or against the Commissioner shall abate or be dismissed on the ground of interest in the Judge or Magistrate hearing the same, by reason merely that such Judge or Magistrate is the holder of or otherwise interested in any policy granted by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner is hereby included in the definition of “company” in Part II of “The Life Insurance Act, 1908”; and generally all the provisions of that Part applicable to a company as therein defined, or to the “secretary” of a company as therein defined, shall extend and apply to the Commissioner.

The provisions of any other Act now or hereafter in force affecting life insurance companies and rendering them liable to assessment or taxation shall extend and apply to the Commissioner and the business conducted by him by virtue of this Act.

All moneys becoming due on account of such annuities, and all payments on death and other payments, shall be paid out of the hereinafter-mentioned Government Insurance Account.

The Commissioner may, in accordance with regulations from time to time made by the Governor in Council, grant out of moneys in the Government Insurance Account loans to holders of policies issued under this Act which have been in force for two years before such grant, and interest shall be charged on such loans at the rate of interest per centum per annum from time to time fixed by the Governor in Council:

Provided that in the case of a policy on which, by its terms, no future premiums are to be paid, a loan may be granted at any time after the issue of the policy.

No money shall be lent upon any such policy to an amount exceeding nine-tenths of the surrender value of the policy at the time of the loan.

Where any dispute arises between the Commissioner and any person who has contracted for any annuity or payment under this Act, or any one claiming to be such person’s executor, administrator, next-of-kin, or assignee, such dispute shall be referred to the arbitration of two indifferent persons, one to be chosen and appointed by the Commissioner and the other by the party with whom the dispute arose.

If the arbitrators so appointed do not agree, the matter in dispute shall be referred in writing to an umpire, having no interest in such matter, to be chosen by the said arbitrators before entering upon the consideration of the matter referred to them, and the award, order, or determination of the arbitrators or of the umpire shall be final and without appeal.

The provisions of “The Arbitration Act, 1908,” shall, so far as applicable, apply to references to arbitrators and arbitrations under this Act, as if the parties had entered into a written agreement to refer the matters in dispute to arbitration.

The Commissioner may in any case, if he thinks fit, before submitting any dispute to arbitration, require a deposit of money as security for the costs of the arbitration to such amount and upon such terms as may be prescribed by regulations.

Life annuities purchased under the Acts repealed by “The Government Insurance and Annuities Act, 1874,” before the twenty-second day of August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four (being the date of the coming into operation of the last-mentioned Act), shall be free from all taxes, charges, or impositions whatever.

No stamp duty whatever shall be paid or payable upon or in respect of any instrument respecting the payment of money for the purchase of any annuity or sum payable at death or otherwise under the said repealed Acts, or any power of attorney authorising the receipt or any receipt for the payment of any such annuity or any part thereof, or for the payment of any sum of money payable at death or otherwise.

Where any certificate or declaration produced to any officer employed in the administration of this Act contains an untrue statement of age of a person, with intent to obtain a higher rate of annuity or a greater payment on death or otherwise than would or might be allowed under this Act according to the true age of such person, then and in every such case, unless the Governor in Council otherwise orders, all money paid for or on account of the purchase of such annuity or payment on death or otherwise shall be liable to forfeiture, and all right and title to any annuity or to any payment on death or otherwise which would or might otherwise have been payable in respect thereof shall cease and determine.

Every person who—

is liable to such punishment as he would be liable to by the law for the time being in force if he were convicted of forgery.

Every person who in any declaration made before any Justice or before any officer acting in the administration of this Act wilfully or corruptly declares to anything false is liable to such punishment as he would be liable to by law for the time being in force if he were convicted of perjury.

Every person who for his own use or for the use of any other person receives any payment, otherwise than as is authorised by law, upon or in respect of any annuity after the death of any annuitant on the continuance of whose life such annuity was payable, or after the death of either annuitant in case of an annuity on joint lives, knowing such annuitant to be dead, and contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, shall forfeit to His Majesty treble the amount of all money so received.

All moneys received under this Act, together with all interest accruing from such moneys, including repayment of loans made hereunder and interest thereon, shall be paid into a separate account called “The Government Insurance Account.”

The Government Insurance Account shall be kept at the bank where for the time being the Public Account under “The Public Revenues Act, 1008,” is kept, and shall be operated on only by cheque of the Commissioner countersigned by the Audit Office.

Any part of the moneys from time to time in the Government Insurance Account may be invested as follows:—

Ibid, sec. 5

No advances on the security of real estate shall exceed three-fifths of the valuation of such security by a valuer or valuers appointed by the Board.

No one loan on mortgage shall exceed ten thousand pounds, nor shall more than ten thousand pounds be lent on mortgage to any one person or company.

The investments made under the last preceding section shall be so made as that of the total amount of all such investments for the time being subsisting not more than one-fourth shall be under paragraphs (a) and (b) thereof, and three-fourths shall be under paragraphs (c) and (d) thereof.

Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, it shall be lawful to invest any part of the moneys in the Government Insurance Account in any securities which are declared by the Governor by Order in Council to be securities in which such moneys may be invested.

All moneys payable under this Act as annuities or as and for payments on death or otherwise, or for loans or for expenses or otherwise, shall be chargeable on the moneys in the Government Insurance Account.

If at any time the moneys in that account are insufficient to discharge the amounts so chargeable, the Minister of Finance, under the warrant of the Governor and on the requisition of the Commissioner, countersigned by the Controller and Auditor-General, shall issue the amount of such deficiency out of the Consolidated Fund to the Commissioner to the credit of the Government Insurance Account, for the purpose of paying such claims; and it shall be the duty of the Minister of Finance, within fourteen days after the issue of such moneys from the Consolidated Fund, to certify every such deficiency to Parliament if sitting, and if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

All payments—

shall be payable out of the Government Insurance Account under the authority of this Act without any further or other appropriation by Parliament.

Expenditure on the purchase of sites and buildings or on buildings shall be paid out of moneys from time to time appropriated by Parliament for the purpose out of the Government Insurance Account.

The salary of the Commissioner and other officers, and the other contingent expenses, shall be paid out of moneys from time to to time appropriated by Parliament for the purpose out of the Government. Insurance Account.

For the purpose of controlling and managing investments upon mortgage of land a Board is hereby constituted, consisting of the Minister of Finance, the Solicitor-General, the Surveyor-General, the Public Trustee, the Commissioner, for the time being respectively, and such one of the following officers as the Governor in Council from time to time appoints as member—that is to say, the Valuer-General, the Government Advances to Settlers Office Superintendent, the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Under-Secretary for Crown Lands.

In the absence of the Minister of Finance from any meeting of the Board any other Minister (being a member of the Executive Council) whom the Minister of Finance requests to represent him thereat, or who is acting for him in his absence, may attend such meeting in his stead, and while so attending shall be deemed to be a member of the Board.

In the absence of the Valuer-General, or the Superintendent (being a member of the Board), or of the Public Trustee from any meeting of the Board, his deputy may attend and act at such meeting in his stead and as his substitute, and while so attending shall be deemed to be a member of the Board.

The fact that any such substitute so attends and acts at any such meeting shall be conclusive proof of his authority so to do, and no person shall be concerned to inquire whether the occasion has arisen requiring or authorising such substitute so to do.

No loan upon mortgage of land as aforesaid shall be made except upon the unanimous vote of all the members of the Board present at the meeting at which such loan is considered; and in no case shall the same be made or agreed to unless at least three members of the Board are present and vote for such loan.

As soon as conveniently may be after the end of each month the Commissioner shall make a report to the Minister of Finance in such form and on such matters as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Governor in Council.

On or before the first day of April in every year there shall be laid before Parliament if sitting, and if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session, accounts prepared by the Commissioner in the forms in the Second and Third Schedules hereto, for the year ended on the thirty-first day of December preceding, accompanied with a report from the Commissioner.

The Minister of Finance shall, on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and eight, or as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, and thenceforward at the end of every triennial period after the said thirty-first day of December, cause an investigation to be made into the financial condition of the Government Insurance Department by an Actuary.

For the purposes of each such investigation the accounts of the Department shall be made up on the thirty-first day of December ending each such triennial period aforesaid, and the said investigation shall be dated as of the same day, and shall be completed within nine months from that date.

The report of such Actuary shall be in the form in the Fourth Schedule hereto.

The Commissioner shall within the period last named prepare a statement of the life assurance and annuity business of the Department in the form in the Fifth Schedule hereto, each of such statements to be made up as at the. date of the last investigation.

The aforesaid report of the Actuary and statement of the life assurance and annuity business shall be presented forthwith to Parliament if sitting, and if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

With respect to the Temperance Section and the General Section of policyholders, the establishment of which has been provided for by regulations, the following provisions shall apply:—

As soon as conveniently may be after the thirty-first day of December. one thousand nine hundred and eight, and at the expiration of every period of three years after that date or as soon as conveniently may be after such period, the Governor shall appoint a competent Actuary to report what (if any) is in the opinion of such Actuary the net surplus of profits to be divided as hereinafter mentioned, after allowing such sum as Reserve Fund as he may recommend.

The Actuary shall determine to such degree of approximation as he deems practicable how much (if any) of such divisible surplus has arisen from favourable mortality, and how much (if any) has arisen from other causes.

With respect to the first-mentioned portion of such divisible surplus, he shall distinguish between the amount of divisible surplus (if any) which has arisen from favourable mortality in the General Section of policyholders and that which has arisen from favourable mortality in the Temperance Section of policyholders; and each of the amounts so ascertained shall be divided exclusively among the policyholders of the section in which the mortality corresponding to such amount has been experienced.

The remainder of the divisible surplus shall be divided among participating policyholders according to such method as the Governor in Council determines, but irrespective of the section, whether General or Temperance, to which such policyholders belong.

If, in the opinion of such Actuary, a loss has arisen through unfavourable mortality in either of the sections named, the amount of surplus to be divided amongst the policyholders of that section shall be diminished by the amount of such loss.

Any profit or loss arising from favourable or unfavourable mortality in the Non-profit Section shall be added to or deducted from the remainder of the divisible surplus hereinbefore mentioned.

Such report shall be laid before Parliament, and the sum so recommended for division in such report, or such less sum as may be fixed by resolution of both Houses of Parliament, as the amount for division, shall be divided amongst holders of policies under this Act in the manner and according to the scheme approved by such resolution.

If Parliament is not in session when any such report is made, the Governor may, by Order in Council, direct that such profits, or such less sum as he may fix, may be divided in accordance with the provisions of the last preceding section, although such report has not been laid before Parliament.

If there is any ambiguity in such report, or if any discretion is thereby given in respect of the proposed division, the Governor may, by Order in Council, alter or vary the distribution, or provide for such ambiguity or exercise of discretion in such manner as he thinks fit.

For the more effectual administration of this Act the following provisions shall have effect:—

All the provisions of section seventy-seven of “The Life Insurance Act, 1908,” so far as the same relate to any policies already issued under any Act heretofore in force relating to Government Life Insurance, or any other Act by virtue of which any policy has been effected with the Government Insurance Commissioner, or to any policies hereafter issued under this Act, shall, mutatis mutandis, extend and apply and be deemed at all times heretofore to have extended and applied to a “widower,” a “wife,” and a “widow” to the same extent and in the same manner as in the case of a “husband.”

All contracts heretofore made with the said Commissioner by a married woman and which are within the terms of the said section as extended by this section shall be and be deemed to have been valid and effectual for all purposes from the respective dates thereof.