The Short Title of this Act is “The New Zealand Government Insurance Association Act, 1884.”

This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, save that nevertheless all sections hereof necessary to enable the Board to be formed before such first day of January, and for regulating the administration of this Act, shall be deemed to be in force as from the date of the passing hereof.

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

Such and so many persons as have already become, or at any time or times hereafter shall or may become, the holders of policies under “The Government Insurance and Annuities Act,’ 1874,” or the Acts repealed thereby, or under this Act, shall be a body corporate by the name of “The New Zealand Government Life Insurance Association,” and by that name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable in law, by the Central Board of Directors of the Association, for the purposes and subject to the provisions of this Act, to do and suffer all things which bodies corporate may do and suffer.

The corporation of the Association shall be capable of acting by the Board of Directors of the Central Board, and the Board shall exercise all powers vested in the corporation by this Act, or otherwise; and whenever any contract, debt, or other liability has been or is entered into or incurred, or any act or thing has been or is done or suffered, by the Board under this or any other law, such contract, debt, liability, act, or thing shall, for all purposes, be deemed to have been and to be the contract, debt, liability, or act of the corporation of the Association.

The Board shall consist of the ten directors following, that is to say,—

The Colonial Treasurer, the Solicitor-General, the Secretary to the Treasury, and the Public Trustee for the time being;

Three persons, who shall be respectively nominated by the Governor from time to time as occasion may require; and

Three persons to be elected from time to time by the policy-holders.

The Governor shall, forthwith on the passing of this Act, nominate three fitting persons to be directors, who shall retire successively in manner hereinafter mentioned.

On the day of the annual meeting of the policy-holders to be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six and in each year thereafter on the same day, one of the nominated directors shall go out of office, and his place shall be filled by a fresh nomination, but the retiring director shall be eligible for reappointment. The one to go out of office shall be the director who has been longest in office without reappointment.

The nominated director to retire in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, and in the succeeding year, shall he determined by lot by the Board at the annual meetings held in those years respectively, unless the said directors mutually agree as to their order of retirement.

Every holder of a policy, if of full age and insured under such policy for not less than one hundred pounds and which has been in existence for six months, shall be qualified to vote at any election of a director, and shall have at each such election as many votes as there are candidates to be then elected, but shall not give more than one vote for any of such candidates.

No proxies shall be allowed at any election; but the voting shall be in person, or by letter or other document signed by the policy-holder, setting forth, in manner prescribed by regulations, the name or names of the candidate or candidates for whom he votes.

The Governor in Council shall make all necessary appointments and regulations for conducting the first election, for appointing the mode of nominating candidates and of voting for the same, and for fixing the date of such election, which shall be held as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, when three directors shall be elected.

If from any cause such directors or either of them shall not be elected, the Governor shall forthwith appoint some fit person or persons to be a director or directors, who shall hold office in all respects as if he or they had been elected.

At each annual meeting of the policy-holders to be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six and thereafter, the one of the elected directors who has been longest in office without re-election shall go out of office, and his place shall be filled by election, but every retiring director shall be eligible for re-election.

The elected director to retire in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six shall be the one who was elected by the smallest number of votes, and in the succeeding year the director to retire shall be the one who was elected by the next smallest number of votes.

If it shall happen that the two or more elected directors have been elected by an equal number of votes, the Board shall by lot determine the order of retirement, unless mutually agreed upon by such directors.

If from any cause a director shall not be elected at such annual meeting, the Board shall appoint some fit person to be a director, who shall hold office in all respects as if he had been elected.

In case of any casual vacancy occurring in the office of director,—

If a nominated director the Governor may fill up the same by the appointment of any fit person, but the director so appointed shall retain his office only for the residue of the term of office of his predecessor; and

If an elected director the Board may fill up the same by the appointment of any fit person, but the director so appointed shall retain his office only until the next annual meeting, at which meeting a director shall be elected to such vacancy, and the director elected at such meeting shall hold office during the time for which the director whose office became vacant as aforesaid would have held the same.

If such director would have been the retiring director at the annual meeting had he remained in office he shall be taken to have then so retired, and his place shall be supplied as in the case of an ordinary vacancy created by effluxion of time.

Any director appointed by the Board as aforesaid shall be eligible for election.

Every election of directors after the first, whether for an ordinary or a casual vacancy, shall be conducted in accordance with regulations to be made by the Board, which may make all necessary appointments for the purpose.

In all cases a retiring director shall retain his seat at the Board until his successor is appointed or elected.

Any meeting of the policy-holders, called for that purpose, may remove any elected director from office, but one month’s notice of such meeting shall be given to the policy-holders in such manner as the Board may direct.

Any person, whether a policy-holder or not, shall be eligible for the office of director.

The office of a director shall be vacant on the occurrence of any of the following events:—

If he be found not to have been duly elected:

If he becomes bankrupt or insolvent, or compounds with or makes any assignment for the benefit of his creditors:

If he is unable to act from any legal disability:

If he dies, or resigns his office, or refuses to act:

If he is absent from the Colony of New Zealand for the space of six consecutive months, without leave obtained from the Colonial Treasurer if a nominated, or from the Board if an elected director:

If he absents himself for the space of three consecutive months from the meetings of the Board without the permission of the Board:

If he is indebted to the Board for advances on mortgage of real estate:

If he is surety for any officer employed by the Board, or lends him any money:

If, after seven days from his being nominated or elected a director, he be or become a director of any other Life Assurance Company or Association.

During any vacancy in the Board the continuing members shall act as if such vacancy had not occurred, and no act of the Board shall be invalid on account of any such vacancy.

All acts done by or at any meeting of the Board shall, notwithstanding it may be afterwards discovered that there was some defect in the appointment or election of the directors, or any of them, be as valid as if every director had been duly appointed or elected to be a director.

A sum of one hundred pounds shall be payable annually to each director nominated by the Governor, and to each elected director and local director for his services, out of the moneys to the credit of the Association in the Government Insurance Account.

No person elected to be a director or a local director, receiving remuneration for his services under this Act, shall be thereby disqualified from being or continuing to be a member of either House of the General Assembly, anything contained in any other Act of the General Assembly notwithstanding.

The Governor may from time to time appoint the place where the office of the Board shall be, and shall appoint the place, day, and hour for the first meeting of the Board.

The Colonial Treasurer shall be ex officio Chairman of the Board, and shall preside at all meetings; and the Board may elect a Chairman for any particular meeting when the Chairman is absent, or from any cause whatever unable to act.

The Colonial Treasurer may be represented at any meeting of the Board by any member of the Executive Council of the colony, being a Minister of the Crown, whom he may request to represent him thereat, and such Minister shall at such meeting be deemed to all intents and purposes to be a member of the Board in the absence of the said Treasurer, and shall act as Chairman at such meeting.

The Board shall meet at the head office on such days as it shall appoint, but at least once a week for the despatch of business, and any five directors shall form a quorum.

Special meetings of the Board and general meetings thereof may be convened from time to time by the Colonial Treasurer or the Minister acting in his behalf.

The Board may from time to time make, alter, or revoke rules for the conduct of business at its meetings, and for prescribing the functions and duties of its officers.

Questions arising at any meeting shall be decided by a majority of votes. Each director present shall have one vote, and in the case of an equality of votes the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

Any resolution of the Board may be revoked or altered at a subsequent meeting of the Board by the vote of the directors present at such subsequent meeting, or of a majority of them; but notice of such subsequent meeting, and of the proposal to revoke or alter such resolution, shall be given to each director seven days at least before such subsequent meeting.

Minutes of the proceedings of the Board shall be kept, in which shall be entered every resolution, order, or other proceeding of the Board, and of every Committee when reported to the Board; and the minutes or proceedings of every meeting shall be read at the next meeting succeeding, and, if approved by the Board, or when amended as directed by the Board, shall be signed by the Chairman of such succeeding meeting.

The minutes of proceedings of the Board, kept as above provided, shall be received as evidence of such proceedings in all Courts and for all purposes whatsoever, and the validity of all such proceedings shall be presumed until the contrary is proved.

The Board may from time to time appoint a General Manager and all such officers, clerks, agents, and medical examiners as it may consider necessary for the transaction of business, with such official titles as the Board shall think fit; and the Board may fix the salaries, commission, or other payment to be made to the same while holding such office or appointment, and may prescribe and define the duties to be performed in respect of such office or appointment either by their instrument of appointment or by regulations of the Board; and may from time to time remove the same, or any one or more of the persons referred to in the next section hereof, and may appoint others in their place.

All persons in office under the said Act on the passing of this Act shall be without further appointment officers under this Act, holding similar offices to those now held by them, and drawing similar salaries, commission, or other payment until otherwise decided by the Board.

Provided that in case the services of any such officer shall be dispensed with, or in case of his death or receiving bodily injury in the discharge of his official duties, every such person, or his widow, children, or other personal representatives, shall have the like claim, if any, against the Association as he or they would have had against Her Majesty or the Government of the colony under “The Civil Service Act, 1866,” at the date of this Act if the same had not been passed.

Except as hereinbefore provided no officer or servant of the Board shall be deemed, for any purpose whatsoever, to be within the provisions of “The Civil Service Act, 1866,” nor shall he or his widow or children have any claim for compensation for loss of office, or for pension or other allowance for any service rendered to the Board or to the Government of the colony under the said Act or the Acts thereby repealed, against the Government of the colony.

Provided that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prevent the Board from establishing any system or scheme for granting pensions or sums of money to retiring or disabled officers, or to the widows or children of such officers dying in the service of the Association, out of funds derived from the contributions of such officers.

The Board may, on behalf of the Association, execute all deeds, instruments, and documents necessary for the conduct of the business of the Association, and affix thereto its common seal in manner as may be prescribed by by-laws.

The Board may establish Local Boards of Directors, and appoint all necessary officers in such places as to it shall seem expedient for the purpose of superintending and directing the local affairs of the Association.

Every Local Board shall consist of three local directors, one of whom shall be appointed by the Central Board, who shall be the Chairman of the Local Board, and who shall hold office for such time as the Board shall direct, and two local directors, one of whom shall retire annually, who shall be elected by the policy-holders residing in the district wherein the Local Board exercises its functions.

All elections of directors of Local Boards shall be conducted as may from time to time be prescribed by the Board, which may also make all necessary appointments for carrying out any such election.

The Board shall appoint a fixed time for the first election of local directors, when two directors shall be elected; and at the same time in every succeeding year an election shall be held for the election of one director in the place of the retiring director.

At each annual election the elected local director who has been longest in office shall retire and a successor shall be elected, but the retiring director shall be eligible for re-election.

The Board may from time to time remove any director of a Local Board whom it may have nominated, and may appoint another in his place.

Every director of the Board shall be entitled to sit at Local Boards, but shall have no right of voting thereat.

Every policy-holder of the age of twenty-one years and upwards shall have the right to vote at the election of local directors.

Each Local Board shall he invested with such powers as the Board may from time to time deem expedient; and such powers, when given, shall only be exercised by the Local Board in reference to the affairs of the Association in the place and within the area to which its powers and instructions have been extended by the Board.

All real and personal property of any kind whatsoever which, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, shall be vested in the Government Insurance Commissioner, shall, as from that date, be deemed to be and are hereby vested in the corporation of the Association for the like estate and interest, and with the like powers and authorities, as the same were vested in the said Government Insurance Commissioner, without any conveyance, assurance, assignment, or transfer whatsoever.

All lawful rights, claims, obligations, liabilities, contracts, and engagements whatsoever of or against the Government Insurance Commissioner outstanding on the aforesaid date shall, as from such date, be deemed to be rights, claims, obligations, liabilities, and engagements respectively of or against the corporation of the Association, or the Board, as the case may be.

All contracts made under the said Act or the Acts thereby repealed up to the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, shall, for all purposes as from that date, be deemed to have been made with the Board in the name and in behalf of the corporation.

The Board shall have power from time to time, in the name and on behalf of the corporation, to enter into any contracts whatever which may be lawfully entered into with any person for insurance on a life or lives, and for the sale of annuities for life or otherwise, and for the granting of endowments and of superannuation allowances or pensions, and any contracts whatever dependent on the contingencies of human life not repugnant to public policy. But nothing in this Act shall be deemed to authorize the Board to open branches in places outside of New Zealand without the authority of the General Assembly.

The Board may make such contracts either directly at its own office or at branch offices or agencies through the medium of such local directors or agents or other officers as the Board may appoint for the purpose, but subject always to regulations and tables approved by the Governor in Council as hereinafter appears.

The Board 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.

The Board may, with the consent of the person interested, and subject to the regulations aforesaid, exchange one class of benefit for another class of benefit, and otherwise vary the terms of any contract deemed to be made with it under the said Act or the Acts thereby repealed, or entered into by it under this Act: Provided always that the result of such exchange or variation shall not be such as to make a contract which could not lawfully be made under this Act.

Subject to any regulations made from time to time by the Governor in Council, the Board may make special arrangements or stipulations with any person contracting with it or whose life is insured by it under the said Act, or the Acts thereby repealed, or this Act, as to limits of residence, as it may think fit.

Every policy, provided the age of the insured has been admitted, shall from the date of issue be indisputable and indefeasible on any grounds whatever, except fraud, or suicide of the insured within the first twelve months from such date.

When any policy has become void from any cause except fraud, or has lapsed by inadvertence or otherwise, the Board may, subject to any by-laws or regulations from time to time in force, revive such policy upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the Board and the policy-holder.

The Board may, in any case where it shall consider it desirable so to do, compromise any claim which may be considered doubtful.

No member of the Board shall be personally responsible for any act, matter, or thing illegally performed, made, or done by the Board, unless the same shall happen through his own wilful neglect or default.

The Board may from time to time make such regulations as it shall think fit for the execution by it, or on its behalf, of all instruments and documents of any kind whatsoever; for the making, destroying, or altering its common seal, or for the use and custody thereof; for the management and conduct of the Government Insurance Account; and, generally, for carrying into effect this Act as shall not be inconsistent with this Act.

The Governor shall have power, by Order in Council, from time to time to do the following things, or any of them:—

To approve tables for determining the amounts which shall from time to time be paid as premiums on policies for any purpose whatsoever which may be issued under this Act, and generally for fixing the payment to be made to the Board in respect of any contract whatsoever which it may enter into under this Act:

To revoke all or any of such tables, and to substitute other tables to be used in lieu thereof:

To fix the maximum and minimum limits of the amounts which the Board may contract to pay under any contract whatsoever which it may enter into under this Act:

To order the discontinuance by the Board, in such form and manner as to him shall seem fit, of the entering into any contracts whatsoever under this Act, or of any particular class of such contracts:

To regulate the mode of making contracts after the passing of this Act, and the precedent conditions relating thereto in respect of medical certificates, and generally, subject to the provisions of this Act, to prescribe the conditions on which contracts may be entered into under this Act:

To prescribe the mode of proving the age and identity and the existence or death of persons, and the mode of paying sums of moneys payable under this Act, and the management of the accounts required to be kept:

To prescribe the conditions on which policies issued under this Act shall or shall not participate in the surplus mentioned in section sixty-seven hereof:

To prescribe the terms upon which premiums paid under contracts for payments to be made at death or otherwise, or for annuities, shall be returned to any person beneficially interested in the contract:

To prescribe the method upon which surrender values shall be calculated, and to make regulations for the allowance of special surrender values under special circumstances, and generally to prescribe the terms upon which policies may be surrendered:

To prescribe the maximum and minimum amount and the terms upon which money may be advanced as a loan upon any policy which has existed for the time prescribed when it might be surrendered:

To prescribe the terms and conditions on which contracts entered into under the said Act, or the Acts thereby repealed, or this Act, may be varied so as to exchange the class of benefit assured by such contract for another class of benefit which may be assured under this Act, or for any other purpose for which such contracts may under this Act be varied:

To prescribe the terms and conditions upon which policies which have become void from any cause except fraud may be revived:

To prescribe the terms on which bonuses may be commuted into other benefits which may be lawfully contracted for under this Act:

To add to or alter the forms contained in the Schedules to this Act for the purpose of making the same apply to any other class of business which the Board is authorized to undertake and which is not provided for in the said forms:

To make regulations respecting the investment of such moneys as the Board is hereby authorized to invest under this Act, and for the effectual recovery of principal and interest accruing on such investments:

To make regulations relating to the exercise of the functions of the Board, and concerning all matters incident to any election of directors, as well as other matters necessary to the administration of this Act by persons holding offices under this Act, and generally for the purpose of carrying this Act into effect, and to impose penalties not exceeding twenty pounds for breach of such rules.

Every such Order in Council shall be gazetted, and shall take effect from the day of such publication, or from such other later day as shall be therein fixed.

The annual meeting of the policy-holders shall be held at Wellington in each year, at such time between the first day of May and the thirty-first day of July as shall in each case be determined by the Board, to elect directors and to receive and consider the report of the Controller and Auditor-General and the accounts referred to in the sixty-second section of this Act.

But at the annual meeting in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five to deal with the report and accounts for the year ending the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, there shall be no election of directors.

Every policy-holder if of full age, and the holder of a policy insuring a sum of not less than one hundred pounds, and which has been in existence for six months, shall have one vote at any meeting of policy-holders.

Where more persons than one are the holders of a policy, then, unless they shall, by writing deposited at the office of the Board three clear days at least prior to the day on which any meeting is to he held, agree as to which of them is to vote, then that one of those persons whose name is first mentioned on the policy shall alone vote in respect of such policy.

Proxies may he used at any meeting of policy-holders for any purpose other than the election of directors, in manner fixed hy the regulations of the Board.

The Board may from time to time make such regulations as it thinks fit for the conduct of business at meetings of policy-holders. No business shall be transacted at any meeting of policy-holders unless ten policy-holders entitled to vote are personally present at the hour fixed for the meeting, or within one hour thereafter.

The Chairman of the Board shall preside at any meeting of policy-holders at which he shall be present at the commencement, and if not present the policy-holders present may elect one of their number to be chairman of that meeting.

The person acting as chairman at any meeting shall, in the case of an equality of votes, have a second or casting vote.

The provisions of sections twenty-seven and twenty-eight hereof shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to meetings of policy-holders, and the proceedings thereat.

The Board may at any time call a general meeting of policy-holders, and shall do so whenever required so to do in writing by at least fifty policy-holders, if such writing state the objects for which such meeting is intended to be called, and if such requisitionists deposit at the office of the Board a sum of ten pounds to cover the expenses of the Board in holding such meeting, which money shall be returned to the person depositing it if a resolution to that effect shall be passed at such meeting; otherwise it shall be absolutely forfeited to the Board.

All moneys received by the Board under this Act, or the regulations made thereunder, including repayment of loans and interest thereon, shall be paid to the credit of the association at the hank at which the Public Account is for the time being kept, or at such other bank as the Governor in Council shall for the time being approve of, in such manner and under such regulations as may be prescribed, and such account shall be called and known as the Government Insurance Account.

All moneys at the credit of the Government Insurance Account under the said Act shall, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, without the necessity of any appropriation by Parliament, or of any payment by cheque or otherwise, form part of the Government Insurance Account under this Act.

All moneys at any time at the credit of the Government Insurance Account, or from time to time received by or on account of the Association under this Act, and all other property by this Act vested in the Association, or which may hereafter become vested in the association by purchase, or as security for investments, or otherwise howsoever, shall, for all purposes whatsoever, be deemed to be in law the property of the association.

If any moneys which ought to have been paid into the Government Insurance Account, are not so paid as provided by this Act or by the regulations made thereunder, then such moneys shall he deemed to be a debt jointly and severally due to the Association from each and all of the persons who failed so to pay them in, and may be recovered from such persons, and any one or more of them, in any Court of competent jurisdiction, at the suit of the Board.

No money shall be withdrawn from the Government Insurance Account except pursuant to a resolution of the Board, which may either relate generally to a class of payments or have reference to particular payment or payments, and then only by a cheque signed by two directors, and countersigned by such officer as the Board shall from time to time direct.

The provision contained in the tenth section of “The Public Revenues Act, 1878,” that cheques on the Government Insurance Account shall be countersigned by the Controller and Auditor-General, is hereby repealed.

If any moneys shall be withdrawn by such a cheque without the authority of a previous resolution of the Board, such moneys shall be deemed to be a debt jointly and severally due to the Board from each and all of the persons who signed the cheque by which such moneys were withdrawn, and may be recovered from such persons, or any one or more of them, in any Court of competent jurisdiction, at the suit of the Board.

All moneys payable under the said Act or the thereby repealed Acts or this Act as annuities, or for payments on death or otherwise, under any contract whatsoever lawfully made by the Board, or for loans, or for salaries, commissions, or other payments to officers or servants of the Board, or any other expenses of management or otherwise incurred by the Board, shall, subject to the prescribed regulations, be paid by the Board out of the moneys standing to the credit of the Government Insurance Account.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall audit the accounts of the Board every month, and shall also audit the said accounts every year before the same are submitted to the annual meeting of policy-holders, and shall report thereon to such meeting; and may, if he think fit, also give a progress report every month, to be laid before the Board.

The report laid before the annual meeting shall contain a certificate, signed by the Controller and Auditor-General, stating that the books, vouchers, and accounts of the Board have been examined, and that the deeds and securities of the Association have been compared with the said accounts and annual balance-sheet; and such certificate shall also state whether the same have been found correct or otherwise; and the Controller and Auditor-General may specially report any facts or matters relating to such accounts.

If any director, local director, or any officer or servant of the Board, having the custody of any books, deeds, instruments, securities, or papers relating to the accounts which the Auditor is then engaged in auditing, refuses to produce the same to the Auditor, or in any way obstructs the Auditor in the examination thereof, such director, local director, officer, or servant, shall be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred pounds.

The Colonial Treasurer for the time being, or any person appointed by him, shall be at all times entitled to inspect all books, deeds, instruments, securities, and papers of the Board, and to be afforded all information he may desire concerning the affairs of the Board; and any director, local director, or officer of the Board who refuses or neglects to produce to the Colonial Treasurer, or such person, any books, deeds, instruments, securities, or papers which it is in his power to produce, or obstructs the examination of the same, or refuses or neglects to afford any information which it is in his power to afford, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.

In each year there shall be prepared by the Board, and submitted to the policy-holders at their annual meeting, accounts and a balance-sheet in the forms prescribed in the First, Second, and Third Schedules of this Act, for the year ended on the thirty-first day of December preceding, accompanied by an estimate in detail of the probable expenditure of the Board during the next year.

And such accounts, accompanied with a report from the Board, signed by the Chairman, two directors, and the principal officer on its behalf, and certified by the Controller and Auditor-General in manner specified in section sixty-three of this Act, shall be laid annually before both Houses of the General Assembly, on or before the thirty-first day of July in every year if the General Assembly shall be then sitting, and if the General Assembly shall not be then sitting, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the then next session of Parliament.

The Governor shall, on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, or as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, and thenceforward at the end of every quinquennial period after the said thirty-first day of December, cause an investigation to be made into the financial condition of the affairs of the Association by an Actuary or Actuaries, and the report of such Actuary or Actuaries shall be in the form prescribed in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.

Such Actuary or Actuaries shall also report what, if any, is, in his or their opinion, the net surplus of profits under the said Act, and the thereby repealed Acts, and this Act, arising in respect of contracts entered into before the passing of this Act, and after the passing thereof respectively.

And such report shall show the net surplus, in respect of the former contracts, available for division, and the net surplus in respect of the latter contracts, available for division after allowing, out of the last-mentioned surplus, such sum to be carried as a reserve to the Guarantee Fund as is hereinafter mentioned.

Such Actuary or Actuaries shall also report what is, in his or their opinion, the mode in which such profits should be distributed.

The Governor, by Order in Council, may then direct the surplus of profits remaining after such sum as aforesaid is reserved to be divided according to such report, or he may direct any portion or portions of such surplus to be so divided.

But no such Order in Council shall have any force or effect unless gazetted, and then only subject to the following conditions:—

A copy of such Order in Council, together with copies of the said actuarial reports, shall, within ten days after such Order in Council has been gazetted, be laid before both Houses of the General Assembly, if the General Assembly be then sitting, and if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the then next session of the General Assembly.

If a resolution is not passed by both Houses of Parliament, within thirty days after the said Order in Council has been laid before Parliament, to the effect that such Order in Council shall not come into force, then it shall come into force on the day after the expiry of the said thirty days.

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

The Board shall, within such period of nine months, prepare a statement of its life assurance and annuity business in the forms contained in the Fifth and Sixth Schedules to this Act; each of such statements to be made up as at the date of the last investigation.

Out of the net surplus of profits found to be available for distribution at each quinquennial investigation, in respect of contracts entered into after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, the Board shall, in the first instance, and prior to any distribution of such profits, set apart, as a reserve by way of guarantee, a sum of one-tenth of such net surplus, which sum shall be paid into the Public Account, to a separate account, to be called the Insurance Guarantee Fund Account, and all moneys to the credit of such Guarantee Fund Account shall he invested as the Governor in Council may direct.

All contributions from surplus profits to the Guarantee Fund shall cease so soon as the accumulations in such fund have reached the amount of one million pounds sterling.

All policies are guaranteed by this Act, and in case of a deficiency arising at any time in the funds of the Association being disclosed as the result of any investigation made under section sixty-seven of this Act, such deficiency shall be made up from the Guarantee Fund, and if that he not sufficient for the purpose, the balance of the deficiency shall be advanced out of the Consolidated Fund; and in such case the Colonial Treasurer shall forthwith report the fact of such deficiency, and the amount thereof, to the Governor, who shall, by warrant under his hand, authorize the Controller and Auditor-General to issue to the Colonial Treasurer, out of the Consolidated Fund, without the necessity of any appropriation by Parliament, such sum as may be required to make up such deficiency.

On receipt of such warrant it shall be the duty of the Controller and Auditor-General to issue the amount specified therein to the Colonial Treasurer, to be transferred by him to the credit of the Government Insurance Account, for the purpose of making up such deficiency.

Any sum so advanced shall be repaid into the Consolidated Fund out of any general net surplus of profits arising in respect of all contracts, and found from time to time to be available for distribution at any subsequent investigation thereafter.

It shall be the duty of the Colonial Treasurer to certify every such deficiency to both Houses of the General Assembly within fourteen days after the issue of such moneys from the Consolidated Fund if the General Assembly shall then be sitting, and, if not, within fourteen days after the commencement of the then next session of the General Assembly.

Any part of the moneys standing at the credit of the Government Insurance Account may be invested, in accordance with the regulations of the Governor in Council, in Government securities of New Zealand, or in any county, Road Board, Town Board, or borough securities in New Zealand, issued under authority of Parliament, and which are secured by a special rate on property; and in such other securities within the colony as the Governor in Council from time to time declares, by Proclamation in the Gazette, to be securities in which such moneys may be invested.

Any part of such moneys may also be invested on first mortgage of freehold land, with or without buildings, but so that no moneys shall be so advanced which shall exceed one-half of the value of the property to be mortgaged, as determined by a valuator or valuators to be appointed by the Board.

The Board may from time to time exchange, vary, or transfer any of such investments for or into others hereby authorized; and may realize upon any such investments, or transfer the same, for the purpose of supplementing the moneys in the Government Insurance Account.

The Board may, with the consent of the Governor, purchase any land and buildings, and may alter or add to such buildings, or may purchase land and erect buildings thereon.

But the power conferred by this section shall only be exercised for the purpose of acquiring premises for the transaction of the Board’s business.

Such land, or land and buildings, may, with the consent of the Governor, be sold if no longer required for the Board’s business, or if it is thought desirable to acquire any other land, or land and buildings, in lieu thereof.

Any portion of land, or land and buildings, purchased under the preceding section, and not required for the Board’s business, may be leased by the Board for any period not exceeding forty-two years, upon such terms and conditions in all respects as the Board shall think desirable.

Subject to regulations made in that behalf, the Board may also invest any part of the moneys standing to the credit of the Government Insurance Account as loans to holders of policies, but so that no such loan shall be for an amount exceeding the surrender value of such policy at the time of the loan.

If any certificate or declaration produced to the Board or any officer thereof 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 the said Act or the Acts thereby repealed or this Act according to the true age of such person, or with intent to make a contract at a lower rate of premium than would otherwise be payable, then and in every such case, unless the Governor in Council shall otherwise order, all money paid for or on account of the purchase of such annuity or payment on death or otherwise shall be forfeited, 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.

If any person shall forge, counterfeit, or alter, or shall cause or procure to be forged, counterfeited, or altered, or shall knowingly or wilfully act or assist in forging, counterfeiting, or altering the common seal of the association, or any document or any part thereof required, used, or made under the provisions of the said Act or the thereby repealed Acts or of this Act, or of any regulations thereunder or in connection therewith, or shall use the said common seal without the authority of the Board, or shall wilfully and falsely personate any true and real annuitant or other claimant, or shall wilfully utter or deliver or produce to any person acting under the Acts or regulations above mentioned any such forged document as aforesaid with intent to defraud the Board or any person whomsoever, or to obtain votes for himself or any other person at an election of directors, then and in every such case every person so offending and duly convicted thereof shall be and is hereby declared to be subject to such punishment as he would be subject to by the law for the time being in force if he were convicted of forgery.

If any person, in any declaration made before any Justice of the Peace or before any officer acting in the administration of the said Act or the Acts thereby repealed or of this Act, shall wilfully or corruptly declare to anything which shall be false, he shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of perjury.

If any person shall for his own use or for the use of any other person receive any payment, otherwise than as is authorized 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, then every person so offending shall be liable to a penalty equal to treble the amount of all money so received, which on recovery of the same shall be paid over to the Board.

All penalties created by this Act shall be recoverable in a summary way before any Court of competent jurisdiction.

Wherever in any Act now in force reference is made to the said Act, such first-mentioned Act shall take effect and operate as if reference had been made therein to this Act.

“The Government Insurance and Annuities Act, 1874,” is hereby repealed, excepting sections fourteen to nineteen, both inclusive, and sections twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, and twenty-five thereof, all of which shall remain respectively in full force as if this Act had not been passed.

All regulations made under the said Act, or under the thereby repealed Acts, and in force at the coming into operation of this Act, shall continue in force until repealed or altered under this Act; and any policy issued under the said Act or the thereby repealed Acts, and which has not at the date of the coming into operation of this Act lapsed or become void or become liable to be made void on the ground of fraud, or otherwise, shall be subject to the provisions of this Act.