1903-4.] THE PRINCIPLES OF INSURANCE. Peeks: 
as to the amount of the paid-up policy offered; the usual thing is to give 
a policy about equal to the sums paid in. I am not sorry to have lived 
longer than my expectation, and I contribute, not without a certain pleasure, 
to those families who are early left without a provider. I do think, however, 
that the legislation referred to was iniquitous. If the standard had to be 
raised, which I do not admit, having the best of reasons for knowing that the 
company complained of is using large sums in the North-West at 7 per 
cent., it should have applied to future entrants only, and those who have 
contributed to the company’s reserve, should have had the benefit of it all. 
When organising the statistics of Canada I could not obtain those 
relating to any branch of insurance, as there was no law to enforce the 
making of returns. I therefore prepared a bill to secure this end, which 
was introduced to Parliament by the Hon. Harcourt B. Bull. It failed to 
pass, through the opposition of some of the companies who did not wish 
their business made known to competitors. At that time foreign companies 
occasionally established agencies in this country, took money for premiums, 
and withdrew. Our policy-holders having claims were thus obliged to sue 
in a foreign jurisdiction for recovery, and sometimes found they were 
chasing a wildeat. So, after consultation with the Hon. Finance Minister 
Rose, afterwards Sir John, I prepared another bill, which not only called 
for statistical returns, but required all companies to deposit a reasonably 
large sum of money in the hands of the receiver general, attachable for 
Canadian claims. After a severe contest this bill passed and is the founda- 
tion of insurance legislation in Canada, though it has since been profoundly 
modified. It is surely not a betrayal of official secrets if I say now, for the 
first time, that another root of the deposit idea was the fact that the minister 
was at his wits’ end for money, and was seeking suggestions for raising it. 
More anxious for my statistics than to raise funds, I informed him that 
a couple of millions could be had from foreign insurance companies, and, 
to cover up the appearance of its being a forced loan, I further proposed 
that a special issue should be made of Dominion stock, to be called class B, 
carrying a profitable rate of interest for the companies, to be issued at par 
to the amount of the deposit required, not to be transferable, but to be 
redeemable at par if the holders withdrew from Canadian business and paid 
or secured all claims. While Mr. G. F.C. Smith, then, as now, manager 
for the general agency of the London, Liverpool and Globe, opposed the 
measure as a whole, great assistance was received from him in adjusting 
its details. As a temporary arrangement, to suit American companies, 
approved securities could be deposited to secure a license for business, but 
were to be replaced by cash within two years. The British companies 
transacting life assurance business had a strong objection to making annual 
returns, but in the end this was overcome, and I had the pleasure of receiving 
