WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 475, 19 July 1871, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1871.

"We think there are few who will not commend the common sense resolution of Mr. Councillor Tonka respecting the proposals of the Fire Insurance Companies. These institutions had the-coolness to propose that the City Council should reimburse those whose houses were pulled down to save the spread of fires. "We question if there has been a suggestion made publicly in this city for a good many years that surpasses this for simple cheekinesß. Our curiosity is great to know on what grounds the proposal was based, and we think we are right in supposing that they were merely the assumed verdancy of the City Council. Most buildings in the city are insured in all probability. Those that are not should be, and unquestionably it is the duty of those wealthy institutions, the Insurance Companies, which are fattening on very heavy rates of insurance, to look to their own interests, and provide for contingencies arisiug from the occurrence of fires. By the pulling down of a bu-lding, it is assumed that the adjoining property is saved. If that adjoining building has been insured, then should the Insurance Company pay for the benefit conferred on its interests. If it has not been insured, the owner should. The intervention of the City Council is wholly uncalled for. It would no doubt be highly convenient if, th© Council would act as a sort of go-between, or rather buffer, to prevent the rude collision between the person whose house has been demolished, and the Company, whose interests have been benefitted by the saving of their property. The Council would unquestionably in most cases be involved in litigation on both hands, and the Council has acted perfectly correctly in not allowing the funds of ratepayers to be frittered away in any such manner. The subject of fires is indeed a thing in which everyone is interested, so far as human life is concerned; but pecuniarily none to the extent of the Insurance Companies. And, seeing that they have the largest stpl the city, it is their duty *

Our attention has keen directed to a para' graph in our little contemporary the Morning ■ News, of this morning, giving an extract . from a private letter received in Aucklanc from a gentleman in San Francisco, comment i ing on New Zealand affairs in general, anc "the mail service in particular. Our contem porary appears to have taken to looking u{ i the old dates of the local contemporaries which lie so dislikes, inasmuch as his extraci is lifted from the Cross (June 29th), to whicl paper, it appears, the original recipient handec tho letter. The Christian Times, published to-day sustains its previous reputation. News o the churches, both, local and general, an given -with considerable detail. There is at exhaustive article on the various organization: and efforts for tlio benefit of Neglected anc Destitute Children in Auckland, togethei , with various articles on other subjects of gene ral interest. The publication is deserving o the Bupport of all those who feel an interest n the great questions with which it deals. A meeting of the creditors of Henry Berg will be held on. the 21st inst. The monthly muster, of the Auckland Artil' lery Volunteers will be held at the Drill-ehed Princes-street, at half-pest seven o'clock thii evening. A meeting of the shareholders of the Eureka: Hill Gold Mining Company is convened foi , the 7th proximo. The public are cautioned against receiving a cheque on the Bank of New South Wales. Grahamstown, for £105, signed by S. G-ribbte payable to 3?. 0. Meteher, the game having , been lost. Payment is stopped. The first general meeting of the shareholders of the Albion Gold Mining Company will be held on the 24th instant, at the Mechanics' Institute.—Ail accounts against the Poverty and Charleston must be lodged on or before the 24th instant, or they will not be recognised. At the inquest on the body of the unfortunate man Hall, found dead in Tookey's shaft on Monday morning, the following verdict was recorded :—" That deceased was found in the shaft dead, and that there was no evidence to show how he came there, but we come to the conclusion that his death was accidental." The proprietor of the Occidental Hotel wishes to inform the public that there are a few more opportunities left for any person to add their name to the charitable Dime and Pin List, prior to the exhibition of that great curiosity—the two-headed calf with two tails. —[Adtt.]