QUESTION OF INSURANCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 68, 13 December 1907, Page 7

QUESTION OF INSURANCE.

WHY THE POLICIES LAPSED.

. . INTERESTING SUGGESTIONS. > Although the buildings which have been 'destroyed, were uninsured at the time of tho firp,j. such was not always tho case. In August; 1878, there, was laid on the table of tho House of Representatives a " return showing what Government buildings havo been insured against fire during the year 1878, the amount for which insured in each case, tho estimated value of the building, what office insured in; the rate of premium por cent.,'and whether by public tender or private arrangement." .'The insurances on tho Parliamentary Buildings,v Molesworth Street, Wellington, in this.return as follow:— . -■ Name of Office. Amount Insured. New Zealand ... < ... £2500, v Liverpool and London ... 1000 ; •' Royal ..., ... ... 2000 ' ...Victoria ... 1500 •Northern ... ' ... ... 2500 • Imperial ... ... ... 2500 London and Lancashire..-. 1000 South British-'' ... : ; 3000 ■' . Standard .. ... 2000 ...- : • National . ... ~2000 • - :: Total ■ ... ....£20,000 Tho rate of premium on the abovo insurances, was 40s. per cent., and the'estimated valuo of the property was set down at £25,000. In tho column headed "By public tender or private arrangement," thorp appear tho words " No specific arrangement. Premiums ; paid at current rates." A footnoto states: —"The premiums payable on insurances effected in the City of Wellington are subject to a discount of 12i per cent." The return also shows that the books in the General Assembly Library were insured during the same year for £5000, mado up as fellow!—£1000 each in the Victoria and tho Liverpool and London, £500 each in tho Now Zealand, Royal, Northern, Imperial, London and Lancashire, and National. The rat© of premium was 40s. per cent., and tho estimated value of the books was £13,8!T0. The return further shows that- Government Houso and offices, "Wellington, werej valued at £25,000, and were insured during 1878 for £10,000 distributed among several Offices. Tho Departmental Offices, Lambton Quay, were valued at £55,000, and were insured for £4000 in the New Zealand Office and £2000 each in eight other Offices, making a total of £20,000. b

Tho return also shows insurances effected on. the Government Buildings, Hospital and Lunatic ; Asylum' at Nelson, the Auckland Hospital, Public Buildings at Gisborne, and the/-building described as "Late Public Works Offices (how portion of Printing OfficevWeHington)." This last was insurod x-o'nn estimated value was ■ THE PRACTICE OF A StSTER STATE. '• South Wales Government formerly insurod its buildings in its own Stato Jf ire Insurance Fund; but this was abolished a few.years ago, when it had £2304 standing to its credit. A Parliamentary return made on' November 29, 190G, showed that, during the previous two years, buildings, furniture, etc bolonging to tho State, had been insured for £2,79i,251 3s. 4d. This amount was distributed among a large number of insurance companies. i ' EXPERT OPINIONS. lhe manager of one of tho loading colonial insurance companies. told a Dominion reporter that the records of his offico did not Brow when the insurances montioned abovo wero given up. Ho concluded that it was tho outcomo. of the decision of tho Government to become its own insurer. Ho added howovor, that big wooden buildings containing electric wires wero regarded by insuranco xnon as sources of danger.'.Nighfc watchmen woro not looked upon- as a succoss, generally speaking, from tho point of view of tiro prevention, while hose and other apparatus kept in and about a building wero often an additional danger rather - than a protection, because the plant was usually inellicient, and the hoso .was allowed to silently rot. Ihon, wheu an inoxpert person came to use the hose, tho water was likely to be turned on suddenly and the hose blown to atoms. Time after time this gentleman had Been, ho told the reporter, hoses burst when they were being proudly displayed by their owners. A DANGER SPOT. Spaking with reforonco to the Govornmont Buildings on Lambton Quay, described as the largest woodon building in the world, ho said that his company regarded tho block as such a source of danger that thoy consistently refused to take risks on buildings near by, which they considered were within tho danger zone. This applied to a number of wooden buildings on the opposite side of Lambton Quay, running southwards from Bowen Street. This statement, he Baid, was borne out by correspundonce filed in his office and dating several years back. He added that the record of the Government in regard to lires at schools, asylums, ond other buildings, was a very bad one, bs shown during the enquiries in connection with the Fire Brigades Bill.

Another prominent insurance man said that most Governments did not insure thoir buildings. If the New Zealand Government wished to have a cover on any of its property, his., company, at any rate, would ho prepared to do business on the,'same terms m they would make with any other client.

WHAT MIGHT BE DONE. A gentleman, well-known in financial circlos, pointed out that it was open to the Government to run an insurance fund of its own, as is done by the P. and 0. Steamship Company, tho North-German-Lloyd, our own Union Steamship Company, and other large business concerns. In theso cases, the equivalent of insurance premiums is sot asido year by year, and, as the fund grows, tho insurances with outsido offices are gradually reduced, until the company is taking all its own risks. The Government could form by degrees 0110 immenso fund, earmarked for this purpose, and credited with all mciiioys that would have been paid in premiums if its proporty had been insured with tho companies.

. Such a policy, as applied by the companies montioned, had had valuable results. It helped the North-German-Lloyd to meet the loss caused by the destruction of three of their steamers in tne fire at the Hoboken Dock, New York, in 1900. Tho Union Steamship Company had paid a small bonus out of its insurance fund. PERTINENT QUESTIONS. "If there is no occasion," said this authority, "to insure tho supposed biggest wooden building in the world, which is a mass of inflammability, why insure the books in tho. Parliamentary Library, stored as they are in a good fire-resisting building? If non-insurance is a matter of policy, why mako this exception? And if the books oiight to be insured, why not the buildings? If tin) Government Buildings once got well alight, with a south wind blowing, all the firo brigades south of the Line could not put tho fire out, nor , could tho Printing Oitico bo saved. i "Of course there would be/ono difficulty about a State Insurance Fund, such as I have described. If the country met with times of financial depression, there would bo a strong temptation to those in authority to lay hands 011 the insurance fund, which might then very soon disappear. "Anothor point—if it is .not policy to insure tho. Parliamentary Buildings and the other buildings . owned by tho Government, why was the Christcliurch Exhibition insured?"