INSURED STOCK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 225, 16 June 1908, Page 3

INSURED STOCK.

, THE. SYSTEM AT ADDINGTON. Tho, proposal ' recently made at- a North Island meeting, that there should be a fund opened for the insurance of stock at . sales against loss by condemnation for diseaso, is not new. Tho system is at work at Addington sale yards, where both seller and buyer pay into,, the fund. There are different rates fixed for cows, heifers, and steers. Tho danger that the fund would encourago a man to market a lot of diseased cattle, and get compensation from the fund, is overcomo by a simple precaution ,(says a Southern gentleman). An inspector • employed by tho fund first inspects all the stock submitted, and rejects anything that looks, suspicious, so that only apparently sounc] animals can be insured. The suspicious animals are branded, and are offered for sale at tho butchers' own risk. If. insured stock are condemned at 'tho abattoirs, tho condemning officer -gives a certificate, 1 with record of identification. The system' has worked so well that at the last annual mooting of the . fund members a suggestion, was made that tho premiums should be reduced on the ground >that the claims had -been considerably less than the revenue. Numerous 'interesting incidents arise out of . the system. For instance,'-tho cattle of a grazier , found to be. very badly affected may have to be totally refused cover by the fund. It is said' that all parties at Addington regard tho system favourably, , and if it should bo extended in the North, good results will doubtless follow.