The Dominion Magazine Page

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 811, 7 May 1910, Page 11

The Dominion Magazine Page

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; Accident Insurance. . Accident Insurance and Employers' Liability Insurance have grown to mammoth! proportions,- mainly through the Workmen's Compensation' Acts of several countries. In Germany, workmen's. compensation for accidents and 'injuries is on an elaborate scaled' The figures published recently relating to .accident and. employers' liability insurance.deal with 1908, and .. Bhow '• that a total of £7,898,128 was received in premiums by 68 British offices; as compared with £6,976,591 received during.l9o7. Of _ this, £4,352,536 was absorbed in claims, and £2,951,802 was paid in expenses, leaving a surplus of £593,790 'but of the business, .transacted by all Companies. -This is equivalent to 7.52 per cent, of the premiums received, but if 33 1-3 per cent, of the increase in premiums received be placed to reserve in order to provide for the corresponding increase in unexpired liability, the balance remaining; which constitutes the actual profit on trading account, is reduced to' approximately 3i per .cent.

With. respect to' Employers' liability insurance in the United Kingdom, the reports .of thirty-four tariff companies and .16 non-tariff companies for 1908 show that the total premiums earned by the tariff companies amounted to '£2,030,230. Claims amounted to ' £1,256,684, being 61,90 per cent, of premiums earned; while commissions and other ■expenses totalled , £737,747,' or 36.10 per cent, of the premiums. The balance on trading account, after deducting about 40 per cent, for unexpired risks, was £40,799, or exactly 2 per cent. Among Accident Insurance Companies the Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation has achieved a remarkable success, and to-day stands iii tho forefront of accident companies. The thirty-ninth annual meeting of the Company was held on March 22 in London, and the Chairman's speech, which gives an excellent ' resume of the year's business, is interesting also for the variety of other information it contains. In the course of ]iis remarks, the Chair-

ST? 7? JT'Ei have to go back quite a number of years to find the beginning yj/yj/ of insurance, but Lloyd's is as far as we need go. This vener.V V able institution started in a coffee house, marine underwriters foregathered and transacted.,business. The history of Lloyd's reads like a romance, but' Lloyd's underwriters at the outset confined themselves to marine business; in recent years they have been equal to covering any risk. For instance,' last year, just before M. Bleriot accomplished his Channel flight, insurances were placed at 30 to 35 guineas per cent., to pay a total loss, if any aviator succeeded in flying the Channel within two'months; and three days.before M. Bleriot's fly'a line w«is placed at' 40 guineas per cent. . "

, man, Sir Thomas Hewitt, K.C., , said: —. ■-. "Insurance, is a business, which ' is the reflex of the commercial advance' of trade generally, and I fear that when times arrive which press hardly on the finance and prosperity of tho commercial world, there is a disposition to forego the luxury of insurance and an endeavour to make up for deficiencies by running the extra chance involved by non-insur-ance, "I have referred also on previous occasions to , the enormous Increase In the number of - competing companies. These appear to bo registered and formed, and then Join In a long procession of early Indebtedness, raking In of premiums, cutting of rates, and ending with the natural result In want of success and tho final • lowering of their flag by amalgamation ■ and sale of the concerns, or possibly by the process of , winding-up. "In the meantime we havo'to fight off the constant attacks companies occasioned . by . the temporary

lowness of inadequate . premiums which they are bound - to' accept to, allay the hungry clamour of unthinking shareholders for increased dividends. Policyholders unfortunately forget that such premiums can only' result in endeavours to make both ends meet by non-admis-sion of claims, and delay in payment to the injury of tho employers' reputation. Tho Number of Claims. "Tho number of claims' for compensation in workmen's insurance during the past year has been 33,309, and the number of fatal cases has boon- no less than .300. Tho percentage of claims is still increasing day by day, which shows that the experience in claim-making is growing wider and more rampant. The claims ratio .of the forty-one offices forming tho Accident Offices Association was no less than 05.09, calculated on sums put aside for claims, but I fear' that instead of 03 per cent, it will he much higher. The combined returns of tho outside companies showed a claims ratio of 69.21, but the average provision by them for claims was £11 12s. 2d., compared with # £19 18s. 9d. of tho above more important companies. Somp recent decisions of tho. Law Courts havo greatly widened tho liability of employers and rendered the adequacy of rates now fixed greatly fallacious. As an old lawyer I may be forgiven if I mention that the effect of one decision is that in case of an injury to a youth ho can year after year claim an increase of compensation'up to half of that 'which

Msk& ©f Kills.

THE WISE MAN INSURES.

' A recently-established British '. Insurance Company has formulated a scheme. under whiclj, proprietors of schools may indemnify themselves against loss of fees occasioned by a varioty of causes. Loss of fees occasioned by an outbreak of; an epidemic either in the school or in tlio neighbourhood of tho school, and necessitating tho closing of the establishment for at least one-half of a term, and loss of fees caused by fire occurring on the school premises are indemnified up to an amount in either case not exceeding one term's fees. Loss of fees consequent on more than 2 per cent, of the pupils beuigi.absentjroin school during at least one-half of any one term by reason of such pupils having met with an accident or having contracted disease, or on account of illness of an infectious nature existing at the pupil's home, is also covered. Insurance-'of'ients has met with considerable acceptance on the Continent, especially, in Norway, whero a mutual company'has worked up a very successful business. In the United Kingdom policies are issued which relieve-landlords of their liability to tenants or the public in respect of.injuries arising from defects, etc., in premises. A policy issued by one British offico differs to somo extent from anything previously in' the field. ..Any; person who satisfies, the Company that he is a first-class life, and that his ago does not exceed; 50, may become the possessor of orte at the annual premium of £7 10s. per £100 insured. Should the holder bo "totally incapacitated "'from . attending to his business for any continuous period not less than a week, the Company will pay him the relative ■ proportion of premiums on all his policies of every kind. Rent; taxes, interest, etc., may also bo covered by'special arrangement. There is Burglary insurance, Plate Glass insurance, Live Stock insurance, and. insurance against almost every risk and contingency imaginable. When Sir Joseph Ward or any of the State Treasurers of tho raises a loan'in London, the underwriters, line up and underwrite the issue for a small commission. Of. the varieties and combinations of life assurance and endowment assur•ance'and'Tcntino''irisufaric6;a..'.volume could be written. •"■'•."

he jirould probribly have been earning' but for the accident. Again, it lias been decided that sunstroke is a ' personal injury by accident.' Also, that gratuities must be taken as part of. a workman's earnings for the purpose of compensation. Further, that where a husband and . three sons contribute to the support of a widow, she is partly: dependent on each, and the- Judge can award a maximum fund of twelve years' wages, not exceeding £1200. Also, that a ship's stoker fatally overcome' by the heat of the stokehold when .in a weak condition of health 'had sustained . personal injury by accident,' entitling his representatives to receive compensation; and, lastly, that a man without'any unusual strain dying from heart disease whilst at work has met with an accident within tho meaning of the Act. Tho Constant Increasing Liability! "These and similar cases indicate a constant increasing liability on employers and their insuring com--panies. Domestic insurance business is by no means a sinecure, tho number of our fatal cases since the passing of the 1907 Act having increased to 60, with claims for injuries to'no less than 10,000. lour Board years ago discovered the danger of the practice of insuring Debenture issues, and for-the last ten years have declined to do so; and though a modest-.and most careful business to a small extent in the guarantee of mortgages has been accepted, yet I think you may be

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Again, last year several insurances were effected at Lloyd's against a possible early dissolution of the Imperial Parliament. For these policies underwriters charged 25 guineas, and bound themselves to pay a total loss should Parliament be dissolved before: December 31. Insurances, of this class are intended to indemnify the assured against actual loss incurred in the event of such a contingency, for it is known . that a general ©lection always affects certain classes of business adversely.',' Sq also insurances are affected when a foreign sovereign" visits London, and a vast deal of business was done at the time'of the King's Coronation. Almost every kind of risk can be covered now, and the Life Insurance Companies have put forward many interesting proposals.

pleased to learn that our premium income from that source lias been so small that it has never even exceeded one-half of 1' per cent, of our premium income. (Hear, hear.) We absolutely decline to guarantee, mortgages on licensed houses, theatres, industrial securities, and the innumerable commercial ventures constantly brought before us." The Ocean Accident. . The company is one which has done a deal of pioneering work-in the ac-

cident insurance field, and, despite the strong opposition encountered in later years in the establishment of accident branches ..by various fire underwriting companies, the "Ocean" has more than held its own! The Ocean has only been established in New Zealand some, eleven years, but during that comparatively • short period it, has met no fewer than 16,000 claims, which •have involved an outlay of over £200,000; These figures speak for

themselves, for they mean that a sum approximating a quarter of a million, has been paid' out to people who .have suffered, in various ;ways, from accidents, many of it is safe to say, would have suffered severely had they not been wise' and prudent enough to cover-themselves against accident.' Mr. C. M. Montefiore, the General Manager in New Zealand, whose portrait _ appears here, left yesterday, at. the; invitation of the directors, on a brief business visit to London.