The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1889. Tinkering Fire Policies

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 30, 24 August 1889, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1889. Tinkering Fire Policies

We were not supprised when we were informed that tho Insurance Companies were up in arms against the amendment proposed by Mr Downie Stewart and adopted by the House in the Fire and Marine Insuiuuce Bill. The offending clause is to the effect that on and after Ist January, 1890, all fire insurance policies and receipts shall be issued suhject to such conditions only a 9 the Governor in Council shall approve of and notify in the Gazette, and any policies issued on other conditions shall be null and void. The alleged reason for Mr Dow:ste Stewart proposing this extraordinary amendment was that an other member (Mr Feldwick) had previously introduced a far more stringent one, and Mr Stewart's was drawn up with a view of softening the same. As our readers are doubtless aware Mr Feldwick's new clause was lost on the voices. Whether that be true or not is no great matter, and if put forward as an apology it is a very lame one. We disapprove of Mr Stewart's amendment for the reason that we do not believe any Governor in Council, surrounded by the best Ministers that ever governed, or misgoverned, a country, capable of forming an opinion worth a straw on the subject of what should, or should not, be a condition endorsed on a Fire or Marine insurance policy It has taken years of experience by the best and shrewdest busiuess men in Europe and America, assisted by the attacks and defences of the cleverest as well as the most unscrupulous lawyers, to condense and formulate these conditions, as they now exist, into such a concrete shape that *hey are not only comparatively simple and effective, but a safeguard both to the insurer and insured. If Mr Downie Stewart's amendment is allowed to remain in the Bill all that will be changed, and a degree of uncertainty imported into insurance business, which may be disastrous in its effects on vested interests. It is a mystery to us why members should have passed the amendment without a division, and the only explanation which suggests itself is that as the Colonial Secretary strenuously resisted the clause, that was a good and sufficient reason for them to swallow it in ylobo.

We notice that the proposal made hy Dr Newman, that the disposal of the right of advertising on stamps and post cards is under the consideration of the Government, and the (Julonial Secretary is reported to have said he hoped something would come of it. It will he a source of wild delight to newspaper proprietors to see Ministers going into the advertising business, while Dr Newman will find it a hitter pili to swallow when he has to lick a postage stamp on whk-h is flaunted the merits of a patent me -.i cine.

The revenue of the New Zealand railwa} r s for the four weeks ending July 20 was L 67,421 4/4, aud for the corresponding period of hist year L 64,788 0/11, showing an increase of L' 2633 3/5. The total revenue for the current year up to July 20 is L 328,532 6/5 and for the corresponding period of last year L 310,374 10/11. This shows an improvement in the revenue of L 18,167 15/6. The cost of working our railways for the present year up to July 20 was 61 "37 per cent, of revenue, and for the same period last year 64-95 per cent. The revenue returns are of a satisfactory nature.