The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 4, 1906. FIRES ON WOOLSHIPS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1799, 4 July 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 4, 1906. FIRES ON WOOLSHIPS.

The alarm of the Underwriters as to tiros in wool lias got to such a stage that a veiled threat has been made that if the New Zealand Government do not accept the hint and institute enquiries there will be a great increase in insurance premiums. The Underwriters coolly assume that the matter chiefly concerns them, and no allowance seems to be made for any concern on the part of the owners of wool shipped to the Old Country. The frequency in recent months of fires in vossels carrying wool is certainly extraordinary and most disquieting, and anything that can throw light on the subject will be as eagerly wolcomed by the owners of the wool as by the Underwriters. There has been some controversy as to whether wool or flax has been responsible for fires where spontaneous combustion -has been given as the supposed cause For some reason the flax experl s have been very eager to lift the blame from flax and discredit wool with quite a new risk; and it is probably to a large extent j due to the zeal of these individuals in ( casting the responsibility on wool that \ the Underwriters havo become so nn« <

norved as to cry out for tlio Now Zealand Government to make enquiries tliat could bo much bettor carriod out on tho spot. The probability is that tho frequency of the outbreaks is merely coincidence, though wo cannot | expect peoplo who make their profit out of insurance basod on average risks to feel satisfied when coincidence I crowds some of those risics into a narrow period. It is to tho intorost of all concerned that strict supervision should bo kopt at the ports of ship* mont; that is dosirablo in any case, as every precaution is dosirable in regard to valuablo eargoos. It seems, however, that tho Underwriters are making altogether too much out of what , has happened so far. They must [ expoct to take some risk, and it has not yet been shown that there are any extraordinary risks to justify threats I of greatly increased premiums if the Government does not step in and do what has been suggested. If it can bo shown that the action suggested would provide any solution of the problem agitating tho Underwriters—for it has boon given the importance of a problem of magnitude—then no one would be more willing than the wool growers and shippers to fall in with the proposal. In the meantimo we believe | that if matters are allowed to rest .it will be found time will prove fires in wool to be a rarity, and that the Underwriters have no solid basis for the demands that are now being inferentially made. A later cablegram statos that the Underwriters intend to give preferential ratos to vessels provided with fire extinguishing apparatus. That is certainly a more reasonable way of gaining the end in view, unless it is intended as a means of getting in the thin end of the wedge for increased rates.