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Hokitika Guardian, 20 July 1917, Page 2

The annual report of tho State Fire Insurance Office for the year ended 31 December 1916 states that the net profits amount to £35,697, exclusive of £2577 put to unearned premium ro--sorve, and £IOOO placed in investment, fluctuation reserve. Tho profits exceed those of any previous year by £IO,OOO Income shows an increase of £6395. Tho’ working expense ratio is im-ic.ned byo.2 per cent.-, due solely, as-the report explains .to heavier writing down of office equipment values. The loss ratio of the year was 28.22 permit..' which tho general manager regards .as “quite abnormally” low. lie adds: It would appear-from opr loss ratio for the past two -years that the war. lias had a marked influence oii the destruction of property by fire. I trust that this influence may he permanent,? The total “cover” issued by the office during the year amounted to £19,000,000 Assets £166,880) have increased by £40,463 during the yoar. Investments in eluding £30,000 on fixed deposits, total £126,786, but to that has to he added, £25,000 invested in the New Zealand War Loan. The office has set aside £BO9O out of last year’s profits for the purpose of getting a. bonus to policyholders on premiums paid. v The assessment is deferred for the present on account of 50 per cent ol the trained staff of the office being on active service and the remainder unable to fully cope with flie business. Accumulateu •prJits amount to £121,915, this year as compared with £86,217 hist year : net income £B2, 694 an increase of £6395: lossds £21,897 a decrease of. £5579, or roughly, 10 per cent. The capital of the undertaking is £IOO,OOO, but it has not been raised. The office has been in existence fgr twelve years. Dividing (this period into two it is shown that during the first half the working expenses ratio was 34.9 per cent, and. tho ratio of loss 51.8. In the latter half tho expense ratio was reduced to 27.3 per cent., and the losses likewise cut down to 42.1 per cent., those being the per annum averages.

Wiuti.no in the “Quarterly Review” Mr. Archibald Hurd, tho well-known authority on naval matters, remarks ; that the simultaneous prosecution of hostilities by vast aTmies in many theatres has led .inevitably to a lack of appreciation of tho work done at sea. Lictle is heard of the vast accumulation of naval force which is similarly engaged in tho conflict. With tho entry of Italy into the war, the number of capital ships—battle-ships and battle-crui sors—in tho opposing fleets was raised to nearly 200, aggregating noarly 3,000 000 tons displacement. Tho array of cruisers of various types reached 200, and of torpedo craft there were over 700. And now there are the ships of the United States to be added. *lt is interesting to note that not 10 per cent, of the battleships now in the various fleets have on a single occasion fired a gun in anger. The experience, however, is only what might have been expected, in view of the superiority of naval power opposed to the enemy. If the Allied I fleets had won no silent, victories, there would bo no Bnitrish armies confronting tlie enemy in Fiance, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and East Africa, because their existence depends on the victorious assertion of soa power; and the other armies would have lacked tho increased strength which they- have drawn from the control of ocean communications. The British fleet is to-dav stronger; absolutely and relatively, than when the war opened. But Mr. Hurd does not write only of the British fleet. Tho position that exists to-day, he says, is largely duo to tho co-operation, active and efficient, of the fleets of our Allies, Fronch, Italian, Japanese, and Russian. As to Japan, ho says, history will record that this Ally placed a generous interpretation of tho terms of tho Anglo-Japanese . Alliance, and thus made no mean contribution to the final j victory over the Central Powers. Regarding the submarine, Mr. Hurd con-, siders that it is not destined to exer- ( oiso.n doeisivo influence on the course of the war.