FIRE LOSSES

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1930, Page 2

FIRE LOSSES

A. SPECIAL INVESTIGATION. AUCKLAND, January 13. The veteran chairman of directors of the Yorkshire Insurance Company, Sir James Hamilton, of York, who arrived from Sydney by the Aorangi, is revisiting New Zealand after an interval of nine years. Sir James has been on a visit to the company’s principal in Australia, and will return there after a fortnight in New Zealand. He will visit South Africa on his way back to England. He is accompanied by Lady Hamilton, and Mr M. T. Sadler, the company’s superintendent for Australia and New Zealand and Mrs Sadler. Sir James said he watched with interest the progress that New Zealand was making. Asked if he intended to make special enquiry about the high rate of lire loss in New Zealand, Sir James said he would merely point out that property destroyed by fire was really lost, notwithstanding the insurance cover. The insurance companies were able to distribute the burden of loss very widely so that the indivivual Kelt it lesp, but it was a mistaken notion that insurance could make good to the community for perishable property that went up in smoke. Much was heard of the large profits made by insurance companies, but the position was generally misunderstood. A few years ago several of the largest English companies

had taken out figures of premiums and losses paid. These showed that the underwriting profit was about 5 per cent. It was quite true that many of the companies paid large dividends to , their shareholders, but these did not come to-day from the business of insurance so much as from the large reserves which the companies has built up The reserves were only such a prudent individual would try to create in his private estate as provision for the future, and for contingencies. In the insurance business they were necessary to safeguard also the interests of pol-icy-holders, who were thus assured of full indemnity in almost any contingency.