The Manawatu Standard. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant La Verite. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1883. EXORBITANT INSURANCE RATES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 173, 27 June 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant La Verite. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1883. EXORBIT A NT INSURANCE RATES.

rfqME.of the Insurance Companies doing 1 business m Wanganui have been taught a salutary lesson through attempting to coerce the public into abnormally high .charges. by .means of the establishment of a monopoly. Not satisfied with the existing rates, an unholy alliance was sought; to be created with a view to raise them still higher. The Wanganui people very properly resented sue!) manifest greed and unreasonable injustice., A meeting was convened, and the whole question discussed, and it : was shewn that the proposed increase m ;. tariff was quite, unjustifiable. A circular was also distributed m the country districts, pointing out the necessity for | combination, to -resist the monopoly by eyery legitimate means, aai showing that the increased tariff proposed to be r enforced was bo. exorbitant as to be almost prohibitive. It was suggested either to 1 form a local Insurance Com- ! pany or to form an Association, all members of which would unitelly agree to give all their insurance business to an outside company for a term of say five years, at a premium to be arranged between the association and the company. •'fhese measures brought the Insurance Companies to their senses, and tbe Royal Insurance Company was the first to" secede from . the Associated Companies which refused to modify the tariff, and tbe South British followed suit, and also withdrew from the compact. As the Wanganui H raid points out, the result is that the tat iff, which was arranged at the instigation of two agents from Wellington City, has come to an untimely end, and the companies fltaud m a worse position than they were m before the Welling on combination. 'This is one of the results of following- ch;r lead of Wellington, an! ought to be a lesson fot the future. If it only 9Rryeß thia useful end, we shall be well satisfied . The fact is tint, as ! we indicated/ a tariff monopoly against the public is impossible, and must always end m failure, producing a reaction unfavorable to the companies. Each company will now act according to its discretion, and we have, no doubt that the former business relationship on terms favorable to all parties will be quickly, re-established. . . It .is a matter ! for congratulation that the alliance has broken up, and ' it is hoped those who 1 Sought to inaugurate it will profit by the experience gained.