The Insurance Com-BINATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 185, 12 July 1883, Page 3

The Insurance ComBINATION.

[Rangitikei Advocate.] Although the busings j.-eopi* ii Manawatu were thY- first to take th< initiative m lb> movement to b>e k down the prohibitive tariff of the insu ance compauies, they will n'»i pr. fir by the. result of their efforts to any considerable extent. The business folk north of the Ran gitikei rivpr have been restored to their old position of having their properties insured at moderate rates,* whilst the people south of the river remain as they were— that is to say, they have to pay rates from 60 to 75 per cent, higher than those obtaining m Rangitikei and Wangaoui. The reason of this extraordinary difference is wholly incomprehensible. Houses on the south side of the Rangitikei river are built of the same class of materials as those on the north side ; the settlers on both sides of the river belong to the game races, and are on a par m the matter of honesty. The only explanation available is that the agents on the south of the river get their instructions from Wellington, whilst those on the north side are controlled from Wanganui. The "unholy alliance" was broken down as far as it concerned •agencies directed from Wanganuj. What are the Wellington people and the •■Wellington Press about that they do not imitate the action of their Wanganui and Rangitikei confreres ? It is as certain as that the sun will rise to-mor-row, that were the property-owners ot Wellington to combine they could easily compel the insurance companies to reduce their at present monstrous tariff. If the Wellington people choose to be bled, then the people of Manawatu, wbo, We take At,are not enamoured of phlebol* omy, should to a man, insist on heiny - joined to the Wanganui district, and sharing m. the advantages of tbe j 'St and reasonable tariff obtaining there. As a matter of fact* Manawatu might just as well bo worked from Timbuctoo as from Wellington. Wanganui is the natural capital of the West Coast for insurance as well as for other business*