Earthquake Damage Covered By War Insurance

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 52, 4 March 1944, Page 5

Earthquake Damage Covered By War Insurance

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March 3. The Earthquake Damage Emergency Regulations gazetted today provide that from the first of this month all propc:-,) compulsorily insured against war damage is also insured against earthquake damage, the minister in charge of the State Fire Insurance Office (Hon. D. Wilson), stated tonight. The insured is required to bear the fi’st £5 of each claim except where damage fs caused by earthquake or fire. Other earthquake insurance takes precedmce over this insurance. The cover does not attach to property where earthquake insurance has been refused or cancelled unless the defective construction causing refusal or cancellation has been' corrected and the cover does not attach in the case ol property whic.. suffered earthquake damage that has not been made good. However, the commission has power to insure property excluded in this way on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit. It also has power to cancel or reduce earthquake insurance on property if there are defects or if the property is over insured. The Commission may also grant cover to norty carrying voluntary war damage insurance. Settlement of claims may be made iu cash or by reinstatement. “Have a Rest?” Writing from a place in the heart of the bush, the unpronounceable name of which would be recognised only by the dozen or so inhabitants and the editor of Every Place in New Zealand, an elderly timber worker replies to an Auckland friend’s suggestion that he should have a rest. After explaining l hut they are a whole gang of men short, and he is carrying oil singlehanded much of the time, “finding felling and squaring timber, finding all the tram routes, taking the levels, finding the right grades, designing and building all the bridges, and excavating the foundations,” he points out that such problems as trying to build a 200 ft. bridge on his own are not his only worries. He refers to the difficulty in getting men for this work, and says one man the manpower authorities sent along was aged 78. However, the final straw came when, after receiving urgent demands from the Timber Controller for more timber, the Government sent a circular asking whether he could spare any ,iuen for overseas service. “And you say, ‘Have a rest!.’ ”