A WAY TO WEALTH. The Kind Assistance of Insurance Companies.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 148, 2 May 1903, Page 8

A WAY TO WEALTH. The Kind Assistance of Insurance Companies.

WELLINGTON is at present prosperous. Innumerable houses are going up, and few are coming down. Fires have been as scarce as bankruptcies. Most people are honest in> Wellington, do not over-in-sure, and are not, as a rule, suffering with the incendiary disease. If a person wrtih destructive tendenciesi, and a leaning towards lucre, is able to insure £50 worth of chattels- for £200, the said chattels reposing in a rented house, can he do it ? Evidently. * • • From published reports, it is alleged that elsewhere m the colony furniture of less value even than £50 has been "covered" to a larger extent tihan even £200. It may be that even in the Empire City it is passible to "make a rise" rapidly per match, with the kind help of the insurance companies. A fire insurance company started operations in the dominions of the Sultan two years ago. When the fires got alarmingly frequent, Abdul issued an order that all persons over-insuring their property should be put in, gaiol. The fires were less frequent thereafter. But, Turks are a bad lot, anyhow. * * * Fire insurance in a highly-civilised land like this is a boon. The inflammable nature of our buildings make it impossible to avoid conflagrations, especially when wax matches are universally used, and rats love tallow. Suppose that in this 1 comparatively sinless country there is one person in 10,000 who is a sinner, and he is able, by the expenditure of a few shillings, to make a few hundred pounds. And supposing that insurance agents, aching to write business., are on his track, egging him. on to save his furniture at as high a figure as possible, so that the said agent may get a percentage of profit in proportion to the amount written, what then? People who see a decent "rise" absolutely thrown at them, are sometimes frail morally. * * ♦ It is reasonable to suppose that fires of great magnitude, entailing serious loss to insurance companies, are infrequent enough m New Zealand to frighten insurance people into a strict valuation of chattels over w hich a "cover" is desired. An extremely good basis of valuation would be the price a Wellington, auctioneer would give if he desired to sell again at what he deemed to be a fair profit. Persons desiring to take a policy to cover risks to life are carefully examined by medical men, who ascertain the worth of the subject from an insurance standpoint. It 's presumed that some system of valuation of chattels is also in vogue. * * ♦ But, the extremely frequent disparity between worth and alleged value, as seen through agents' eyes, leads us to remark that a closer examination into the subject might save many a person from temptation to indulge in too much match-box. One cannot prevent rats carrying wax match, but one can indulge in safety matches 1 , which are equally cheap, and if one wants to insure, one can get an auctioneer's saleroom valuation. It is more honest, and saves the anxious insurance man any qualms he may have after the conflagration- that his generosity might possibly have had something to do with the extraordinary fondness of rats foi wax matches.