FIRE INSURANCE ANOMALY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 507, 20 February 1920, Page 2

FIRE INSURANCE ANOMALY.

A very desirable aim by the United Fire Brigades was disclosed in a letter from the Pukekohe Voluntary Fire Brigade to the Pukekohe Borough Council on Wednesdy night. The letter consisted of a request that the council should give a subsidy towards the expense of sending a delegate from Pukekohe to a conference to be held at Hastings. Ihe United Fire Brigades are making a strong effort to have legislation passed which will force the Underwriters' Association to contribute towards the cost of fire brigades' maintenance, where such are not under a fire board, and neither do they n.-ike any reduction in premiums. For example, property owners in Pukekohe Borough, where a fire brigade and a municipal water supply exist, have to pay just as high premiums as do the owners in wayback townships possessing neither a town water supply nor a fire brigade, nor even a "bucket brigade." To comply with the requirements of a lire bo.ird, the Borough of Pukekohe would have to spend approximately £3OOO for plant, which, of course, is out of the question until the population is greatly increased and the business and residential area much more closely built upon. Seeing that voluntary fire brigades and municipal water supplies annually save thousands of pounds worth of property from destruction, it logically follows that the real beneficiaries (the insurance companies) should contribute towards the tost of maintenance of such brigades. Voluntary fire brigades are composed of public-spirited men, highly trained, who unselfishly give a lot of

their time, and undergo terrible risks on occasions, to save life and property. From every point of view it is, therefore, only right that these bodies should be given every assistances—especially by insurance companies. Every local body in the Dominion should support the United Fire Brigades' demand for financial assistance from the Underwriters' Association, and also demand a reduction in premiums where reasonably adequate facilities for fire-fighting are provided. This tatter point is also a concession that the United Fire Brigades have been fighting for several years past to obtain. If they could only be brought to realise the fact, property owners have it in their own hands to bring about a reduction in premiums. If they would but use their personal persuasions with their representatives on local bodies, and also ventilate their just grievance fully through the Press, such pressure would be brought to bear upon the Government of the day that the necessary legislation would soon be pjaced upon the Statute Book. While on this topic, we may take the opportunity of pointing out that as far as Pukekohe is concerned, there is not much prospect of a reduction in premiums until the water service for the whole of the borough is completed. There exist at the present time what are technically called "dead ends," or streets where the water mains are carried up to a certain point and then stopped. The Underwriters' Association demanda —and rightly so—that the circulation must be complete and continuous, and this condition cannot be obtained while "dead ends" exist. Herein lies a very powerful reason for" why the proposed loans, In which is included one for the completion of the water reticulations, should be carried at the forthcoming poll.