South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2181, 15 March 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1880.

The traffic in conflagrations is making rapid development. Various wet blankets have been applied, but the flames, although sometimes temporarily repressed, have burst out eventual]} 1 " more vigorously than ever. There have been a few committals for incendiarism, but they have ended, like the fires, in smoke. And committals in these degenerate days of loose justice and depraved commei’cial morality are thought very little about. The tradesman, who is committed on suspicion of setting fire to his premises, is no worse off than the editor or newspaper proprietor, who ventures to protest against systematic swindling, and is prosecuted for criminal libel in consequence. The criminal dock like the bankruptcy court is rapidly loosing its terrors, and we shall not be surprised, if, under the influence of our enlightened institutions, it should yet become fashionable. In a colony of cheap Magistrates what else can be expected? Are there not Resident Magistrates in this island as helpless in the hands of a second-rate attorney as the babes in the wood under the escort of the robbers ? It is always safer for these judicial sucklings to commit for trial than to risk incurring the displeasure of the hectoring bully whose legal knowledge, though superficial enough, yet surpasses their own. Thus the jury system has become a sure refuge for Magisterial incapacity — the liberty of the subject is rendered insecure, and the Press is gagged. The honest and the dishonest —the man who raises his voice or weilds his pen against prevailing fraud, and the deep designing scoundrel who makes a rise in the world through the agency of lucifcrs, kerosene, and insurance policies—meet on the same level, and pass through the same ordeal, with this difference at the end, that the former is well sweated of his hard earnings in defending himself, while the latter obtains an additional polish for his character as a smart business man. Thus it happens that the flames live and thrive in spite of wet blankets in the shape of coroners’ inquests and barren prosecutions. Even the rewards of associated insurance brokers have produced no effect. Eonfires and bankruptcies are the order of the day. For months past these two important commercial agencies have been running neck and neck. Lately the bonfires have taken the lead. There is no doubt that from a business point of view the intervention of a successful fire is much pleasanter for the individuals chiefly concerned than the services of the creditors’ trustee. The accidental contact of a vesta or candle with a few kerosene saturated rags usually leaves a respectable dividend for all parties. The victim of the accident is condoled with and congratulated in the same breath, and the fortunate man having paid his way, if he does not retire on a competency, inspires renewed confidence and starts afresh with better prospects than ever. How different from the case of the bankrupt, whose substance is swallowed up in legal expenses and commissions, and of whose stock only the bare bones remain for the creditors to pick ! On the other hand, nobody is offended unless it is the insurance agent or manager, and if he is not pecuniary interested as a shareholder, his cause of complaint cannot be serious. Thus it happens that fires are increasing in popularity, and vestas, caudles, and kerosene promise to take the place of the ■whitewash brush.

By-and-byc, wc presume, it will occur to the honest simpleton of commerce that by various indirect processes he is being defrauded right and left. He will begin to reason this way— “ Why should I continue to struggle on from week to week and from month to month cndcavoi'ing to meet my bills when Tompkins over the way wipes off alibis debts with a splendid conflagration, and Smith, his neighbor, whose standard of morality is somewhat inferior, obtains an order of discharge from the Judge in bankruptcy? Here I am paying heavy insurances in order that Tompkins may reap a good benefit. It seems very hard that while I attend Divine service as regulaxdy as Tompkins, Providence never thinks of sending an explosive lamp, a suicidal rat, or an accidental spark in my direction. Here I have been for years paying handsome ‘consultation’ fees to the insux’ers, and yet I have never di’awn a prize.” And it is possible that after serious reflection he will come to the

conclusion that he has been too careful about fires in the past; that unlike Tompkins he has regarded the conversion of an unsaleable stock to ashes as a stepping stone to fortune ; and that he has been too careful about the interests of others and unmindful of his own.

We will pursue this unpleasant train of thought no farther, but we will address one word to the insurance companies of New Zealand, and another to the honest tradesman whose success in life and business has been greatly marred through the want of an elastic conscience. And first we would ask the insurers, what, as a rule, is the origin of fires ? Is it not carelessness criminal carelessness on the part of the insurance agent ? criminal carelessness on the part of the insurer ? Juries have thrown odium on the insurers because goods and property have been over insured. We will go further by declaring that neither goods nor property should ever be insured up to value. Merchandise fluctuates in value, and under the commercial barometer stocks arc constantly undergoing material alteration. The stock that is valued at £IO,OOO to-day may only be worth £IOOO a month hence. Periodical inspection is needed as a precaution against reductions, and the valuer on behalf of the company should be a thorough adopt and expert at his work. The offering of high rewards for the discovery and conviction of incendiaries will do little good. To prevent crime, not to punish it should be the aim of the insurer. Prevention can only be accomplished by taking away the existing inducements. But advices of this kind have been heaped on the Insurance companies of New Zealand for years, and what has been the result? Have inspections been more frequent and careful ? There is one thing, however, that will possibly have a telling effect on modern insurance management. The tradesman who has been paying high premiums for the benefit of others will begin by and bye to regard fire risks not exactly in the light of a lottery, and he will resolve, perhaps, no longer to minister to crime and fraud. When he erects new premises, he will endeavor to make them as nearly fire-proof as possible, and instead of relying on the aid of the insurer, he will protect himself, The loose way in which risks are accepted has therefore a direct tendency to make every honest man his own insurer. In the same way the illegitimate and reckless use that is being made of the bankruptcy court is calculated to put an effectual cud to the credit system in commercial transactions. Tradesmen who mean to pay their way will take care to have more in their tills and less on their books. The honest and reputable portion of the community are gradually awakening to the fact that they arc being victimised through the gambling that is going on in insurance policies and trade speculations, and those who arc feeding the flames may feel assured they will take effective steps to protect themselves. Insurance companies and bankruptcy courts instead of being beneficial arc a curse to the trade and commerce of the colony. In plain words they are simply agencies by which the fraudulent and criminal are enabled to prey upon the honest and reputable. The latter have been taught a severe lesson many have been nearly ruined through the way in which they have been handicapped. In self protection they will do well to consider the expediency of arming themselves against the two great evils that afflict our commerce by making themselves as nearly independent of the insurer as possible, and avoiding the credit system as far as practicable.