Scotching a Monopoly.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7730, 4 February 1905, Page 4

Scotching a Monopoly.

(Manawatu Daily Times) 1 A number of extremely agitated fire insurance managers have t>een holding a whispered conference in the capital city on the question of Government interference with Private Enterprise, and they have apparently arrived at the conclusion thait something must be done to stem the rising popularity of the firm of Dick Scddon and Co., Fire end Life Insurance Agents'. To .his tend, they have decided to make sacrifices even to the extent of 33 1-3 rd per cent in their premium rates and to >do other magnanimous things which will no doubt be fully specified when the authorised version of their proceedings eventually finds . the light of day. If the story of the 'Private Insurance Companies is true that they 'have been living on their losses in sackcloth and tribulation for years past, the result of their contemplated sacrifices just announced must be a tragedy too deep for leara. but if, as is more probable, in the face of the annual balance-sheets, of these concerns, they have been doing extremely well out of the public, the effect of the reform movement wiU merely be a readjustment of rates on equitable terms. If the Private Insurance Companies had in wrc pasrtj considered the protests made to them .in regard to the extortionate rat.'s O'f insurance exacted (in many districts, the agitation for s fa tie interference would have teen nipped in the bud ; but they are headstrong, and greedy, and unrcas. l(onable, and combative, and formed |a combine which was contemptuous opposition and challenged compettitioD}. That competition has come from the big- firm of Seddon and Cof., which! is backed and guaranteed by the people of Now Zealand. Gratitude, logic, self-dnteresit, and conimon-scn9e dictate the* course which insurers should pursue, and that is in the coming race of rates to back {heir own horse, and put no tickets on the Private Confoine. If State Insurance fails now it will be at the expense of the ratepayers|. and rates will go up again with a , jump; but if State Insurance survives, tno advantage will be with the public now and for all time.