The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7. FIRE INSURANCE GAMBLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81883, 7 November 1906, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7. FIRE INSURANCE GAMBLE.

U IXU.NGTOe. lias been suffering limn c< nllagrations lately. It is i.-auuk-ablc mat in tile Capital C.ty, as well ,t-. cl.-ev.hcie, files are epidemic, tiki inhumza 01 mca-los. Ihe public unless b.imeane s buint to death, iigard lues vciy much as they icgard onicr everyday happen ng-—wn.i tne gacic-si ncnclialance. Tne public i--0 n.ialiy n uicd. Many people hav-ir-g gnat faith, aie under-insured, a.:d many people 1110 over-insured. i lie fact thai any pcisun has the power lo become over-insured againsL ii-c s known to have been in bygone ( cases the- Hason of liics. The people iviiu get cc\er- far in excess of t,-,c value of the proptity insured may be

empied, should iliey be inoially vck.- to start a conflagration. lnleul, it is on rccoid thai such things lave happened even in this highly noral country.

THE person who get- the heaviest .over he can on his goods is in nowise 10 blame for gelt ng h. It i--1 comineic.al tran-aetion. lie buys in the best maikci, and if by accicleiii or design h s insured goods aie fi.ed —well, he "makes a re-c." For the piu.-pect of making such "a rise/' lie s wilhng to pay a good premum. Here, however, is the point, forced on die observer by the recent big blaze m Wellngton. It was alleged that certain premises that were burnt were very much over-insured. Why d> insurance compan es give over-in-suiance. S mply because they, just like pi v:ite persons, are smitten wall die gambling craze! The bigger the cover the bigger the premium, and. n die case of good years when theie are few fires, the bigger the profits. Why are insurance companies permitted to give a three hundred pounds cover f"r one hundred pounds' woith of property? Why, in fact, is not this form of gambling—one of the most dangerous and immoral of the bunch of social sin-—suppressed like bookmaking or fan tan, or any other game of chance?

WHY do not insurance compan es value evciything they insure? Simply because the law does not in-ist. A person may insure his home or any other propirty, say, in 18S0, for the sum of /1400. He simply renews his n-'urance at the same prce year afier year, for twenty years if need be. In die meantime he may sell any quanlity of his jroods, reducing the value. The compan'os do not ins'st upon a revaluation of the cover they gave him. and they don't care whether he adds or reduces h's worldly goods. They do not go along to see how he is getting on at all. Their only concern -s shown when a fire occurs. If a hundred pounds' worth of property is burnt, and there is a four hundred pounds' cover on it, they cheerfully pay. If it has been a case of non- . provable incend'arism, they have been absolutely guilty of aiding and abetting incendiarism. In cases where : ncend',irsm has been proved- and where, of course- no in-urance is paid, one 1 has never yet heard of an n urance company being joined as defendant in the charge brought igidnst the incendiaries.

There is absolu-cly no reason why die insurance companies should net tie called upon to answer for the ehargc of neglecting to infoim th-m----:fdves of the value of insured propertv befoie taking a lisk. It should he made illegal for any company to nure propeity until the property has been valued by .1 competent valuer. To make 'ncendlarism very risky, no annua! re-insurance -bould take place uidiout annual lc-valuation. An : ncend'aii*t might easily sell most of lis property before he put the fires'iek into his remaining highly insured goods. Although it mav bo hoped that IllOsi of the fiies thill take place in over-in-nred premises ;ne 'he re-ult of pure accident. ; t is obv'nus that lire insurance compan'os by their Willi: "f system arouse the cupiditv of i'"ir clion's by lining heavy odd:, -icainst (ire in poor premises covered by r'ch insurance.