INSURANCE RATES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 133, 3 July 1909, Page 2

INSURANCE RATES.

increased! AFTER AUGUST, By Telegraph!— Press Association. Auckland, East Night. Enquiries made to-day in insurance circles regarding the decision of the -n----surunce companies to raise the rate for lire insurance, elicited the information that the higher premiums will be chained 011 ami after August Ist next. It was tjUited that the nei trading losa to the combined companies for IUOB was J.10E);334, ami. for th<? last, live years £2s4ji)stf. "These figures are lamentI able.," said one insurance authority, j "The losses liuve occurred and are still I occurring, and the companies cannot he expected to provide a surplus of which they shall all be paid. It is u great pity, but none the less true, that the lire waste in the Dominion is excessive. This should not be the case in a young and prosperous country like this, but there is no disputing the facts. Until some satisfactory solution is arrived at, or until there i; a reduction in losses, the rates will 'have to remain on an increased basis." A leading underwriter stated that even at the proposed increase of rates, lire insurance will be barely payable. What the actual increase is' to be ha 6 not been disclosed. STATEMENT BY MR, 1-OWLDS. Wellington, East Night, interviewed by a -New Zealand Tunes reporter, the Minister in charge of the State Fire insurance Department ( tho ! lion. Geo. FowUls) said the position in . regard to insurance rates was that when the State Department was started 1 t hey fixed rates for risks on dwelling- ■ house* at ten per cent, below those current, believing that to lw as low ' as they would be justified in going as an experiment until experience had shown whether the Department could be carried on safely on that basis. This was met by the companies by cutting below the then existing rate of 33 1-3 per cent., and, of course, the State office 1 had no option left but to cut down to the level the companies had fixed. Experience had proved that those rates were disastrous from an insurance point of view. Last year the State Office made a considerable loss on the business which was done and all the companies doing 'business in New Zealand were badly hit, so that it was quite clear that the existing rates would not be maintained without heavy, losses ail round, "i donVthink it would be justifiable to run a State fire insurance office in such a way, as to make it a burden on the general taxpayers of the Dominion." he said. ''The only way to avoid that will ho to get a reasonable increase in the rate to meet the risks we have to run. The function of the State fire office must be to see that the rales of insurance companies are kept within reasonable bounds."