Fire Insurances.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3140, 12 March 1879, Page 1

Fire Insurances.

i The following article on the above appeared in a recent number of the Poverty Bay Standard: ;

; There is no wooden town in Hew Zealand of the size, and wealth of Gisborne ■o unprotected against fire; yet the experiences of the three heavy disasters which 'hare inflicted losses upon the Insurances Companies—and which will take them many years to recover from—do not seem to awaken either the people or the Civic authorities to the necessity of organising a fire department. It seems to be generally admitted that if there had been any organisation at the recent fire, which has made Gisborne rather notorious, a great deal of valuable property might have been Bared. There is a general, but erroneous, opiwrn abroad that Insurance Companies should be ike largest contributors to fire department; and, also, Jbear all the expenses incurred at a fire. But, it must be remembered that upon an approximate estimate, fully one-third of the destructible property in most towns is insured. Moreover, the contract between the insured and the Companies is, that the | insured himself shall make every possible exertion to save his property in times of danger; and it cannot be too firmly fixed in the minds of the public generally, that ; Insurance -Companies are not legally liable for damage cautei by the failure or wilful ntgleciol insurers to take proper steps tor I the effective protection of property at and after a fire. It is upon this covenant, combined with .the efficient state of | appliances for, extinguishing fires, that tli c rates are fired. Consequently, it is both 'unreasonable and unfair to demand from |the Insurance Companies that they should 1 bear all these charges which are sought to be put upon them. The settlers should 'protect themselves by every .safeguard, and then the Companies would treat them liberally, in fifing rites of premiun, as is general throughout America. Indeed, they have always treated any claims for just expenses with liberality, and this lias never been denied. Unless some pro- ! tective measures are soon suggested, rates in the more densely occupied blocks will be increased, which- will take a large profit off the business of traders occupying wooden buildings. Let insurers calculate on one hand the cost of a fire department and a water supply, even through a temporary one ; and, on the other hand, the high rates which must be exacted by Insurance Companies and the individual losses they will sustain. They will then find it cheaper.to. bear the burden of a small city' tax to defray the cost of, or interest on, efficient appliances. In this connection, the colony, as a whole, is singularly deficient. There are many of our New Zealand towns in which hundred* of thousands of pounds are at stake—without considering tho great risk of : life— in which the fire appliances are in an inverse ratio to the requirements; and it Will be only after some fearful disaster that our Colonial or Civic authorities will recognise-the fact that they) have- been really living in little better than a powder magazine.' Take Wellington, for instance, with its dense blocks of wooden and galvanised iron buildings. There is a brigade there, which has often done good service, and a somewhat uncertain supply ' of water from a reservoir* in -the hills at a fair pressure, but not the least precautions have been taken, to utilise the water in the bay to protect the long line on the water front. Such a city as/Wellington should bare at least three powerful stean>engmes. Let a fire overtake Wellington on one of their windy nights, or even days, and it will sweep it as long as there is a building in its line, and would, possibly, entail a joss to the citizens or nearly a million sterling. Christehurch is not much better; the appliances are good, but theorganisa♦»on doles not seem to be very perfect, nor *>ie BUPP'y adequate. In Dunedin i^ c of water," not to te relied on during the t™™* monJJ»«- J n striking contract W these .are the fire arrangements tbrougho^4™^"^ri - California, where, the Kew i/W" 1 Gom* pany opened sonifi four years u^°\ a where most of our' colonial comp inietT a $c now successfully pushing' business, thero is ; scarcely a town with a population of I; 000 inhabitants, but what has a witer supply and fire detachment, supported by -the Civic auth6nties. r In San Francisco there is, perhaps, one of the best tire departments in America, conducted with the best appliances, and by the best ingenuity that can be conceived. The cost to the Corporation is about £60,000 a year. The tested efficiency is considered by underwriters in fixing rates; and, but for this efficiency, the fire premiums would be very oppressive upon the people. In. sma'l country towns where there are difficulties in bringing water front long distances, a supply is obtained from wells, where it can always be tapped at from 20 to 30 feet in depth, or from rivers, it the town happen to be situated on one. It is pumped into Wooden reservoirs fixed on trestles at a height of from 60 to 80 feet above the. ground; thence it gravitates into distributing pipes throughout the town at a pressure of from 30 to 40 pounds to the square inch, which, supplemented with a powerful hand steam* engine, is a strong force for the class of buildings generally found in country towns. As the first cost is very inexpensive, and the expenses of maintenance small, such a plan might be temporarily adopted in Gisborne for fire purposes and watering the streets. Another method by which properties mar be saved is by fixing iron tanks at as nigh an elevation as possible, and keeping them filled with water to let into iron guttering which should be perforated with large holes and fixed in the ordinary way round the roof of buildings, on' an alarm of fire in the vicinity. This plan, by keeping the sides of the house wet, has been known to pro* aerve buildings from catching fire. If the tanks can be erected sufficiently hiph, a similar pipe might be ran along the ridging of the roofs, which would keep

the roof w*t—a rery important consideration when shingles are generally used. No lar y e mercantile establishment should be without a Bibcock's Extinguisher. It is most useful at an iucipient fire, and has saved thousands .of pounds' worth of property. It is simple in construction, and costs but a few pounds.