THE INSURANCE DOCTOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 17

THE INSURANCE DOCTOR.

HIS COUNTRY ACTIVITIES. ADVENTURE AND COMPETITION [l'.y "QUACK.") Thu journalist, as a recorder of events from day to day, holds a position of responsibility po great that I wonder I sometimes if his sleep is ever quiet and | undisturbed by thoughts of what he' may have- done. A few careless words, I flowing lightly from Ilia pen and being given publicity in type, may be fraught with unexpected and serious consequences. Thi's-e. however, who write of events ■ long past and persons halt or wholly forgotten carry no such burden. Their l expressed opinion of past words and j deeds may «TVo tr. interest or amuse, j but there can be little injury !o anyone,and history per be is history or legend, and invariably open to question. Herein, then, I write of what "as. free from the trammel? of the journalist, j Amongst doctors, the '•insurance t rip"' j Jβ considered , ('was considered*' Founds too historical) the last resource of a barren exchequer, but as it promises change of scene, wears something like the appearance of a holiday, and pays | something o\cr nnd above its expenses, | it is not unpopular with men not over- j burdened with professional engagements. When New Zealand roads were really bad, and there was not a motor car in the country, the doctors who, in company with an insurance agent, toured j in search of prey ami premiums, had | quite exciting time?. Two carpet bags, two waterproofs, a sulky or a buggy, j and a stout horse formed the outfit, and if no public place of accommodation loomed up by nightfall there was always a farmhouse, or a shed, or a clump of sheltering bush for the weary insurers. (The person who is insured i 3 a proponent at this stage.) It happened that two such pairs of travellers, each pair acting for a different company, set out on the same morning, at the same hour, from the same boarding- i house, to "cover ,, the same line of country. As the doctor gets one guinea for each person examined, and the agent a liberal share of the first premium paid, it follows that the interests are mutual. The agents had gone over the ground previously and were- strong rivals. There was one house both had missed, but since their former tour a family , man, wife, two sons, and a maid had j come to occupy it. The work of the two pairs of travellers was fairly even, and they passed and repassed frequently, both in haste to be first to reach the ' virgin ground of the newcomers. A ; thorough examination and the filling in ! of the insurance form (if one man , does both) takes fully twenty minutes, | and ten to fifteen if the agent assists j the doctor. It is admitted that the | details are sometimes '"faked" slightly, j tut in very little in earthly matters is , perfection attained. As Dr. A raced , through his cases he comforted himself I by remarking to the agent as they ! drove away from each, "Well, he looked a good life, anyhow." As the" two i vehicles rattled "down the road towards | the supposed uninsured family, that j containing Dr. 8., with a youthful a>*ent, was first. The house was sighted half a mile distant, and the entrance to the premises was about half that distance on the far side. "They beat us easily," said Dr. A. "Pity there isn't a short cut across the paddocks." "If you hold tight, iDoctor, I'll make one," said the agent. The wire fences which bordered the road were typical of the country, for in places, battens "were absent and the upper wires were sagging. The agent, from the left side, took a ■half turn right, cut the horse smartly with his whip, and rushed the fence. The horee rose as if to jump, and with forelegs well over, dropped his weight on the wire. Like the Kodak Co., the barbs "did the rest-" The scratched and smarting eteed drew -the buggy over the lower wires, and bumping and rocking over tueeocks, dipping into drains, and swaying like a boat in a choppy sea, the spidery carriage skipped its lively way to victory. When the second agent and TJr. B. arrived by the legitimate road, they found •Dr. A. apparently asleep under a tree (the horse and buggy were out of sight in a ehed), and were greeted by the opposition agent as he came out to call hie doctor. '•Three thousand the old man; two the missus; and a thousand each for the boys. Come on Doc!" Then, to the new arrivals," If you two fellows nip around to the back door you may catch the maid, \ and get a hcr on a five-bob premium; we [ tannot waste time on any small fry to- [ day, we're busy." ! Dr. A. and the same agent, were on another occasion, more than daring; they ■were plucky. 'Driving a sulky through a tortuous gorge they met at the sharpest angle of one of the acutesl curves j, a buggy and pair, containing five small j girls singing gaily, and driven at a rapid i, pace by a fat old woman, flourishing a ■ etock whip. The meeting was as sudden I ac a flashlight. The buggy held the mid- | die of the road. There was no room to I pass. On the outside was but a bare ! lour or five feet of space, and a thirty ' or forty foot drop, over a tUecp brackenCovered bank, to the stream. The agent shouted something which sounded like I' "Over!" and to avoid a collision, drove j. straight across the angle and over the I edge! \. The doctor .jumped and rolled, nnd | sprawled, and rolled again, to the bottom, j One wheel of the sulky crumpled up, and ~ the agent took a header downward-, well | in advance of the struggling horse anil i' crashing, cranking sulky. For some reason j connected with the co-relation nf forces and gravitation neither ot the two latter reached (lie bottom. Tin- horse ]:iv with | his head resting on a -mall imuMer i' 'heaj down, tail up to the load, and one ; leg projecting through the bottom of i the sulky, which, with shafts wrenched off. liy at. right angle* to the horse. The agent, after doing a linal heels-over-head at the bottom, «at up, looking dazed. The doctor uas giddy from tin- j accustomed horizontal revolution, but lint I too gi.idy to feel his legs carefully before making any attempt to trust hip. weight ' to them. In the distance down the gorge ' could br> heard the faint shrill voices of I the children singing- They had seen j ■ nothing of the accident beyond the rapid ' passing o c . the sulky. i "Hurt?" questioned the doctor. I "Xo, thinks be,' , said the agent. -Are i j-oii ?" i "When my eyes stop flickering, I'll I Make an exam,' , replied the cautious doc- ) fc»r. ( "Say, Doc, Are you insured." asked ' tie agent. I ".No." replied tiie doctor, nnri they both ; laiprhed as thny went Uμ to release the btrs-e, -but,' , lie. added. "I will sin- you ( iv damages if jou hurl mc by driving < «** cliffs without first asking' my per- i *" —-