INSURANCE POLICIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 238, 9 October 1933, Page 6

INSURANCE POLICIES.

I have before me "Insured's" letter with regard to insurance policies. Surely one who, according to himself, has had a certain amount of experience with regard to insurance practice should be able to propound a more suitable series of ideas than those given. Admittedly there is a clause to the effect that the policy is one of indemnity, but how is the average layman to tell whether or not the insurance company is over-valuing his house, or the opposite, as the case may be? A Government assessor might get over the difficulty with an independent valuation, but the expense would prohibit such a course. This course naturally would have to be followed every year or two to allow for depreciation, or at times appreciation. His suggestions for the refunding of the premium are very weak. How is the company to refund that premium paid over and above the reinstatement value of the objects of the insurance, in a case Of fire? A house insured twenty years ago for £500 would bo worth at times more or leas than that amount. For one year a £COO cover might be required and the next one for £450. Surely passing a camel through an eye of a needle is fit play for a child compared to judging a fit amount for the refund. That portion of his letter with regard to the moral qualities of the New Zealand people shows that he has very few ideas as to the character of the average, or rather, the majority, of this neople. ALSO INSURED..