FIRE LOSSES

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18675, 26 April 1926, Page 7

FIRE LOSSES

The amount paid out by insurance offices in New Zealand by way of file losses during the calendar year 1924 reached the record total of £1,008,746 (states the report of insurance statistics of the Dominion for the period compiled by tho Government Statistician's office). There were 4083 fires and 41 conflagrations (cases where three or more buildings were affected), and the total number of buildings, etc., affected was 4405. The amount paid out represented 23 per cent, of the gross amount of insurance cover on risks where fires occurred, and 0.3 per cent. •of the total amount of cover on all risks. The following table shows for the four principal urban areas and the remainder of the Dominion the fires and looses during the year: Ratio of loss Bldgs. Gross. GiofS to Urban Area, affected, cover, loss cover. Auckland .. 517 794,612 148,047 18.68 Wellington «- 478 976,686 114,173 11.69 Christchurch 347 531,530 157,236 29.58 Dunedin .. 272 331,259 36,686 11.07 Rest of Dominion .. 2791 1,734,534 652,244 • 31.84 Totals ..4,405 4,368.621 1,003,746 23.09 The lower loss ratio exDerienced in the principal urban preas as compared with the remainder of tho Dominion is stated to be due in a very large measure to the greater fire brigade facilities for handling fires in the larger centres.