N.Z.'s First Insurance Company 100 Years Old

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28906, 28 May 1959, Page 17

N.Z.'s First Insurance Company 100 Years Old

The New Zealand Insurance Company Ltd., the first underwriting institution to be established in New Zealand, will celebrate its centenary today.

From a small colonial enterprise with an annual premium income of £4OOO, the company has grown to an international concern with 136 branches in 21 countries and with extensive underwriting connexions in many other lands.

Present-day premium income exceeds £7 million a year, and the company’s assets amount to £l5 million. The headquarters remain in Auckland, the city of the company’s foundation. To mark its centenary, the company has published “Bold Century,” a story illustrated by a striking and unusual collection of historic which recalls how the company was formed in 1859 as a direct consequence of a disastrous fire which swept the pioneer settlement of Auckland on July 7, 1858. Volunteer fire brigades, using crude manual equipment and detachments of troops from the Albert Barracks were powerless to stop the spread of the flames, even when buildings were dynamited to create fire breaks.

ranged from £lOO to £2OO. Rates charged for fire cover ranged from 30s to 45s per cent, for wooden buildings in the vicinity of Queen street to between 20s and 22s 6d per cent; for brick buildings in the same area. Comparative rates a century later are 2s 6d and Is Id per cent. Company Brigades During the ’sixties, the company organised its own fire brigade under the command of Captain Daldy. All insured buildings bore the distinguishing metal plates of the various insurance companies to indicate to the firemen which company held the risks. When the brigades turned out and rushed on foot to a fire, the first duty of each captain was to inspect the plate of the property concerned. The team belonging to the company which held the cover would be left to fight the fire, and the other brigades returned to their stations or stood by to protect any near buildings which their companies were interested. Shortly after its formation the ompany appointed representatives in London and Sydney, and in the early ’sixties branches were

Whole blocks were razed. Only i change of wind and a torrential downpour saved the city from complete destruction. Immediate demands were made Cor more effective fire protection.

opened in most of the States of Australia. In the ’seventies operations were extended to Honolulu and San Francisco, followed by the establishment of branches in Ceylon, India, Hong Kong, China, South Africa, Singapore, Argentina. and Burma during the ’eighties. Expansion to the eastern United States, Canada. Indonesia, East Africa, and the Middle East came later. Pioneer Shipments The New Zealand Insurance Company has stood behind many nioneer ventures in New Zealand, including early shipments of frozen produce, the advent of motor transport, and more recently the development of aerial topdressing. Through its international underwriting, it has also furnished protection in many of the world’s greatest disasters. "Bold Century” contains, for example, a reproduction of the insurance brokers’ slip showing the company’s acceptance of part of the cover on the White Star liner Titanic lost on her maiden Atlantic voyage in 1912, at a cost of 1513 lives. The company Was also concerned with the disastrous fire and earthquake in Tokyo in 1923; the little-known Fort Stikine explosion which flattened the dock area of Bombay, destroyed 10 ships and cost 400 lives in 1944; the devastating Grandcamp explosion in Texas City in 1947; and the collision between the Italian liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish ship Stockholm off New York in 1956. The sinking of the Italian liner, insured for £6 million, resulted in the heaviest single loss ever experienced on the marine insurance market.