LAND SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2216, 31 July 1914, Page 4

LAND SETTLEMENT

I, pPORTIONAL' REPRESENTATION I ? AND EFFECTIVE VOTING j \ HON. F. M. B. FISHER ON ELECTORAL I REFORM

j . THE COUNCIL

i The Legislative Counotl met at 2.30. f pm. , I >. over-Insurance and Flro Risks, I Tho Hon J. DUTHIE asked the ! Minister ■ of--Internal Affairs i- (1) [ ■ - Whether the grave danger which exists [;■: .throughout *New"Zealand' from: fire; risk I throi/gh over-insurance/ and with its ac- ■ companying excess, rates of premium, ' • has received the consideration of. the I'■! Government ;'and, if so, do Ministers pro- [ : poso to' deal with tliOi question this scs-. jy. sion? tho -system of-:co-i insurance', recommended in Volume 14 of j -the, latesti'lEncjclopaedia- Britannica," > K' "and which' is. widely resorted to in tho t United^StateLyJVance, and-.Germany, i has'' llads'itheir consideration i (3) i • iWhetherrth© .New Zealand State liisutl ance Department, after its ■ ten years' I experience,:.is.now able to devise a tariff i for risks calculated to meet the equities ! . and'to:command general confidence? |- -AnUnenviable Position. pIn an-<accompanymgM note the. : Hon. f ' Mr. Dutlne' quoted tho New Zealand : State Insurance .Department' for i 1913, as* follows(1) This Dominion- [ i is in the'unenviable position of having |v to shoulder'per capita probably . tho [ largest.'consumption of wealth by fire of t any cmh«ed to-day. The ! States - of America is,, however,i a closo icomiietitbr.i'v.A .loss .of, over half; a. million, sterling is a serious matter i for so'young a country with so small a. peculation. Wealth consumed by fire ' - is a national loss; * Although calls may i be readily met by 'insurance: offices, it (■ muse riot be overlooked that in turn, ■ the.insuring public are taxed,'by way ofi> insurance premiums-.m >.ratio ;to the, ' losses vincurred.' • - Whilst ; losses rjonuun ! ■ high the premiums' paid must bo ;relatively'high. The total firo losses over ■ a period of ten years probably exceed. :- £6,000,000. .The. question which-natur-i ally arises is, 'How can this huge loss ' /'be minimised?' (2) Over-insurance as, i in my opinion; one of the-chief factors in causing tho present loss ratio. It j could bp largely prevented if, jomt ac- ! tion v,'ere taken by all tho insurance ; offices, i The office winch now. declines i . to insure "up to the full value, or to ; over-insure, loses the business to some :■ other - office with more elastic regula- : tions. I can unhesitatingly state that ; k- at the present moment thero are many i . hundreds-of.-policies ourront m'the Dominion which 1 cover "property for; more - i than the. value, ■-and. Vihich-afford' a s > etrongiiricentive.to incendiarism. Over. 1 . insurance is,; of course, not confined to i New Zealand';-it is now attracting some. ! attention in .'the Umted States, which countrsis running Now Zealand cldsaly ( r for thSXdoubtful Lonout of-'having-tho, 'ratio -in the world; and [ ' until tlie. insurance offices" associate"'!*) fight the evil .whole-heartedly and honi estly, many thousands of pounds will '' . continue* to bo sacrificed yearly. Pur- !; ther,V:!The and Insurance j - Record,?-- a recognised monthly journal, published - in these interests m Mel-bourne,-in its-twelve issues to June-last; loports the ocourrence in Newj2ealand i of 1471Mres,; which is an average enor- , mously„m excess of fires reporteamth© States', of Australia." " : . i '•■■■ » Mfnlster's Reply. , , ;va The, Hon. H; D. BELL replied' that i the issues raised /bad been under, tho.

i\ consideration/of the Government i,<f6r'.| [/ some time. It was. hoped. th'at/.tt .ithe-I ! 'near future' .steps would: be.ftaken* to: !:. minimise' tho.. enormousV firo. losses in- 1 ' curred: in New Zealand upon'the lines ' / "suggested. by; tho honourable:, member, ' The 'Mr. Buthie '.said that" lie [■.... got a similar ■a.nOTorlaGtyraiv Ho had> i nopedi'for something;, more/definite in !. tho i reply. Ho ... would probably give notice 1 of motion on the-mattbr/to allow U. it to be ;more fully debated/Slt' jrae a I' matterVof considerable:.:importance "to li the'community, and '/thought Hhat it , was his duty to give/ notice.'of;'motion • on it. . ;■■•':■ -i■/'. ! ; j • Suburbs Excluded;:! ; ' Tho: Hon. J. DUTHIE askeil 'tho. i... Minister ;Tvhy. in tlie publication ,o.f; sta- ; i - tistics the pbpulatioii' therborbiigtls ' .:-of I'etone and Lower Hutt,wereinbt;iiii eluded with the City of .Wellington 'as a' « part of: its suburbs. He pointed out I- that those boroughs i had over~ been i / closely' allied . and identified with Weli lingtori.They: were its main residential i and industrial suburbs, and combinedjin' : their relations'- all that was understood!

i bv suburban... .The omission, if on the i plea of 'distanco, was frivolous, _asTalsb ; . i mischievous, ,since a misconceptipn/was 1 .bo raised wliicty detracted' from the im-. : portanco of the capital arid th'e middlb ' ' districtiof New Zealand. .'. " • Tho Hiii. H. D. BELL, in reply, said,r that when the matter was gone into last ■' census: it was decided ithat"; suburban' : areas for tho four chief cities should !• he contiguous to andvcome%withm,';a; j fwe-milo/'radius of. tho oity&pa%ema¥* • being iii'.character ...•mainly residehtiii!,!' v and tlieir population mainly employed ,in ; i the city:;' Both Hutt and. Petone-were, ; outside the five-mile- radius, and;neithe'r ! was cbhtiguous to'" at \. small rural portion'of Maka'r'a Coilrity r. Intervening. Moreover, in tho case of | Petone, there were self-contained indus- ; tries established' thero,, employing a : large proportion of its population .v Wolf lington had not' been .treated differently" ! in this master to tlie : other : thrce'cities, ] as Onehuriga and' Otahuliu in regard i to Aucklindj and Lyttelton in regard to ;, Christchurch; were excluded from the ' " suburbs o? those cities. Tlie whole question would bo again gono into before tho f next census, .when tho representations i: of the honourable member would bo /• carefully considered. : The Council rose at 2.40 p.m. .-