INSURANCE HATES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 108, 7 May 1912, Page 3

INSURANCE HATES.

PREMIUMS IN WELLINGTON DISCUSSED BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. CONFERENCE ASKED FOR. The question of fire insurance rates in Wellington was again discussed by the Chamber of Commerce yesterday. In reply to a letter from the chamber asking whether there was- any reason wily the A area (which carries lower rates than other parts of the city) should not be considerably extended, the secretary to the Wellington Fire Underwriters' Association wrote stating that the association had no particulars in regard to the fire losses in Wellington for the years ending 30th June, 1909-1910-1911. and consequently could not supply the information sought by the chamber. The letter also stated that no alteration could be made in regard to the A area. The matter had lately been reviewed by the association, but no change was decided upon. Mr. T. Ballinger said ho thought it was a strange thing that the underwriters kept no particulars of the fire losses. In the absence of particulars ai< exa-ct comparison with other cities could not be made. The figures he lumse'f submitted were absolutely correct, and were taken from the report of the Inspector of Fire Brigades for tho Dominion. In the records he had reail at the last meeting of the chamber ut was clearly explained that the figures related to the three years fire boards had been in existence. One insurance manager had stated that he had been guilty of a, glaring discrepancy in not including £100,000 loss in the case of Macky-Logan's fire in Auckland. This manager should have known that the fire boards' year ended on 3Oth June, and that Macky-Logan's fire took place in November. Consequently tho figures would be embodied in next year's report. While one manager had stated the lossat £100,000, another fixed it at £120,000. This was a rather serious, discrepancy. It seemud to him that these gentlemen were rather helping him in his argument that fire losses' were greater in Auckland than in Wellington. tie quoted from a letter in the Auckland Star, where a correspondent said : "We in Auckland have practically been without water for some considerable time. In my case it takes eleven minutes to fill a kettle; a bath is q, thine of the past. What chance have we if a lire broke out? None whatever, t have been told that the mains and brass connections in the streets are choked with rust. I have been \vaiting for twelve months to fcee some alteration. ' This showed that Auckland's watei supply was not to bo compared to Wellington's. He claimed it was tho duty of the chamber to look into this matter. In the case of his own premises the rate was 7s when the building was of wood. Since it had been erected in brick the rates had been raised to 8s 6d, then to 9s, le*s 10 per cent. Mr. T. C. Dawson considered the underwriters had slighted the chamber. Any business concern would know what its losses were — no doubt the underwriters knew, but would not tell. Mr, C. W. Jones asked how the State fire rates compared with the companes' rates, and what was their, allotment of ar*as in the city. , The chairman replied that although the State Fire Department was not in the association, it adopted all the association's areas, ratings, and by-laws. Mr. A. Leigh Hunt suggested that a conference should be arranged between delegates from the chamber and the Underwriters' Association. Mr % A. S. Buss, in reply to Mr. Ballinger's statement about himself, stated that he had not said the' rates had not been reduced. What he had said was that Wellington insurers would have had to pay still higher rates if Wellington were under a fire board, because the amount paid by the insurance companies towards the cost of the fire brigade would have been passed on. The following resolution was finally carried: "That an endeavour be made to arrange a conference with the Fire Underwriters' Association to deal with tho question of fire rates in Wellington City, and that Messrs. Ballinger, Macintosh, and Dawson be the chamber's representatives."