CORPORATION INSURANCE

Evening Star, Issue 21835, 26 September 1934, Page 10

CORPORATION INSURANCE

SATISFACTORY RESULT OF OPERATIONS Dealing with the corporation insurance fund, the town clerk states in his annual report for the year ended March '3l last:—To March 31, 1934, we are able once again to disclose a highly satisfactory result of the operations of the fire and accident funds. The balance in the combined fund at the opening of the year was £88,289 2s 2d, which moved up and stood at £91,408 5s 2d, or an increase of £3,119 3s, despite the fact that no premiums for the year were credited to either the fire or accident branch. This highly satisfactory result rvaa achieved, m the main, by the fact that the demand on the accident fund under the Workers’ Compensation for Accident Act was much less than the demand in any of the previous eleven years, the total outgo being only £867 9s lid, while this portion of the fund earned £1,647 in interest during the year. The fire claims amount to £516 10s Bd, or above the average outgo under this head since the inception of the scheme. Of the advance of £3,119 in the balance to March, 1934, £779 9s was due to the accident branch, and the balance, £2,339 14s, to the fire branch. For the year under review, as already mentioned, the premiums either in respect of the fire or accident branch were not credited to the fund. The total amount involved was £4,743, and in lieu of paying the premiums to the credit of the fund that amount was set aside to provide a portion of the council’s cost of supervision and other incidental expenditure in connection with the relief works. It has previously been explained that the original intention was to continue charging the premiums and crediting them to the fund until the surplus had reached £IOO,OOO, when it was intended to relieve the several departments of the yearly charge for premiums. That intention has now been departed from and the monev used for other purposes as one of the expedients that have been forced upon us as the result of the economic depression. If that expedient is to be continued for any lengthy period, coupled with the diminishing return for investments, it is, of course, clear that the rate of acceleration in the fund must be retarded and the day postponed when the six-figure surplus shall have been attained. It is, however, highly gratifying to know that the goal is within reasonable prospect, and that, but for the diversion of the premiums for the past and also for the present year, it would have been consummated at March next year—that is, March, 1935. The following shows details of the claims paid during the year:—

Department. Claims. Amount. Municipal ... ... 20 £248 7 10 Water ... 5 43 7 2 Electric power ... 10 105 2 6 Gas ... 6 50 11 8 Tramways ... ... 13 326 0 5 Total ... ... 54 £773 9 7