Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30th., 1929. MUNICIPAL INSURANCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1929, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30th., 1929. MUNICIPAL INSURANCE

’J’HE proposal, that Dominion municipal councils should combine for the purpose of insurance cover, thus eliminating such business with the private companies, and presumably, the State Office also, is important, and should not be accepted or rejected in a hurry. Obviously, the amount of such business must be enormous annually, the various risks including fire, accident, death, fidelity, and compensation claims. The annual premiums paid must total large sums, and doubtless the companies find the cover, as a whole, very remunerative. At any rate, there is keen competition for the business, and most Councils settle the merits of the respective applicants by sharing their patronage. The proposed pool scheme would hit the State office fairly hard, although that factor may not influence the Government when ,it is asked to provide facilities for a bill this session, authorising the municipal scheme. The argument may be raised that instead of a municipal combine, all local body business should be put through the State Office, in such departments of insurance as it caters for, on terms more favourable than at present prevail. Another objection may come from ratepayers nervous as to the calls that may be macle on the borough. The quotas paid by the municipal bodies respectively would, of course, depend on the amount of risks covered, which would be far greater in the bigger centres than in the smaller towns. From the ratepayers’ viewpoint—and this deserves every consideration, —the chief item in connection with the scheme would be the comparison between what is actually paid now in annual premiums, and what would be the probable average annual expense, under the pool 1 project. It is in the ratepayers’ interests to save money, whether insurance premiums or anything else , are concerned, but the smaller bor- l oughs should examine carefully any j scheme that might favour the big- < ger areas, at the former’s expense. ’ The insurance pool scheme opens , thought on a wider field of co- < operation. If such communal insur- . ance is advantageous, why should 1 not combination prove economical ( in other directions? Practice, how- 1

ever, does not always fit in with theory, and the promised advantages from the municipal insurance pool cannot be obtained without cost. Much organisation work will be essential, and a large staff, with headquarters at Wellington will be required to deal with the numerous ramifications of the business. Nor will the settlement of claims be easy. Generally, there is cause for the smaller municipalities to move warily when invited to join.