THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1878.

Grey River Argus, Volume 21, Issue 3046, 21 May 1878, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1878.

Perhaps there is no class of strictly commercial transactions which so nearly approaches the confines of gambling as that of insurance ; and to that reason may be attributed the facfc that any apparently unnecessary delay in payment of losses is regarded somewhat iv the light of a failure promptly to meet a debt of honor. In using the term "gambling," we do not for one moment desire to convey fche idea that the process of insuring, in any of its branches, possesses any of the bad and demoralising features of games of chance ; but it is akin to them in bo far as the insurer pays periodically small sums of money, in order that should a certain event, or accident, happen, he or others may obtain a larger sum. Upon that chance, and collateral contingencies, depend whether the insurer or the insured will be the gainer. It is not a purely commercial transaction in which profit and loss are regulated by fixed laws ; and for this reason, we repeat, probably more than for any other, the public, i.e., the insurers, are apt to look upon delays and grumblings in settlement in the light of breaches of faith akin to nial fides in connection with debts of honor. ! VVe cannot say thafc specific circumstances have come to our knowledge that would warrant in charging any particular office with being " backward in coming forward," but it must be admitted that too frequently a disposition is shewn to compromise, more especially in cases of I fire. The fullest and most exhausI tive enquiries should certainly be I held into the circumstances attending the destruction by fire of insured property j but where there is a total absence of evidence indicating fraud a prioi-i or a posteriori, then we take it that any bargaining, any " beating down," to use a well-understood phrase, on the part of the insurer is in bad faith, and by no means calculated to inspire confidence in the minds of the insured. The most successful companies are those that promptly meet their engagements ; and the surest way to forfeit confidence is to seize . upon wholly adventitious circumstances to gain, an advantage nofc provided or calculated for in the original agreement. Take, for instance, the case of a man who has insured his i property for LIOOO at a time when that j sum fairly represented its value. Circumstances over which he cannot possibly have any control depreciate thafc value, and while so depreciated ifc is accidentally destroyed. We contend that the insurance company has then no right to take advantage of the depreciation to bring ; pressure to bear with a view to inducing the insured to accept a leaa sum than that j mentioned in his policy. Such tactics are not only unfair in themselves, but are certain to recoil directly on those who adopt them, and indirectly upon the whole system of insurance. The subject upon which we have touched is one that in these days of great competition in this particular branch of business must sooner or later receive attention j and we feel assured that the public will be quick to discriminate between the companies that abide by the ptricfc letter of their contract, and those that resort to questionable shifts.in the endeavor to modify their responsibilities.