FIRE WASTE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 22 July 1925, Page 7

FIRE WASTE.

GONE UR IN SMOKE. MILLION AND A QU.aIMER. The Minister in charge of the Statu Eire Oltice has laid on the table ol the House tile annual report 01 the State Dire Insurance Office. The toim net revenue from ail sources amounted to £199,390, snowing an increase 01 £21,00a over 1923. ’JLne claims lor the >ear totalled £60,817, as against .i-46,t7g tor 1923. -“A. majority of the lires,” says the report, “continues to arifc e from preveutahle causes, and an awakening ol public interest in the problem of lire waste could hardly lab to Have the ehect of reducing the present annual loss, thus preserving national wealth, winch at present is being dissipated, and warranting further reductions in insurance rates. “All too often it is forgotten that, from a community point ot view, lire insurance saves nothing. It merely distributes the loss. Official records show that the aggregate amount paid out by all offices 111 insurance losses in New Zealand during 1923 was £796,281. figures are not yet available for 1924, but the loss will certainly be much higher than lor 1823. Bearing in mind that the amount paid by insurance ollices represent* only part of tile lire waste, it may be estimated that a million and a-quarter pounds’ worth of community wealth was ('(inverted into smoke and ashes, and thus utterly lost.