Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7,1895.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 10093, 7 September 1895, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1895.

THE NEW INSURANCE TAKIFF. K The nt>w firo insurance rotes as fixed at the Melbourne Conference will nob give univeraul satisfaction. Perhaps no tariff that eonld be devised would do so. Itnb, Be though the tarlfl will remove many anomalies, it lms been fixed entirely in the Interests of tbe insurance companies. There will be a reduction in very many — perhapslntheßrent majority— of cases, but it will not be ao much as waa hoped for, and in other instances the rates will be raised. Tho old spectacle of ""cutting" 13 rates Id one town, with abnormally high

a In anoDher, will be done away wi:b, | yesti new tariff is strictly automatic, and I Mr 1 lies both Id tottn and country to all j the l itralasia, and every office doing bu»i- I Tl jln the colonies is bound by it. 01 I ( rse by thot we do not mean that the j q O3 >s will be the same in all towns. The I p. ferenee carefully considered the | parl lion ot every town as regards water | ' or iply, 6re extinguishing appliances. | we * I so on. Napier, bhanks te j r water supply, takes first rank, j *j°° far as tbe business portion I j an the town goes, the rates will be I byi ni!or to those at Auckland, Welling- I atli i. nnd Danedln, and lower than at I P al tristchnrch. The subnrbs generally I *£] II be rated lower than at Wellington I , Dunedln. On house property in town I p a i nerally there will be a redaction, vary- I B U| g according to circumstances. The I asi inciple of the tariff is a minimum rate I tai i which additions are made according j £J i special internal risks, tbe contiguity I •. ' other buildings; tbe natnre of con- I guons property, and so on. Thns for Ij n le firßt time special rates will be charged I dt hen <;as engines are nsed, they being I '2 lassed with steam, and grnßa-seed clean- I " 2 ig machinery, and snrae other kinds I lfio iavolve extra premiums. Thfi mini I j( mm is considerably lower than tbe I iresenb tariff, speaking broadly, but in I f( omfi instances, owing to these Bpeol&l I B fake, Internal or external, there will ba I jj 10 rednctlon, and in a te# there will be I c in increase. For example, anyone having I d i gas-engine on the premises, and having I 1 the misfortune to be next to aI j sugar boiler's place, will probably I find his premium raised rather than I lowered. But where there are no I J snob special risks there will be redactions I , more or less substantial, bat varying to i I greatly that we cannot state the cpb I other than in general terms; Coantiry I residents will not like the tariff, for they I will find the rate's increased by an averapa I of something like eighteenpence or twi j shillings per cent. It has always struck j us as an utter absurdity that a house la I Napier, with ltshich-preseure water supply I and rjp-to-date fire extinguishing appll ances, should be assessed at the same rate as a house at Havelock or Kaikora. In future there will be a difference of thn c or four shillings per cent. The tariff ii decidedly more equitable than the old ' one, taking it all round, but, as we have said, it will not givo the relief hoped for, and will accentuate, ratber than arreso the movement in favor of mnniGipal or State Insurance, while a decided impetus will be given to the negotiations now proceeding between the Insurers' Proteoblcn Associations in the chief towns for the formation of another Insurance compary outside tbe tariff.