INSURANCE COMPANIES AND FIRE PREVENTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6819, 25 September 1883, Page 6

INSURANCE COMPANIES AND FIRE PREVENTION.

TO THE KDITOB. ■ Sir,—l notice that the fact of the insurance. offices .not: contributing'to the Fire Brigade is under discussion by.the members of., the City Council. It is satisfactory to observe that one member of the Council has grasped the: true principle involved in thia question. ;If the intelligent section of the community will; fairly, couaidcr the,-matter,' I-feel certain that the absurdity of, calling upon-fire companies to contribute to.fire prevention purposes will, ere lo'Dg, be universally : admitted. insurance offices assess, their .premiums 011 a .sliding scale,' according to the general character of a town or district, that is to.say, if fires are numerous and serious,, premium# rise;.but if., water,supply, and means of fire prevention, generally . are ..good, rates decrease in a. ■eorresgbnaing. , ',ratip. ,^,, H6w,'.. then, can it. be. said that offices derive the chief benefit from an , efficient Fire' Brigade If Auckland' possesses a: fine water supply and efficient Brigade, insurers most;. certainly get the: benefit thereof in. low. .fire rates; but why insurance companies should be.'asked to conr tribute to what are the means of lowering their rates, it is difficult to understand; for,; by the very reduction of their premium, they, give the public a quidpi'O quo, and ;if offices also contribute to Pare Brigades,, they will practically be rating themselves twice for lire prevention purposes. Further, it is an uudiaputed fact that much property is uninsured. Why, therefore, should offices be called upon to share expenses incurred to render suchproperty more seouro from fire when they have no direct interest in its preservation ? In the sister branch, of life assurance, no sane man thinks of calling upon life offices to con-

tribute to drainage, or other sanitary schemes, and yet the mortality rate is usually much reduced by such measures. In short, if o country is. unhealthy or subject to serious conflagrations, premiums will be high ; but if the opposite.state of things exist low rates will prevail, showing that citizens receive a material contribution from insurance offices— in the shape of 'a concession in rate—to all schemes for the protection of life or of property against fire.—l am, fee., Insura>ce Shareholder.