Page 7 Advertisements Column 3

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4733, 15 August 1902, Page 7

peases io which State insurance is liable; besides the heavy premium which the inclusion of the. more dangerous risks would require, and the probability that, instead of being a source of profitable revenue, it would result in io.-s to the Government at any approximation to the usual rate of premium. The Commission unanimously decided that the proposition ought tiot to be takeu into consideration —a recommendation which, after some discussion, was can ied in the Assembly. Far-seeing men, those Frenchmen! THE SHlillWl) AMERICANS DECLINE STATE FIRE IASLKAKCE.

The question of municipal insurance ajipears to have attracted attention in the State .of Massachusetts in 18SU. The Inland Commissioners say:—“in view of the large profits of certain insurance companies, tile question has been agitated whether tin* municipal governments of towns and cities cannot assume the functions of insurance with profit to their revenues and economy to the owners of insurable property.” They then review the history of State insurance, and arrive at the (uuelusiuu “that with companies large enough to fee stable, and numerous enough to afford the public the benefit of considerable competition for business, we shall piobabiy obtain tiro best, and on the whole cheapest, form of insurance/* In 38b*5 the same Commissiouers again return to the subject, and offer the following observations:—"Government insurance, or insurance by towns and cities, has often been proposed and earnestly advocated by men not destitute of financial knowledge as likely to i make insurance more useful, both to the I citizens and the Government, but after 1 giving the subject the most careful study in our power, wo cannot recommend any more direct connection of political authority in any shape with the business of insurance. By seme of the second-rate I arbitrary Governments of Europe fire | insurance has been practised with great benefit to the revenue, but a high price «>. So far as it has been tried by free Governments or municipal,. I tici3 it has been to their serious cost and has turned out a failure/* In the United States, in 1873. several of the States exhibited a strong leaning m favour of the experiment of State insuranee, and the subject was considerably discussed in the House of Representatives, and finally another report was asked for. Tbo report made was a lengthy one, and had the effect of settling the matter against State insurance. TORONTO’S NARROW ESCAPE. In 1891 the Toronto (Canada) Oily Council adopted a scheme for the establishment cf a Atnnieipal Riirean of Insur“DC.e - /}■ Bill was drafted with great care by the City Solicitor, and approved of by the Council. Alderman Lamb, who was the prime mover in favour of the scheme based the probable expenditure on fire risks on -an eight years’ average of 227,334 dollars; but before the Bill could be introduced to the local House of Parliament two largo fires in the city swept out of existence property valued at nearly a million and a-half dollars. Since then nothing further has been heard of the Toronto scheme of municipal insurance. THE EXPERIMENT AS TRIED IN SWITZERLAND. The system of State insurance until recently in force in Zurich and some other parts of Switzerland applied only to buildings. Although more perfect in its woiking than in any other place in Europe, the results did not indicate any remarkable measure of success—quite the opposite. The diflieuUies of carrying out such a system with equity, especially in a large community, are' almost insuperable. To assess the cost fairly it. was necessary not merely to value each individual building, but to measure the gree of risk it was exposed to from its coi: stmetiou, its surroimdings, its uses, and its contents. It was found that to place in the hands of public functionaries the power to do this, as well as to adjust tiie amount of compensation to he paid in the event of a fire, was a course that was not always attended with satisfactory results. THE PATE OP COMPULSORY INSURANCE IN SWITZERLAND. [Copy of a telegram ’which appeared in the London “Daily Mail.“J "(Prom Our Own Correspondent.) “GENEVA. Sunday, May 20. 1900.

"The lair of compulsory insurance rasset! by the Federal- Government of Switzerland in October last, which excited such opposition at Zurich aud other places that a refersndum, or vote, on it of the whole people was petitioned for and secured, has, as the result of this referendum, been annulled by a majority of nearly 1 70,000 votes/'’ AN EMINENT FINANCIAL EXPERT ON THE TORONTO BILL. Mr K. Donald, in his paper in the "Coutomporaiy Review,” referring to the Tcronto Bill, thus sums up the question of municipal or State insurance:—"This Bill violates the fundamental basis upon which the fire insurance business is conducted. Eire insurance is a question of avciages, of distribution of risk, not a!cue in variety, but in area. The large fire insurance companies arc world-wide in their operations, A municipal scheme confining insurance to one-city ilies in the face of recognised experience and scientific principles. It concentrates, instead of distributes, the risk. _ln the case of a big fire now the loss is distributed over a number of companies, and the effect is not severely .felt.- A great fire in a town where there was only one c-iupauy would involve a very heavy sirain. The financial risks ..which a scheme of municipal insurance involves wcultl, it is argued, lower the credit of the town which establishes such a system."' LIFE v. FIFE INSURANCE. Here in New Zealand the comparative success of the Government Life'lnsurance Department will doubtless be urged as an argument in favour of State fire insurance. A moment’s icflcction, however, will show that the two businesses do not. run on parallel lines. The business of life insurance has become so perfected of lata years as *o become what one might designate as "an exact science." Fire insurance, on the other hand, can never, from the entire absence of sufficient and reliable data to work upon, be anything else but "an inexact science.” TO SUM UP. In conclusion, it may be useful to point out that "State" or "Municipal Insurance" is simply a scheme of mutual insurance, conducted by the'public atithorilies without any special skill or fitness for the business, and, indeed, without much scope for the exercise of skill, for all the risks have to be insured, and hence the important underwriting faculty of selection never comes into play. This one of the chief leasons of the failure of State insurance. C. M. GHAT, Christchurch. August, 1002.

FITZGERALD’S PHARMACY, Corner Willis street and Lambton Quay. HAVING purchased the above business from Mr Wm. C. Fitz Gerald, I hope to merit a fair share of support. SPECIAL ATTENTION will be devoted to the DISPENSING of PHYSICIANS’ PRESCRIPTIONS. £JHARLES JjtLETCHER, PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMIST, Late Proprietor of Wallace and Co.. Christchurch. FUNGUS! FUNGUS! ntHE undersigned will suve the Highest JL Price in the colony for Fungus, Sd per lb, Wellington Railway Station and Wharf; must be dry. All communications should be address'd to VEE CHONG. 193 Manners street.