INSURANCE ON SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19952, 20 November 1926, Page 15

INSURANCE ON SCHOOLS.

THE DEPARTMENT’S PRACTICE. EXPLANATION BY MINISTER. (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, November 19. Combating the suggestion that an outbreak of fire in a school would cause actual loss to current revenue, the Minister of Education (the Hon. R. A Wright), in reply to a question to-day, explained that by section 133 of “The Public Revenues Act, 1926,” the Public Trustee had in hand an insurance fund which could, under the act, reach a maximum of £IOO,OOO, and towards which the Government paid from the Consolidated Fund £IO,OOO per annum “ This,” said the Minister, “ has been the practice since 1912. The insurance fund was intended to cover the risks on all Government buildings throughout the Dominion, but, as in the year 1924, the destruction of several large city schools made serious inroads into the fund it was decided that the Education Department should pay, in addition, the sum of £IO,OOO a year, practically thereby covering its own buildings. The policy adopted in the case of a fire is that_ a claim is made on the insurance fund for the cost of the rc-crcction of a building of the same capacity as that destroyed, and the same material and, if the capacity is greater, or the material is brick instead of wood, the Education Purposes Loan Act is charged with the extra cost. The present value of buildings covered by the £IO,OOO insurance is approximately £5,000,000. For the year ending March 31 last the insurance paid by the Public Trustee totalled only £SOOO. This* was certainly a light year as regards lires, and it is probable this year that the losses will total at least £IO,OOO. Even so, the damage is covered by 4s per £IOO. which is, of course, a much cheaper rate than is offered by an insurance company.”