INSURANCE VALUES.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1930, Page 6

INSURANCE VALUES.

The' information afforded th,e general public by the discussion ■on fire insurance arranged for by? the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce should do a good deal to clear away misapprehensions and misunderstandings. The exposition of the attitude taken by insurance companies was authoritative, and the reasons for it were given in language that was clear to the average policy-holder. The Chamber of Commerce is to be congratulated ilpon having brought up_a matter upon which there is a good deal of ignorance, even among those who are most concerned. One. thing emerges from the discussion quite clearly. It is that of buildings is an evil that must be guarded' against. It affects the whole community directly or indirectly because the charges for insurance must be ■ governed by its cost to those who' take the risks. New Zealand’s record for fire wastage is a very unenviable one. .Over, a million pounds every year literally “goes up in smoke.” That fact has a decided bearing upon the costs of insurance, and experience has shown that ,in a large percentage of fir-es are due to a lack of care. That some'of them are deliberate attempts to obtain insurance money .is no doubt true, but supervision is strict enough to prevent this occurring to any great extent. The presumption that the maximum, compensation provided for in a policy will be paid as a matter of course may have a tendency to increase carelessness, and from every point of view it is as well that the public should be aware of the exact nature of the contract implied in a fire insurance policy.