REDUCTION IN PREMIUMS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1934, Page 7

REDUCTION IN PREMIUMS

STATE INSURANCE FIGURES.

THE EFFECT OF NEW VALUES.

(By Wire— Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Last Night.

The small reduction in the premium income of the State Fire Insurance Office last year is due, states the annual report, mainly to the adjustment of the amounts insured to a lower-level in accordance with present day values. Premiums totalled £201,000 for the year, and claims went down in an even greater proportion than income, for they amounted to £49,000, compared with £112,932 in 1931, when the premium income was only £15,000 higher. The cost of rebate concessions to State Fire policy-holders is estimated at £19,000 annually, and as competing companies, also give a rebate the general manager of the department considers that the ' total savings to the public are not less than £lOO,OOO annually. Income from premiums in the accident insurance branch of the department showed a further decline last year due, states the report, to the fall in wage returns and the lack of employment. Claims involved the payment of £48,593, compared with a premium income of £80,200, representing 60.58 per cent, compared with a ratio in 1931 of over 80 per cent.