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complications that may involve the whole Empire in a contest for supremacy in the East. People who have a knowledge of the subject —which I | have not —say that our forts and batteries are absolutely obsolete, and that it would take very little to reduce them to ashes were they confronted I with guns such as are now being built. I now pass to the question of the Judges. I have long thought they have not been remunerated ! in accordance with the duties they have to perform. 3 And when we remember the prosperity of the last ten years and see the large increase of Q business which is being done in every direction, necessarily involving to the legal fraternity very much larger remuneration for their services than they had previously, we j must recognise that the Judges are very much underpaid in comparison with what they might earn were they in private practice. Therefore, Sir, I anticipate with pleasure the probability of our Supreme Court Bench being paid more in harmony with their services and in accordance with what other colonies pay. Now, Sir, I come to a genial subject for me to discuss, and that is the question of state fire insurance. lam very sorry, but I am j not surprised, to find that the companies interested in fire insurance have 4 adopted a hostile attitude towards this new movement of ours. Their attitude is quite Jin harmony with the whole of their proceedings in the past. They are absolutely blind to anything like knowledge of what the people of the colony j think and require in regard to this matter. For years past it has been known that they have a monopoly. Much has been talked about monopolies, but to my mind this is one of the worst, because they have an enormously large reserve capital, and they have a field which they have been able to keep free from all intruders from abroad. They have carried on their business in a way that would have broken up in six j months any other business that had been, con ducted in the same way. If you want an insurance for nine months you have 5 to pay for twelve | months, if you want six months' insurance you have to pay nine, if you want three you have to pay four months, and so forth. And [ then again, as I have pointed out in this Chamber before, they carry on their business with no scientific view at all. Their rates are so high that they can afford to take anything, and they impose on you conditions as to the rate they put on your property that are really I ridiculous and absurd. Theoretical lines are drawn between houses, and differences of 9s. and 15s. are made in the rates. Then, as I say, j they take risks that only the high rates they charge enable them to take. I will give you an instance in connection 6 with a property which J was sold recently. For several years the building on this property had been insured for £650, and when the property was sold j the building was sold for removal for £50. There had evidently been no inspection of that risk, and no application was made by the company j that the value should be reduced, and they came to the new owner of the property for a renewal of the insurance. He said the building j had been sold for £50 for removal, and they did not know anything about its position and value. How could a competitive business be carried jon by such methods ? You insure a house for ten or fifteen years for, say, £1,000. 7 Naturally, unless you keep improving the place, it J deteriorates in value. Should there be a fire the question is raised as to whether they will rebuild, and they fight you on the question of I compromise or rebuilding. I do hope this new Department of the State will pursue something like a policy of common sense, and that when they take j risks they will make sure that they are of the value they are taken at; that they will give reasonable rates, and not charge twelve months' for a nine months' insurance, and so forth, but will proceed on the same lines as other trades have to do in order to insure a j successful business. Then I come to the great question of leasehold versus freehold. I suppose there will be many 8 opportunities of discussing this question during this session.

Nα. 88.— Boob-keeping. — For Civil Service Junior. Tune allowed: Three hours. 1. Edward Williams accepted James Thomson's draft for £45 ss. 6d., dated Ist July, 1904, and payable three months after date : write out the bill, with acceptance and due date. 2. Give definitions of the following terms : Bills payable, contingent liability, cheque, limited liability, mortgagor, post-date, composition. 3. A grocer's sales for twelve months amount to £7,500, expenses amount to £525, bad debts to £250, and profit to £875 : what rate per cent, of profit must be realised on his sales to bring about this result ? 4. The following were the ledger balances in the books of A and B on the 31st December, 1904 : arrange them as a trial balance ; also show Trading Account, Profit and Loss Account, and Balance Sheet:—The goods on hand at date of balance are valued at £2,583. A receives three-fifths and B twofifths of the profits. A's capital, £1,380; B's capital, £1,060; goods, 31/12/03, £2,437; Edward Jones owes £49, Thomas Evans £210, and A. Black £338 ; Bills Payable, £1,124 ; Bills Receivable (all on hand), £235 ; the firm owes T. Williams £241 and E. Browning £115 ; Purchases for the year £5,774, and Sales £6,823 ; Charges Account is in debit £147, Salaries £388, and Rent £150 ; the partners had drawn, A £224 and B £195 ; Cash in hand £53, and in bank £543. 5. From the following particulars prepare London account sales : 37 bales wool branded CD and numbered 1 to 37, ex " Gothic " from Lyttelton, consigned by Charles Downes, Christchurch, and sold by Frederick Jones, London in three lots as under —15 bales crossbred weighing 34 cwt. 1 qr. 21 lb. gross, @ Bd. per Tb ; 18 bales half-bred, 43 cwt. 0 qr. 17 lb. gross, (a>, 10d. per ft ; 4 bales matted and pieces 12 cwt. 2 qr. 18 lb. gross, @ 6d. per ft. Deduct from the gross weights 12 lb. a bale for tare and 1 lb. per cwt. for draft (for each lot calculate on the nearest cwt.). The charges were —freight on 10,1081b. @ fd. per ft. plus 5 %, dock charges @ 2s. a bale, sale expenses @ 4d. a bale, fire insurance 10s., brokerage i %, and commission 2 %. 6. Rule a simple form of cash-book suitable for a firm which allows and is allowed , discounts, lodges all cash received in bank, and pays only by cheque. Also give six specimen entries on each side.

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