Most Viewed Automatic Re-investment Of Dividends
Canals And Docks
American Railways
Bonuses
British Government Funds
Banks
Foreign Government Stocks
Borrowers
Colonial Government Securities
Dividends
Least Viewed
Insurance Companies
Surrenders
The Stock Exchange
Loans - The Interest On Which Is Guaran-teed By The British Government
Mortgages
Loans To Corporations And Counties Of The United Kingdom
Terminable Annuities
Table Of Interest On Investments Sample
Railways
Government Annuities
|
Fire Insurance
This is a distinct branch of insurance business,
the object being to compensate a person in case
of pecuniary loss through the accidental burning
of his property. By paying annually a com-
paratively small amount in the shape of pre-
mium, a person may insure that in case of the
destruction by fire of such of his goods as may
be specified in a fire policy, issued by the Insur-
ance Company, he will be recouped their value.
Nearly all the Fire Insurance offices are agreed
in charging a certain rate of premium, which is
called the tariff rate. For dwelling-houses built
of brick or stone with slate or tile roof, the rate
is only 1s. 6d. for every £100. For more hazard-
ous buildings such as thatched houses, ware-
houses, inns, shops, &c., the rates are higher,
according to the nature of the risk. Household
furniture and the other contents of a brick or
stone house can be insured at various rates, or
they may be included in one insurance with the
house, when the rate would be 2s. per cent. for
the whole.
It should be remembered that there is a limit,
usually of 5 per cent., of the whole sum so in-
sured, placed on any one work of art which may
be destroyed.
For instance, a picture valued at £200 maybe
burnt in a house which, with the contents, is
insured for £2,000 If the picture were alone
destroyed, the office would only compensate to
the extent of £100, being 5 per cent. on the
£2,000, the total amount of the insurance. Any
particular picture or work of art may, however,
be specially insured by itself.
Insurances should never be made for a greater
sum than the value of the property insured, as it
would be paying more premium for no purpose.
The offices take good care that they pay no more
than the actual value of the property destroyed,
which they have the means of ascertaining with
some degree of accuracy.
It has been found necessary to subject the
insurance of farming stock to special conditions.
A farmer having stock of the value, say, of
£1,000, might reason in this way: "My ricks,
implements, crops, &c., are situated widely
apart, and it is difficult to imagine that all could
be consumed in one and the same fire; therefore,
I will insure the whole stock for £500 only, then
I shall have to pay only half the amount in the
premium I should be liable for in case I insured
to the full value." The offices are, however, quite
alive to this kind of reasoning, and frustrate
the intention by inserting what is called the
"average" clause in the policy, the effect of
which is that in the event of a claim being made
for loss by fire, only one half of the value would
be made because only one half of the value of the
stock was insured. Live stock, however, may be
separately insured without the average clause,
and animals killed by lightning are paid for if
insured against loss by fire.
There are other offices which insure against
loss by special contingencies, such as damage to
glass houses, and cattle, and garden produce, by
hailstorms; destruction of boilers by explosion,
of plate glass, and from accident or disease
affecting cattle. There are companies, too, which
insure against accidents sustained by rail, road,
or water, guaranteeing a specified sum in case of
death, and compensation in case of injury. Also
societies which take the place of sureties and
guarantee an insurer against loss or default by
anyone in his employ; and companies which
undertake to make good any loss arising from
burglary or larceny. In all cases, of course,
the liability of the office is limited to a certain
declared amount.
Viewed 339
|
Informational.ca