My closing comparison shall be on the subject of Tariff. Whatever may be the form of the Tariff Association in any country, I am satisfied that nowhere will there be found an Association which so equitably adjusts its rates to the hazards involved in the particular class, and which has so little of the character or machinery of a Trust, as the Committee whose operations are directed to the business of this country and of those other lands included in the scope of the Fire Offices Committee.

In conclusion, I would say that, if I were asked to name the prominent features which distinguish Fire Insurance business in this country, I would point for one to the system of the classification of results, according to an identical plan by the great majority of the Companies; and for another, I would point to the operations and effect of the Tariff organisation.

Classification was fully dealt with by the Manager of the "Royal" in the address to which I have referred. It has furnished the Companies with adequate data for adjusting their rates, with due regard to the interests of their Shareholders as well as those of the insuring public. The due balance between these interests never fails to be established in the long run, and frees the Companies from all liability to be honestly reproached as exploiters of the public.

On the other subject, it may safely be said that the tariff organisation, while operating in a sphere in which competition is the soul of business, has caused that competition to be mitigated by reason and good feeling. These two qualities are fostered by the Insurance Institutes, and this is by no means the smallest of the claims of the Institutes to the approbation and support of everyone connected with our great business of Insurance.

PUBLIC FIRE EXTINGUISHING
EQUIPMENT IN SCOTLAND.

By JAMES LAIRD (of Robert M'Tear & Co.),
Fire Loss Assessor, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

A Paper read before the Insurance Institute of Edinburgh, 5th March, 1907.

Was it, I wonder, in the spirit of irony that our indefatigable Difficulty of procuring Secretary sent me out to survey and make a report on the con- informadition of the public fire brigades of Scotland-the standing tion. enemies of the fire loss assessor? He, in his usual affable manner, not only suggested that I should read a paper before you, but he gave me at the same time its title and scope. The scope of the inquiry I have found to be a vast one. In order to give you all the information I desired would have required the backing and power of a Royal Commission. With the 208 Burgh Clerks of Scotland, I, in the beginning of last year, started a correspondence which, I may say, is not yet completed, and never will be. I set out with the intention of finding out the power for good and evil inherent in the burgh fire brigades. The power for evil of all extinguishing appliances to the fire assessor is enormous, as many a promising loss is thoughtlessly nipped in the bud. In some cases, however, where the supply of water is very good and the enthusiasm of the brigade admirable, a small fire loss is redeemed by the magnificent water damage, so taking the fire with the water I have been able to approach the subject with the earnest endeavour to give you all the information I have been able to collect.

authorities.

On opening a correspondence with the authorities, I was met Refusal of with various questions-What use is to be made of the information? What fees will be paid for the information?—and such like. In some cases I met with a point blank refusal to give any information to the Insurance Companies, far less to a member of that profession which has shown an inclination in the past to question the accounts for services rendered. Perhaps

Purpose of paper.

Origin of brigades.

Views on brigade upkeep.

some one with more tact and ability would have managed a better return, but I have used all my powers to lay before you a reliable statement. What there is you may take as trustworthy, as the particulars are vouched for by the firemaster or Burgh Clerk in most instances, with the tendency perhaps in a few cases to make the best appearance possible. In a number the information had to be procured from outside sources, but in these, I think, the details can be relied upon.

As the paper is, as I understand its purpose, to be useful for reference in the Office, the principal portion of it is the tabulated statement which accompanies it. The subject is by no means a dry one, but it is one mainly of statistics, which hardly lend themselves to interesting treatment on an occasion such as this.

With the historical side of the subject I will take practically nothing to do, as the histories of brigades are very similar. The inception of the brigade is the sudden awakening of the "City Fathers," probably a rude awakening, caused by some enormous blaze in the neighbourhood, to the necessity of having some local means of coping with an outbreak of fire, and the end of the brigade is the question of £. s. d., which means the raising of the rates, and this is an idea of such horror that the matter falls through time and again, and the burgh remains as it was, the enthusiasm cooling at about the same rate as the hot ashes of the alarming outbreak. In some of the burghs the handsome fire engine and apparatus have been magnanimously gifted by individual gentlemen or by several gentlemen. Two burghs at least absolutely glory in the idea of having no extinguishing appliances, giving as the reason that the Insurance Companies, when the subject was raised, refused to give a helping hand. Others have had appliances, but gave them up because the Insurance Companies would not assist financially.

The authorities, looking at the subject on the surface, believe the Insurance Companies to be the first to benefit by the fire brigade service, forgetting what a large loss by fire means in a burgh. It is not only a loss to the individuals most closely concerned, but to the whole burgh, by loss of employment to many of its citizens and perhaps the loss of a trade, which, once diverted to other quarters, is not easily drawn back again. On still broader lines, it is a loss to the nation. Mr. J. Allan

Cook, in his
paper on Fire Waste," writes:- "The subject is
one for the community at large, and if one could but succeed in
stirring up in the minds of our national and municipal
authorities an interest in what I regard as a great problem in
economic science, one would consider as well spent the time
occupied."

same.

To our forefathers we owe a debt of gratitude for most things, Reason of but we cannot thank them for the legacy they have left us in the impression still exceedingly hard to kill in the public mind, that Insurance Companies should contribute to the upkeep of fire brigades. The discussion is an old one, for it is on record that in 1812 the Fire Offices and the Glasgow Fire Brigade Board had differences on the question of a contribution to the expense of putting down fire-plugs. Before the principles were properly understood, the correct position to be maintained by the Insurance Companies in this matter had been surrendered. The late Mr. D. Deuchar wrote:-" It is all the fault of the unfortunate historical position of the matter, taken in connection with the non-existence of the F.O.C. in 1833 and the fact that the committee had not a competent lawyer as chairman between 1862 and 1865."

At the present day it is invariably with the utmost care that Treatment of question the Offices depart from their legal and sound position in their now by dealings, and rightly so, as it has been learned by experience Insurance Companies. that precedents are most strenuously grasped by their clients and the general public, and made the most of in future dealings. The Offices nowadays do most frequently and generously give way to their clients in many ways, but always with the proper reservation that the case is not to be founded on in future, and thus the principles underlying fire insurance proper are kept intact.

Unfortunately, with fire brigade upkeep a mistake has been Parliamentmade. We perhaps are not in a position to impute blame, but ary views of question. the difficulty has often had to be met in the past fifty years, and I am afraid the last has not been heard of the subject. As late as 1903, when the Act amending the 1892 Burgh Police (Scotland) Act was passed, an endeavour was made to insert a clause permitting all burghs to charge for the services of the fire brigade against the owner or occupier of the premises where a fire should break out. A Parliamentary Committee Report in 1900 on the condition of public fire extinguishing appliances