Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-02-07
Fire Insurance In China

Consul-Genrral charles DENLY. OF
| Shanghai reports a follows on fire In
| surance In that Chinese city:
| The conduct Of IRE insurance In a
city like Shanghai. with its complicat-
| ed extaterritorial administration
participated in Nv sixteen foreign
governments. controlling a population
of half a mill IL people and compris,
ing nearly every race in the world.
naturally presents difficulties not 10
I be met elsewhere" That il se.ms,
however. field profitable for foreign
| companies TO enter is shown by the
! fact that there are said to be more
companies catering for the Shanghai
! trade than op"r"," in the city or
| ondon itself Their" are borne on
the register of the shanghai Fire In
| surance Association 81 foreign fire
| ompanies-BritlSh. British Colonial.
| German. French. Swiss. Dutch. Iapa-
nese and Amrr.C besides which
/ there are 9 Chin 81 companies not ad-
| mitted to the as 0CiatiUn, & OF which
are operating under Chinese charter
and 3 under charters granted by the
HongkOnc govrrnmt nj. The amount
OF insurance carried is not ascertain
atle
In such a competition for business
| as necessarily results abuses gre newt
| able In the employment of native
| brokers who solicit insurance under
system ly which hey are paid for the
| amount Of business they write Is TO be
! found the greatest abuse OF insurance
at Shanghai-one to which the atten.
| { on Of the companies Is being at this
moment urgently called. II must b.
understood. however that the broker
| is an independent person and not an
employee OF the companies to whom
he NAV offer the risks he secnres.
| The companies doing business here
are not more prone to improper con
duct at Shanghai han they are else
where In the world In fact. all tn"
foreign comran'es in Shanghai are OF
worldwide standing.
An Objectionable Practice
One of the most obj ~ctionable
| features Of the brokers' activity Is
that too often he stands ready after
| Are occurs TO assist the claimant
| in making Govt 4 statement which
" II make the alleged losses Of things
| which he never possessed equal to
the face OF the policy. whatever the'
act uallv NAV have been. This work.
by reason Ct the familiarity OF the
troker with Insurance methods make
his connection with claims particular
" dangerous to the companies.
The remedies for this evil are OF
expert yalration Of the property In
tina s1v, ~ hN
character and standing OF the apDli.
cant for insurance. In practice. now
ever. competition for BUSINESS may
make the comranies somewhat slack
in considering the mora, hazard. At
the same time. an accurate tally en-
the contents Of houses in which
tenants change AMI OF stores In which
a constantly varying quantity OF mer-
chandise is stored presents difficulties
in any community which in Shanghai
are accentueted by the mixture OF
national;ties. language. and business
customs.
The foreign companies have IN fact
done all in their power to eliminate
the native broker but 1t is fonnd that
this ser'oualy curtails business. for
many Chinese merchants will not in
sure unless the matter is handle by q
broker. because they think that Ia
case OF lnss they will not he able tn
recover the insurance without a brok
er's aid
II is to be noted that this condition
In Shanghai has been DECIDEDLY ac
rentuoted since the establishment OF
the nstice insurance companies: that
f.. within the last few years. These
compan'es eager for business. have
accepted risks that the foreign COM
panies wouIl never have touched.
Municipal Surveillance.
Frauds Upon insurance com panies
in Shanghai are a constant matter OF
surve' ilance bv the municiral rol'ce.
though they work in a difficnlt Acid for
the purpose. viz. an overcrowded city.
a large part Of the buildings which
are in Chinese occupation. employing
primitive methods OF liPh'ing and
heating. which would. in fact. afford
plausible evpianation Of any number
CT intentional fires.
! In recert wears hres have been OF
urusual frequency. In 1904 the fre
brigade was called cut 10 times: IN
! 1905 11s times: n 1896 1902 times: IN
j 1907. Jay t'mes. rTOm ISnNdIS l.
1919. to July 10. 1908. the hrieade was
called ou' 81 times. ercl~d'ng false
alarms. showing Q distinct improve
ment. due perhaps to the police in
tervert'on inauglrated lest vear. "a
hereafter stated. In the spri-g OF
/ 1907 the counciI ordered foreign
! inspector to attend every fire on the
! sIarm heirc given end to report On
! the c!rc"m ances o. the outbreak.
| The ccnd ton IN Shanghai as TO
overcrcwdirg lighting heating. etc.
| in native quarters above alluded to
! r-ske the handling Of Ares when
! fher have lroken out a d'f1icnlt enc.