The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-20
INSURANCE RATES
 FOR FIRE RISKS Special Committee Plans CIas- sltleatIOn Of Holdings MERCANTILE REks
 HERE ABOUT EonnA Alderman Lyddy Tells Of Work
 Of investigators

So far as the mercantile buildings in the center of the city are concern ed, fire insurance rates are found to compare favorably with those in oth- CT cities of the State. The special insurance probe committee, appointed as the result of resolution submit ted to the Common Council several weeks ago by Alderman John B. Lyddy, met Saturday night in the of fee of James H. Crossley and went over data that had been gathered, per- taining to. insurance rates on sucn property.
 Alderman Lyddy, chairman of the committee, said after the meeting: .~rhe committee met at MT. CFOssley's s office because MT. Crossley has all the maps and books of the city that are necessary and every facility for talk ine LID the matter. We had gath cred a good deal of data concerning the rates charged in the other large cities of this State, and also from Boston and some Massachusetts cit- les, and after. considering these rates we found that Bridgeport rates com- pared favorably with those of other cities, so far as mercantile buildings are concerned.
 ..It has been decided to go into this matter thoroughly and to do that we thought it best to take it up by dl- vision or classification of property. We will next consider the private dwellings and buildings out of the center of the city, and after that the factories. There are special require ments under these different classified tions and the rates are adjusted ac- cordingly. Among the cities we com pared Bridgeport with were Boston, ;Trs.~ ~&%1 NpyU 1nnd0n ana New Haven.
 s.Considering that Bridgeport is paving out a quarter of a million year on it's fire department it seemed to me tffat this city should have low insurance rates. The efficiency of the department has been demonstrateo more than once and the fact that we have not had any serious fire here Tor a long time should carry some weight as showing the efficiency of the de- partment. That is why introduced the resolution that did. Then the water company is adding water mains to it's service and expending a gooo deal of money along that line and that should have tendency to make for lower rates.
 ssSo far the insurance companies have met us fairly. We expect to be able to secure a readjustment of rates which will make a good deal of differ- enco and l am cOn1ldeHt tudt tuo committee which is at work will ac- complish some good.
 'The agents who are now inspecting the city, I believe, came here because We had asked that some such lnspec- tion of the city property be made.
 These inspectors, as told in the Far mer, are from the National Board of Fire Underwriters which board has offices at 135 William street, New York. They started their survey of the local conditions a week ago and will be here four or five weeks, having opened an office in the Connecticut Bank building B
 F. A. Raymond is in charge of the inspection and George L. Bean and Kenneth Lydecker are associated with him. MT Raymond has stated that so far as reductions are concerned the National Board of Fire Underwriters have little to do. He said that the inspection is along the line of sim liar one made in Bridgeport four or five years ago, and lately made in 200 other cities of New England.
 Aside from MT. Lyddy and MT Crossley, the committee is composed