The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1843-05-09 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

CORRESPONDENCE.  DOCK WAREHOUSES  TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. SIR,—A question of great importance to the mercantile interest of this town has been lately mooted, viz., whether the London offices will insure the proposed warehouses at the Albert Dock, and the produce therein, if they should be built on the verge of the dock. The public ought to be satisfied on this head—it is a great question. One principal argument in favour of building these warehouses—in fact the leading temptation held out to the merchants to countenance the scherne was, the diminution it would effect-in the rate of fire insurances, and that the premium would thereby be probably reduced to Is. 6d. per cent. Now, what does the fact prove to be, when the scheme is on the p]int of being carried into effect? It is well known that a deputation of warehouse owners went to London lately, on the subject of the high rates of insurance now charged on floating policies ; and that whilst there, at an audience with the representatives of the principal fire offices, the question was asked by one of the deputies whether they would insure, and if so, at what premium, the proposed Albert Dock warehouses, if they were built on the verge of the dock ? Rumour says, that the chairman answered that they would not insure them at all if built on the verge of the dock ; and that he appealed to the representatives of the other offices, then present, whether he spoke their opinions also on the subject, to which they assented—there was not one dissentient.  Now, Mr. Editor, this being the rumour, you can easily ascertain from those gentlemen who were present, whether the rumour is true, and after having satisfied yourself as to the facts, confirm or deny the statement in your next paper. Should the account prove true, and the warehouses and their contents be uninsurable, it will require some nerve to proceed with the scheme; and as for their being insured at is. 6d. per cent., according to the original assertion, the idea is too puerile to be any longer seriously entertained. It may be said that other offices will insure them, although the London ones may not; but the temptation held out originally to the mercantile body was, that the London offices would insure these warehouses at is. 6d. per cent. Their being insured in Liverpool is a new idea, and no part of the original intention. But would the Liverpool offices, or any other office out of London, insure millions of produce in these warehonses at Is. 6d., or at treble that rate? We presume not. The private warehouses, under all their disadvantages, can still be insured by the London offices, under letter C, and under the most favourable classification, at Bs. per cent. per annum— a rate at which the London offices will not insure the Albert Dock warehouses, according to the present view of this question, so that, in their opinion, the private warehouses are a preferable risk to the Albert Dock warehouses. Should these buildings be erected according to the present proposed plan, and the London offices persevere in their present intentions, the very object for which these warehouses were to be built, would be foiled. A. D. W  MURDER AND SUICIDE Or A