Notice  of  hss  must  be  immediate.     Proofs  of  loss  must  be
^^^'t  in  within  fifteen  days,  with  necessary  vouchers.     Claim
^^^  ^recoverable  "  if  not  produced  as  aforesaidJ*^
JteinskUement  same  as  New  Zealand  policy.
-^geni  not  responsible  for  legal  investigation  for  losses;
'^^re  proceedings  may  be  commenced  against  agent  for  such
caU8e,  claim  shall  not  be  recoverable.
Cancellation.     No  provision  for  cancellation  at  option  of
either  party,  except  as  above  in  case  of  other  insurance.
172  ENGLISH  FIRE  POLICIES.
THE  ENGLISH  AVERAaE  POLICY.
413*  To  prevent  the  evasion  of  the  Stamp  Law  of  Great
Britain^  the  act,  9  Geo.  IV.,  chap.  13;  was  passed^  enacting
that —

"  When  two  or  more  buildings  were  so  separated  as  to  form  a  plaralitj
of  risks,  they  shall  be  separatelj  valued  and  separately  insured  ;  and  no  in-
surance shall  be  lawful  in  one  gross  sum  upon  two  or  more  separate  subjects
of  risk,  except  with  the  insertion  of  a  clause  or  condition  of  average  "

Insurances  of  this  kind  are  called  '^  average  policies ''  or
^^ floating  policies  ^^  indiscriminately.
The  form  is  as  follows,  embracing  three  claiises,  viz. : —

CONDITIONS  OF  AVERAGE.
414.  L — It  is  hereby  declared  and  agreed,  that  whenever  a  sum  insured
is  declared  to  be  subject  to  the  Conditions  of  Average,  if  the  property  so
covered  shall,  at  the  breaking  out  of  any  fire,  be  collectively  of  greater  value
than  the  sum  insured  thereon,  then  this  Company  shall  pay  or  make  good
such  a  proportion  only  of  the  loss  or  damage  as  the  sum  so  insured  shall  bear
to  the  whole  value  of  the  said  property  at  the  time  when  such  fire  shall
first  happen.
