The Late Fires.
TO THE EDITOR OF TYIE T1IMES. - Sir, T.be fact sta.ed bh 31r. White, the distric-urveyor of St. itr)lcfths ar is'4j ,ri,l., iereiZti4r: to. tMe public,' by aclwoustrating, as.c vi so far. xi ret t&tlintit ensiueOfl -stinna thi Building ,Act -iiiny be sLd4t& haive haiits-propeKia eht." ltml- leave to-add,A.bait it a3p s -to.me to, bealso ver.erastim..n.s other view, to vl,icil ihat' gttlemaui has notftde;LrtedImc as it regards (lid presadums usallnsy paidfor.iu-w rsub- jdct whlich I mn iTcti:led tojblnlt deserves rnidre lcoasidkratiom tanz itbhacyet seii'vd.- The number of houses. VlMr. lhite:statoes be nidre t6h6.30014 and considering the superior desciiptionn.of h6ies' of -vhi&c that di_- trict ;arincipally consibsts their value, I supjoce-!vld Sbe much unt- derra ci at Ni,0l&,0D0. -Noiv, supposcng -mi to be al insured. thc.annual premium and duty ould ath ttht tO i., while the' real annual loss br fire is prbabSly Dot.j,0dfAL. h1t -is, .the - cost- or insitranee i5 as 1-to 40)0, svhile shekis> b ody 35 't to 1f,3OD. .This is surely out of all proportion. It may, perhaps, -be said,-'that tloughi the. prerniumn of 2".,per cent. easy be too Jeich for thp mnodern streets and squares *oF hec best parts of the tew-, wherethe provisions of Ehe RuildingAct,. together wvith the introclucti-n of stone staircases, stuccoed, walls, and other imnp-.ovements, reduce the risk to almost nothing, yeit i is too lowr for the old,shxops and warebouses of th -tradirg part, wberc, as long experiencekhowa, thcegreat losses chieflYv occar and that am insurance -comupany cannot make. a fair profit wiebotit ba.3not she good risks as wrell as the bad. But the answer to this is easv:. ft ,n not denied that the business of insurance ought to be profitable; but surel v the profit ought not to be made'6- ta2ing-osne rnair fer tie Rsaftty aff6rded-to another. Every mast shoul payfr the nreserva- tion of his own property: every insur=nnC snhould b efFected-cxa eesnms-ps'oportioued to the ri,k- and -a scale-should -be formred, founded onexperience, by which the pretnium should,bereduced on good dwelling-housts,ituilt ih the-modern vsvy, antI itr gsod&situa- tions, and increatsed, if ncessargS on those buik3ings wliich,bein.g of older date, in crowvded situations, and used for the purponee of trade or-eifntf4GtUre, are comparatfvcly more exposed to destruction by fire, 'and therefore-oughi to be aecounted hazardous, and gbatgetl accordIsgly. This trincdple appears to me-so obviously true, tbat I -havc lon.g wondered [hotv i happens that the Direcrors ot eheser eral Fire-ories~ d not see -tt3 reasontblenesi and act upon it. I can 'ardlr suppose- that they ste its jueeice, asfi yet refuse to adopt it: if t-ey do,- hey ought to be opposed by a new company, wbo, I have no dorba might rnake a handsorme profit bg insuring all the liese par- of lfieh metropolis at&t 6,net cent. ---- - -W. S. HeftntTs-tark. Nov. .I?. THE LAWE F!IIE.