Assurance against loss or damage from fire is a practice, the utility of which has become so generally evident, that it has of late years increased considerably. Dr. A. Smith, in 1775, supposed, that, taking the whole kingdom at an average, 19 houses in 20, or perhaps 99 in 100, were not insured from fire. But the case is now very different, as there is scarcely any considerable town in England, which has not in it either an office of its own, or agents from the London offices, for ef fecting assurances.
All kinds of property liable to be de stroyed by fire, as houses and buildings of everydescription, household furniture, ;Apparel, merchandise, utensils, and stock in trade, farming stock, and ships, in har bour or while building, may be assured at a fixed rate per cent ; but all kinds of writings, accounts, notes, money, and gunpowder, are generally excepted.
The offices distinguish the different risks of assurance againstfire in the fol lowing manner : Common assurances are assurances on all manner of buildings, having the walls of brick or stone, and covered with slate, tile, or metal, wherein no hazardous trades are carried on, nor any hazardous goods deposited: and on goods and met'. ehandizes, not hazardous, in such build ings. The premium on such assurances is 2s. per cent. per annum.
Hazardous assurances are, assurances on timber or plaster buildings, covered with slate, tile, or metal, wherein no ha zardous trades are carried on, nor any hazardous goods deposited ; and on goods or merchandises, not hazardous, in such timber or plaster buildings ; and also on hazardous trades, such as cabinet and coach makers, carpenters, coopers, bread and biscuit bakers, ship and tallow chandlers, soap-makers, inn-holders, sail makers, maltsters, and stable-keepers, carried on in brick or stone buildings, co vered with slate, tile, or metal ; and on hazardous goods, such as hemp, flax, rosin, pitch, tar, and turpentine, deposit ed in such buildings ; the stock in trade of apothecaries, also on ships, and all manner of water-craft in harbour, in dock, or while building, and on thatched build ings, which have not a chimney, and which do not adjoin to any building hav ing a chimney. The charge for class of assurance is 38. per cent. per annum.
Doubly hazardous assurances are, assu rances on any of the aforesaid hazardous trades carried on, or hazardous goods de posited in timber or plaster buildings, covered with slate, tile, or metal: origlass, china, and earthen ware ; also on thatch ed buildings, or goods therein, (except as in the preceding class,) and on salt petre, with the buildings containing the same. Such assurances are usually charg ed 5s. per cent. per annum.
Assurances on jewels, plate, medals, watches, prints not in trade, pictures, drawings, and statuary work ; also assu rances to cotton-spinners, and all other manufacturers of raw cotton ; to distil. lers, flambeau and varnish makers ; to oil, spermaceti, wax, or sugar refiners ; to boat-builders, cork-cutters„Ijapanners, colourmen, rope-makers, sea-biscuit ba kers, and tallow-melters ; or on chymists' laboratories, mills, or any other assu rances more than ordinarily hazardous, by reason of the trade, nature of the goods, narrowness of the place, by the use of kilns or stoves in the process of any manufactory, or other dangerous cir cumstances, are made by special agree ment, at a premium proportionate to the risk.
Assurances on buildings and goods are deemed distinct and separate adventures, so that the premium on goods is not ad vanced by reason of any assurance on the building wherein the goods are kept, nor the premium on the building by rea son of any assurance on the goods ; and any number of dwelling-houses and out houses, together with the goods therein, may be assured in one policy, provided the sum to be assured on each is particu larly mentioned.
in 1782, a duty of ls. 6d. was imposed on every 100/. assured from loss by fire, which was increased in 1797 to 2e. per cent. and in 1804 to 2.s.. 6d. per cent, the annual duty now payable. From the pro duce of this duty, an estimate has been formed of the total amount of proper ty assured from fire in Great Britain, which appears to have been nearly as follows: In 1785 . . . L. 125,000,000 1789 . . . 142,000,000 1793 - . . . 167,000,000 1797 . . . . 181,000,000 1801 . . . . 223,000,000 1806 . . . . 260,000,000 In the yearlast mentioned there were eleven offices for assurance against fire in London, and 21 in other parts of Great Britain.