PLATE GLASS INSURANCE. After the repeal of the tax on glass windows in England in 1845 the glass industry took a great upward start, and in 1852 the Plate Glass Insurance Company was founded in London. The business spread rapidly; branches were established in New York and Australia, and the General Indemnity Insurance Company of London (1853) included a ((Plate Glass') branch in its operations. Another company started a ((Household Glass which in sured mirrors, glass panels, chandeliers and windows, but not skylights. From these begin nings has grown an almost world-wide branch of financial activity in which the actuarial calcu lations of risk have reduced nearly to an exact science. The liabilities can be fixed to a de gree of exactitude that does not obtain in any other form of indemnity. Losses are adjusted by replacing the damaged property by paying an indemnity to the assured equal in amount to what it would have cost the company to repair the damage. A specific premium is at
tached to every size of glass manufactured, and where these have been cut to smaller odd dimensions, the nearest even dimension is fixed as the basis of the premium charged. An elab orate system has been devised respecting the location of the windows, thickness of glass, depth of sash, etc., by which premiums charge-. able can easily be arrived at. According to the