482 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



The author does not make mention of forest fires anywhere, nor is 

 it clear whether in his fire statistics he inckides forest fire losses or 

 not. J. D. G. 



American Fire Waste and Its Prevention. Annals of the American Academy of 

 Political and Social Science, March, 1917, pp. 163-171. 



In 1914 the Mutual Insurance Company, 

 Forest Fire Sampo in Aabo, Finland, started a department 

 Insurance for forest fire insurance. This department has 



in at present forests insured to a value of 85,000,000 



Finland marks. In foreign countries, especially Norway, 



the forest owners have very successfully estab- 

 lished their own insurance associations, and, with the Norwegian 

 organization as a model, the forest association, Topio, decided in 1915 

 to organize the Finnish Forest Owners' Mutual Forest Fire Insurance 

 Association. To cover expenses, 11,000 marks were guaranteed. Only 

 to organize the Finnish Forest Owners' Mutual Forest Fire Insurance 

 covers damage on forests and forest products. The membership lasts 

 for five years, and if no written notice to the contrary is given before 

 August 1 of the fifth year the insurance is regarded renewed for the 

 next five-year period. The management consists of an advisory council 

 of nine members of the association, with six substitutes, and three 

 directors, with three substitutes, these chosen from the advisory board, 

 elected for three years. There are three classes of insurance : (1) On 

 small timber up to 18 cm., d.b.h. ; (2) on large timber above 18 cm., 

 d.b.h., and (3) on forests as a whole. The country is divided into two 

 districts with regard to premiums to be paid, the first one consisting 

 of the four coastal provinces, and the second district covering the rest 

 of the country. An entrance tax of 3^^ per mille is paid for each 

 insurance, and the premiums range from .8 to 1.75 per mille, with 

 various discounts and increases of tariff. In order to make the damage 

 appraisals easier, the insured forests will be divided into smaller lots, 

 each separately valued and mapped. Appraisals are done, if required 

 by any of the parties, by three experienced, uninterested men. The 

 sartie day that the "Forest Owners' Mutual" was established, June 8, 

 1916, forests to a value of 60,000,000 marks were insured, and during 



