122 INSURANCE OF FISHING-BOATS. 



is all the professional underwriter is to him but of many 

 business men, all of whom are personally known to him, 

 and of whose position and respectability he has ocular 

 demonstration. The professional underwriter is a gentle- 

 man who expects, and naturally expects, to reap a profit 

 from his transactions, and, therefore, all the rules and 

 regulations which govern underwriting, are made and 

 drawn primarily for the benefit of the underwriter, and not 

 for the benefit of the insured. No other logical inference 

 can be drawn than that the interests of the underwriter are, 

 and must be, considered paramount to those of the boat- 

 owner, because the underwriter calculates upon a profit for 

 himself out of the premiums paid by the insurer. The 

 Mutual Marine insurer does not calculate upon or expect 

 anything of the kind. All he agrees to and undertakes is, 

 when required, to pay his share towards helping a brother 

 boat-owner when in distress ; and all he calculates upon 

 and expects is to be assisted in a like manner by his 

 brother boat-owners whenever he himself may need aid. 

 There are, however, Mutual Marine Insurance Societies, 

 and Mutual Marine Insurance Societies, and I shall, there- 

 fore, proceed to describe the salient features of that system 

 which, in my opinion, is incontestably the best. Com- 

 paratively speaking, it is a new system, but it has been 

 tried for some years with marked and increasing success ; 

 its principles are spreading, and it bids fair in a short time, 

 if not to absorb, like Aaron's rod, all other systems, at 

 least to assimilate them to itself. 



Legal liability and financial position of underwriters. 

 In considering the subject of Marine Insurance, the first 

 question to be asked and answered is as to the legal liability 

 and financial status of the underwriters ; and the primary 

 advantage which is offered by the system I advocate, is 



