ASSURANCE. 



from London to the East Indies, on the 

 Company's regular ships, at 6 or 7 guineas 

 per cent. 'out and home, which in time of 

 war is advanced to 12 guineas per cent. 



At Hamburgh there are about thirty 

 companies for making sea assurances, 

 two or three in Bremen, some in Lubeck 

 and Trieste, and one even in Berlin and 

 Breslaw ; there is also a chartered marine 

 assurance company at Stockholm, and 

 one at Copenhagen; their capitals, how- 

 ever, are not very considerable, and they 

 never venture large sums on one risk. 

 There are private underwriters at Stock- 

 holm, Gottenberg,and Copenhagen, who 

 assure moderate risks. At New York, 

 Philadelphia, and manjf other principal 

 towns in the American states, assurance 

 companies have been established ; and in 

 the East Indies, there are no less than 

 five assurance offices at Calcutta, four or 

 live at Madras, and one at Bombay; but 

 their business is not very extensive, being 

 principally confined to the assurance of 

 the coasting trade in India, and the trade 

 from India to China. 



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, 

 jtpparel, 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 against fire 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 mer- 

 chandizes, 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 'this class 

 of assurance is 3.9. 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: on glass, 

 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,tjapanners, 

 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 



