The Athlete for 1866

ESTABLISHED TO SXTPPLY THE FTJBLIC V/ITH SCOTT'S INTERNAL SYSTEM OFDEFENCE AGAINST FIRI This System is based on the principle that private endeavour should prece public help, whichat once suggests that the Internal oughto be tho System prope the External it? supplement.The latter has obviously these inherent defects: 1—Its appliances are necessarily outside the house inwhich the fire occurs ; 2— They are veryoften remote fromit; 3—Theyare so cumbrous and complex as to require a staff of strong well-trained men to work them. Ours, on the contrary—1—AreInternal and always on the spot; 2—themost important of them are self-acting;3—The whole are so simple and manageable that pi the most ordinary person may make efiective use of them. We therefore supply exactly what is wanting. V h M - How pressing the want is as regards life will be known to all who have not forgotton the many fatal lire? of the present year—especially that at Swansea, an'l" the equally awful one in Dublin, whichtogether took away a dozenlives, moat oi them in their prime. That propertyneeds more protection than it now lias isevident from the facthat the Insurance Companies are increasing their charges. The last Annual Report ofthe Royal Insurance Company, aspublished in the "Daily Telegraph" says:— "The Are losses have amoanted to £318,946, or nearly 77 per cent, on th premiums reoeiveiL This is beyond the legitimate percentage, though less than the amount anticipated atone perio j of the year •, and 10 per cent,less than the average ratio of loss recently announced authori­ tatively as falling upon three other well-hnown and highly respectable establishments of l revenue during the year 1865. This combined xperience affords, together with the still more disastrous results of some other companies, undeniable evidence that the premium charged upon fireinsurance is at present lum aiunorative. Th s fact has, however, formed so univer.sal a theme of regretful comment at recent meetings of fire offices, that the Director selves with assuring the Shareholders that they are prepared for are-arrangement, See also the Speech of the Chairman of the Queen Insurance Company, at the last Ordinary GeneralMeetingof Shareholders, as givenin "Gore's General Advertiser." " Aithocgh the business of the Company up to the end of the yearhad been tatisfactory, and had yielded a fair profit, The fire department had beer of an unsatisfactory character, their average losses having T cached 82i per cent.,which precluded tlie possibility of dividing anything whatever.He alluded also to the necessity of n isiug the premium as a general measure. (Sensation.) The Directors had run no risks which tl •' ought not to run, they had gone into no field which thoir neighbours had not entered into ui 'tore them, and they every precaution ; but fires were so perpetually haj pening on all sides that he saw no char ee of making money." We submit that the true r medy for this grave state of things is our Internal System of Defence, which comprises Prevention, Detection, Extinction, and Esca Very few tires can become formidable where it is established. It reduces the risks of Insurance Companies, to a minium, by providing honest insurers, withthe mo it ' effectual safeguard, and lessening as much as possible thechances of fraud. Prices and particulars on application to tb« undemgntd, at the Companys' offices, 551, Oxford Street, London, "W. JOHN SCOTT, M^ NAGFR.