The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

174 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [:November,
selves of responsibility for their safe working condition upon the ground that the insur-
ance of their boilers is to them a guarantee of safety; but the Commissioners have
uniformly refused to accept a \i\ea of this kind, and have laid it down that the responsi-
bility for the condition of a boiler rests upon the owner or user, and not upon the insur-
ance companies, and that in ])oint of law they [the insurance companies] are at perfect
liberty to insure a boiler which is entirely worn out, if they choose to take the risk.~ On
the other hand the Commissioners have impressed upon the companies the consideration
that, having regard to the safety of life, the insurance of a boiler ought always to be
based upon a thorough examination. [It may be said, parenthetically, that in this
country, where the liability of the boiler insurance company frequently runs up to
$40,000 or $50,000, it would hardly be necessary for the Commissioners to 'advise' any
reputable company to make a thorough inspection of the boiler before insuring it ! In
England, we believe, the liability of the insurance company is always quite small; and
in that case a not very scrupulous companj' might sometimes be tempted to gamble on
the chance of explosion. Hence the wisdom of the Commissioners' admonition. Ed.]
Decisions in these terms have been publicly delivered upon several occasions, but it is
due to the companies to add that while in some few cases policies have been issued
before a thorough examination has taken place, they do not in practice take extreme
risks; and further, that they are usually found to make reasonable efforts to examine a
boiler before it is covered by insurance. The whole question of insurance of boilers,
like that of marine insurance, undoubtedly involves many and complicated considerations.
It is sufficient for the present purpose to say that these investigations prove that insur-
ance operates as a preventive of explosions in spite of certain difficulties. The companies
provide for ' working examinations,' and 'thorough examinations,' and they occasionally
insure boilers after a working examination, in expectation of obtaining an opportunity
for a thorough examination within a reasonable time. The insurance usually covers a
period of twelve months, and although efforts are made to obtain a thorough examination
before its expiration, it is frequently inconvenient to the owner to stop the working
of his boiler for the purpose, and consequently no such examination takes j^lace. In the
absence of a report of a thorough examination within the twelve months many of the
companies would refuse to renew the policy, and a reckless owner may then transfer
his risk to another company, and the same result may follow in the succeeding year.
This is no doubt done in certain cases, but, so iar as can be ascertained, in only a very
few. Insurance of this kind is of course worse than useless as a preventive of explosions.
Again, it is found that many steam users do not, so to speak, rush after insurance. On
the contrary, in outlying districts it is frequently only by considerable persuasion on the
part of the insurance company's agent that the owner is induced to insure his boiler at
all, and in the absence of insurance or compulsory examination it is kept working by
the owner in ignorance of its condition until it leaks or explodes. The culpable reckless-
ness of some owners is occasionally displayed in another form. In two cases it has trans-
pired that proposals for insurance having been refused on account of the condition of
the boiler by one company, the owner obtained insurance with another company, con-
cealing the fact of the previous refusal. This conduct was of course condemned by the
Commissioners in severe terms. The mere fact of making insurance companies and
their inspectors parties to these investigations when necessary has had, and will, I think,
continue to have, a beneficial effect in making the companies more careful in accepting
proposals for insurance, in inducing them to employ competent and thoroughly trained
inspectors, and in making those inspectors extremely careful in their examinations. The