26 OCTOBER 1962, Page 16

SIR,—Miss Katharine Whitehorn's article about tl ic • sins of insurance companies,

'Bet You AnYthili'r must have given unmitigated pleasure to all your readers who, like myself, belong to the instil:a:Ty, industry. It is rare indeed that a critic so effectoi'o and in the same breath as it were, shows her attac

as being completely unfounded. the

After describing a number of cases, taken frOrll circle of her family and friends, of what one usullio terms 'fire insurance as an investment,' she comP15 at about insurance companies paying too little 01171.0 the same time, about taking too long with she inquiriesl When turning to motor insurance no manages to get her facts wrong. Cases of insur°tte companies refusing third-party cover required hY Road Traffic Act can be referred to the Ministry of Transport. I have yet to encounter an instance where this step has been necessary. , Of course there is a lot to criticise in insurance as in everything else. Insurance companies have recently set uP a Public Relations Department to combat un- informed and unwarranted criticism and if Miss Whitehorn's article was not—as part of a deep-seated plot—actually commissioned by them, they ought to grab her quickly, Her articles attacking insurance should be quite invaluable to them.

C. F. FLESCH