28 NOVEMBER 1958, Page 20

with railway accidents, now embraces motor in- surance, employers' liability,

third-party, burglary and many other miscellaneous contingencies. The marine department has sponsored aviation cover; the life department is today almost submerged by the demand for group pensions; and, bestriding all the departments, come the new and unknown hazards of atomic energy, in the study and ap- praisal of which London has maintained its reputation by giving a clear lead to the rest of the world.

These risks are insured by British companies and underwriters overseas as well as at home and the world-wide scope of the service brings even stranger hazards under the protection of London insurers. Thus we learn of a totem pole insured by the Indians in Wisconsin; a mule column carry- ing fully insured X-ray equipment over the Himalayas to Lhasa; and coffins insured during their lifetime by Chinese preparing to meet their ancestors.