THE CORNHILL SUBSIDENCE.
With all deference to the proper desire on the part of Insurance companies and underwriters to increase their turnover, the hope may be expressed that the rush experienced at the beginning of this week to take out policies covering subsidence risks in the neighbourhood of the City may prove to be a short-lived affair. As much as 5 gns. per cent. seems to have been taken in the districts just around Cornhill, and while outside that particular area it was a case only of a few shillings per cent. being paid for such risks, the volume of business transacted showed how great an effect had been produced upon the imagination by the particular mishap in Cornhill. It is, I think, premature to deal in any precise terms either with the extent of the material damage as expressed in £ s. d. or with the question of liability. Whatever the amount, however, there is a sense in which it is trifling compared with the question of whether the causes responsible for the catastrophe can not only be detected but easily be dealt with.
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