Dec. 15.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2937

building, unless the insurance is subject to the conditions of average.

(2.) Basis of the Contract.—The aforesaid proposal submitted by the insured on his application for the policy shall be considered the basis of the contract; and if the said proposal is not in every respect true in fact, or if there has been any misrepresentation, concealment, or untrue averment in treating for the insurance, or if the conditions herein contained are not in all respects observed and performed, then the insurance shall be void, and the premium or premiums received in respect thereof shall be forfeited to the State Fire Insurance General Manager (hereinafter called “the General Manager”).

(3.) Term of Insurance and Payment of Premiums.—The insurance shall terminate at 12 o’clock (noon) on the day specified in the policy, and no insurance shall be in force until the premium is actually paid to one of the authorised agents of the General Manager, the recital of its receipt in the policy notwithstanding; and no receipt shall operate to renew the policy, or to continue it in force, unless the same is on a printed form issued from the office and signed by a duly authorised agent of the General Manager.

(4.) Other Insurance on the Risk.—No claim shall be recoverable under the policy if the buildings, goods, or other property thereby insured have been previously insured, unless the amount of such previous insurance is set forth in the proposal and allowed in the policy; nor in case of any subsequent insurance being effected during the continuance of the policy, unless the same is notified to an authorised officer or agent of the General Manager in writing, and allowed by endorsement on the policy signed by an authorised officer or agent of the General Manager: Provided that, on such notice being given, it shall be optional with the General Manager either to continue the risk or to cancel the policy and return to the insured the proportion of premium for the unexpired term thereof. If at the time of any loss or damage by fire happening to any property hereby insured there is any other subsisting insurance or insurances, whether effected by the insured or by any other person, covering the same property, the General Manager shall not be liable to pay or contribute in respect of such loss or damage more than his proportion rateably with the amount of such other insurance. In all cases where any other subsisting insurance or insurances, whether effected by the insured or by any other person, on any property hereby insured, either exclusively or together with any other property, are subject to average, the insurance on such property under the policy shall be subject to average in like manner.

(5.) Removal and Alteration of Risk.—If any alterations or additions are made to any building, or if goods of a more combustible nature than those allowed by the policy are introduced, or if any apparatus for producing heat or light is erected, or if goods insured are removed to any other building, or if the property hereby insured passes to any other person otherwise than by will or operation of law, or if any change takes place in the occupation or in the nature of the occupation, or if any building used as an hotel or place for the sale of fermented or spirituous liquors by retail ceases to be used as such, or is uninhabited, or becomes unlicensed, the insured must give notice in writing to an authorised officer or agent of the General Manager of every such alteration, change, or removal (as the case may be), and get the same allowed by endorsement on the policy signed by an authorised officer or agent of the General Manager, otherwise the insurance shall be void; and if by reason of any such alteration, change, or removal, or for any cause whatsoever, the General Manager desires to terminate the risk, he may do so by giving notice to the insured or his representative to that effect, and returning the proportion of the premium for the unexpired term; and upon the issue of such notice the risk shall cease.

6.) Risks not covered by the Policy.—The policy does not cover buildings or goods held in trust or on commission, or on joint account with others, or goods sold but not delivered or paid for, in whole or in part, unless expressly described as such in the proposal and allowed in the policy; nor any deeds, bonds, bills of exchange, promissory notes, money, securities for money, account-books, stamps, gunpowder or other explosives. Nor will the General Manager be liable for loss arising through any of the following causes—i.e., spontaneous fermentation or heating, invasion, enemy, riot or civil commotion, volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes or explosions, (coal-gas excepted); nor for loss by theft at or after a fire; nor for loss arising through or in consequence of any neglect or deviation from police or municipal laws where any such exist; nor for loss or damage to buildings under construction or repair, or contents thereof, wherein carpenters or joiners are employed, unless the special written consent of an authorised officer or agent of the General Manager is first obtained; and in no case will the General Manager be liable to pay more than £10 in respect of any jewellery, watch, trinket, painting, picture, print, drawing, sculpture, medal, curiosity, or article of vertu, or £50 in respect of any article of household furniture, unless the same is particularised and valued in the proposal and allowed in the policy.

(7.) Statement and Settlement of Claims.—The insured sustaining any loss or damage by fire shall forthwith give notice in writing to an authorised officer or agent of the General Manager, and shall, within fifteen days after such fire, deliver to such officer or agent an account in detail of such loss or damage, and shall verify the same by statutory declaration under “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1882,” or any Act in substitution therefor, and shall produce and hand over for examination at the office of the General Manager, whenever and as often as required, books, vouchers, and such other information and evidence as the General Manager may require; and unless such account, verified as aforesaid, is delivered within the time aforesaid, and such other information and evidence, if required, is produced in manner aforesaid, no part of such loss shall be payable. No profit of any sort is to be included in the claim; and if there appears to be any fraud, overcharge, or imposition, or any false declaration, or if the fire has happened by the procurement, or wilful act, means, or connivance of the insured or claimant, no benefit shall be recoverable under the policy. If the General Manager elects, pursuant to paragraph (8) hereof, to replace or reinstate any property, the insured, at his own expense, shall produce and give to the General Manager all such plans, specifications, particulars, books, and information (oral and documentary) as the General Manager may require.

(8.) Reinstatement. — The General Manager shall have sixty days after the amount of loss or damage has been adjusted or ascertained before the expiry of which he shall not be liable to pay the same, and he may at any time before actual payment, and notwithstanding any expression of a contrary intention, whether or not the amount of the loss or damage has been adjusted or ascertained, or an award has been made, elect, instead of paying the amount of the loss or damage, to make good by replacing or reinstating the whole of the property damaged or destroyed, or by replacing or reinstating any items or parts thereof and paying the amount of the loss or damage to the residue of such property (it being agreed that, notwithstanding anything contained in any proposal or other document between the insured and the General Manager, that the insurance on each part or item insured is a separate insurance): Provided that the General Manager in making good the loss shall not be bound to replace or reinstate any property exactly and completely, but only to do so substantially as nearly as circumstances permit, and in a reasonably sufficient manner; and that in the event of the General Manager being prevented by any building regulations or otherwise by law from reinstating any building as it was before the loss or damage thereto, the General Manager shall be bound only to reinstate the same as far as practicable, and shall not be bound to expend more than the sum it would have cost to reinstate such building as it was before such loss or damage (and in such case, whether he has elected to reinstate or not, he shall only be pecuniarily liable to the extent of the said sum): And provided also that the General Manager shall not in any case be bound to expend in respect of any one of the items insured more than the sum insured by the General Manager thereon. In cases where the property is insured elsewhere the General Manager may join with any insurance company in replacing or reinstating; and in such case he may claim that the insurance shall only be considered in force conditionally upon the insured conceding to the other insurers the same rights as the General Manager has hereunder.