Charter of the Bombed

Through months of mass bombing many an Englishman's home has disintegrated into a castle in the air, collapsed to shredded rubble in the street. Aside from saving their own skins, the biggest worry of bomb-busted Britons has been how to replace what they have lost. Last week broad-beamed Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Kingsley Wood beamed broadly at the House of Commons, told of 150 new amendments to last year's War Damage Bill (TIME, Dec. 23) which brought solace and solvency to many of the blitzed.

Chief new provisions of the revised "Charter of the Bombed" were for free compensation for bombed-out property. Any householder could claim up to $800 for ruined personal belongings, $400 for his wife's effects, $100 for those of each child. Non-householders may claim up to $200 apiece.

The original bill made insurance compulsory on homes and buildings with a premium of 10% of rental value,* on business assets of 1 1/2%. Amendments allow for additional voluntary insurance on personal property up to the value of $40,000 on a premium scale sliding up to 2%. Jewelry, antiques are not covered.

"The great majority of householders," said Sir Kingsley, "will be covered by the free grants scheme and, of the rest, all but a small proportion will be able to obtain full cover at the very modest premium of one pound per cent [1%]." The present bill covers all bomb damage up to Aug. 31 of this year, though premiums must be paid for five years.

Claims under the bill will be paid from the pooled premiums, which the Government hopes will amount to about $800,000,000 in the five years the bill will be in force. If the pool is drained by current claims, the Government may advance as much again.

Chief purpose of the bill is obviously to spread war losses out as thinly and equitably as possible, but it also makes a gesture towards economic stabilization, special preoccupation of the Treasury's brain-trusting economist John Maynard Keynes. By paying no more than $3,200 immediate compensation on any claim covered by compulsory insurance (the rest at the war's end), the Treasury hopes to: 1) safeguard against inflation currently, 2) give a shot in the arm to the presumably anemic post-war economy.

A lifesaver to homeless bombees, war-damage and relief funds have been distributed on a pay-first-investigate-later basis, creating a small bonanza for the larcenous. Last week in famed Old Bailey one phony bomb victim was jailed for three years for obtaining $1,100, four others drew lesser sentences for smaller swindles.

* Real-estate taxes in Britain are assessed on rental rather than total value.

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