A RAPIDLY GROWING DEPARTMENT

Press, Volume L, Issue 14975, 23 May 1914, Page 6

A RAPIDLY GROWING DEPARTMENT

PUBLIC TRUSTEE FOR "GREAT .BRITAIN. (nson ocn pvrj, conßEspojrDENT.) LONDON, April 17. Mr C. J. 'Stewart., the Public Trustee, presents his annual report, iv which tho valuo, of trusts, some 6000 in number, which have been administered, or are being administered, is given at £50,671,865. But even these hgures do not represent the tremendous advance that has been made, because the applications from 3438 intending testators requesting that tho Public Trastee should act as executor ov" trustee represent another 59 millions, making tho value of the business •of. all ..-kinds negotiated since, the beginning of 1908 tho huge total of 110 millions.

While the general average of wills proved in the United Kingdom ia £8911 eacn, the average value of each will proved by the Public Trustee is £11,692 while the average value of each estate held in trust is £SSO3. These high average values show that tiio bulk of the clients of the Department are persons of ine.ins above the average. -At the same time-the report draws attention to tbo services freely rendered to a very large section of the public Whosa estates, being under • £2000 in value, are only partly remunerative on the present low scale of fees. These smaller J estates number 2408. and constitute 43 per cent, of the whole business transacted. It is in many of theso email cases that the "Public "Trusted Txaconies S3 closely responsible for the welfare of children, who now number over 900. Whethei. however, the puhjia* are people of large or email mans, it is manifeafc'beyond all question, the repo~t states, that this singu'ar departure in State enterprise has been a success, and must now rest upon an established, eatisfied, and growing connexion! THE FINANCIAL ASPECT - . ' Despite tho peculiar disadvantages under which the Department has to work iv . not t being able to decline naremuneratjve business, it reported that tho financial position of the Department is excellent , The sixth year closes with the large fi<zures of 110 millions above quoted, and a cash surplus of income over aU expendicturo of £14.550, or. if certain fees which have been earned but aro not yet'collected be taken into acconnt, the surplus of cash and assets over all expenditure since January Ist, 1908, is 4223,835. The Department subject? itself to strict commercial principles of accounting, and is charged with every expense incurred of every kind, such as postage, telephones, stationery, Govvernment audit, rent, and furnishing, etc. These expenses reached a total of £49,428 last year. The fees taken in tho first eighteen months to March 31st, IDOB, were £6577. Last year they were £55.253, leaving a surplus on the year's working of £555. The average rate of income earned during the past year has been: as to trustee investments £3 10s 4d per cent.; as to nontru&tee investments, £4 10s Id per cent. -

The staff numbers 370. occupying 07 rooms in Clement's Inn, and is growing daily. The need for the new offices under construction in Kingsway is now most urgent. Tho report urges upon tho Lord CnancolJor's attention tbe advantage of providing some defined constitution for tho staff of 180 men and 190 women. It would seem that out of regard for what was declared to be an extremely hazardous experiment in State and also to provide the widest range Intlie selection of ability, the staff was not recruited through tho ordinary Civil Service channels, but as the personal staff of tho Public Trustee on a temporary and probationary basis. Consequently the office i» without official regulations as to any settled scales oT pay, annual increment, or pension. Moreover, the Statute provides that tho Department is to pay its way, and, as it was desirable that it shooJd reach a financial equilibrium at the earliest possible date, the salaries iiave been tentative and experimental.