THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 1 March 1901, Page 4

THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

The above institution, as our reader are doubtless aware, is a Government office .founded at the suggestion of the late Sir Julius Vogel for the purpose of the administration of all classes of estates, and we are glad to learn that from its initiation untill now it has been a most gratifying success, having increased the volumn of its business in a manner that reflects credit both npon the Government who founded it and people who use it.

Id fact, so great has its business pro<

greased that not even its far-seeing originator, perhaps, in his most * sanguine moments could have anticipated in so comparatively short a time that such a record would bo established. One item alone will prove this. For the year ended December 31,1893, the value of the estates dealt with was £1,430,918, and for the year ended March 31, 1900, it was £2,192,694. By the Public Trustee’s Act of incorporation not only are the capital funds and interest guaranteed by the State, but also the fidelity of their administration. The Public Trustee is authorised to act as administrator, executor, trustee, agent, or attorney, committee, etc., and where private trustees require, as in many instances they do, to obtain expensive court orders, he is authorised by statue to move without putting the estate or individual to any expense in this direction. Private executors can, under the Act, appoint the Public Trustee executor in their place or stead, as though originally appointed, and this without an order of the Court. The charges of the office are reasonable, being estimated upon a basis that shall merely cover the cost of office maintenance.