The Globe. THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1586, 20 March 1879, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1879.

In yesterday’s issue, we had something to say in reference to the erratic manner in which—according to a West Coast case lately under discussion by certain public journals—the department presided over by the Public Trustee is conducted. Looking over the Parliamentary records of last year however, wo find that facts of a most singular character are there set out under the authority of the Assembly, which go much farther to show that the public is, at times, suffering most grievously from the grossly unpardonable way things are done in a most important branch of that department. The office of Curator of Intestate Estates is, we believe, an offshoot of the Public Trusteeship. It is constituted by law to take cognizance of the affairs, effects and so forth, of persons dying intestate—that is to say, who quitted life without having taken the precautions of executing a will. And we have no hesitation in saying that if there is a branch of officialism the doings of which have, for years past, boon notoriously shrouded in mystery, this is emphatically the one. By many people, not perfectly acquainted with the technicalities through which intestate estates have to pass before a balance-sheet can be shown to natural heirs or next-of-kins, the department in question is looked upon as a kind of Star Chamber, or perhaps one of Horrors, to which the old saying of “ He who enters here leaves all hope behind” can fairly apply. As a matter of fact, however, it is only the creditors, if any, or the dead person’s nearest relatives, who—when once they see any property (of no very large amount) enter the portals of the Intestate Estates Courts —may abandon all hope of ever grasping any but an infinitesimal proportion of its value. Reference to the Government 6 azette shows that the expenses, or fees, or what not, attached to the process of administration at the hands of the Public Trustee’s myrmidons, are manipulated in such a clever, if complicated manner, as to leave scarcely anything but the traditional oyster-shells, in estates of but a few hundred pounds. One of the latest instances on record, which may be said to have attracted some attention, is to be seen in the Blue Books of last session. In the “ Reports of Public Petitions Committee” for last year, we find a petition presented to the Assembly by a person of the name of R. J. Feltus, who bogs relief and compensation for treatment at the hands of the Curator of Intestate Estates, which—he proved to the satisfaction of the committee —occasioned him severe loss. This treatment, we may remark, was absolutely that which the department invaluably, and evidently according to law, accords to all fishes that tumble into the official net. Poltus, it seems, was a creditor of one Potingalo, a lunatic, whoso estate ho, Feltus, had managed previous to Pentiugalo’s death, Ho had not received any remuneration for his services, but, on the contrary, had been much out of pocket while undertaking the duty. Peutingale dying without a will, his property was at once placed within the clutches of the Public Trustee when “ bleeding ” operations on a grand

scale commenced. As given in the Bine Books, wo find that deceased’s property consisted of 512 acres of laud, a town lot, and £G7 odd in cash. According to the balance-sheet produced by the officials, the whole of the proceeds of these lands was swallowed by the expenses of putting the estate through the intestate estate machinery, leaving not oven a bare sixpence to hand over to the next of kin! Well indeed might the title of the officer who can accomplish such financial feats bo that of Curator. In his account wo perceive that more than one-half of the realised value of the estate was swallowed by lawyers’ bills of costs. And to quote the words of the Chairman of Petitions Committee, “The charges consisted of liabilities which, with the exception of medical attendance (£7 7s), were incurred after Petiugalo's decease, while accounts for lodging, clothing, and money advanced, amounting to £309, incurred before his death, remained unsettled.” The report of the committee was, that while no relief could bo given to the ! petitioner, tho committee expressed its opinion “ that tho estate was very carelessly and extravagantly administered.” Nothing else could of course bo said, as tho “ cure ” of the property had been completed strictly according to “ tho statute in such case made and provided,” interpreted of course with all the brilliant latitude which its very vague context permits to tho official gentry appointed to carry out its operation. And well might the committee have used the terra “very extravagantly administered ” when tho figures in the balance-sheet show that 512 acres of land were actually sold for £63—or at something over 2s per acre — by the curator of the estate. Anything more outrageous to both common justice or public rights was certainly never recorded in Parliamentary annals. No wonder that it formed the subject for inquiry. Unfortunately, however, nothing whatever came of it. Foltus was saddled with the cost of his petition, and, as is generally the case with the reports on petitions sent up in basket fulls to tho House every year, neither Government nor any private member thought it worth their while to agitate in the matter with a view of so scandalous a state of things being brought to an end. Hero in Canterbury, as well as is and has been tho case elsewhere in tho colony, instances ranch similar to that wo have just quoted, have oftentimes given food for comment. It is high time that stops bo taken towards curbing the elasticity of zeal which distinguishes the administrators of tho intestate estates department. Wrongs are undoubtedly done under the cover of the law, but surely none greater than when the assets of men are squandered in such a reckless manner when trusted into tho insatiable maws of the official vampire whose merry acts the Legislature countenances.