The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1919 TAIHAPE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE

Taihape Daily Times, 22 February 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1919 TAIHAPE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE

(With which is rucorporatofl The faibape Pont end WalEmmo News).

The establishment of a permanent branch of the Public Trust Office at Taihape may be taken as an expression of opinion by the Government on the future of both town and district. It marks" the commencement of a new era in this territory's progress, and there is little doubt that now that, one important Government Department is established in Taihape others will follow. At the head of the Public Trust is one of the best organisers in the Dominion. Mr. Triggs ’ decision to make Taihape a Public Trust centre is most assuredly based upon the information at his disposal with regard to the "present production of the district and its possibilities for hugely increased output in the future, under more intensive systems of farming. The rapid growth of the Public Trust is an unquestionable testimony, a glowing tribute to the confidence the

public of this Dominion have in that Department. Great as the progress has been in the past each year end discloses further increase of remarkable extent and comprehensiveness, for it handles estates from the value of one pound up to those of hundreds of thousands of punds. In 1909 the office staff numbered ninetyeight, to-day there are nearly fiye hundred employees. During I9OS six hundred und sixteen persons deposited their wills in flic office; while last year no less than 5,680 wills wore lodged with th 1 > Public Trustee. Its operations reach from the North Cape to the Bluff. The public confidence in the office is notably shown in the increase of Instates put into the Public Trustee’s hands for administration. Last year the number was 16,593 and now' the value of estates under administration exceeds seventeen millions sterling. Since the office was first launched in 1872, It has risen from its very modest beginnings to a position of the very highest importance in the life of the people of the Dominion. Its amazing success gave a cue to the British

Government to copy Nbw Zealand, and sonic ten or twelve years ago a British Public Trust Othcc opened its modest doors through which have since passed transactions amounting to hundreds of millions. Like all State owned enterprises it had to withstand attacks from various interests with which it was supposed to interfere, and it had to live down the jealousies of those who are opposed to any incursion of the State into the field which they contend should be left to private enterprise, but the success and magnitude of its operations now proclaim that it has the confidence of the 'entire community, and the authors of the Public Trust Act 1872 have teen fully justified in the fact that England, Australia and other countries have taken their efforts on which fo base similar institutions, The huge business now transacted by the Public Trust Officio clearly demonstrates that it is in essence a people’s institution. Those making the Public Trustee executor of their wills may rest lassurod that justice will be meted out as far as it is humanly possible to everyone that may be concerned in the estate, whether the interest involved be small or great. It is fulty realised that the Public Trustee has the State’s guarantee behind him; if he or anv of his staff plunder an estatic designedly or by inadvertence the beneficiarcs do not suffer, the State makes good all losses no matter "how they occur. With a carefully selected staff of efficient and expert officers under him, the Public Trustee accepts and discharges all the duties of a private executor, trustee, attorney

or .agent, and with his experienced hand at the helm any chance of the widows and orphans vital interests being jeopardis’d entirely vanishes, and ias his services arc rendered on a percentage basis the very smallest estates are not unduly loaded with expenses. Many of our soldiers’ estates have been administered by the Public Trustee at such small cost to the estates that they seem ridiculous. These soldier estates have caused a stress of work during the years of war, and they will undoubtedly require considerable attention long into the future. Of course, we know that the judgment of the Public Trustee in selecting Taihaple as a scat of a permanent branch of his Department is a correct one. The comparatively vast area which constitutes the field of his operations hereabout is richly productive, and he was probably guided by the statistics of its production together with a rapidly increasing connection in making his decision. The selection of Taihape as a centro by oue Government department can only moan that boforte very long other will have their permanent offices in our town. It should be mentioned that for the past thirteen years the Public Trustee business has been conducted in Taihape by Mr .1. P. Aldridge, and that the remarkable growth of business during that time is in no small degree due to his faithful and zealous work. It is no secret that Mr Aldridge loaves the Public Trust work to a permanent knowing that he has taken with him the respect and best wishes of the office as well as of the numerous clients of the Public Trustee in tins district. THo progress of Taihape and the importance and magnitude of th 3 territory it servos has made it advisable to place in this town an expert officer.