NEW PUBLIC TRUSTEE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1921, Page 4

NEW PUBLIC TRUSTEE.

MR. J. W. MACDONALD. AN INTERESTING CAREER. The Prime Minister informed a Wellington Times representative on Tuesday that .Cabinet had decided to appoint Mr. John William Macdonald, at present Assistant Public Trustee to the position of Public Trustee, rendered vacant by the death of the late Mr. R. Triggs. Mr. Macdonald was born at Christchurch in 1883 and brought up in Timaru, his father being the late Mr. Macdonald, of Timaru High School, gaining both junior and senior scholarships, and heading the list at eacfi examination. Leaving school, he was engaged for a time in newspaper work, but in 1900 he joined the Justice Department, and he qualified for the legal profession. Tn 1906 Mr. Macdopald joined the Public Trust Office as a clerk in the legal department. He was appointed assistant solicitor in 1907, and, on the retirement in 1909 of Mr T. J. Wilson, was appointed solicitor to the department. This position he held till 1917, when, on the reorganisation of the department, he was appointed to the position of Assistant Public Trustee, and a member of the newly-constituted board in charge of the office. He had. as Assistant Public Trustee, control of several important branches of the office—in particular the legal division, the world’s trust and agency division, the native division, the mortgage and investment division, the war regulations (dealing with enemy firms and property) division, and the land settlement finance division. He also had a seat on the lending boards of the State Advances Office and the Public Trust Office On the setting up of the New Zealand Clearing House to carry out the Versailles Treaty with Germany and that of St. Germains-en-Haye with Australia, the work was handed .over to the Public Trust Office and was under his charge. Mr. Macdonald has been three times elected by the Public Service to represent th -m on the Public Service Superannuation Fund Board, the 'contributors to that fund; and is at present a member of the finance, legislation, and claims committee ’of the board. He is the author of several legal textbooks in common use.