DUTIES OF TRUSTEES.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1922, Page 3

DUTIES OF TRUSTEES.

AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. The meeting of the New Plymouth Commerce Students’ Society night was devoted to an interesting address by Mr. F. T. Davits, A.1.A.N.Z., on the “Bights and Duties of Trustees.” Mr. Davis spoke at some length and took his hearers through the whole gamut of “trusteeship,” from the definition of a trustee to his powers and responsibilities. A trustee was appointed by the instrument creating the trust, said Mr. Davis, and new trustees could be appointed by a person nominated to g so appoint, or, in default of such person, by the Court under the Trustees Act. A person could decline to act as trustee, but must decline before he accepts office, while he could not accept part of the trust and disclaim the remainder. After showing how a person could be said to have accepted a trust, the lecturer said that his duties were, first to make himself acquainted with the terms of the trust instrument, get in the trust property, obey the directions of settlement, act impartially in the execution of the trust beween all the beneficiaries, and to sell wasting property. In carrying out his duties, the trustee was required to use the reasonable care of an ordinary Ibusiness man, but the Act gave relief in certain cases of errors of judgment. Regarding the investment of trust moneys, the Act also laid down where the funds might be invested, and Mr. Davis pointed out that, while it was quite legal to invest in borough council debentures, it was not lawful to invest in. harbor board securities. The lecturer, however, made it clear that the deed creating the trust was paramount, notwithstanding the provisions of the Act relating to investments. A trustee or trustees must always act on their own judgment, while they were not entitled to employ an accountant to keep the books merely to save themselves trouble.

After explaining the measure of assistance trustees could obtain to assist them in collecting numerous small debts or in the management of a special property, he went on to show that trustees must act jointly, except in certain details, and that they were severally responsible for the actions of any one of the trustees in his dealings with the property. On the subject of remuneration, the trustee had to act gratuitously, except when the deed provided* for remuneration or when it was allowed by the Court or by the beneficiaries. He could not traffic with the property and he must be ready at all reasonable times, at the request of the beneficiary, to give full and accurate information concerning the trust. The only other business transacted at the meeting was the appointment of a delegate to a conference of Commerce Students’ Societies in Wellington on the 22nd inst., the chairman, Mr. Hugh Baily, being asked to act.