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General: The public have at all times received prompt attention and courtesy at the Agency when desiring information or advice in reference to any Public Trust Office business, and beneficiaries in estates being administered have been treated with consideration, and assisted in any difficulty. Te Puke Sub-Agency.—The Te Puke Sub-Agency has been regularly visited during the summer months of August to March —twice a month on sale days, and once a month during the winter months. The same attention to publicity as outlined in the Tauranga report has been pursued at Te Puke, and the public are becoming more interested in the work of the Public Trust Office as affecting them personally. General conditions : The same remarks as applied to Tauranga are applicable to the farming community in the Te Puke district. A number of the farmers are faced with financial troubles, and find it difficult to recover a sound position. Wills : The number of wills secured was eight, of a value amounting to £25,577—an increase of over £10,000 on the previous year. Thames.—The general condition of this town is progressive, as a number of important works are in progress. Mining is carried on in a very small way. Only three or foui small companies are working, with very little result. Farming is now the mainstay of the district and will continue to be. The district is well adapted for the industry, and conditions are improving yearly. Eight deceased estates passed through this office for the past twelve months. As the working of the Office becomes better understood throughout the district an increase of business is anticipated. Taumarunui.—During the period under review the progress of Taumarunui and district has been very satisfactory. The improvements effected comprise the completion of the hydro-electric works and reticulation of tbe borough, and the scheme is already paying its way. TMie public hospital is just completed, while the main street for two miles is nearly completed as a permanent bitumenized road. Private building has been brisk, more particularly in respect to business premises. The prosperity of the district is evidenced by the better prices obtained for stock, &c. Thirty thousand sheep were yarded at the Ewe Fair, and sold at excellent prices. The indications are that Taumarunui will in a few years become an important industrial and distributing centre, and it is already admitted to be a large stock centre. The timber industry in this district will last for many years, and be the means of distributing large sums by way of royalites and wages, thus tiding over the transmission period from sawmilling to farming and permitting of the country being gradually opened up. The future of Taumarunui is bound up in the pastoral industries (sheep-farming and dairying), and while prices remain at or near their present level the district will progress and the town become an important inland centre from a business point of view, as it already is from a geographical or topographical, it being a natural centre for at least fifty miles square of fair to good farming country. That the popularity of the Office is increasing is evidenced by the number of new wills drawn during the period (about thirty). This in a measure is due to the greater publicity given through the advertising in the local Press. There are now fifteen estates under administration here. Whakatane — During the year six deceased persons' estates, representing a total in assets of £8,150, have been accepted, and four have been closed. Sixteen wills for deposit havejbeen accepted, the gross value of the prospective estates involved beiug £75,042. Interest on loans current is being met on due date in almost every case. The Rangitaiki Swamp area, which is now becoming famous, constitutes a large part of the district. Settlers on this area have received a serious setback in that the cost of drainage which was undertaken by the Government reached a total far in excess of all estimates. The Government, however, is considering the position with a view to affording some measure of relief, and bright hopes are entertained for the future. Waihi.—During the year the town received rather a serious setback owing to the closing-down of the Grand Junction Mine, whereby about two hundred and fifty men lost their employment. On the other hand, the dairying industry in the district is making steady progress. The East Coast Railway will shortly be open for traffic to within a few miles of the farming district of Katikati, when it is anticipated that this Agency will benefit thereby. During the year twenty-three wills were lodged for safe custody and several estates were administered. Te Aroha Part-time Office. —Te Aroha, twenty-nine miles by rail from Hamilton, is the centre of a wealthy and closely settled dairying district. This town, with a population of about two thousand, is visited on Fridays by an officer from the Hamilton Branch, and there is no doubt that the residents of the district appreciate the visits. The Office already has a large number of Common Fund investments in the Piako County, including advances to local bodies for public works, and the increasing number of applications for advances by and wills of substantial farmers which are being received through this Branch are a gratifying feature of the year's working. Recently the Office was transferred to a more commodious building. Cambridge. —The past year has been quite a good one from all points of view. The number of new wills has exceeded the previous records, forty new wills, of a value of £90,900, having been executed. The people of the district have realized the advantage of being able to have their wills prepared with the security of administration by the Public Trustee. I anticipate the coming year to be even better for new wills, as there are a good number of good-class faimers whom I have approached who have not yet made their wills. The applications for loans have been good. The securities held by the Office are a good type, and our mortgagors are of a very good class. Fifteen applications for loans were granted during the year, amounting to £42,500. Te Kuiti Branch.—The past year has been an exceedingly good one for the sheep-farmer as far as prices obtained for wool and sheep are concerned. In many cases the struggling man has been

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