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Trustee is acting. During the year forty-five of these claims were made, of which thirty-seven were successful, one was abandoned as the result of further inquiry, and seven are still pending. There is also considerable legal work in connection with the apportionment by the Court of compensation moneys amongst the dependants of the deceased worker, where this has not already been done. Fortyseven applications for apportionment orders were made during the period under review. 135. It is not only on the common-law side that the volume of work has been heavy during the past year. It will be recognized what an important part in the work of the Office business conveyancing must necessarily play. The officers engaged upon this work are kept busily employed in the preparation, perusal, stamping, registration, or otherwise completing transfers, conveyances, leases, mortgages, deeds of family arrangement, and numerous other documents, often of a difficult and complicated nature. The conveyancing-work arises not only in the administration of estates, but in connection with the investment of moneys belonging to the Common Fund, Government Railway Superannuation Fund, Teachers' Superannuation Fund, and National Provident Fund. The investment side of the operations of the Department has now assumed such huge dimensions that the number of documents drafted and perused in connection with it is very large indeed. A number of important conveyancing problems came up for consideration during the year, and appropriate instructions and directions were issued for the general guidance of the staff where necessary. 136. It is inevitable and often very necessary in the conduct of the administration of estates under the control of the Public Trustee, and the transaction of other portions of his business, that he should be involved in a certain amount of litigation. In addition, his services are often availed of by the Court in cases in which he is not directly concerned, but in which he has been directed by the Court to represent infants, absentees, or other persons under disability. lam pleased to report that, as in previous years, the manner in which this duty has been discharged has given every satisfaction. MORTGAGE DIVISION. Investments from Common Fund. 137. The decisive and sudden change which took place in the financial and economic position of the Dominion during the past year has had a marked effect on the operations of institutions, such as the Public Trust Office, which are charged with the duty of investing large sums of money on suitable securities on behalf of their clients. In the earlier part of the year funds were plentiful in many quarters, and the chief difficulty which faced investors with large sums to dispose of was the finding of suitable securities showing the requisite margin of value in sufficient numbers to absorb the whole of the available funds. 138. Previous reports furnished by the Public Trustee on the work of the Office have emphasized the fact that an overwhelming proportion of the funds in estates which are under administration by the Public Trustee are not invested separately, but, in accordance with the intention of the testators, fall into the Common Fund of the Office and go to swell the amount for which investments require to be found. As all these amounts bear the absolute guarantee of the State, it is essential that the greatest care should be exercised in the selection of investments in order that as far as possible a steady and uninterrupted flow of income may be received and the principal sums invested maintained intact and undiminished. Subject to these dominant principles, it is the duty of the Public Trustee to secure as high a rate of interest on his investments as is compatible with the provision of a safe and satisfactory security. It is well known that in the earlier part of the year now under review private investors of various classes were prepared to advance sums on the security of local-body debentures returning interest at 5|- or even 5|- per cent. It is obvious that at this rate of interest, even allowing for the excellent nature of the security, the Public Trustee would not have been able to maintain the present favourable rates of interest allowed to clients and beneficiaries from the Common Fund. These investments have been particularly attractive to private investors and trustees who do not possess the requisite facilities for the obtaining of satisfactory securities by way of mortgage on land or for maintaining a satisfactory supervision and control over such securities when obtained. Thus at a time when money was freely available

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