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training and by necessary additions to the shorthand-typing staff. The work of the Office is constantly increasing in volume, and provision is necessary not only for immediate requirements, which are met principally by the promotion of officers who have gained experience in the Office, but also for the certain needs of the future which necessitate a steady supply of junior officers with training in the office work and routine. The staff of the Office contains a high proportion of officers with technical as well as business qualifications for dealing with the highly specialized work which is undertaken. One hundred and twenty-nine have passed the degrees or other examinations entitling them to admission as barristers or solicitors, and one hundred and thirty-one have passed the accountants' professional or a higher examination in accountancy. The juniors are encouraged to undertake a course of study which will be of mutual benefit to the Office and to themselves m the performance of more advanced duties, and in practically every case they are engaged in the study of law or accountancy. In addition, the Office employs competent staffs to advise upon questions relating to town and country properties, so that all phases of the work, technical and practical, are fully provided for. OFFICE ORGANIZATION AND REPRESENTATION. 24. District Representation—On the 21st November, 1934, Mr. W. J. Baigent, who had as an agent represented the Office in the Tauranga district for a period of seventeen years, tendered his resignation owing to ill-health, and in view of the volume of business dealt with in the district it was decided to establish a District Manager office. This was opened in January last, an officer of the Public Trust Office having been stationed temporarily in the Tauranga district m the meantime. An agency was opened at Paeroa on the 14th September, 1934. With these changes, the Office had on the 31st March last twenty-three District Public Trustee offices, twenty District Manager offices, five part-time offices, and thirty-six agencies. This total of eighty-four district offices and agencies provide a very wide representation throughout the Dominion and was sufficient for the existing needs of the Office. 25. Organisation of Worlt. —A year's experience of the_ further delegation of powers to controlling officers at the Head Office and to district officers in regard to the administration of estates and the investment work, which was referred to in last year's report, has shown that the expectation then expressed that they would facilitate the performance of the work was well founded, whilst the fact that all but the most important phases of the work are dealt with in the district offices without reference to the Head Office has enabled an increasing amount of work to be handled without a corresponding increase in the expenses of management. The measure of decentralization adopted was substantial and there was no occasion therefore to consider any further delegations of moment during the past vear, but the working of the new powers conferred upon district officers is being' closely watched, and should it appear that further benefits are likely to accrue from' the granting of still more extended powers they will be brought into opera Km-nternai office ingtr uctions which were last reprinted in 1924 have been revised and will be reprinted during the present year. On this occasion the instructions will be issued in loose-leaf form, and it is hoped m this way to avoid for many years to come the reprinting of the complete set of instructions. 26. Inspections and Audit.—The system covers an annual review of all phases of the Office work, particularly the administration of estates, investment o± Office funds, and internal auditing checks. The staffing of the branches and the organization and co-ordination of the work also receive careful consideration m order to promote efficiency and effect economies where desirable. As a result of the progressive extension of the decentralization policy and the delegation of additional and wider powers to district officers the work of the Inspectors has been steadilv increasing and, as stated in the last report, it was found necessary, in order to keep the work up to date, to appoint an additional officer during the year under review.

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