PUBLIC TRUST.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20027, 8 September 1930, Page 7

PUBLIC TRUST.

increased business. A RECORD YEAR. New business for the year ended March 31st by the Public Trust Office constitutes a further record, states the annual report. . During the period 3845 new estates and funds of u total value of £8,473,916 were accepted for administration, compared with 3508 estates and funds to the value of £7,091,350 the preceding year. This is the first occasion upon which new business for any one year has exceeded £8,000,000. The value of estates and funds under administration on March 31st, 1929, was £48,334,790, while the corresponding figure for the year just past was £53,049,437, an increase of approximately £5,000,000 for the year. The figures for the new business accepted for the past seven years aro as follows: — Year ended Business March 31st. « 10"4 •• •• 3,781,155 1925 .. •• 4,621,809 1926 •• •• 4,651,447 1927 .. •• 5,551,019 1928 . ■ • • 6,511,928 1929 •• •• 7,091,350 1930 ... •• 8,473,916 • Total .. £40,682,684 Wills on Deposit. The growth in the number of wills on deposit lias been phenomenal. During the year .6893 additional wills were deposited and the total number now held stands at 68,253, an increase of 5412 over the previous year's total. New wills arc coming in at the rate of over 6000 per annum. The prospective business represented by wills on deposit is very large. Estates administration and trust work is of a very special nature, and in a marked degree the conduct of it calls for efficiency, safety, and kindly dealing with the beneficiaries. The office administration provides. for all these features in the State guarantee of the Public Trust's integrity, states the report The many expressions of appreciation on the part of clients bear witness to the efficient and sympathetic manner in which their affairs have been handled, and go to show that nothing is being left undone by the Public Trustee to secure the proper fulfilment of his vital obligation to render the best possible service in the conduct of his business and in the protection of those whose affairs are handled by him. Decentralisation. An important factor in obviating delay and speeding up the transaction of business is the scheme of decentralisation which has been in operation for many years past. In addition to the representation provided by the District Public Trustees the office has in the smaller centres district managers working under the control of the District Public Trustees fti whose districts they are .stationed. Extensions were made during the year by the appointment of district managers at Pahiatua and Dargaville. Since the end of the year further appointments have been made at Westport, Taumarunui, Cambridge, Oamaru, Pukekohe, and Rotorua. A corollary to the common fund system of investment for estates and funds is the finding of investments for the money that flows into the common fund. During the year the volume of investments has been heavy, the money invested amounting to £4,216,590. . . . The office is not designed as a profitmaking concern, and its policy is to •share with its clients the benefits accruing from successful working and improvements in management and control. During the year further concessions have been made to clients by way of reduced charges, involving a reduction of the minimum fee for the administration of small estates, and in the commission charge made for the administration of compensation moneys. Due recognition has been paid to the human element and provision made for securing direct personal attention and contact in the conduct of the office business. ... It is very gratifying that so many letters of commendation reach the Public Trustee from beneficiaries regarding the manner in which their interests have been safeguarded. Guarded by Law. The trust relationship is jealously ■guarded by law, even in cases where no loss is involved and where there is no charge of an attempt to overreach or defraud. The investment system in vogue in the Department since 1891, is exceptionally advantageous and offers to clients in the alternative methods of the Common Fund and the social investment scheme a unique choice. After providing for working expenses, allocations to reserves required and a return for the Government guarantee of the common fund any residue of the earnings is returned in one form or another to the clients. After dealing with training of junior officers the report goes on to state that the office's accounting system has stood the test of years and meets all demands made upon it. During the anxieties and uncertainties of the past eight or nine years the management of landed interests, especially in the case of farming properties, has entailed a great deal of responsibility and perplexity, but the office has seriously addressed itself to solving the problem, and overcoming the difficulties, and the efforts have met with a satisfactory measure of success. Land Values. There is widespread evidence, that in many cases the remuneration received by. the farmer does not represent an adequate return for his labour and capital' invested, after he has paid his fixed charges, With the recent fall, in pro*duce prices this difficulty has necessarily become considerably accentuated. The executive of a farming organisation has suggested that in order to prescribe a uniform method of assessing land values a conference of Government land valuers should be summoned by the Valuer-General. It recommends that the basis in assessing values should be in the main the average productive value or carrying capacity of land and the. average capable management over a period of ten years. To overcome the difficulty created by intricate points of law in the establishment of next-of-kin of intestate estates, a special Act is provided. On behalf of estates under administration the Public Trustee ia interested in various public and private companies in the Dominion and elsewhere and the total value of shares. controlled is now a very large amount. _ . .. . The Family Protection Act, death duty life policies, the liabilities of an estate unclaimed lands and property, charitable and public trusts are dealt with comprehensively and the report continues that everyone with dependents should see that adequate provision is made foi them as far as circumstances will permit. Intestacy does not provide for the conservation of an p g t a te over an indefinite period in a manner calculated to the best advantage of the beneficiaries. Financial crises in the United States «nd a series of occurrences in London, together with the acute financial position in Australia have all had important repercussions on thejinancial position in this Dominion, which have been

accentuated by the low prices obtainable for the Dominion's chief primary products. The position was ; oon reflected in the increased demands made upon the office funds. Steady progress was made-during the year, towards the completion of various dutios imposed upon the Public Trustee in the liquidation of ex-enemy property in the Dominion.-