PUBLIC TRUST

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 127, 30 May 1914, Page 9

PUBLIC TRUST

WORKING OF STATE OFFICE ___ ' "IRRESPONSIBLE AND WILD STATEMENTS" REPLIED TO BY THE MINISTER. (BY TELEOnAPH— PRESS ASSOCIATION.) CHRISTCHURCH, 29th May. ! Certain criticisms of the Public Trust ! Office made by Mr. G. W. Russell, M.P., were referred to by the Hon. A. L. Herdi man, Minister in charge of the Public Trust Office, in the course of his political address at Hawardcn. Mr. Herdman said that he noticed by that morning's newspaper that Mr. Russell had been suggesting that since he (Mr. Herdman) took over tho control of the Public Trust Office, it had been his earnest desire to manage it in the interests of the lawyers of New Zealand. It was quite an easy thing to make a charge of that description. They had the first fact that the man in" charge is a lawyer^ and it was not difficult to get the public to believe such a statement as that made by Mr. llu&sell. He (the speaker) believed he could supply convincing proof of the fact that since he took charge of the Public Trust Office the business of the office had improved. Shortly before the present Government took office, the Public Service Commission, which was appointed by tho Mackenzie Government, furnished a report in which reference was made to the way in which the business of the office was being conducted, and also in. respect to the staffing of the office. Mr. Ell suggested that there should bo ' a searching enquiry, and other members on the same side of the House suggested that a thorough investigation should 1 be made. As a lesult, ,Mr. Hosking, now Mr. Justice Hosking, and Mr. Alexander Macintosh, one of the finest business men in the Dominion, and at one time manager of the Bank of New Zealand, were appointed a Commission to enquire into the working of the Public Trust Office. Two more competent men could not have been selected. These gentlemen investigated and duly reported, and in their report they made some reference to the legal part of the staff of the office. ' LEGAL BRANCH. Mr. Russell said that a legal bureau existed. He (Mr. Herdman) thought he made a mistake in the legal bureau. There was a legal branch, the duty of the officers of which was to see that tho work connected with the branch was expeditiously done. The branch did not exist for the benefit of the public, except as a branch of the Public Trust Office, and the officers were in the branch to do Public Trust Office business and no other business. This work of the officers of the branch was legal in character, because tho Public Trustee was charged with the administration of trust estates, and the business he had to transact was of a legal character. It was, therefore, necessary that he (tlie Minister), being in charge of the Public .Trust Office, should see that the work was done properly and expeditiously in the interests of those who entrusted their business to the Public Trustee. ' The Commission made some suggestion as to the reconstruction of the legal branch, and with their recommendations he agreed, and he was going to see that the recommendations were carried out. The Commissioners disagreed with the centralisation of the legal work of the Public Trust Office in Wellington, and held, that the legal -work in connection with; say, the Christchurch office, should be done by some legal firm attached to the Christchurch office. The desirableness of that was obvious to anyone with common sense. "If the people want a cheap legal bureau established," Mr. Heraman went on, "then so long as I am in charge of the Public Trust Office it is not going to be in Connection with that Department. It must be separate, and the legal branch of tho office must confine itself to the business of those who entrust their business to the Public Trustee. It is charged against me that I have been working against the interest of the Public Trust Office. That is the suggestion of Mr. RusseTl, that I am working in the interests of my professional brethren and not in the interests of the office. I hold in my hand a report furnished to me, and when 1 read it I am convinced that you will be satisfied that the charge made against me is wrong and erroneous, and that on the contrary, the office has prospered during the past twenty months. This report has been handed to me by a responsible officer of the Department. IMPROVEMENTS EFFECTED. "The office has received a great impetus to its business through the passing of the amending Act of last session, and when the full benefit to be derived from utilising tho services of the official becomes more widely known, a considerable accession to the estate business will result. The office now has two non-ser-vico members on its board, Messrs. W. G. Foster and G. Tolhurst. The former was appointed for his experience in matters relating to farming and live stock, and the latter for his skill ira matters of banking and finance. It is expected that tho influence of these two members on the deliberations of the board would have a most beneficial result on the general business of the office. The new Act provides for the appointment of advisory trustees, an entirely new departure, al- [ though the system is in vogue with the j English trustee. Frequently people have wanted to join some relative or friend with the Public Trustee, but up to now they have been unable to do so. Other facilities given to the public are the ability to appoint the Public Trustee a custodian trustee. That is to say, he can take over any securities or money from the managing trustee. He would not be concerned in tho joint administration of the estate. He would simply receive funds and invest them or receive securities for safe keeping. The assistance of tho Public Trustee can now bo invoked to investigate and audit the assets of private trustees. Similarly, beneficiaries can appoint a solicitor or accountant to 6xamino the Public Trustee's accounts. Perhaps one of the most important improvements in tho working of the office ie the granting to the Publice Trustee tho right to administer small estates — that is, those under JB4O0 — without obtaining an order of the Court. This means that the estates of poor people can be administered by the Public Tru&leo inosl economically. A good many alterations were made by the new Act, but they are all of a technical character, and framed entirely with the object of making the office machinery ran more smoothly. DEVELOPING IN ALL DIRECTIONS. "A new set of regulations is now being framed (the Minister said that they had been since framed) whereby lurther concessions Mill be given to people who do business with the office. These regulations will provide for an increased rate of interest to beneficiaries in certain clauses of estates, and they Avill reduce tho office charge for administration ateo in a number of cases. The office is developing in all directions. No doubt in the large centres this is due in a great measure to the appointment of one official representative to be local DeputyPublic Trustee, with powers very little short in local estate administration of the Public Trustee lninsclf. In the sumlk'r towns the Public Truetco has hie L difttric,t naafiajser* M<i «« i°J?g £h§ I'M-

noss will necessitate some of these being transformed into local Deputy-Public Trustees. . . . "The business of the office is enormous. On 31st March, 1913, there were 7909 eelates and accounts in lho office of a total value of £11,268,311, and of this largo total the Public Trustee actually had investments for £5,515,697. The figures for the current year~are not available yet, but it is quite safe to anticipate that the total** will be swollen by at least another SOO estates and accounts, worth another million or more in value. The office holds the wills of over 8000 living people, and these are being added to at the rate of over 1000 each year. j ADOPTING THE SUGGESTIONS. ; " The report of the' Commissioners has proved most valuable to the office, and as many of the suggestions they made as is possible to adopt in the short space of time have been adopted, and other reforms that they indicated will be given effect to. The office has done its best to cope with the great growth of the Department, and tho Government has assisted it to the fullest extent by adding to and improving the standing of the staff. It was found that the work was such that higher salaries than are usually paid to Civil servants had to be provided for a good number of the staff." For the year ended 31st March, 1912, tho total sum - ot £21.745 was paid in salaries, but as a result of investigations made for the Government the staff was considerably added to, and increases were given making up a total salary roll of £27,330 per annum, and during next year further developments had to be made involving total increases amounting to £2900. The total salaries the Department paid for the year ended 31st March, 1913, amounted to £27,330, whereas the salaries at the present moment amount to £34,680. The number of new appointments to the staff during the year 1913 was 45, comprising seven transferred from other Departments, two transferred from the temporary to the permanent stalf, 25 cadets (new appointments), 10 typists (new appointments), and one lift man at Auckland, while the resignations numbered 18." The Minister continued: "Yet you > are told by Mr. Eussell and other gentle- I men who wander round about the country making these irresponsible and wild statements that I had deliberately attempted to block the business of tho office. I ask you whether tho statement of a responsible officer or Mr. Russell's statement is to be believed, or whether you will accept these facts that I put before you."