PUBLIC TRUST

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 146, 21 June 1924, Page 7

PUBLIC TRUST

RAPID GROWTH OF BUSINESS.

(BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

STRATFORD, 20th June. This afternoon the Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister of Pnblic Works, performed a triple ceremony at Stratford by opening a new bridge, the Public Trust buildings, and post office. The weather was fine, and there was a large and enthusiastic gathering. The Minister was presented with a silver trowel and a gold key. In the course of his speech the* Hon. J. G. Coates, in referring especially to the work of the Public Trust Office, said that when the branch was established in Stratford in 1920 the number of estates in the Stratford district under the administration of the Public Trustee was 34, with a total value of £33,800, and by the end of March last the number had increased to 117, with a total value of £215,825. During the year ended March last 36 estates valued at £117,873 had been entrusted to this office for administration. At the present time £457,694 has been advanced to borrowers in the Stratford district. £223,832 having been advanced to farmers and private persons, and £233,862 to local bodies for works of public utility. The expansion of the business in the Stratford district, he added', was typical of the large increase which had taken place throughout the Dominion in the work of the Public Trust Office, which had now been in existence for fifty years. In 1889 the total value of estates was £1.240,098, held by the Trust Office for administration, and to-day the value is £32,404,725.