SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16, 1896. THE PUBLIC TRUSTEE.

Hastings Standard, Issue 122, 16 September 1896, Page 2

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. Published Daily.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16, 1896. THE PUBLIC TRUSTEE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The announcement that Mr James Crosby Martin, the esteemed Stipendiary Magistrate of Wellington, is to be appointed Pablie Trustee will, we are sure, meet with the approval of all classes in the community. It is perhaps stupid to say that Mr Martin will prove to be this or that, for we have yet to see how he will shape in his new capacity. He may turn out a rank failure, for it does not follow that because a man is successful in one line of businejss he is bound to be successful in any other he may choose to take up. We can, however, say this, that Mr Martin in his Magisterial capacity has shown himself to be industrious, conscientious, and strictly jmpurtmlj the very highest qualifications necessary for a Magistrate. To be- a success as Public Trustee, be needs business aptitude, and while even the average lawyer is not wanting in this quality, we believe Mr Martin to possess it in a high degree. Furthermore, we feel sure that «o

honorable and conscientious a gentleman as Mr Martin would not accept so responsible a position as Public Trustee if he did not feel that he was qualified to render good service. He may pan out a duffer, but the prospects are that he will be not less brilliant as Public Trustee than he has been as Stipendiary Magistrate. Mr Martin is a worthy successor to Mr J. K. Warburton, and Mr Seddon is to be congratulated on the excellence of his choice. It is one of the chief aims of the alleged independent but really party-muzzled Tory press to screech " Spoils to the Victors " at the Government, but Ministers have shown that where the interests of the Democracy are concerned, " party color" is not considered. The Government has no doubt provided the weather-beaten members of the party with odd jobs and stray crumbs, but for the responsible positions in the Civil Service the choice has invariably fallen upon some fitting person. The appointment of Mr McGowan as Commissioner of Taxes in succession to the late Mr Crombie was free from any political color. The appointment of Mr J. K. Warburton to the position of AuditorGeneral was one that was generally approved, and the selection of Mr Martin as Public Trustee is free from any political taint, and will, we are sure, give satisfaction. It is bare justice to acknowledge the fact that the Government has shown great care and wise discrimination in the appointments to the superior positions of the Civil Service.

With the new appointment a change is to be made in the Public Trust Office. The Advances to Settlers Office is to be made a separate department under the supervision of Mr McGowan, of the Land and Income Tax Department. We believe the step proposed to be in the right direction. There could never have been anything in common between the Public Trust Office and the Advances to Settltrs Office under the one chief. Both offices belong to the departments of the State, and their interests must have clashed; and perhaps to that fact is due the dilatory manner in which the funds at the disposal of the Advances to Settlers' Office have been lent on mortgage.> Believed of this lending office, the liew Public Trustee should find his work comparatively easy and agreeable The work of the Public Trust Office ia "of a character that should suit it lawyer, and taking into account ths excellent service rendered by Mr ]V|artin, and his many high qualifications, we incline to the belief that he will come up to the highest expeetot|»i3S. We congratulate Mr Martin cm his success, which he well deserves, and sympathise with Wellington, which will now lose the services of one of the very best of Magistrates.