THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8963, 4 May 1891, Page 3

THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

I (N.Z. Times, May 2.) The Public Trust Commissioner!* reported to the Government yeatertlny that, having been at work for six weeks, and having taken a great deal of evidence, they had come to ttie conclusion that it was their duty to themselves and to the Government find to th« people of the colony to submit to Ministers the full particulars of the evidence bo far as they had gono They intend, they add, to pursue tho inquiry until they uro in a position to send a full report to bis Exceliency the Governor. With this document they have forwarded a packet of printed evidence covering nearly 200 pages. The most sensational portion of this evidence we hear relates to the pro. ceettlngs in the case of personal property of intestate estates, It appears that ollicers are in tho habit of attending auctions and buying jewellery, watches, cliains, rings, binoculars, articles of " bigotry and virtue." From the bead of the office downwards men have in their possession various articles thus purchased, and there are cases of purchases for their friends outside. The most remarkable part of tho story is that there are no inventories kept of these things. The lists when they are made up consist largely of " etceteras "--" watch and chain, &c." Receipts are not given in detail of properly received, and tha chief batis for making out the accounts on winding up are the auctioneers' account sales of job lots. There is apparently no check of any kind. The articled are placed on a table hefore being sent to auction, where the ollicers may appraise them, and take advantage of the prices given at auction. Those examined do not appear to have any idea that there was anything improper in the practice. There is n story of 11 piece of laco belonging to an ettatewhich I disappeared mysteriously, was out of the ollicc many months without being missed, and only turned up on enquiry tuA>le by the Commissioners, who found mention of it in a letter. An ofliccr admitted I lint he had taken it liomu to get it valued, but had torjjotterj to bring it back. A bracelet from the fllecis in the samo estato is missing. It was the estate of a. woman whose son claimed as next ot kin. He wished to have the jewellery kept, for be wanted tho articles as mementos. There was no particular reason to sell, as there was money at credit. In the correspondence it appears that the law as to illegitimate children claiming, which is very clear mid precise, was not- understood in tbc office. Some nf tho officers wero buyers of tbo articles at the auction. This practice of buying at anutious has lasted for years. In some cases the officers attend nnd bid openly, in others • they leave itiotructiomi with tbe

auctioneer's clerk, in othora they do the business throngh a friend. No such practices have taken place in the ense of real property, For on oue occassion, it is in evidence, aa agent who was entrusted with the sale of a piece of land came into tiie ollice with a transfer to himself, and j was properly brought to book and made to return the property, Tho management of the business is discovered to be dilatory. There is a case of a life policy which was paid, though the policy had been burnt, on condition that the money remained in the Trustee's office for six years at 4 per cent j but it was two years before the people entitled to the money were notified. The system of book-keep-ing is cumbrous an.l inefficient. There are about SO books of different sizes; the great majority of them are admitted in evidence to be useless. Some of them, the chief of the department, it is said, admits ho never even heard of. Between subsidiary ledgers, impressed cashbooks, rough cashbooks, and a mass of others, there is confusion, and the book-keeping is said to be slovenly and Incomplete. It in understood to be a case of much labor and little result. These are a, few instances, wo are informed on authority which appears good, of the kind of thing which induced the Commissioners to send the evidence up to the Government 1 . It is said that the feeling is strong in their mind that the work of tho oftice has altogethet outgrown tho organisation and capacity of the department.