THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 130, 3 June 1891, Page 2

THE PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE.

0 >' ■- The Wellington correspondent of tho Auckland Herald writes :— The Btate of the department at present is desoribed generallv by the word " muddle," rather than malver. aation, and some who wpuld be lonient lay tho moat blame on the multifarious tranaaotiona whioh pass in the courae of a year through tha handa of a limited staff, Still there ia a story ourrent that in one oaae of a subordinate olfloer the Commiaaioners are considering the propriety of recommending fchftfc he ahall be prosecuted. I have heard apemflo details of several esfcatea whioh are said to have dwindled away almost to : nothing while passing through the Truat i Office. To give these Bpecifio details iu any i pnrtionlar case might point to some.particu- i lar officer, and damage him in fche eatima- I tion of hia superior officers, whioh at a 1 junofcure like fche present would bo a oruel < injustice. I will describe to you a few cases « whwh are said to be typical of a class. I The first oaae tyijl he thijt of a man dying I and leaving an estate in land! worth about I £1800 to be administered for tbe benefit of > his two orphan ohildren, It iB Btated the < estate was let to a person wholly incompetent e to work it, that the farm, instead 0 f being 1 worth £1800 would not now fetch £6QO. i Thia probably aroae from fcwooauaea viz'' i (.1) inadequate inapeotion, and (,2) letting the estate to a tenant without enquiry. The 't next olasß of oaaes oompriaeß ono where f money waa lent upon land iu a, " decaying fc village "on tho wwfc, and the seourity when t

realised was almost worthless. It is affirmed that sums of money were lent in this way at the solicitation of certain persons who re* pommeuded the investment, but were in no ■'w?y responsible for tho advice they gave. The manner in whioh oharges absorbed the whole of small estates is described as [extraordinary. The following is a ourious insfcanoe :— Two brothers were out shooting; one was accidentally shot and killed, A third brother proceeded by " special train V to the scene of tho accident ; this speoiai trin oost £40, and thia sum, whioh was actually expended by a survivor, was charged to the deceased brother's eatate. Small personal estates havo become disappointingly less and less from year to year. The materials of the Commissioners' report are of every conceivable kind of variety,