8.—9

Considerable attention has been directed to the fund in recent years, and it has been urged by interested parties that the surplus moneys, after making provision for the one dependant who is at present receiving assistance, should be distributed amongst the descendants of the victims. During the year a large deputation waited upon the Hon. the Minister of Mines when he was in Dunedin, asking that the corpus be distributed. The Minister stated that he was strongly opposed to the suggestion, and firmly refused to consider any such proposal. Kirkpatrick Masonic Home for Girls. The Public Trustee was appointed executor and trustee under the will of the late Mr. Samuel Kirkpatrick, of Nelson, who died on the 21st May, 1925. The testator directed that his old home was to be converted into a hostel for orphan daughters of deceased Freemasons of the English, Irish, Scottish, and New Zealand constitutions throughout.®New Zealand, and that the income from the residue of the estate was to be utilized for the maintenance and management of the home. The house, which is in Mount Street, Nelson, is admirably suited for the purpose, and there the children receive every care and attention, generous treatment, and a good education. The Masonic constitutions have elected a Board of Governors which is responsible for the control and management of the home, but the Public Trustee is solely responsible for the administration of the estate. The income from the estate is paid each year by the Public Trustee to the Board of Governors, which expends the moneys in managing and maintaining the institution. The home, which is called the Kirkpatrick Masonic Institution for Girls, was opened on the 4th April, 1926. Coal-miners' Relief Fund. —The amount held by the Public Trustee at the close of the financial year ending 31st March, 1928, on behalf of the Coal-miners' Relief Fund was £26,156 lis. 2d., as against £26,868 lis. 3d. at credit on the 31st March, 1927. During the year payments have been made by way of relief grants for a total amount of £7,079 6s. 9d. The greater portion of this amount has been distributed through the committees appointed by the miners at the various centres. The Public Trustee remits funds from time to time to these committees, which attend to the payments to those entitled and submit quarterly statements of the disbursement of the funds which have been furnished to them. It is apparent from the analysis of the accounts that a general increase has taken place in the amount of claims against the fund, the total disbursements for the previous year amounting only to £5,505 Bs. Contributions by the mine-owners show a slight increase, but the heavy calls for relief during the period under review resulted in a reduction of £712 0s id. in the balance to credit of the fund, and if the present heavy outgoings are sustained it may be necessary to consider means for augmenting the fund to keep the increasing demands within its income. Carterton Home for Aged Poor. —' This well-known benefaction has been controlled by the Office for the past thirty-two years, and arises out of the will of the late Charles Booking Carter, a resident of Carterton, who died in 1896. In terms of this will a valuable block of land, containing about 2,166 acres, situated near Carterton, and the sum of £2,500, were to be set aside, and the rents and proceeds thereof applied in the erecting, establishing, and managing of a suitable home for aged poor men in the Carterton district. In 1916 legislation was passed increasing the objects of the testator's bounty by extending the area within which applicants must have resided so that it would include the whole of the Wairarapa Electorate as it existed in 1896. Provision was also made whereby wives of eligible aged poor men could also be admitted to the home. The whole of the administration of the estate outside the actual management of the home itself is controlled by the Public Trustee, who provides out of the income derived from the estate the funds required for the running of the home. An independent committee, comprising the Mayor for the time being of the Borough of Carterton, the vicar of the Parish of Carterton, and three members of the Borough Council elected annually by poll of the Council, are responsible for the control of the home. Thomas George Macarthy Trust. - -Reference has been made in previous reports to the administration of the estate of the late Mr. T. G. Macarthy, who died in 1912, and out of whose will (of which the Public Trustee is executor and trustee) arises what is perhaps the most widely known charitable and educational trust operating in New Zealand.

42