B.—9a

12

No other business is transacted by the Board. It is stated that the Public Trustee sometimes mentions a complaint or possibly some other matter, but such matters are not seriously entertained or deliberated upon by the Board. At any rate, no minutes concerning any such matters are kept. It is plain that the Public Trustee does not consult the Board upon questions affecting the staff or relating to the realization or administration of estates, the execution of trusts, or the discharge of the duties imposed on the office. The Board deals merely with the two subjects above stated. Such has been the practice for years past, at any rate. The Board meets once a week, and is attended with regularity by the Government Life Insurance Commissioner and the New Zealand Stateguaranteed Advances Superintendent. The Surveyor-General's attendance is infrequent. No Minister ever attends, nor does the Solicitor-General. The Board invariably acts upon the recommendation of the Public Trustee upon the question whether he shall accept any proposed appointment. The Public Trustee never rejects an estate on account of its smallness, but he doe? so if he foresees that the estate will involve him in litigation, or where, as is sometimes the case, a family feud attaches to a trust, or where some othsr undesirable factor of that kind exists. In regard to securities submitted for approval, the particulars are entered in the minute-book, and the files relative to the securities are placed on the table for more detailed information in case of need. When once the security has been approved further reference thereto is not made to the Board. We think it would be an improvement if in each week a record was placed before the Board in the minute-book showing what securities approved, say, three weeks or more before, have not been completed. The members who usually attend the Board meetings to approve the securities are admirably qualified for the purpose, on account of the experience they gain in similar matters in their own lending departments—an experience not confined to Wellington, but, like that of the Public Trustee, extending over all parts of the Dominion. It sometimes happens that one or other of them recognizes some security submitted to the Trust Office as one which he has himself rejected. We conclude that failure on the part of some members of the Board to attend meetings indicates disinclination or inability to give any portion of their time to the duties assigned to them, and in our opinion the Board should be strengthened by the addition of the Valuer-General and two members of wide business knowledge and experience, who shall deal not only with such important matters as advances, investments, and acceptance of trusts, but with questions of difficulty and general policy. The view expressed to us (as will be seen from the evidence) to the effect that the Valuer-General should be a member of the Board we strongly recommend. He knows all parts of the Dominion; he knows his valuers—whether they are inclined to be sanguine or the reverse. Delays on the part of valuers are a not infrequent source of annoyance. These will be brought instantly and vividly before him, and he will be the better equipped for inquiry into the causes of delay. As already indicated, he may be appointed by the Governor under existing legislation. The Solicitor-General may, we think, well be omitted, at all events, so long as the Board's functions are confined to the two classes of business before described. It is our opinion that if the outside business element suggested were introduced, a decided improvement would be effected. Not that the members who now attend the meetings do not do admirable work, but the addition of members from outside the Service would bring the office more in touch with the public. The non-service members would, it is believed, create increased confidence in the office, and be more likely to secure independent and sympathetic consideration of the complaints or grievances of beneficiaries and others, and so be the means of prompter redress. As men of business, their appointment