15

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between Taihape and Palmerston North is readily available, and it is a decided advantage to be able to communicate with the Controlling Officer so easily and directly, which was impossible when under control from Wellington.-" At New Plymouth the Office has been raised from a District Manager's Office to a District Public Trustee Office. The result has been entirely satisfactory. A District Solicitor has been appointed at the Wellington District Office. 35: The scheme for decentralizing the work, which was inaugurated by the passing of the Public Trust Office Amendment Act, 1912, is now complete. The whole of the detail work in estates is carried out by the District Offices in close proximity to the beneficiaries and other interested persons. The functions of the Head Office are now those of an advisory and directing Office only. No estate accounts remain open at the Head Office. The process of decentralizing the work has been a gradual one since 1913, but each successive step which has been taken has shown conclusively that the system is a proper one to adopt. It is the universal testimony of District Officers that the change has been beneficial to the Office and to those who do business with it. Two typical expressions of opinion may be quoted. One District Officer reports : " The decentralization of the administration of estates has had a wonderful effect in expediting the work and in completing the administration. It is now a common thing for small estates to be completed entirely within three months, and this is much appreciated by beneficiaries. Expressions, of satisfaction are continually being given by beneficiaries and others." The second officer reports: ' The decentralization has been of great importance to the work of the Office, and the benefit can now be fully appreciated. Administrative work can be expeditiously completed and done, to the satisfaction of the public. To my knowledge there have been no complaints made during the year of the way administrative work is carried out, and in most estates that have been administered the interested parties have all made wills appointing the Public Trustee executor. This appears to me to be a good sign that the administrative work now carried out by the Office is appreciated by the public." EXPANSION OF ORGANIZATION. 36. During the year just closed the organization of the Office has been further extended, and the Public Trustee is now represented in ninety-one towns throughout the Dominion. A full-time branch has been opened at Marton. Part-time offices under the charge of permanent officers have been established at Te Awamutu, Te Aroha, Methven, Fairlie, Palmerston, Milton, Waikaia, Waikaka, Winton, Otautau, and Kiverton. In the North Auckland District the work, has been completely organized under the control of the District Public Trustee at Whangarei, with agencies at Kaitaia, Kohukohu, and Dargaville. The business obtained has fully justified this step. Following on the resignation of Mr. W. Wilson as Agent of the Office at Hokitika, a part-time office has been established, which is worked by an officer who is despatched periodically from the Greymouth District Office. The further expansion of the Office system has helped to facilitate the conduct of business by providing representatives in reasonable proximity to persons requiring the services of the Office. The part-time offices have also served a useful purpose in enabling the officers in attendance to deal with assets of estates which are located in the districts where the offices are open. These offices are also acting as valuable feeders to the main offices. A considerable amount of pioneering work has been done, and the Office will reap the advantage of this in future years. New Agencies of the Office. 37. New agencies of the Office, under the charge of non-permanent Agents paid by commission, have been opened at Morrinsville, Cambridge, Eketahuna, and Martinborough.