49

B.— 9

enabled to discuss matters relating to their mortgages with the district officer, who has full information on record in his Office relating to all mortgage securities situated in his district. The adjustment of staff as between the Head Office and the district offices, rendered necessary by the change, has been completed, and it has been found that there has been an actual saving of staff as compared with the numbers required under the old centralized system. It. should be made clear that the Public Trustee retains within his personal control the consideration of all applications for new loans or increases of existing loans, and that the granting and renewal of loans and the granting of further advances to existing borrowers is reserved to the Public Trust Office Investment Board. Custody op Deeds. 106. The delegation of the work to the district offices has necessitated the transfer of the mortgage-deeds to those offices, the total number involved being four thousand packets. The holding of the deeds at the district offices has greatly facilitated production when titles are required by practitioners to enable transfers and other dealings with the land to be registered. Detailed and stringent regulations are in force to ensure that deeds for new loans or for renewal of existing loans are received promptly and are correct in every particular before being filed away in the strong-rooms. In the case of securities prepared by the legal staff of the Office, the necessary particulars to enable the deeds to be correctly drawn are on record on the papers. In the case of securities prepared by outside practitioners on behalf of the Public Trustee, full and detailed instructions are issued on a special form covering all points which require to be taken into consideration in the preparation of the documents. A final check of ail documents prepared, whether by the Office staff or by outside practitioners, is made before the deeds are filed away in safe custody. Review of Investment Work. 107. It has been recognized that an essential corollary of decentralization is the institution of a complete and satisfactory system of review and inspection. Accordingly the staff of Reviewing Inspectors has been supplied with complete and detailed instructions covering every phase of the investment work, and a complete and continuous check is maintained over the whole of the work and periodical reports are submitted to the Public Trustee embodying the results of the inspection of each office. The reports received throughout the year have disclosed no serious lapse of any kind on the part of officers in carrying out the instructions, but have shown that the work has been conducted efficiently and promptly. The aspects of the work covered by the reports have included the submission of loan applications, the ordering of inspections, the reviewing of all new loans granted, the settlement of new loans and further advances, the collection of interest, the preparation and submission of Board papers, and the receipt and custody of the mortgagedeeds. As the investment work expands at the larger offices, the practice is adopted of supplying trained and competent officers from the Head Office staff who are familiar with the requirements of the Head Office and the Investment Board to undertake the work at the district offices. It is intended that this practice shall be continued and extended as opportunity arises. Further Decentralization of Investment Work. 108. Following the decision to raise the status of the offices at Waipukurau and Hastings to that of District Public Trust Offices, arrangements are in train for the transfer of the control of all Common Fund and Special Fund securities in those districts to the newly appointed District Public Trustees. Full instructions are being prepared to ensure that the necessary transfer of the books of accounts and records will be carried out without any inconvenience being experienced by mortgagors.

7—B. 9,