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value of £413,988, were reported for administration, and on the 31st March last a total of 1,848, valued at £2,060,500, were being dealt with by the Public Trustee. Apart from the case of persons afflicted by mental disorder, the majority of the cases in which the Public Trustee acts for persons under disability arise in connection with the estates of aged and infirm persons. Under the provisions of the Aged and Infirm Persons Protection Act, 1912, the Public Trustee may be appointed as manager of the estate of a person who, by reason of advancing years, mental or physical disability, or other causes, is incapable of managing his or her own affairs, and he is frequently requested to act in this capacity. A number of estates under this heading were reported to the Public Trustee for administration during the past year. 17. Charitable and Public Trusts. —A consideration which is of the utmost importance in the administration of charitable or public trusts is that of permanence in the trustee, as in most cases the trust contemplates benefits extending over long periods of years ; sometimes, indeed, the trusts are of a perpetual nature. Administration by the Public Trustee fulfils these requirements, and consequently many trusts of this description have been placed under his control. Of these the most important and most widely known is that established by the will of the late Mr. Thomas George Macarthy, in terms of which one-half of the income from the residuary estate is at present applied for charitable and educational purposes and institutions in the Provincial District of Wellington, in such manner and in such proportions as the Board of Governors decides. On the termination of certain annuities and other interests the whole of the income from the estate will be available for these purposes. The trust has now been in operation for twenty years, and during this period £179,527 has been allocated in the manner specified by the testator. Other important and valuable endowments of a charitable and public nature administered by the Public Trustee are the Carterton Home for Aged Men founded by the late Mr. Charles Rooking Carter, a resident of Carterton; the Kirkpatrick Masonic Institution for Girls, endowed by the late Mr. Samuel Kirkpatrick, of Nelson ; and the Renwick Cottages at Nelson, erected in accordance with the will of the late Miss Adeline Renwick, of that city. Various relief funds, including the Kaitangata Relief Fund, the Brunner Disaster Fund, the Dobson Relief Fund, and the Huntly Disaster Fund, have been administered, or are being administered, by the Public Trustee. The New Zealand Sheepowners Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund and the British Mercantile Marine Pension Fund are funds of war time origin which are under his administration. Tne Public Trustee also acts as executive officer of the central committee set up to administer the Hawke's Bay Earthquake Relief Fund, and a separate reference is made to this administration. HAWKE'S BAY EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND. 18. My report for the preceding year contained a brief outline of the procedure followed and the assistance rendered by the Public Trustee in the administration of the fund subscribed publicly for the personal relief of sufferers from the earthquake disaster which overtook the Hawke's Bay District on the 3rd February, 1931. It may briefly be restated here that the general administration of the fund was controlled by a committee representative of the whole Dominion and operating from Wellington, of which the Prime Minister was the chairman and the Public Trustee the executive officer. In the earthquake area local committees which were established by the central committee attended to the distribution of the relief fund in accordance with definite directions of the central committee. To each local committee there was attached a representative of the Public Trustee in his capacity of executive officer of the central committee, and a special staff of senior officers of the Department was sent to the district immediately after the earthquake for the purpose of assisting the local committees in the performance of their relief work and keeping a check on all expenditure.

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