The Public Trust Office is on the first floor of the Government Insurance Buildings, opposite the Post Office, in Cathedral Square. The Canterbury branch was established in 1891, and the Canterbury district is a very extensive one, with sub-agencies at Ashburton, Timaru, and Oamaru. The office of Public Trustee was designed mainly to afford, at low rates of commission, a secure and convenient means whereby a person, residing either in New Zealand or abroad, and desiring to form a trust or appoint an agent or attorney in the colony, might be received from doubt or difficulty as to the choice of a trustee, executor, agent, or attorney. The Public Trustee, who often acts in these capacities, has power to deal with intestate estates, and to administer them. Funds in the department are guaranteed by the State against loss from investments in bad or insufficient securities, or from delay in investment. On the 31st of March, 1901, the capital funds of the department invested amounted to £1,618,379, and the value of estates dealt with, throughout the whole colony, of course, was £2,326,954.

Mr. Michael Clyde Barnett, District Agent in Canterbury for the Public Trustee, has been engaged nearly twenty years in the Government service. He is a native of England, where he received his early education, and subsequently studied at the Wellington College.

Mr. James Edwin Allen, formerly Chief Clerk in the District Office of the Public Trustee, Christchurch, was born in 1872 in that city, and was educated at the Normal and Boys' High Schools. Having passed the junior and senior Civil Service examinations, he entered the Public Trust Office as a clerk in 1891, and was promoted to the chief clerkship in 1897. Mr. Allen is musical, and was a member of the Motett Society, and always ready to assist in public entertainments, often acting as accompanist. He is an enthusiast in football and cricket, and was an active member of the High School clubs for a long time. Mr. Allen was transferred to Dunedin in May, 1902.

Standish and Preece, photo.
Mr. J. E. Allen.