The Public Trust Office, which had formerly been represented in Napier by an agent working on commission, was placed in charge of a permanent Government officer in 1905, and is situated on the first floor of Tabuteau's buildings, in Tennyson Street. The invested funds of the Public Trust Department amount to nearly £2,000,000; and the value of estates controlled by the office amounts to over £4,000,000.

Mr. John Bain Jack, who was appointed District Agent of the Public Trustee, and Deputy Official Assignee in Bankruptcy, in September, 1905, was born in Dunedin in November, 1878, and is a son of Mr. Alexander Jack, who is referred to in the Otago volume of the Cyclopedia of New Zealand as a member of the West Harbour Borough Council. He was educated at the Dunedin public schools; in 1894 he passed the junior civil service examination, and was then appointed to a junior clerkship in the Public Trust Office in Dunedin. In May, 1899, he was transferred to the head office in Wellington; in January, 1904, was appointed chief clerk in the Auckland office, and was subsequently promoted to his present position in Napier. Mr. Jack has passed the solicitors' law examinations. He is an enthusiastic cricketer.