Sir Howard Vincent deserves the congratulations of the public on
the passing into law of the Public Trustee Act,—a piece of legislation which he has lost no opportunity of pressing on the attention of succeeding Parliaments. As Sir Howard Vincent points out in a letter to the papers, "the public will from New Year's Day, 1908, have at their service, if they so desire, a Public Trustee and Executor who will never die, never leave the country, never become incapacitated, and whose integrity in matters within his control will be guaranteed by the whole Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom." This will place it in the power of testators, and settlors of property while living, to ensure that provisions for their widows, children, kindred, and persons or institutions they wish to benefit shall be cheaply, securely, and effectively carried out. "If persons settling a trust desire that it should be administered by any particular solicitors, bankers, relatives, or friends, they will have only to mention that wish in the will or deed, and also, if they prefer it, the Public Trustee can be made custodian only of the securitifis and doeuments affecting the capital, leaving nominated trudteea as managers of the trusts." It may be worth while to point out that there is nothing inimical to the interests of solicitors in the measure. Those who make the Public Trustee their executor and trustee will, of course, require as before the service of a solicitor to draw their wills and advise as to wise and appro- priate provisions in settlements.
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