VPRS 12450 Register of Collections

The Master in Equity (and Lunacy) was responsible until 1940 (and the transfer of the function to VA 719 Office of the Public Trustee) for the general care protection and management or supervision of the management of the estates of all lunatics, persons of unsound mind and those incapable of managing their own affairs. The Master, under S 182 of the Act, was given broad reaching power to manage the estates of all patients under the Act, being able to manage their affairs according to his own judgment with management to be returned to the patient upon his discharge and assets to the executors and administrators of estates upon the undischarged patients death. All management of estates was to be subject to the provisions of the Audit Act.This series recorded details of part of the measures taken to manage the estates of patients through the investment of their financial resources or through the management of existing investments. The goal of these strategies was the preservation of estates for the support of the patient and any dependents and for the return of that estate to the patient or the patients estate.This series consists of a volume which contains four different records related to the administration of the estates of lunatic patients by the Master in Lunacy. These four records are:1. Bills Receivable (1867 18782. Bills Payable (usually Debentures) (1878 1880)Both of these records relate to investments in promissory notes and debentures made by and on behalf of lunatic patients.3. Savings Bank Books (1873 1884) as held for lunatic patients giving the bank at which the account was held, the amount and the eventual disposal of the book either to the patient upon discharge or to the patients estate.4. Register of Lunatic Patients Mortgages (c1889 1897) giving details of mortgagor and mortgagee, terms and amounts and when due.These latter two records might be seen as serving similar purposes to VPRS 10790 Register of Patients Insurance Policies and VPRS 1708 Register of Personal Property of Patients.