February 5, 1998

PRESS RELEASE

MINT FINAL INSTALMENT

Middlefield High Income Trust ("MINT") announces that the final instalment of $4.00 per unit is due and payable on February 26, 1998. Thereafter, units will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MID.UN." Since inception in 1997, the fund has distributed $0.50 per unit representing an annualized return of 10.4% on the $6.00 initial instalment or 13.0% on the current market price.

MINT is a closed end income fund. Its portfolio has been carefully constructed to achieve the objectives of high, sustainable income and preservation of capital. A summary of the MINT portfolio as at February 2, 1998 is provided on the back side of this announcement. MINT is broadly diversified by industry and asset class, as shown in the following:

Industry
Real estate	23.1%
Oil & gas pipelines	18.6%
Consumer products	8.4%
Port facilities	7.7%
Steel production	7.5%
Coal production	5.9%
Power generation	5.8%
Retailing	4.7%
Telecommunications	4.6%
Oil & gas production	4.3%
Public refrigeration	3.6%
Forest products	3.2%
Gold mining	2.5%
	100.0%

Real estate, which is the largest industry component, is itself well diversified by issuer, type of real estate and geographic location. The pipelines are ideally suited for MINT in light of the stable nature of pipeline revenues and the long economic and physical lives of the underlying assets. The high degree of portfolio diversity combined with the stable nature of the income streams from the specific issuers in the portfolio give us a high level of confidence in the outlook for MINT.

On February 3, 1998, the Net Asset Value ("NAV") of MINT was $5.72, or 20% above the market price. NAV includes tangible assets only and specifically excludes capitalized issue expenses, which some other income funds include to increase their NAV. MINT's NAV is published daily in the mutual funds section of The Globe & Mail Report on Business under "Other Funds." Recent experience with other income trust units suggests that, as the date of the final instalment approaches, the units come under selling pressure. We believe that this phenomenon is a factor in the recent weakness in the price of MINT's instalment receipts. This pressure will disappear once the final instalment has been paid on February 26, 1998.

MINT trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MID.IR."

For further information contact:


W. Garth Jestley, Director, Middlefield Group
(416) 362-0714

MINT PORTFOLIO AS AT FEBRUARY 2, 1998