The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-07-15
BIRTH.
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
THURSDAY. JULY Is.

We learn that the new Minister of Finance.
Hon. ID. l.. Gregg, has taken the place of the
Minister of Foreign Relations on the Joint Com
mittee of the two Houses now engaged in the con-
sideration of the revised Civil Statutes. We con-
graduate the committee. and the country at large,
upon the accession of 50 valuable an auxiliary in
the important labors before them. Mr.. Gregg's
legal knowledge, his plain. common-sense way ID
viewing things, and his aptness for selling upon
the drift of the details of Il subject, give us rea-
son to expect that he will be just the man for the
place more especially, if it shall prove US has
been limited, that some parts of the New Code
have been very loosely drawn up by the commits
sioners, and that in the main. the cumbrous ma
chinery of departmental details have been scarcely
simplified.
But the more we near of the nature of the New
Code (though our information is necessarily
scanty and indefinitely the more We are satisfied of
the correctness of the position we assumed before
the meeting of the Legislature, that the entire
draft should be printed and laid before the public.
Such a course, by e~liciting discussion, would rem
der doubly apparent what may be defective. and
afford the committee the assistance of that sure
guide and unerring monitor-public opinion:
oit We ii|ctAhC 1btiC ~ i0iN bt Wis NoN WIZ
will affect to underrate or despise the : sober,
second thought of public opinion.
But we are met by the statemen that the size
of the work will involve a large expense-too
large to be incurred in the present depleted state
of the Treasury. When it is remembered that
the revised statutes of France only occupy some
500 printed pages octave, it might surely be
thought that the Hawaiian laws could be COM
pressed into something less. And we would ask,
which is likely to prove OF more Importance and
real benefit to- this nation-the thorough previ-
Gus understanding of the New Code, which would
be gained by printing it, or the publication of
such prosy, impractical diatribes as the Report of
the Minister of Foreign Relations, which, with
its appendix of six or seven hundred pages, isnow
dragging Its weary length through the govern
ment press? There can be no two opinions upon
this point. outside of the Foreign Office.
Gentlemen of the committee, If government
is too poor to pay for the printing of this Very
important matter, and the government press too
a~pathetic to take it up. we consider Its publica-
ton so desirable that we offer you the columns of
the Commercial free of charge, provided we are
the copy as fast as passed upon by the
eommittee,-using our own discretion as to the
L4O1hl Vi EI6'C w 1hNAA 11fC' ~ No' ~
each week. We suppose the Committee have
power to publish it or not rs they may choose.
The-committee, it is understood, have not yet
taken up that part of the Code which provides for
the details of the Department of Finance, and
consequently have not touched upon the subject
of taxation. We learn, however, that the COM
missioners have in their draft ignored entirely the
idea of a property tax, in the proper Specification
of the term, but, retaining the old personal bur-
dens of road, school, and poll taxes, they strive
to make up the deficiency in the revenue by
the horse and mule tax. imposing 50 per
annum each on all carts and carriages. and ten
cents a head ON ali horned cattle over "a wear old.
Besides this, they have EN- bodied in the Code the
Tariff Act of 1856, somewhat modified, however.
but none the less a tariff. As all these matters
pass before the Joint COMMITTEES now in session,
trust they will bestOw upon them that consid-
Grafton which is their due-and their importance.
in our opinion. cannot be overestlmated.
The present is no time for half measures. or
time serving expedients. While you have the
ship of state fairly hove out, don't give her a
temporary patching, and, after outlying
the seams and putting on a fresh coat of paint,
pronounce her sea-worthy, only to find on get
ting into a swell that she strains and leaks as
badly as ever. We object to any increase in the
amount or number of personal taxes, and above
Ill, to any increase on the present imposts and
charges on commerce. As they stand, they are
enough, but after all, the only true and
proper basis of ~taxatioa in a country situated like
is not found in ships and merchandise, but
n the landed property of the country.