The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-02-09

either case lie has not proved himself wholly IN
competent for the administration of the office he
now holds.
We have sought TO establish the following
points. and maintain that they are established
1T. That The prOnulyaton Of the GIRL Code
was irregular, when compared with It's proyis-
ions and consequently, that just exceptions
can he taken 70 the arbitrary enforcement of
It's provisions.
p. THAT The ass ssmenf-laic makes no pro-
rIsion tor aypea2s 10 court arbitration, but on the
contrary, such appeal on the part of a taxpayer
i unquestionably barred.
81. Tha The Minister Of Finance IS fully
eothed ,rith authority to ranedy any irregularities
that experience might Jr1ng out IN the operation Of
tc tar Lalr. And there can be no question
that, under section 5l4, quoted above, he can. if
disposed 10 exercise his authority, correct any
unjust assessment, or even refund such taxes
after having been paid, provided adequate proof
Of error is shown.
If we are correct in the positions taken by US,
then the letter Of the Minister Of Finance, as
published in the P0lyHesaH, can carry with it no
weight, and must pass in this dispute for nothing
but diplomatic flourish.
Mr.. Wyllie's lengthy reply to the British
Consul, published also in the PolyHeSidn, is
based on the same erroneous ground III respect TO
the mode in which redress. in cases Of unjust as
sessment, is obtainable. His arguments, if such
they can be called, rest solely on those of the Min
lister Of Finance, and if the latter are untenable
the former must Of necessity be So. Both these
Ministers lay great stress on .'our courts of JUS
tice," but neither of them hint what court is
open or what process of law is provided. We
defy either of them to point out any process by
which an assessment gr1eraRce can be sustain
ed, or that will not be liable TO a non-suit. All
that Mr.. Wyllie has to say about the " Late Sir
John Dobson, - and other great authorities, will
be very applicable whenever the case assumes
such a form as to be admissible into ''our courts
of Justice which can only be after it has been
called into court by a warrant issuing from
it at the instance of the government or its
agents. [Since the above was in type, this has
been done in the case of Mr.. Waterhouse, and
the matter thus brought by the government be-
fore the police court.
Bat there is another view in which the despatch
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs will appear to
the public as ~ill-tempered and likely to engender
anything but kind feelings. And this is, the
open censure conveyed in the Ministers letter, to
the acting British Consul for his taking up this
-ISNdiiCC II MI w dtCIAOuSc. III SlI1ullJlLillr
Mr.. Green as only acting under an |''oficial supe-
rior,' to whom, the idea is no doubt embodied,
that the Acting Consul is in some measure re
sponsible. We quote Mr.. Wyllie's words
Mr.. Warehouse, perhaps, is not aware, rs you
must be, that your official superior, II. Il. Ms Com
missioner and Consul General William Miller, Es-
quire, for years, inculcated upon this Government
and has promulgated TO the world-the expediency
of the abolition of all Custom House duties on goods
imported, and TO raise the yearly revenue necessary
to support the Government by the sale of Govern
ment lands, and 10y direct taxation. Nor can ne be
aware Of the rule proposed TO himself by that absent,
but much respected functionary, quite consistent
with international law and with the declared policy
of the British Government, in accordance with which,
if Mr.. Warehouses; official complaint had been pre-
ferred to him, he would have declined to receive it,
till after he had sought redress and, in vain, from
the Kings tribunals, which is precisely the proce-
dure that the Minister of Finance points out as the
only proper course. While making this remark, [
beseech you not to understand it as in the remotest
degree implying the shadow Of a censu;e, for your
admittimr and passing to me officially the complaint
correct diplomacy, indispensable preliminary.
Now, whatever may be the opinion respecting
the propriety of the Acting British Consul's off
cially entertaining this complaint of ''one of the
most respectable British merchants residing with
in the Kings jurisdiction, - and generally there
will be none, there can be TO difference in regard
to the improperly of the language used by the
of Foreign Affairs, to the Acting British
Commissioner and Consul General. 1t is as
though one gentleman should slap another in the
face, and then say he does not wish it to be I'M
as any in%civility. 1t strikes us that
Green has no ''oiicial SUPERIOR" either
present or absent. Although only acting tenn
rs British Commissioner and Consul
he demands and should receive, while
~, IL Il. .z-- /.
Miller would have were he here. We have yet
% learn that an officer acting during the absence
If another is in any degree his inferior, and that
le cannot command the same respect that may be
iue to him whose place he may fill. During the
absence of Mr.. Allen to the United States. Prince
filed temporarily the Office of Minister of
finance. Was he not clothed with as full pow
rs rs the absentee officer, though only acting for
Iim? Was he in any sense an inferior?
Mr.. Wyllie next goes on to tell the Acting
Commissioner what his ~..oficial superior did,
nj very properly did, in eases which are instan-
but which afford about as little comparison
o the matter in question as the long-mooted pro
of what substance the moon is made Of.
The Minister closes his letter by very indiscreet-
Y publishing to the world, how much property
lie holds and has been assessed for, and what taxes
c has paid, without grumbling-all very well in
Is place, no doubt, but rather out of place in
THAT is intended as Il state document. Not less
0 is the attempt to soft-soap Ito use an appro-
riate vulgarism,) the Minister of Finance, by
noting freely from his famous lecture, which
~verybody knows was nothing but a bid for the
flee he now holds. The Minister Of Finance is
10 doubt u good lawyer, but if the facts which
Ee have brought forward to-day are reliable, he
makes q very poor Minister OF Finance. The ar
itrary course that he is pursuing, (for the assess
nent and tax law are under his immediate cog
will inevitably create him enemies on
very side.
II is fnrtnnALe for the nnhlic tLat tLis matter