The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-08-15

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per annum 70 pay off 4 mere squad Of soldiers ?
But retrenchment i, needed. retrencIment i the
stern demand Of the people, and let it be intro
iuccd first in an establishments Of useless efforts
at pJmp and show. The sum If Si3 600 has
been appropriated for the Police Department of
Oahu. not enumcrating the amounts >quandered
for the same department On other islands. In
former times. when thousands Of whalemen
throngcd our streets, q large force was perhaps
needed, but the appropriation Of lN60 and 81
exceed the same for ISIS and SO by a consider
able amount. In IsjS and SO the harbor Of
Honolulu was visited by a numerous deet-they
have LETT, and the occasion that called for a large
police force has also gone, and the people inquire,
why Is the sum Of S43, coo expended 10 keep
numbers Of policemen DOING ~ our street cor
ner-? The whole number Of policemen. foreign
es and natives, guarding the town Of Honolulu
proper, Is from thirty to thirty-fye. Is it not
ridiculous 10 squander the public money by keep
ing up an establishment Of police that gives a
saIaried policeman NJ the rate of one to every
two hundred and fifty inhabitants, men, women,
and children? Under the efficient arrangement Of
the present able chief Of police, an appropria-
ton Of half the amount would give as much Sc
Guilty anu kFtA't - = LbHN 4li4isLNlLtA bF bAA-tAE
foreigners and the most peaceful native popula-
ton OF the world.
Let rctrenchment then be the order Of the
day. When we look over the appropriations
for 1858 and 80, and lSGO and 81, We are
most forcibly made aware Of the total unfit
ness of the present Finance Minister. While
the receipts derived from the Custom House have
always been the main reliance of the government.
We see this source Of the public revenue not only
crippled, its receipts lcssened, but its cxpendi-
lures enlarged to Il degree perfectly reckless. 1t
was not sufficient to drive away the whalers, that
under a more favorable regime, might have been
inclined to visit our harbors it was not sufficient
to cripIh Us by an onerous duty Of 10 per cent,
to create sta.nation in all our business trausac-
tons, and drive away from our town our most
enterprising citizens-no; while driving the
country TO ruin, while impoyerishing the treas
ury, the ministry must needs increase the cx-
penditures, attendant on the collection Of the
moneys due to the treasury.
That governments should always be able to
command the best and most able men in the
country as officials by liberal salaries, is undis-
puted. But when Il ministry. to please the
within Of a minister, employ numerous officials
for 4 business that might bc done, and has been
done, by one, it not only oyersteps its duty, but
it robs the people. In 1858 and 80 the entire
appropriation for salaries ut tine Custom House
Of Honolulu amounted to Sl4. 400. These were
some of our most prosperous times. In 1859,
the imports for six months amounted to SG03,-
S43 Il, and the total receipts to $57 ,3l3 O..
In 1861, the corresponding amount of imports is
$22G,+l4 0S, and the total receipts S43,929 80
4 falling off of more than one-half in our imports,
and of Sl3,3 s 10 in the total receipts. In
1859, when a fair average of business was trans
acted ut the Custom House of Honolulu, a few
officials were needed ut salaries amounting to
IA 400. In 1851, when merchantmen few and
ar between arrive at our port, a large force of
officials are employed ut salaries amounting To
go, 800. In times when our imports amounted
70 nearly 800. 600. the sum of Sl4 400 was sufii-
lent To pay the salaries of able and efficient Off
In the year 1851, when the whole amount
or Il corresponding space of time O imports is only
little over S22G. GOO. n generous and muniiicent
minister expends so coo, and employs a dozen
,ficials To transact the business that in former
prosperous years had been transacted by tour.
diminution of the total receipts since 1859
already over $I3, eco but not content with
'H ''lE"i"''N i"'Nf 81 l"NNAtg "Ai'N'" l1'liN
must needs be outraged by adding to the def
.iencies in the shape o~fsalaries the sum Of IS 600.
And as we east our eyes over the appropriation bill
# 1850 and 81. we find SIS .425 devoted to
he department of law, TO salary u long list of
district judges, who at the best but worry and
orture Il law-abiding, peaceable people, with
uits innumerable for every trifling ofense.
Verify it is time to pause in this mad career to
uin. and well will it DC for Il ministry to listen
o the warnings of the public now, before ruin
verwhclms u generous people, and n Sovereign
yho but too generously places confidence in an
ministry.
We will close our remarks without reiterating
ur oft-spoken ideas about the government
resS, one of the most heavy and unwarrantable
rains on the public treasury. HErRENcHNENT
the watchword of the times, and it is repeated
4 every household. If we wish to secure our
dependence as 4 people. and our advance to
nat high degree of prosperity to which soil,
Innate and position have fitted these islands in
Ich an eminent degree, we must repeat the
retrench, RETRENCu IN all and every expendi-
and we may yet weather the storm.