The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1862-01-23

of the imports and commerce for the years
1856, -, 3, 9, and 60 and 81, making such
divisions as are quite senseless. Any such COM
parisOn is but ehild's play. for we all know that
no fair test can be deduced as the result of any
mans policy till that policy begins to oper-
ate. The new tariff, which was one of the Min
ister's hobbies, did not come into full opera
ton till July, 1860, although it came partially
into force $50 far as the spirit duty was con-
cerned) a year earlier. From the first of July,
1850 only, then, can the full operation of the
Minister'S policy be shown, albeit that result
GegaH TO be exhibited prior 70 that date. The
tables of the Collector. which we print in an
other column, are powerful and truthful witnes-
ses of the point at issue, which will be more
clearly indicated by the comparative table of the
ommerce for the past twelve years, which we
shall insert next week.
And what do these show? Briefly this
that whereas our importations for 1850, amount
cd TO SI,223 ,749, and The acreage for eight
gears 10 81 ,3l5 1917, they have, by some mys-
terious working which the Ministers cannot
comprehend, fallen to the paltry sum of S76l,-
100 and 81 cents. a decrease Of nearly ORe-hab.
Is there a man in the community, with an eye
to see or an ear to hear, who can still doubt that
the financial policy of the ministry is suicidal in
the extreme ? If there is. he had best go and
tender his services to the editor of the Poiynesidn
to provide another article similar to that in the
last paper, lauding Mr.. Gregg rs the hero of
Hawaiian politics ard finance and hero indeed
he has become.
IF we turn to our Exports, they tell a story
equally humiliating-that, whereas, they amount
ed for 1850, to $S07, 459, for 1861, they were
only $6j9, ia, or nearly tI0o hundred thousand
dollars less than The acreage exports for the last
three preUious years!
Hardly less palpable is the decrease in the
Revenue derived from our commerce. This for
the year 1860 amounted to Sll7 ,302, and the
average for eight years was nearly $l37 GOO.
The statistics of this year show us Il total in
come of but 800, 115,-a falling off of s~erenteen
thousand dollars from last year, or nearly 81 900
less than The acreage for the eight precious years!
when an increase of about that sum was pre-
dicted by the Minister of Finance himself.
Facts are stubborn witnesses, but none the less
true. Whatever arguments can be deduced from
our commercial statistics, they all tell against
the policy of the Minister of the Exchequer, and
go to prove that, whereas, he found our COM
merce Furnishing in 1858, it is now dwindled
down to a moiety of what it was.
Entering into the service of the King at a time
when radical changes were proposed in the Or
ganic acts of the Kingdom, he had it in his
power to throw the weight of his influence on
the side of public sentiment, and in accordance
with the expressed wish of our mercantile COM
munity, and initiate a financial policy which
might have redounded to his fame and the well
being of a young, growing and prosperous ma
ton. This he did not do, Notwithstanding the
assertion made in the Polynesian that it was
: owing to the present Minister of Finance act
ing in accord with the principa. business men OF
this place that the ten per cent. ad valorem plan
was adopted in place of an intricate and would
haye-been onerous diferential duty" Here is a
sp"rs-~as d" di.OOt VFFoSisio" ~ sI'O tl~Si Of the
facts in the case. The tariff increasing the
duty was opposed by every merchant in Homo
lulu, and the Chamber of Commerce boldly pro-
tested against it, us the following resolution,
offered by A. j. Cartwright, Esq, seconded by
Z. Krull, Esq, and unanimously passed by that
body, with attest
Resolred, That it is the opinion of this Chamber that stu
ated as these islands are. an increase Of :mpost duties is a very
objectionable method OF raising the revenue that on the contra
Of immense benefit to the Kingdom but. should it be the deter
p Tnrsa.e I ST 3,;. {, u ~ s% Su,TI. i, !, 70 ,% eH Ssin;o5 6 ! ,b iher ehamf fnr
that a tariff might he constructed which would be much less dis
posed, whilst it might he more consistent with the principles re-
The duiss OIL aNurcs and diseramimating in favor Of the ncces7
sares Of life. Ar THE SINE TIME THIS
DOES NOT BELIEPE TINT " INCREASE OF
4 HIGH TARIFF.
But to this plain expression of the opinion
of the mercantile community, which is a fiat
contradiction to the POiynesian, what reply was
made? In the memorable language which we
have more than once quoted, he defed all oppo-
sition, and said, sLet those who are unwilling
to submit, make their arrangements for depar-
t1r NJ tho oorliaSt rroctic,b Ia parioI - And
alas for our commercial, industrial, and fnan-
cial prosperity, too many have been compelled
to depart. Not merely have merchants closed
their stores, and taken their departure, but our
shipping and commerce, too, have taken their
departure.
The apologist of the Minister begs that we lay
not all this evil at his door. But how was it,
when he stood up in the Hall of Mobiles, and
made his speech in 1858, bidding defiance to all
opposition ? There was no s~uppliant prayer
then? 1t was all arrogant defiance of the united
voice of importers, merchants, traders and all
interested in the prosperity of the realm. Before
the stern frowns of an injured public, the Min
lister now begs that all this be not laid TO his
charge. The facts and the proof are all before
us.-the Minister stands at the bar of justice,
and public sentiment condemns him and calls for
his removal.
If the position occupied by the Minister of
Finance is an unpleasant one, it is his own I'M
fitness and incompetence that have made it such.
IF his berth is one of torture. it is his own dis
tortion of facts and history that has made it
such. If he can see nothing abou. him but
efforts to ). scheme and intrigue at home and
abroad against him if his historical reminis-
cences of the past picture to his mind nothing
hnt otraunpfs unaIa bv ntbars - hour 20 travarSa
his appointment before it was made, or to mis-
.onr...nt LIZ nntS md l;r.urt L. .nn.:uan.;naa =.