The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1862-05-15
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
THURSDAY, A Is.

IHCHNDA d. lIA 4 ID.
The Report of the Minister of Finance, for
the two years ending March 81, 1862, Is before
the Legislature and our readers. Though some
what longer, and taken up with more statistics
than usual, it should be read by all who have an
interest in the present or future prosperity of
the Hawaiian Kingdom. 1t will be found on
our fourth page.
The Report opens with a departmental exhibit
Of the Receipts and Expenditures for the above
period the Expenditures showing an aggregate
OF 1851 ,S2l As; the Receipts, as given, amount
to S6Sl ,3l4 0S, being less the Expenditures the
sum of $507 40, which amount, by some mode
of reckoning not Ineligible, is inserted as . bal
ance of cash"-but whether of cash short or
borrowed 10 make the accounts balance, does not
appear clear. If the Expenditures have been
S6Sl ,S2l IS, as stated, and The total receipts
only $GSl ,314 0S, by what new system of book
keeping can : the balance be given rs S507 40?
If it was the account of n mercantile firm, would
not that amount be entered as Il deficiency ?
What is this item of S5O7 40? Is it a def
cheney, or what?
Passing this, however, as something which the
Minister can perhaps explain. we find a table of
estimated Revenue and Expenditures for the
NJhhih6 " NNaAc ppm - AoO- ~ AhANh -
1864, the Revenue being estimated at S492, 600
the expenses at S4ss,727 95. Here again we
notice n discrepancy or error, which needs ex-
PLANTATION. The schedule of appropriations foots
up S4s4, 243 95, instead of S4ss,727 %. But
as the Minister is dealing with hundreds of thou
sands, a discrepancy of Si,4S4 90 in the two
Estimates, may have been considered of no ac-
count. As we shall publish the proposed Budget
~
on il till then.
The Public Debt is next exhibited in the Re-
port, which shows the Indebtedness of the Gov
ernment on the 3lst of March, 1862. to have
been $3.50 ,O42 -, an increase of about $50 900
during the two years, the debt on the lst Of
April, 1860, having been reported as Sl2S,77 33.
As constituting part of this Indebtedness, we
find the sum of Sl2,534 80 for salaries or appro-
p~riations unpaid. Why money was not raised
by the Minister to settle these overdue claims,
does not appear. Had they been paid, as they
properly should have been, the total expenditures
of the Government would have been 1904, $50 "a,
instead of S6Sl ,S2l As, as given above. We
regret that the Minister did not provide some
way of canceling these overdue claims, inasmuch
as the government credit would have stood higher
with the announcement that all overdue claims
against it had been paid, ard all obligations met
n they matured.
The imports and exports for the last two years
Qs6O-l) are next shown, following which isa
table exhibiting the imports and exports for five
years, giving The same figures as appeared IN our
annual review Published in February last. This
table shows the large decline which has taken
Mace both in our inward and outward ommerce.
Passing by the remarks ON the probable in
,rease Of some of our domestic exports during
the nsx, two wears. which are very correct, and