The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-05-21
The expenditures during the same period are
rtnr.I 70 hrrr In thcsc

B4iAIth- laftA 49,
; 955,C %
Showing n balance on the first of April, of
~sixty-one thousand, five hundred and eighty dol
lars, supposed to be cash.
The public debt, at the same date, il given at
SIi2, 900. drawing various rates of interest, from
nine to twelve per cent. per annum. There is no
doubt that money could be obtained, if desired,
at Il still lower rate, say eight per cent. The re-
port says, that :. the confidence of the public in,
and the consequent demand for, the public sccuri-
ties is 50 great, that it is impossible to buy in any
exchange bills which will be very gratifying To
all bill holders.
The report next refers to the Kaona troubles on
Hawaii in 1868, the expenses attending winch
are given ut -, G33 ,99,-a very reasonable sum,
considering the hustle, noise and excitement 1T
created among the rank and file engaged in it.
The funds were provided for strictly according to
the 18th article Of the Constitution, which refers
to Instructions and civil war.
The same very convenient provision of the Con-
s]titution also supplied ample means to construct
4 quarantine hospital on the reef costing 81
4OG, 10. This building has not yet been occupied
by any smallpox or other quarantine patients,
but may be at some future day, so that it may be
considered as 4 good investment.
Several pages of the report arc devoted to in
ter island steam, bat as we have discussed this
subject elsewhere, we omit further reference to it
here.
Durin4the past two years l27 persons have
become nituralzed IIawaiians. As marriage
between Hawaiian females and aliens is for
hidden by law, it becomes necessary for all
foreigners who wish to marry to take the oath of
allegiance. This accounts for the frequent natu-
ralizations reported.
y detailed list of the various public improve
ments carried on during the past two years is
next given in the report. In dredging Honolulu
harbor Sll ,2l2 has been spent in making and
repairing wharves, S24,426; repairing tug boat
PeLe, SIC, 337; Honolulu water works, SIO,557,
&c, &c.
1t will be noticed that a large proportion of the
expenditures arc for improvements in this city,
while a comparatively small amount is expended
on other islands. Whatever is spent here or
elsewhere in improving the harbors, making
wharvcs and roads, is so much added to the real
wealth and commercial capital of the country.
While, no doubt, the larger share should be
spent here, yet substantial improvements ought to
be carried on elsewhere at the same time. One
reason why our inter-island steamer has never
paid her way is because no wharf facilities
are provided at any port except Honolulu. There
are three points OF Hawaii where good wharves
can be built, and under any other government
would soon be built, either by public or private
enterprise, viz at Kawaihae, Eealakcakua and
HilO. ut either Of those ports So, 900 would
construct a wharf into deep water sufficient to
allow the steamer to do a good freighting business.
Such n wharf, if well built, would last from ten
to twenty years. If the sum looks large, just
compare it with what has been spent in this har-
Dor during the past ten years.
At Lahaina also, an iron skeleton pier could be
built out into deep water. which would allow
schooners and the steamer to lie along side of it in
ordinary weather, and greatly facilitate the COM
merce of the port. The truth is, if we expect to
have an increase of commerce, business and popu-
l%atiOn, we must drop our picayune ideas of APP
propriating a hundred or two hundred dollars to
improve these Out-ofthe-way harbors, and when
we find it will not more than drive down a dozen
piles, abandon all idea of making any improve
ments except here i'll Hon lulu, where every dollar
appropriated is always spent.
If the administration possesses one wide-awakc
person, alive to the necessities of the islands, let
him devise n thorough system of permanent inn
proyements, on a substantial scale. Nothing less
than this is wanted, to begin with:
For 4 wharf al S23oOO
For a wharf ~ Iahaina. 25,OUO
For roads around Hawai- 5000
Let it be the commencement of a system To be
carried out during the next decade. If the income
of the government will not meet these liberal ex-
pendiiures, issue exchequer bonds at the lowest
rate of interest obtainable-say eight per cent.
y public debt incurred for public impropeDle nLs
will only add to the strength and permanency of
the kingdom.
We observe that the Minister of the Interior
gave a quietus to the project of improving the
Nuuanu pail road by simply stating it would cost
500, 600. What if it does cost one hundred
thousand dollars. We say, go ahead with the
work. Build a good turnpike from Honolulu to
the mead of the valley, and then a road descending
n~ortherly from the pail, to somewhere near
Jack Watson's house. 1t will improve his and
other property there, to be sure. But, it will be
worth FIVE hundred thousand dollars TO this port
and to the island, because it will open up an ac-
cessible back country, which is now our great
and without which property here in this
city will never be worth much. 1t may take five
years to build the road, consuming twenty thou.
sand dollars a year.
If these suggestions strike our readers as too
extravagant, We have simply to add that our sys-
tenn of public Improvements must be enlarged, or
We shall become a nation of paupers. While the
whole world is moving on with gigantic improve
ments, spending its hundred millions in opening
new avenues for commerce, in railroads and steam
ship lines, in Suez and DariSn canals. we are
VOtInO Onp fun ~ tbroa bunHrod al
a year, for ten years in succession, for work
which requires thousands.
Our thoughts have run off from the Minister'S
and we must leave it till next week, to
look over some of its figures and tables.