The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-08-10
THE PACIFIC
Commercial 3Obertlser.
AUGUST 10.
In the Market.

One month ago,-that i, on the 10Th Of July,
jim the legislative Assembly, the item Of d" in
terest on the national debt " was under discus
sion, and the bin % nuthorizc a loan was in
eidentaliy mentioned by a member Of the opP0si-
ton, who was endesvoring t. comprehend the
in,eres, account e. figured by the ministerial
side, when the Minister Of FiUaHoe volunteered
the soothing statement that ;. be did not exrect
70 call for a loan for = year % come" TIE 10
precision conveyed BY this statement Of the Minis
ter, and evidently 80 intended 70 be conveyed,
wa that 10 pressing necessity existed for Govern
ment borrowing any money for at least a year TO
come and doubtless It did have a certain tran
QUILTING effect on some honorable members,
whose nerves had been somewhat demOralized
just before by the reading Of the huge item in
the Appropriation Bill. Interest on the na-
tional debt, $1,000 But with tho comfort
ing assurance from the Minister that the evil day
Of actually getting tho country farther in debt
was put of for a year at least, honorable mem
bers went back 70 their constituents.
And now, barely ten days have elapsed since
the end Of the session before the Minister comes
out in the Government Gazette and solicits bids
for \ loan Of thirty thousand dollars, Now in
what light must these same honorable members
view the conduct Of the Minister Of Finance in
this transaction? AS that Of an open-hearted,
hir-dealing. yeraeious public officer, who had
nothing to conceal, and no Interior object in
view in plainly giving a false impression? No;
for however low an estimate we mayLave formed
of tile mental caliber of some of the members Of
the late Assembly, we cannot do them the injus-
tice to believe tnat. with the facts before them,
they can arrive at any such unwarrantable con-
clusiOn.
But what are we to understand by this call for
q loan, in such hot haste, before tie ink is
fairly dry on the bills of authorization? In
deed. by Section 4 Of the Civil Code, all laws 60
into effect at the expiration Of ten days after
their publication, on the leland Of Oahu. By
the terms Of the notice in the Gazette, asking for
bids for a loan, we are left in doubt as to whether
the Minister proposes to operate under ian Act
to authorize e special Loan 1.-THE Hotel), or
8 an Act TO authorize n loan,'' both of which
were approved on the 29th Of July-but it is
presumable that the former Act is intended.
Bids will be received for the amount asked for
until the 18th of August, says the notice, on
which date however, the two loan Acts Will lack
two days Of becoming law. Truly, this is taking
INT OJ IS oASlDtk tHttt uOucs IN
'twere done, then 'twere we'll 'twere done
quickly" is evidently the Minister'S motto in
this loan business, and so the bids are to be all
in two days before the exchequer bonds can be
legally issued. y reasonable curiosity leads 10
the inquiry,-why this unseemly haste7
1t has been asserted, ON what appears to be very
reasonable grounds of belief, that about all the
assets Of the Treasury at the present time is Il
certain piece Of paper, bearing the cabalistIc let
tiers, al o L, Seyenty-four thousand dollars"
representing the amount of cash paid out of the
public funds in building the Hotel, which sum,
added - Flrfu-fao fhnnznnd dnllars hnrrnweh ny
the Minister Oi Finance on bonds tive believe il
is DOW official parlance to term them 'certif-
Gates IN October last, makes the sum total OF
SIG 600, for which a special loan was authorized.
The act specially provides that S42, 900 of the
amount raised under it's authority shall be devoted
to the cancellation Of the Hotel Bonds a!Ure-
said. Now, Mr.. A, b.. or c., who happen to
hold any Of these .. certificates, otherwise known
a Hotel Bonds, you may, as soon as the Treasury
Is replenished with the $4,000 for which the
Minister is now negotiating, find a ready sale ut
the Treasury Office Tor the said &. certifcat ties or.
as you may probably still persist in calling them,
49, VIAl NJ E1Nl AGAto ~ Xix A4liA1 may
consider n fair discount, say twenty or twenty
FIVE per cent. Do you say that you will not ac-
cept such terms7 Read that portion of the special
loan Act contained between the first and second
semi-colOns, and You will probably conclude that
the prospect for interest money out of the - profits
of the Hawaiian Hotel, - are not such as to make
one dizzy to contemplate. So that in fact, it may
be made apparent to your apprehension that
you are quite a lucky individual if permitted to
get $3.50 for the certificate" which cost you
$1,000 last October.
There are in every large city, certain business
establishments, holding out fattering Inducements
to customers, but entering which, experience has
taught people they must expect to be over reached.
In view of what appears thus on the surface as
to the management of our financial affairs, is not 4
the fair inference to be drawn that any public /
therein would be misplaced? :