The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1874-04-29

OF the state OF Oallf0rnla, snail, upon con
viction, be punished by fine or imprison.
ment, or both.
Smallpox is daily increasing among us
and much alarm has been manifested by
the revelations of the police, who have
discovered numerous cases, sedulously
concealed, in the Chinese part of the city.
1t is said that the bodies ofthose who die
are disposed of in some mysterious man.
ner, as in many instances it is known that
they are not inferred at the cemeteries.
The usual warning, a yellow flag hung
out by the police on houses known to be
infected. is Systematically pulled down or
covered over by the inmates, and, despite
the numerous arrests for the offences
against the laws of health and the exem-
plary punishment of guilty parties by the
Courts, there is no visible improvement
in the condition of the Chinese. The To-
calities they occupy give ample evidence
to the passer by of want of cleanliness,
and, as they utterly disregard the admo-
nitions they have received, it may become
absolutely necessary to compel them to
remove en- mdSse into the suburbs of the
city.
The number of real estate sales in San
Francisco in 1873 was 1884, of the value
of So, 1852 The total debt of the
city amounts to $4,504 ,075, of which 3d.
PIP, 500 is funded debt and $l,29l,5 SIS is
! floating. Chicago has about double our
population; its funded and floating debt
amounts to Sl5,393, 1872. 1t is not gov
eminent, but dishonesty and mismanage-
oh he fox
payers in large American cities. The
State Controller of Nevada has published
an abstract, from which it appears that
the increase for the past year in assess
ments of real and personal property
amounts to $3,9s7, 359. This is exclusive
of the products of the mines, the gross
yield of which, for the year ending June
80, 1873, was SIS, ,6S5. The valuation
of the mines as returned for taxable pur-
poses was $l3, 1922, los, which is consider
ed very good return for the sage-brush
State, as Nevada is termed.
San Francisco is destined to become
great monetary center, New York alone
taking precedence of it or this continent.
1t already regulates the balance of trade,
and is the banking center for all the
country down to Mexico on the south, to
British Columbia on the north, and to the
Rocky Mountains on the east. 1t is the
leading point in the interchange of COM
MERGE between the United States and the
continent of Asia, Japan and the Sand
witch Islands. Banking property is the
most valuable of any in the city. Cali
fornia street is our Lombard street. Land
on it, with an average depth of 90 feet, is
worth $500 a front foot, while corners
of streets are held at from $500 to So
600 front foot. These prices include the
buildings erected on the land. We have
sixteen commercial banks, four of which |
are English. These banks have capital |
of over $l7,0OO,0OO, and their average
deposits amount to Sl2,0O0,0 900. There
are also ten savings banks, which hold de-
posts amounting to nearly S45,O00,0OO
The standard rate for money at the banks
of discount is one per cent. per month,
though accommodations are frequently
granted at the rate of ten per cent per
annum. The money market here is pro-
badly more steady and unvarying than in
any other large city of the United States.
We have, of course, an occasional tight
ness in the money market, but no such
seasons of panic and sudden declines in
the value of securities (excludmg mining
stocks) as are commonly experienced in
the Eastern States During the past year,
the financial disasters
elsewhere, there has been no prominent
failure in California. This is in great
to be attributed TO the character
of our currency, and the large deposits
in our savings banks tend to keep up the
supply of money and act as safety-valve
N hard times These institutions are pro- /
libited by their charters from granting
oans on any securities but city or conn
.ry land, or on city, State and United
such property can always secure loans
rom the savings banks at nine to ten per
,ent per annum. This is the ruling rate
If the "Hibernia"-a savings bank large
V patronized by persons of Irish nation
deposits amounting to over
,l4,OOO,OOO.
The railroads of this coast, with few
exceptions, are owned or con- {
rolled by the Central Pacific Railway
company. lne exceptions are Jne IRE {
ron and California Railroad, the bonds of !
which it may be remembered were sold to
German capitalists under false pretences; :
he North Pacific, a short local line, and l
wo narrow-gauge lines now under con-
truction. The Central and Southern Pa :
ific lines and their branches comprise
500 miles of railroad. The California !
nd Oregon branch of the Central Paci-
c rood, leading northward towards Ore
.on and British Columbia, is in running :
rider to the town of Redding, $40 miles
orth of San Francisco, and within about :
40 miles of the Oregon boundary. The !.
outhern branch of the Central Pacific I
ne through the San Joaquin Valley is ..
omplete to point 1871 miles south of the
lain line, at Lathrop. The Central Paci-
C Railroad Company have lately remov-
d their offices from Sacramento to this
ity, where they own 100 acres of land,
alued at S., 100000 1t is gratifying to
e able to state that the whole of the in t
crest on the company's bonds have been '
r I :