The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-10-21

an effort should be made TO do So ON August
4th . We again urge our business men to take
prompt measures to establish a gold standard,
which is the only safe basis for US"
These utterances of our contemporary were
but the echoes of u general public sentiment
Our people had suffered the effects of q democrat
lied currency and looked to the government
through the Legislature to provide Z solid
basis feeling that the longer we went on with
the old system. or lack of system, the more
] complicated and losing it would become. The
result was the new Ac, TO regulate the currency,
making American gold the standard, which was
pretty fully discussed both in the Assembly
and in business circles outside, and was con-
siderably modified from the original draft before
it was finally PASSED and received the executive
approval on the 10Th of September.
And now comes our eontempOraTy,-whch
but the other day wds so anxious and urgent
for tine passage of a gold bill,-and sneers and
cayils at it; but not very coherently, to our
apprehension. Its objections, as stated, are
quite sophisticaI. The law, VIC are told, con-
Gicts with the law of 1872. 1t certainly provides
for the repeal Of that law, after the lst of March
next, which can hardly be CONSTITUENCIES 4 conflict,
- Section | makes United States gold coin the
standard and legal tender after March lst."
Is not this just what we have been advocating
unless we would rashly make the change
Immediately. :. Sections ., 3 and 1 fix the
proportion in which silver coin Of the L. :.
shall be taken IN payment Of debts Perhaps
n valid objection might be made here to the per
centage allowed. Section ) provides that gold
and silver coins of sovereign states other than
the United States shall be taken in payment of
~ government dues, duties and taxes, at the
exchequer, ut their value as fixed by the King
in Priyy Council. The word { duties . appears
to be out Of place in this section, and one is led
TO believe it to have been an Interpolation, espe-
eially as duties arc not paid at the exchequer.
However this may he interpreted by those whose
province it is to explain and apply thc4law, it
is quito certain that the language of Section s
is clear and unequivocal, which provides that
= from and after the date of the passage of this
Act it shall be the duty Of the Minister of
Finance to require that all duties paid ton
imports shall be paid in gold coin of the United
States, or its equivalent" The terms are i'm
~perative, and no option was allowed as to the
issuance Of the necessary order to the Customs
department.
Al INC 'ihc Wheh thiS Acl WAS hrst Drought
forward in the Assembly, We pointed out what
we considered some of its defects, which still
remain. But it is the law of the land, and
must doubtless be carried out nor do we anti
, cipate that such q vast amount of trouble will
result from its operation as is predicted. AS
time passes and temporary inconvenience become
things of yesterday, the fact that at length our
currency is fixed upon n 90 solid basis and
equitable withal, cannot fail to be properly
appreciated Especially in view of our past
experience in this respect.