The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-06-15
In the Assembly May 12, on the question OF the
adoption OF the Report Of the Finance Committee.

In the Assembly May -, on the question Of the
adoption Of the Report Of the Finance Committee.
Mr.. CHAIRMAN al shall not detain the House long in say
ing a few words in support Of our Report, and in reply to the
remarks just made by the Hon. W o. Smith. Now let US see
how far the Report Of the Experts sustaIus our Committee Re-
port.
They Ohe Experts find that the u~nexpendcd balances were
drawn from the Treasury and deposited by the Attorney Gen
craI with Bishop & Co.'s bank. That is just what we say in
our Report, but they say some Of it was for salaries Of Govern
ment officers. That may be so, but the Prvy Counsel could
act in such a case as this, aud 1 stlIsay those balances should
not have been drawn. Next we have the Clerks appropria-
ton. Tie Hon. Member from Waikiki (Mr. Smith, had n
good deal 10 say about extra clerk hire in the Finance Depart
ment, s7loO. We did not say anything about that in our Re-
port, for we considered that the Minister was authorized in
making this expenditure. Twice a clerk was employed while
the Registrar Of Public Accounts was away on Government
business and once there were a lot Of certificates Of deposit
to be prepared, and it was necessary to have help. This Of
flee has only one clerk, not like some Of the other Offices, three
or four but by referring to the Experts Report we find one
item, "W. O. Smith, acting as Deputy Attorney General on
Maui. $685. co. (The Attorney General here rose and said
he wished 10 explain this item, and said this was paid out Of
the Appropriation for Clerk to Attorney General, and that he
had a right 10 appoint deputies on the other islands, That
may be so. but still l say it is extra clerk hire, for the Appro.
priation Bill says, " Attorney Generals Clerk % and not At
torney Generals Clerks. l think the Hon. Member from
Waikiki. has been rather inconsistent he has said a great
deal about the s7l.O 90, and he has himself drawn 1865 90 for
extra clerk hire. He seems to have " strained at a gnat and
swallowed a camel" Now about the books Of the Attorney
General. The Experts say that they find two instances Of
iuterlineations in the book, to explain the entries - now when
an interIineauon is made to explain, what is it but an amend
mentl And they say, " The system of accounts in this de-
partment is simple but does not ensure accuracy Docs
this not sustain our Report in these pointsl say most en-
phatically, that if there are books being kept in any OF the
Government vfnues shat Il U y secure the greatest accuracy,
il is high time that a change was made and a new system In
stituted. They finish by saying that the disbursements in
- ,bfs deDartment have been honestly accounted for Our
Report does not say that they have not.
The Minister of the Interior says that there is a cash-book
in the Interior Department and that daily entries Of receipts
are made in it so say the Experts, but at the same time they
say, I" but entries OF disbursements have only been made at
irregular intervals And I notice in some instances that a
year has passed over without any entries being made Of dis
bursements, and these disbursements have been kept ON tags
and vouchers, which are easy things to be lost, or blown away.
Is this a proper system What we mean by subsidiary books
is a daily cash-book, or blotter, where the entry could be
made at the time Of the transaction. 1 say books OF this ma
ture should be kept in all the departments. Now the Minister
of the Interior in his speech seems to have tried to shiit the
responsibility of the deficiency Of 1922 90 from one clerk on
to another. As 1 had most TO do with the Land Office while
we were going through the departments. Hon. Mr.. Kaai being
with me most Of the time, 1 feel 1 ought to say something on
this matter, in justice to the clerks. / will first say that when
we first went into that department the Minister told us he
codld not be with us all the time, but that we could call on any
of the clerks, for Information, and that one Of them should al
ways be in attendance on US, therefore we considered them
ItbDOuelDN vi ali ANuN my kANN hs = HINeh " VIZ"
for the Minister said in the House, that he could not be re-
sponsible for statements given to US by this or that clerk"
We first asked for all the books kept in the Land omce. A
small book was produced by the second clerk, which he said
was commenced by himself when he came into Office that
before that time none were kept. The large book brought into
the House by the Minister the other day, we never saw. al
though we asked for all books. 1 heard Of some books that
were kept by MI. Weynton, which he considered were his
private memorandum books, in which he had entered all mon
eys received by him since he had been in the Office for the last
nine months of the last biennial DeriOl. We asked for a state
ment of the amounts received by him Cmonthly) for the nine
months. We asked for this several times, but Mr.. Weynton
said the other clerks had taken it after he had prepared IL.
The second clerk said il was lost but when we insisted on
having ii, il was found, and here il is. II shows that $l,207-
10 was received. We then went into the Interior Office, and
found that 81, $4,000 had been received for the previous fifteen
months. CThese two amounts don't include commutaton)
Add the two together and we have S~2,42710. The first writ
ten statement given us by the chief clerk and signed by the
second clerk shows S2,O9S co received, which is the same as
the amount in the official report Of the Minister Of Finance
so if we deduct s2,O9s.O o from s2,427l 10 we have $4,000, that
is not accounted for. The Minister the other day claimed
that the small books, that ! speak Of as Mr.. Weynton's pri-
vate memorandum books, belonged to the department. If so
he must stand on them, and this is the showing they make.
The first statement given us by the clerks (and which agrees
the official report) shows that 3Ol Royal Patents were
issued yet the list OF Patents issued, as per list laid on the
table of the House by the Minister the other day, and letter
of chief clerk. shows that $40 were issued and 33l paid for.
Here certainly 4 a great discrepancy. The Minister said in
his speech on the 25h Of last month, that the receipts Of the
Land Office did not average $500 per month. Wei, LET US
see. The books of the department show that the receipts for
the two years amount TO s4.5741O, that is certainly over
s25 OO,-I should say it was over sl9OO 90 per month.
I asked the Minister last Monday to report 10 the House
what and who the former Commission was that the Experts
speak Of in their Report. They Uhe Ministers) have told us
to-day that it was about one year ago, and that the Commits
sion recommended a change Of system in keeping the accounts
Of the departments. Then by their own admission, the Min
listers have known for over a year reform and change Of sys.
TEN was necessary their eyes were opened TO II and yet we
now find it the same as they themselves say L has been for
the last twenty years. Now can any honest man say that
our Report has not been sustained, or that we have not done
our duty : or that we have said more than our duty compelled
us to sayl I say that the Report Of the Experts fully sus-
tains our Report. We recommended that Experts be sent into
these departments, to s~raighten out matters, for we found
them so confused. These gentlemen were appointed and sent
there, and what do they sayi "a competent accountant will
find steady employment for weeks, possibly for months, to
bring the books into the condition required for a Gnal report"
Does this not sustain our Report will not take up any
more time, although 1 have many more points ] should like 70
refer TO, but others wish TO speak, 20 / will simply ssyin
closing, that if 1 have helped to bring about the much needed
reform Of administration, and also a new and better system Of
conducting the work in the different apartments, I shall feel
that 1 am well paid for the time ! have spent, as a member Of
the Legislative Assembly.