The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-04-24

which Honolulu is built will render extremely
costly the work of constructing and maintaining
a proper, safe and efficient system Of sewerage.
Tine Gazette has a habit Of making careless
statements about persons and matters, that is not
always harmless. Regarding the burning of the
iWaihee boiling house, it says there was no in
suTanee except on some sugar in store, to the
amount of about $4,000" whereas the fact is,
there was insurance on the building, machinery,
and sugar in the boiling house amounting to
SIS 900.
Referring to the currency, it is still more astray.
1t insinuates that the Bank (ATessrs. Bishop & Coz
were guilty of sharp practice with the Treasury
in the matter ofLsols and pesos, and says the Bank
has been importing five franc pieces at a profit
of say five per cent" etc. We are assured by
those who know, that the Bank has never i'm
ported any soils, pesos, five franc pieces or SOW
origins; that the soils. pesos and five francs most
ly came from Tahiti, where they were received
principally IN payment for cattle, etc., shipped
hence, and were taken at one dollar each. In
April 1876, the w. H.. Alien brought Sl2,0 900
in silver; the Bank lent 81, 100 received Of
one Of the importers Of the silver to the Treas
ury, and when informed that it was soils and
pesos, notified the depositor that If the Treasury
declined to receive them at par he would have
to pay the discount. The Minister of Finance
decided to accept the coin at par. The currency
question had begun to be agitated in April 1876,
and the Bank did not refuse to take soils and
pesos at par till July following, nor until it was
evident that such a course was necessary; and
of course they lost by the depreciation of those
then on hand. If the Gazette writer will take
the trouble to refer to it's issues of that month
(July) it will learn that there was no hasty,
unnecessary nor dishonorable action with refer
ence to those coins The subject was fully dis
eused in the Legislature, and the then Minister Of
Foreign Affairs, who spoke upon the subject,
did not blame the Bank. Does the Gazeue re-
greet that these coins were deprecated and their
importation thereby stopped? And is it unwill-
ing that the further Importation of Mexican
dollars should be stopped by authority of law?
The question with us is not as to who has i'm
ported ssMexicans,' but what should be done
to prevent over importation and depreciation
and we think the authorities have not been too
hasty in the matter.
In every country that we know much about
there have been changes IN the currency and some
times lOcS DJ ucpISSlatAVu VI fdAuSsi ~ GAISIE
ence shows that such changes should be well con-
sidered and made with care.
The Gazette seems to have a grievance with the
Bank, into which we do not propose to inquire,
as it probably does not concern the public.
A large amount Of silver coin is used in this
country in the payment OF laborers. etc.; that re-
quirement has been constantly increasing during
the last three years land it has been very diff
cult, until quite recently, to meet it and at the
same time pay for all other impOrtatiOns. The
Mexican dollar is worth more than the L.. S. dol
lar to send to China, although it is not current in
the United States. 1t is there treated as bullion.
We do not agree with our neighbOr in the state
ment that a dollar worth only s~ixty-fve cents
would answer the same purpose as the Mexican,
for such a dollar could not be sent either East or
West without heavy loss.
We imagine that there have been many good
reasons for the action Of those who have had the
most to do with the currency, and the most to do
in promoting and protecting the interests of the
community, that the writers for the Gazette have
not had occasion to study and do not fully under
stand. Even editors may not know every
thing. IT to the cost OF Mexican dollars-say
9IJ to 92 cents in San Francisco-is added the
cost of exchange sent to pay with, say one and a
half per cent, interest, freight, insurance, box
ing, and other charges, the profit is not so large
as the Gazette would have the public believe it
to be.