The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-05-06
TIE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOertiser.
SATURDAY
MAY G. 1882.

.---.- ------ ---.--- NAY g.. 1882.
The Report Of the Minister Of Finance
contains what We may Gala national stock
taking, tlie figures Of which serve as u
measure Of the prosperity of the country
during the past two years. Viewed in this
light tire Report l. a satisfactory document.
The receipts from taxes based Oh the assess
eel value of property are u fair index Of the
progress al the country, although not by
any means an accurate one. The Report
before as shows an increase Of 81, zl3.77 I'M
der the head Of Taxes OH Real Estate and
Of 81, ljl.47 OH Taxes on Personal Estate.
This means that the assessors in 1880 and
1881 found that the value OF land was in
creasiug aud assessed il accordingly, and
that "n the average of the two years their
estimate Of thr Increase was slightly over
30 per cent. The increiS= under the item
personal property shows that the average
OF the assessment for 1850 and 1881 disclosed
one third more mnveable wealth in the
country than did those of 1873 and 1879.
The close similarity Of these rates of in
crease, which, stated more closely. are 800
per cent. for real estate and 334 per cent. for
personal property, seems To indicate that
the value Of land has kept pace with the
itsA ~ NAit - " AAAt
just as there was more means with which
to buy so the price has advanced. The Road
and Poll taxes show an Increase of S35,6l5.
These depend solely OH the number of the
population and show that the average of
population i'm 1850 and 1881 was within u
fraction of 80 per cent. greater than in 1878
and 1879. Tie increase OF wealth and in
the value of land has therefore kept pace
with tine Increase Of population. If the la
borers who have been brought into the
country carried in no great amount of
wealth with them, their labor, applied to
our productive soil, has yielded wealth for
others. The total receipts from all the taxes
for the two years ending 31st March last,
were $685., 973.Ol against S464. 436.27 for the
previous period, showing an increase of
! SI33, BPS u or 2gI per cent. The only items
i'm which a falling off has occurred are the
horse and dog taxes. as to the latter of which
the Minister appears to he of opinion that
! the Government is Systematically defraud-
ed by the residents i'm country districts.
The total revenue from all sources during
the biennial period was S2,0I0,259.9i which
sho Tvs an increase of S366,52 I3 over the
previous period. This increase is slightly
more than 2I4 per ceut.-showing that 9TH
or items Of revenue have not improved in
the same ratio "a the assessed taxes have.
Had the revenue only reached the amount
ut which it was estimated in 1850 by the
Minister of the day it would have been in
sufficient to meet the expenditure. AS
things have turned out there was a surplus
OH the 3Ist March last of S126 81. This
was less, by more than 100000, than
the surplus reported two years before.
Tho climate made nf rayanup fnF the nre-
sent period, ending 1884, is Sl,9l5,251 O5.
On this point the Minister says I" the re-
CENTS have been estimated rs closely as it
is prudent To- do A. the receipts of the
past period nave been SlDO,O00 more than
that sum the enquiry presents Itself why
the Minister is so modest in his eXpecta-
tions. He himself in the same paragraph
of his report points out that receipts from
customs are double what they were two years
ago" Nevertheless, he timat these
receipts for the current period at a little less
than the have been in the past two years.
Then again he assumes that the assessed
taxes will bring in less than they have done.
| As Ministers have a new Tax Bill to present
to- the Assembly this session, perhaps they
intend by it To- relieve the much oppressed
property holder from part of his present
burdens-Otherwise we might expect, in the
natural course of things, that these taxes
would yield cOnsid rably more in the future
than in the past. hen again the road and
poli-taXcs are put down ut less than for the
list two years. Is it expected that
our adult male population VIII be re-
duced during the next two years, not
I withstauding the half million Govern
meut propose To devote to lmmigra-
ton purposes? We think tile Minister
shows caution beyond the necessities of the
case. The probabilities are all against him,
and no one viii be surprised if the revenue
proves to be $4,000 more than his esti-
mate.