The Hawaiian gazette., 1884-10-22

HlLI d loaf Is better than no bread, but
half truth Is worse by far than a down
right lie. The plan Of using half truths
i in company with veritable ictions has al
ways been a fayorite one of the supporters
Iof the Government. and last Thursday
morning the Government organ treated
its readers to a specimen of its skill in this
particular branch of political defense,
The =. @. T., forgetting the position it as
sumcd while since Of being the Govern
mcnt organ, plunges wildly into an at
tempt to whitewash the Administration.
To start with It takes up two of the state
Imcuts made in the GAZETTE and brands
lthem MS deliberate untruths, and goes
on to say that the Government owes
nothing to any one that Is now due which
/ it cannot pay at moments notice" We
. do not wish 10 use the language which the
sGoycrument apologist indulgcs in but
from our knowledge we must say that If
! his statement is not " deliberate untruth, [
, he has been singularly misiuformed; and
we must repeat, and that emphatlcally,
that the Government does owe money and
s does not pay IT, Only last Saturday a
gentleman made application to one of our
'citizens FOR a small account, and told INN
( that the application would not have been
made if the money due him by the Govern
ment had been paid His remark was,
I'VE cant get anything ont of them" VIII
4 the Government apologist tell us how long
4 il is that Thomas Square has been run on
private funds. or how long the Public
Nursery
People to whom the Government owes
money do not like TO come forward and
give their names: they think il will injure
ithcir chances OF getting something on
IacCuunt" If the Government Is in SO good
Ia financial position. how came it that on
sSeptembar lst the sum of $4,000 or there
sabouts. which fell due for bonds, was not
|paid: that the bonds We're -a,o'r,d for pc
4 sriol of SIX months. and by that means an
illegal loan was made. Men who are sound
financially do not do these things. and
we unhcsitatingly pronounce the tinanj
1 ,cial doings of the present holders of
office as uusound. and as certain to bring
disaster upon the nation.
Now we viii refer to the specific defense
set M by the Government in the matter
NI Alts@I-4 W llltl ~ W w AAAtlNAf AAN
mention of the FIRMS name, 1t was reserved
for the Organ to drag It into the news
paper columns. We will at once say we
lmeant Mcssrs. Wilder a Co, and that our
knowledge was nearly accurate. the SUM
being S25.0OO instead Of S3OOOO
We are authorized by Mr. Wilder to
state. and it Is with extreme reluctance
that he allows his name to come into|
the papcrs. he never having engaged
in newspaper controversy since his dis
missal from the Cabinet, but we UrC au-
3thorizcd TO state that the remark made inI
the I8rrrissy. that the lumber was bought
for the coronation ION the stipulation that
itlrv Wilder n Coz should await an apl
preparation from the Legislature for pay
'mgut" Is not Currcct-no such stipulation
was made. Further. that the indebtness
.of the firm for rent Of the Marine Railway
does Ha' cover the amount OF the account
but that there Is a balance due to them.
A. 90 the wharf matter 1t Is true that
;hc wharf Is free wharf to the Company
lat present. hut the Government, even ac
|cordiug to their own showing, intend tol
.takc Il over" The firm. If II is to be paid
lat allcau make better use Of ofmoney nor thanl
when II may suit the convenience Of thel
|Goycyumcnt- to pay them. From eNpe-
Iriencc the convenience" is apt to be Al
long time coming. BY the use of half theI
truth the T. C. 4 apologist has made out
a case. which tuublcs like pack OF cards
when the '7tb Is told The firm OF Wilder
|S Co. have made several efforts to have|
their accounts with the Government closed
and their indebtedness written of against
the indebtedness Of the Government tol
them. but they have been unable to obtain
even this satisfaction. and the fact remalnsI
that our statement of last week Is correct
With regard to the matter OF the Jnl'aI
and the 6dima. which was not the case mi
our mind. the statement of the apologistI
shows that Mr.. Cooke claims SLIOO. andI
that the ministry are a long time in con
sultation" as to whether they will pay orI
mot
Enough has been here shown to make
those who are outside the charmed circle
of oliicialdum understand that there is
something very rotten indeed in the finan !
cial state of Denmark" that the heads of
the Government are incapable of manag
ing our finances: that confusion reigns
where there ought to be order; that If
such things leak ont bit by bit as we have
got them. there Is something behind the
curtain which Is likely to be worse than
what we already know; and, in fact, that
the Government, like the typical beggar