The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-08-27

whom It was borrowing right along. lie
was not standing up TO defend any prior
legislature; whether they had violated
the law or not had nothing 10 do with il.
The question was, What are YOU going
To DO in this matter; here it is2' Had the
House got the right TO limit the borrowing,
or had the Ministers? They each one,
were responsible, and could not evade IT
BY referring 70 former Ministers. If there
had been a precedent for twenty years, it
was time the House made stand
and say that it shall not be
done any more When they COM
menced To borrow at nine per cent there
was Loan Act for six per cent, which
only expired short time ago. 1t had be
come a regular thing in the quarterly &C
count to see special loan, 50 much; inter
est, so much. Was that practice right or
wrong? That was all the resolution asked
for IL does not cenSure His EXcellency
Mr. Gibson; it censures the practice. The
Ministry might change during the next
two years, and they had no guarantee that
His ExcelIency might not lose his seat to-
morrow. They were legislating, not for
this Cabinet, or past ones, but for those OF
the future. He appealed TO the members
10 place themselves on record as opposed
to this unauthorized borrowing.
His Excellency Mr.. Dare said that he
was very much pleased with the tone with
which the discussion had been carried on.
There had been an absence OF personal al
lusions, and the question discussed with
regard specially TO the principle involved.
/ was the kind of discussion he had been
used to. He argued that the laws OF this
Kingdom did not prohibit the borrowing
of money, without Legislative authority, by
the Ministry, in certain emergencies. Ar
ticle ID of the Constitution placed ii in the
power of the Legislature TO regulate the
disbursement OF public funds, and pro
hibited the Ministry from taking money
out of the Treasury except in case OF
emergency. But in section II of the Com
piled Laws the Minister OF Interior, with
the approval of the King in Cabinet Coun-
ell, was authorized to. borrow money TO the
amount of $25, 900 for public works. 1t
was further ordered tina; none OF the
money 50 borrowed should come out OF
funds appropriated for other purposes. As
the appropriations were always equal to
the revenue, it followed that this was an
authorization to the Cabinet for borrowing
There appeared to be no transgreSsion OF
the law in this matter.
Mr. Castle said the Attorney Generals
proposition was hardly correct. The
amendment to the Constitution of 1864 ex-
pressly repealed all laws inconsistent there
with, and provided that no moneys should
be drawn from the Treasury without au-
thority of the Legislature. This, he held,
carried with it by implication that no
money could be put into the Treasury
without similar authorization.
His Excellency Mr.. Dare quoted the
law, where the Minister of the Interior
was charged with certain functions, such
as the disposal of Government land, which
implied the Cabinet had the power to raise
and disburse revenue outside of Legislative
authority.
Mr. Castle said it did not appear that
any portion of this loan was used for any
public improvements whatever. On the
contrary, from the aer2rt of the Auditor
General, from the report of the Minister OF
Finance, and from the Ministerial returns
of Indebtedness, it simply appeared as a
Government income of $50, 900 The At
torney General by his own mouth con
victed the Ministry OF exceeding it powers,
when he showed that its power to borrow
for public improvements was limited to
$25 900. The principle involved was of the
greatest importance, and one which the
House should carefully watch and guard.
Mr. Kaulukou moved the resolution be
indefinitely postponed.
At - o'clock the House took recess to
l: 30.