The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-08-27

The House met at III CLOCK, the HreSl'
dent, Hon. w. r. Castle, in the chair
Minutes read and confirmed.
REPORTS OF. COMMITTEES.
Rep. Rice reported back, engrossed, the
bill relating to bringing of suits by and
against the Government. The bill was
| partly read, and referred back for correc-
| ton.
Noble Baldwin read the report of the
Finance Committee on the petition pre-
scented 9th instant on behalf of Mr.. Gibbs
| and others:
Hon. w R.. Castle, President of the Legis-
lative Assembly.
Sir The Finance Committee, to whom
| was referred the petition OF }. w. Gibbs
and four Others have had the matter under
careful consideration, and beg leave 20
| present the following report. The petI-
| TONERS set forth that they worked on the
| MOlOkai water works from the goth OF
February, 1888, till the Goth OF May, 1888,
during which time they worked 90 days,
and that for 40 days of this time previous
to March 31st they have received neither
vouchers nor cash; and further, that they
understand that the money for the 40 days
time has been paid to a certain party for
their benefit but that they are unable to
ascertain who the party is. After full in
vestigatlOn, we have ascertaIned the tOl-
lowing facts:
The petitioners were employed on the
Kalaupapa water works under Mr.. {. b.
Wilson, superintendent OF the Water
Works, who from month to month drew
the pay of all the labOrers, which was de-
posted with the Clerk of the Water Works,
and the orders from the labOrerSwer paid
from this amount whenever they were pre-
scented.
On the 31st day of March Mr.. Wilson
drew from the Treasury the pay for the
labOrers for that month, and filed in the
Interior Department as a voucher the pay
roll signed by all the labOrerS.
Now, instead of holding this amount for
the settlement of the accounts OF the
labOrerS for whom it was drawn, it was
used to settle any drafts indiScriminately
that were presented not only for the March
labor, but also for the labOrers that were
working on the Kalaupapa water works in
April.
AT the end of the period, the 31st of
March, the appropriation for q" water pipes
at Kalaupapa" being exhausted, it was
decided to finish laying the pipe, charging
the cost to the general appropriation for
leper settlements, and such course was
pursued. At the end of April, upon pre-
sentatiOn of the pay rolls to the Auditor
General for approval, he declined to APP
prove, on the ground that the general APP
preparation for Leper Settlement did not
authorize payments for labor in laying
water pipe in Leper Settlement.
Meanwhile, some of the labOrers at Mole
kai had continued during April to draw
drafts for wages earned for April. Some
of the men, however, had drawn no orders
for either February or March. The result
was that there being no money forthcoming
at the end of April from the Treasury, the
amount drawn for the labOrers the 31St of
March was all paid out to those who drew
their accounts for February, March and
April, and there was nothing left for those
who had not drawn, or who had only
drawn in part, among whom were the
petitioners.
This method of handling the public funds
in settling accounts which seems to have
been practised by the Superintendent is
reprehensible, and should not be allowed.
The petitioners claim that no cash was
paid out to the labOrerS on the Kalaupapa
water works for work done in April, but
we have examined parties who received
cash for work done in April, and the books
in the Superintendent Office show that
all the money drawn on this account pre-
vious to March 31st was paid to laborers.
We find, on investigation, that George
Barker, who signed the petition, has been
fully settled with, which he admits. The
accounts of the other four who signed the
petition stand as follows: