The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-03-31
SATURDAY, MARCH 81, 1888.
UNSUITABLE.

other, and for overdrawing amounts
appropriated. Undoubtedly there
has been good ground for complaint,
although perhaps the uproar created
has been sometimes greater than the
mischief done.
All respecters of the law will
agree that it is the duty of the Min
listers to obey the Appropriation Act
to the letter, if possible, and to
keep all expenditures within its pro-
visions; but it must be admitted
that if circumstances arise which
imperatively require larger ex-
penditure than the Legislature has
provided for, and if strict adher-
ence to the Appropriation Act is
distinctly detrimental to the public
service, the Executive is justified in
exceeding the appropriation, draw
ing for that purpose from any sur
plus that may be in the treasury, or
if the treasury is without surplus,
securing a temporary loan. Not
only is the Government justified in
doing so, but that is its plain duty
in such cases, the proper after
course being to apply to the Legis-
lature for its sanction, at its next
meeting, by the passage of an in
demnity bill. An intelligent Legis-
lature can scarcely be so perverse
as to withhold its approval of un-
authorised expenditures that are
clearly shown to have been really
necessary.
1t would appear that our Govern
ment finds in certain cases that the
amounts appropriated are insuffi-
cient, and that by confning itself TO
the Appropriation Act the public
service will suffer. In one case
there is no appropriation at all.
Two of the Associate Justices of
the Supreme Court, Judge Bickerton
and Judge Dole, have, we under
stand, received no salaries since the
commencement of the year, because
there is no appropriation for that
purpose. Those gentlemen can
probably afford to wait, land for any
thing we know to the contrary are
perfectly willing to do so, but their
salaries should have been paid when
due, appropriation or no appropria-
ton, and the Executive, in our
opinion, would have been well
within its discretionary powers in
paying them.
In the matter of offering a
reward for the capture or discovery
of an atrocious murderer, the At
torney-General has abstained from
doing so, because the appropria-
ton under the head from which
money for such purposes is drawn,
has been exhausted. We surely
think the discovery and capture of a
murderer of sufficient public con-
cern to warrant the overdrawing OF
the appropriation if necessary fol
that end. No one can tell who next
may fall victim to the same as.
sassin as long as he is at liberty.
Now another matter comes up.
1t is said, and we believe truly, that
the tugboat Eleu has about exhaust.
ed the appropriation for her running
expenses, and that if the appropria
tion be not overdrawn the tug can
not continue operations much longer
Everybody knows that the tug is al
absolute necessity, and must be
kept going; and therefore it is :
proper thing for the Government t.
keep her going, even if it does take
more money than the Legislature
has allowed.
Let not our readers run away
with the impression that we advo-
cate excessive expenditures, or favor
a systematic departure from the
Appropriation Act, but simply this,
and nothing more-that when an ex.
penditure in excess of the appropri,
alton is urgently needed in the in.
terest of the public good, the Gov
ernment does its duty in taking upon
itself the responsibility of incurrine
the additional liability, and that the
three instances cited are of this par
ticular nature. Exception may be
taken to the first, on the ground that
the judges continue to perform their
duties, Notwithstanding the delay in
getting their stipends; but the
same argument does not apply to
the other two.
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Two wars a0o Welshens q