The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-06-19

duly authorized, might be permitted
by law to make drafts upon the
Treasury upon estimates to be sub
mitted to the Auditor at the begin
ming of each month for the probable
requirement Of that month. With
such system as this, hardship and
injustice to laborers need not occur
and there is no reason why there |
should be any loss to the public |
treasury. Strong objection is made |
to having any drafts signed in
blank as appears to have been done
in some instances. While the
Auditor is undoubtedly correct in
theory in this matter, yet the ne
cessity must be apparent in some
instances. 1t is utterly impossible
that any large business of any kind
should be conducted without plac-
ing responsibility upon clerks. 1t
is one of the disadvantages, if it
may be so called, suffered by every
business man, that while he is him.
self solely responsible for his busi-
ness, he must depend upon the
bona fides of his subordinate
clerks. 1t is evident that the At
torney-General or the Minister Of
the Interior, particularly, must at
times be absent from Honolulu, and
it would be outrageous to stop all
payments in both of these depart
ments, or for that matter in any
other, simply because the Minister
could not be present to sign drafts
for payments maturing during
his absence. With responsible
clerks present, there should be no
more reason that drafts should not
be signed and passed into the
hands of such clerk for proper use
than that checks should be signed
by business man and handed to
his clerk for use during unavoid.
able absence; and yet we thorough
ly agree with the Auditor that in q
matter of such q nature too great
caution cannot be used.
The depesiting of Government
funds in a private bank or in any
other place without accounting fol
the same to the proper department
also seems to be unauthorized and
something which should not occur
We cannot agree with the Auditor
in his views upon the question Of
the support of prisoners, especially
in relation to public works, but as
this matter has all been discussed
in the papers heretofore, it will moi
be gone into again. So with regard
to payments on account of con
tracts. There is properly no rea
son why the Government should
not be held to the same course il
business matters as private houses
the Minister, of course, being al
ways responsible for whatever j:
; done.
We most heartily concur in wha
he says with regard to Statistical
bureau. It is one of the browning
needs of the Hawaiian Kingdom 81
the present time. The great neet
of some central authority for stats
: tics has been shown in the report
} at the present Legislature and ha
, appeared also in some former no
l tees, for there are considerable dis
crepancies between the report
made by one department will
: those of others or between the cen
trail Office and bureaus. Thi
? should not be. A statistical bureau
, might we'll be organized an
should have authority not only il
> matters of financial statistics but il
9 all others. 1t is almost lmposslbl
: at the present time to ascertain
t what the facts are in this Kingdom
E with regard to vital statistics j,
their various departments ais
| with regard to labor statistics. Th
: same is true with regard to the IL
i vestments of capital. We hav
G nothing, for instance, excepting tn
tax books to show what distribu
ton is made in various branches {
: industry in the country. 1t Is hig
S time that a bureau was organize
e with full power and authority an
o covered by an act in all these MAJ
tiers. The statement of the take
. which appears in table at tn
q end of the report is interesting an
Q valuable and shows the total cOllet
: ton for the year 1888 to have bee
!, 1885, 94, for the year 1889 1887,
1913. We learn elsewhere that tn
{ actual cost to the Government {
= the assessment and collection {
J, taxes for the year 1889 is less tina
,. perhaps it has ever been befor'
= being something over six per cer
' as against about eight per cent a
II the lowest formerly, and we ais
q learn that the total amount of III