The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1890-03-25

| Nueu prisoners cannot De well 6mplONeu
on public work they may be hired out to
private persons For female prisoners,
! the provision, [Section PHI is, that they
shall be employed in making mats, in
sewing, in washing the prisoners clothes
and in other suitable occupations as the
Marshal may direct.
The law under which money is dis
bursed, is entitled, An Act making
special appropriations, etc. Under the
head g Roads and Bridges" is, Road
from Hilo to Volcano, 100000" This
authorizes the expenditure upon that
work OF that sum, and no one would
claim that general drafts could be made
on the Treasury for amounts in excess OF
that.
1t cannot be denied that the allowance
of these bills would be to apply further
sums to this work from the special ap-
preparation for the Support ofprisoners.
1t is an obvious remark to be made, that
the propriety of such draft does not de-
pend on the fact of the designated sum
| Of $50, 900 having been exhausted or not.
| If it should be correct now to apply
money from the support OF prisoners
fund, the road appropriation being ex-
hausted, it would have been correct to do
so during the whole period. The sum of
the bills here presented is $550.40. A
| like sum for each of the twenty-four
months of the biennial period would
amount to $13,209.60. But small or
great, or for a longer or shorter time,
what should be so taken would be an ad-
dition from the one fund to the other.
1t is plain that the power to do so would
! ON 10 If n
practically make his own appropriation
for every object in which prison labor
may be employed. The expressed will
of the Legislature that the expenditure
should be such sum for such an object
would be overcome; no such item would
represent definite amount. 1t would
be the granted amount plus the support
OF prison labor upon it.
l hold, therefore, that the particular
statute prescribing a sum to be expended
on public work is not controlled by the
statute which generally designates the
mode OF working prisoners.
The determination of the Auditor
General that the fund for the support
of prisoners" was not applicable to the
payment Of these bills, in this view, was
not an abuse of discretion and was not
beyond his province or jurisdiction to be
controlled by the Court.
The provisions of the Act OF 1862 may
be claimed to particularly justify the en-
ployment of prisoners without reference
to fund for the payment OF the ex-
penses appurtenant. | think this sta
tute applies to the ordinary annual work
on existing roads, and leaves the ques-
ton of payment to be determind by
other statutes. They are roads in charge
Of the Road Supervisor He is permit
ted to make application for this descrip-
ton of labor. There is nothing which
imports that it is not to be paid for out
of the funds for the road making. In
the case before us a new road is pro-
vided for 1t is as distinctly a separate
public work, as would be the erection OF
a new public building. The bills pre-
scented are for separate set of jailors
and superintendent required in working
prisoners on this road. The reasoning L
have applied to the construction OF Sec
ton 215 in my view equally applies
here.
The two other bills are admitted to
be for sustenance of the prisoners while
employed on the Volcano Road. Stand
ing by themselves, they might be consid-
cred payable out of the fund for the
support of prisoners, but in view OF
the fact brought to the Auditors
knowledge that the result would be an
application of so much money to the
Volcano Road, in lieu of charging the
labor at the statute valuation of fifty
cents per day to the road appropriation,
and making no charge for the susie
nance, these bills may be classed with
the others.
In respect to the custom shown by the
pleadings to charge such expenses as
these bills represent to this support of
prisoners appropriation, and the fact that
the respondent has during the present
biennial period so allowed them up to
the present refusal, have only to say,
that when a judicial Interpretation is
asked, it must be based upon principles.
If practice hitherto has not conformed to
the law strictly construed, this cannot
set aside the law. From time to time
the Courts are called upon to correct
loose practice. 1t is not surprising that
the examination of an Auditor Gan Office
of recent date in this country should
discover irregularities. The office was
instituted for the purpose of scrutiny,
and an Auditor who does not audit may
we'll not exist. The power given to this
officer is undoubtedly high one. By
Section 10 of the Audit Act, it is pro-
vided that no payments shall be made
by the Minister of Finance, salaries ex-
cepted, unless the accounts therefor shall
have been previously countersigned by
the Auditor To enable the Auditor TO
maintain this high and quasi judicial
position, he is appointed to hold his
Office during good behavior, only to be
removed for incompetency or misbeha-
vior by the King with the advice of
the Cabinet Council upon the adj
dress of the Legislative Assembly, and
his salary cannot be diminished during
his continuance in office. 1t is equal to
the salary of a Minister or Justice OF
the Supreme Court.
The relator complains that by the re-
fusal of the defendant to approve these
bills, he is prevented from properly
carrying out the duties OF his office as
Minister of the Interior, and it was
warmly contended in argument that the
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