The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-03-10
LANDS.

The account of the Land Revenues
in the report of the Minister of FL
nance is somewhat misleading. The
Minister gives ample praise to the
Commissioners of Public Lands, but
he does not seem to have accurately
understood their case. 1t must also be
said that the Minister distinctly states
that the business of the land revenues
it mot directly in my department"
Now, among the first things to be
considered are the figures as report
ed. The Minister of Finance shows
that the total revenue from lands dur
ing the past year was SOC, 549.47, which,
reading further down in the report, he
says cost &7,205.O7. This would be a
very heavy payment for collecting so
small sum. But it is not the real
truth. 1t would mean that 20 per cent
had been paid in collecting revenue for
the Government. No Government
could stand such a percentage on its
revenue and the opposition press
might have a picnic dancing upon such
state of affairs. AS a matter of fact
one wonders that the opposition press
did not catch on.
The figures are, however, explain
able. There were collected from rents
. 500, 549.47. To obtain these collections,
making a fair average of the salaries
paid in the land office, about $4,000
were paid. In point of fact the $780,
549.47 is the rent roll of the Govern
ment.
The money expended, or, as the Min
lister of Finances report puts it, "this
revenue or at least that portion of it
derived from the Land Commission,
has been produced at a cost of $27,-
295 or" has, as fact, not been eXpend-
ed in collecting the rents of the Gov
eminent. 1t has been expended in sur
yeying lands, in sending men to climb
mountains and ford streams to their
armpits, in cutting their way through
painless forests and doing without
the common necessares of life. And
what has been obtained from this is
really a considerable future revenue
for the tax payers.
The principal part of the S27,295.07
debited against the Land Bureau must
really be credited to that department.
As has been said, probably $4,000 has
been used in getting the collections of
rent. The balance of $4,000, a large
sum, has been used in opening up and
settling in the neighborhood of $4,000
acres.
This area of $1,000 acres represents
a true source of revenue to the State.
The money expended upon surveying
and plotting out the lands is very well
placed If private firms can make
money by putting land in the market,
how much better can Governments do
ii. The $4,000 expended by the Com
missioners of Public Lands is really
not an actual expenditure, it is an in
vestment. Every cent of money spent
constitutes a new source of revenue
for the future. The money once hav-
ing been expended, ceases as source
vi anu is no SleduN uTalll
on the revenue. To put the matter in
a nut shell, no such sum as $27, 900 will
he required to collect the rents of this
Government, but if the Government
lands are thrown open, as is the pres
ent policy, a good deal of work must
be done in laying them out, and this
work must be paid for. If the coun-
try is to get revenue from its lands, il
must be prepared to pay for it. The
fact is that the money expended upon
the survey of the lands is very OK
cellent expenditure. When once the
lands are properly and accurately sur
veyed the expenditure ceases, and is
no longer steady charge upon the
revenue. The Star would recommend
that greatest care should be taken i'm
explaining such expenditures in the
future, and that full figures should be
published rather than terse statements
which may prove misleading.
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Z,