The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-05
HOW AUSTIN
MET CHARGES
Continued from yesterday

NAM, McCandless and Kalauokalani.
THE DEPUTY AUDITORS STATE
MENT.
Mr.. Myers stated that he had been
Deputy Auditor since July, 1898. l was
informed by the Governor that he had
suspended Austin and he requested
that I should take charge of the office,
the books and papers and everything
connected with it and perform all the
duties of the Office, and on September
% I took the keys of the office and so
on and have had possession ever since
Q Mr.. Myers, do you know of any
checks that have been presented by Mr..
Austin to any department of the Gov
eminent, checks drawn on that depart
ment? A. No, sir.
@. How many warrants have you
issued a month in your office?
A. Perhaps the average would be
twenty-seven or twenty-eight hundred
month.
Q. Who signs them?
A. Mr.. Austin; unless he is absent
from town, then 1 sign them.
Q. How long would it take you to
sign these twenty-eight hundred war
rants?
A. Well, I should think thousand
day could be done readily. Bills have
| to be more or less examined as he goes
, through with them.
@. You think if a man did his work
thoroughly and conscientiously that he
could do thousand a day?
A. 1 think so, yes.
@. And looking through all the bills
and everything?
A. There are so many salaries at the
end of the month they would get
through them quicker than the bills.
G. What do these warrants consist
of, just salary warrants?
A. No; between the 18th and the
goth of the month. The intention of the
office is to settle up all the bills for
the previous month. Each bill has a
warrant drawn for it.
@. Then warrants don't all come at
one time?
A. Oh, no; they are spread through
the month.
Q. But you say that, conscientiously,
the Auditor or the Deputy Auditor
could do a thousand a day?
A If he wasn't disturbed by some
thing else. There is Always something
occurring that would probably prevent
it,
@. How often-who audits the diff
ferent departments?
A Mr.. Austin attends to most of
them.
@. You audited the Public Works De-
partment?
A ort Of rio
@. How often did you audit that?
A. Well, Irregular times.
@. What do you mean by irregular
times?
A. Well, now this last time is was
to that it was three months previous.
@. You mean to say the Public
Works Department was never audited
between February and September? A.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How about the Treasury Depart
ment?
A. Well-you know in the Treasury
Department proper we have copy of
their cash book six times a month, so
we check that, and at the end of the
month We have a general trial balance
between the two offices; SO the Treasury
Department proper is checked up to the
day, you might say.
@. Whose duty was it to count the
cash in the Treasury?
A. Well, of course, the head of our
department L don't know when it has
ever been done by our office.
Q. Don't you think it was the duty
of the Auditor to do so?
A. 1t should be done occasionally.
Q. For instance, you take at the end
of October, how is the Auditor to know
what the cash is on hand?
A. He cannot know unless he counts
it.
Q. Then it is his duty to count that?
A. [ suppose it is; it has never been
the custom to do it, only perhaps-Mr.
Laws did it once.
Q. Mr.. Meyers, isn't it a fact that
Mr.. Austin was out of the office a good
deal?
A. Yes. sir, he was this year; he
seemed to be in great trouble; know
nothing directly but from intimations
| would hear on the streets I supposed
it was financial troubles.
@. When did he usually come to the
office in the morning?
A. Sometimes he would be there at
half past eight in the morning.
Q. When did he leave?
A. About nine or half past nine he
would go away occasionally and
wouldn't know anything about him for
quite while.
Q. SO that you, as Deputy Auditor,
would have to do his work.
A. Yes, 1 remained in the office all
the time.
Q. And he was absent d great deal
of the time when he should have been
in his office?
a. Yes, that is what I thought; I do
not know any reason for him to go out
SIDE except those financial troubles,
when he tried to relieve himself
Mr.. McCandless: Q. He was not out
side on business of the office. was he?
A. No, 1 do not think he was.
Q. Mr.. Meyers, who gave you orders
to go into each one Of these different
departments at times, when you went
in to superintend the Department of
Public Works for instance; the Auditor
General? A. Directly?
Q. Yes.
A. No. If I saw proper time. just
mentioned 1 was going in there and he
said all RIGHT