The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-03-31
STATEMENT OF YOUNG.

| A. f. Judd, Esq, Honolulu
| Sir: In the matter of the investiga-
| ton of the Department of Public In
| struction, pertaining particularly to the
| methods of accounting and records of
the office, l beg to report as follows:
| The Secretary keeps the minutes of
| the meeting of the Board of CommIe-
sioners. These minutes are mere alb
| stracts of the proceedings and do not
contain a full and cosnptete record OF
the doings and transactions of the
| Board.
The Secretary also conducts the
| greater part of the correspondence of
! the office. I note from the index OF
letters sent out from the office that
about 1000 letters are written during
the year. Assuming an equal number
received, together with ordinary re-
| ports from teachers all over the Is
lands, it will be seen that this branch
of the work is very extensive. Letters
| and reports received are fled in va
| rious places in the office. Carbon cop
! les of letters written are filed in stub
! letter file books by themselves and at
present a card index system is in use
| for referring to such copies. When back
1 correspondence has to be referred TO
| unnecessary time is wasted by reason
of the system in force. The adoption
| of an up-to-date system, such as the.
vertical letter file, would simplify the
keeping of these records to a marked
degree and would be a great economizer
| of time.
The pay-rolls of teachers and school
| agents are made up by the Secretary.
| The list of teachers, with data as to
| salary, and term of service Covering
| only a portion of the YEAR, and location
| of school is kept on typewriter sheets.
| Other lists showing teachers by dis
| tricts and still others showing post
office addresses are kept. These are
| rewritten as occasion requires A
book of record should be adopted for
| this purpose, showing all this data with
provision to note changes in salary,
| transfers, retirements, etc.
This data should cover a current
school year. Tt would be a marked inn
| provement over the present system in
| that it would be as. or more, complete
| in its detail and in such shape that all
the information could be gathered from
the one record at a glance.
A general cash book is kept by the
Secretary showing cash receipts under
| three headings, viz: Books, -
"Rents" and Realizations, the lat
| ter being a general heading for reali-
| cations such as the sale of old build
| book sales are first handled by the
''Book Clerk, p" as viii be noted later.
Rents and realizations are entered di-
rect in this cash book No "Rent
| ROLF is kept. Any data required in
this direction is only obtained by re-
| ferring to credits in the past or by
| searching through a mass of papers in
| the safe. The apparent number of
leases now in force is small, but, how
q 1 III
| able book for ready reference.
I verified the cash on hand as of the
21st, as shown by the cash book bal
| ance, and found it to be correct. The
| cash included coin, money orders and
| checks and cash items. The latter
| were advances made by the Secretary
for stamps and freight charges which
! could not be met through the ordinary
| routine of bills. The custom is to car
nv these items as cash until the Sec
| rotary makes his deposit with the
| Treasurer, when he takes them up
| from his personal funds and is in turn
| reimbursed by rendering a bill to the
| department for the same with the
| original vouchers or receipts attached.
| Under the law the department is re-
1 ouired to furnish all necessary books
| and stationery required for the use of
! pupils, charge therefor their cost price.
| Provision is made under the law to en-
| force collection for books furnished
| pupils. From the records it seems the
| law has been more honored in the
breach than in the observance. The
custom has been for some years and
| prior to the time of the present Super
intendent to carry accounts with va
rious teachers, school agents and even
private individuals or concerns. This
record is carried in a regular ledger,
the account being debited when books
are delivered and credited when pay
ment is made. At the present time
there is due the department several
hundred dollars. Apparently a consid
cradle amount of this will never be col
lected, as the accounts are of long
standing. Again, there are accounts
which have credit. This is account
ed for bv the fact that some teacher
may send in an order for books ac-
companied by a remittance to pay for
the same. The books desired may not
be on hand to fill the order. The ac-
count is credited and the amount IS
turned in as realization from the
sale of books. AS matter of fact, no
sale has been made. If for any rea-
son the order should be countermanded,
how could this money be refunded le-
gally? Such amounts should not be
turned in as a realization, but should
be held in suspense pending the deliv-
cry of the books. The records, di-
rectly in charge OF the book clerk, are
cash book, day book and ledger. The
system is what is known as single en-
try Only the cash book is audited.
Two inventories were taken in 1904,
at the suggestion of the auditing de-
partment. No practical use has been
made of them as far as [ know. Spe-
cial efforts are now. and have been for
some time. made to close up old ae-
counts and to get this branch of the
department on cash basis and in con-
formitv with the law. I think it per-
missible under the law for the depart
ment TO furnish teachers with books |
for the pupils. When this is done the
teacher should not be held personally
liable for them but shnnld enforce