The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-04-04
STATEMENT OF YOUNG.
4. Judd. Esq. Honolulu

A. r. Judd, Esq, Honolulu
Sir: Inlthe matter of the investiga-
tion 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 Commis-
sioners. These minutes are mere abb
stracts of the proceedings and do not
contain full and compfete record of
the doings and transactions of the
Board.
The Secretary also conducts the
greater part of the correspondence of
the Office. note from the index of
letters sent out from the Office that
about 2000 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 filed in va
rious places in the office. Carbon cop
les of letters written are filed in stub
letter file books bv themselves and at
present n card index system is in use
for referring to such copies. When back
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 n 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 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 current
school year. 1t would be marked i'm
provement over the present system in
that 1t 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 n glance.
A general cash book is kept by the
Secretary showing cash receipts under
three headings, viz: Crooks, -
"Rents' and Realizations, the lat.
ter being a general heading for reali.
cations such as the sale of old build.
| ings, wood, etc. The receipts from
| book sales are first handled by the
Book Clerk" as will be noted later.
Rents and reaizations are entered di.
Ia. 4 4
| 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
ever few, should be recorded in suit
able book for ready reference.
/ verified the cash on hand as of the
2lst, 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
ry 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 bill to the
department for the same with the
original vouchers or receipts attached
Under the law the department is re-
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 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 a credit. This is account.
! ed for bv the fact that some teacher
may send in an order for books ac-
companied by remittance to pay for
the same. The books desired may not
be on hand to fill the order. The &c.
count is credited and the amount is
turned in as realization from the
sale of books. AS a matter of fact, no
sale has been made. If for any rea-
son the order should be eountermanded
how could this money be refunded lie.
gallyf Such amounts should not be
turned in as 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
a 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 fol
some time, made to close mp old ac
counts and TO get this branch of the
department on cash basis and in con