The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-08-13
HAWAII COUNTYS
FINANCES MIXED
Gooding Fields Report Shows
SIipshod Methods and a
Waste of Cash.


Showing how the county of Hawaii
can save $685. in expenses every
year and yet increase its administra-
tive efficiency, H. Gooding Field has
fled his report with the Hilo board Of
trade. Mr.. Field goes fearlessly to the
root of things.
REPORT on the Administrative Or.
ganization of the County of Hawaii"
This is the title which Mr.. Field
gives to his voluminous report of fifty
typewriter pages embodying the re-.
suits of his months of work among the
records and archives of the county of
Hawaii at the request of the Hilo board
of trade. The results as shown in this
report are of great Importance, not on.
ly to the county of Hawaii, but to all
other counties in the Territory.
Prefaeing mis- report Mr.. Field in a
letter to the president of the board of
trade, says, among other things: ''The
and other information
contained in the report are made as the
result of study of the material and
personal efficiency of the organization,
embracing activities of technical ma
ture. and transactions involving bust
ness and financial procedure, together
with accounting organization and ad-
''Under the heading General Sur
vey' and other divisions of the report,
recommendation have been made with
the view of eifecting changes in the
present working methods and the build
ing up of the organization on efficient
lines, involving estimated annual saw
ings of at least $6S,635"
Supervisors and Politics.
Under this heading Mr.. Field starts
off by making this rather startling as
sertion:
elf it should be stated that the or
eanizntion of the county of Hawaii ex-
lists for the purpose of certain civic
ideals, then the administration falls
short of such attainment.
Mr.. Field devotes considerable space
to the board of supervisors and to poll
tics as exemplifed by county admins
trative work. In his findings along
these lines Mr.. Field asserts that:
There is the same lack of cooperation
between the representatives of the
county government and the business
men and taxpayers of the county which
is known to exist elsewhere on the Is
lands.''
Evidently the Hawaii county super
visors seek to hold all the wires of au-
fba, 4.
to the following clause:
"Due to the fact that the county en-.
gineer is permitted only to act in a
consulting capacity by the board of
supervisors, the very purposes for
which the office of county engineer was
created have been defeated.'
Strikes at Root of Evils.
Thus it is all through the report, Mr.
Field strikes at the root of certain
phases of inefiiciency and does not
mince words. Here is a clause under
the head of "Better Civic Life,'' in
which, by inference, the game of poll.
ties is charged up to the supervisors:
"There should be an agitation for
better civic life in the county of Ha-
wall, founded on enthusiasm and the
conviction that civic betterment car
only be attained by the adoption OF
drawn to himself personally, which he
cashes at the bank the same day. This
was on July ., l9l2-more than a
month ago. No license has been re-
ceived by the party paving the fee, mol
does the collection appear on the off
cial record of the liquor license com
missioners, icy their secretary. The
loo 10 he
record book for receipts for license
fees was July Is, l9l2-ten days after
he received and cas- he'd the NishimotC
checlI-and the date Of the posting OF
his last remittance to the county treas
urer was July 81, 1872"
Field Gross Examined.
After the report had been read
Deputy County Attorney Heen asked
Field a few questions in regard to the
auditors o. X, on the cash book
Field answered that if the rest of the
county audits were no more accurate
than was this one, they were most un
reliable.
"Where do, you find in the law that
it is the duty of the auditor to audi
the license commission s booksP' ask
ed Heen. - ~ ,uitf.lr8t
"lf- it is not, then time must hans
heavy on his hands, replied Field
""rhere are several departments of tn,
county which have not been audited
yet. = o, aolE
ID. f. Metzger, who presided, called
for discussion. William Mckay sug
gested, finally, that it would be vel
TO sleep on the report before taking
further action, as it contained much in
teresting and very Important matter
He moved that another meeting b,
called at which action could be taken
and it was finally decided 10 await ac
ton until the regular meeting of thu
board of trade.
Refuses Statement.
Mr.. Lyman was seen in Hilo Satur
day afternoon by The Advertiser CORE
spondent and asked if he wished Il
make any statement regardinp IN,