The Hawaiian gazette., 1913-03-11

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had been drawn payable 20 the order
Of the First Bank Of Hilo, Ltd, for
which we could hnd no authorization
by the supervisors. On making inquiry
OF the auditor what these items were,
he stated that they were payments TO
the FirBt Bank of Hilo, Ltd, for as
signments Of salaries We then called
on him for list of these assignments,
but he informed us that he had no de-
tails of how the amounts were made up,
and that the First Bank of Hilo, Ltd,
were the only persons who could fur
rish us with that information. 4"
Bank Refused Names.
Under date of February IL, 1913,
letter was sent to the First Bank of
/ Hilo, giving a list of these warrants,
amounting in all to $3305, which had
been collected by the bank. The letter
/ asked the bank to state for what pur-
pose this money was paid. The follow
! ing day, the bank, through H. " Pat
ten as cashier, replied to the inquiry.
The closing paragraph of the letter
says:
&C. In reply, I beg to state that these
warrants were turned over to this bank
in payment of advances made to coun-
( ty employees on account of their salar-
| ies.'
This was followed by another letter
from the Audit Company asking for
the names of these employees. In reply
the bank again replied over the sigma
ture of H. V. Patten as cashier:
In reply, we beg to state that we
have to decline to give you the names
of the employees referred to, as it would
make public private business transac-
tious between our clients and our
selves''
Unconfessed Items.
Continuing, the report says:
90 A list of warrants which have been
drawn without authorization from 1907
to 1912 is appended to this report.
1--WE therefore report that we con-
slider there has been incorrect, incom-
plete and improper administration of
/ the financial affairs of the county in
the auditors Office as is evidenced by
the following:
First. The books kept by the audi
tor are in such condition that no cor
rect statement of the financial stand
ing of the county can be prepared from
them.
'Second. Receipts for payments APP
pearing by the books to have been
made, have not been obtained in many
cases, and payrolls have been paid, al
though it is quite evident that the sig
natures of the persons entitled to the
monies were all in the same handwrit-
ing.
Third. The sworn statement of the
auditor that he has used certain war
rants for purposes other than county
business.
The auditors found the books of
Treasurer Swain neatly and correctly
knnt mud fha mi otr ,nfi hio
transactions filed in a businesslike and
satisfactory manner, but he had been
late in cashing warrants.
i 'The present treasurer came into Of
. fee on January l, 19l1,' says the re-
port, "and he informed us that he has
never been furnished with any infor-
nation from the board of supervisors
or from any other source showing what
claims and demands chargeable against
the county which have been legally ex-
amined, allowed and ordered paid by
the board of supervisors that when
. warrants on the county were presented
TO him for payment he had-no kn0wl-
edge as to whether they were legally
drawn and issued or not, but so long as
they were signed by the auditor or his
: deputy and bore on their face the ap-
preparation against which they were
chargeable, he would pay them, al
F.. though in some cases not even endorsed
by the payee. Such procedure, of
course. provided no check on the acts
g of the auditor.
Many warrants were paid without
= endorsement.
9 FWe have therefore to report that
e in our opinion there has been incom-
r plete administration of the financial af-
fairs of the county in the treasurer's
7 office i'll that the treasurer paid war
j. rants without investigating to see if
t they were issued pursuant to Section
Y rs Act 80 of the Session Laws 1905;
. it may be that under the law the treas
: urers duty before cashing a warrant
{ did not require him to do more than
satisfy himself that the warrant bore
f the name of the auditor and the name
t of the appropriation under which it
+ was drawn, but that raises a question
n which we are not qualified to answer.
o Other Gases "No Doubt"
S "We would point out that this re-
$ port is in the nature of an interim
;. report and we have no doubt that there
f are many other cases in which there
/ may have been a misuse of county funds
q during the past eight years which we
n have not been able to discover owing
g to our not having had tine to make
Z complete audit
a In his confession, covering a period
from February, 1910, until June, 1912,
h Mcguire was careful, apparently, to
!. evade acknowledging illegally issuing
e warrants in favor of Others than the
Il First Bank of Hilo. The itemized state
ment of the auditors, however, brought
out still further startling condition,
beginning February l3, 1907, and con
d tinuing to June IA, 1912, during which
e proof is shown that warrants aggregat.
e ing $71 ,602.35 were illegally issued by
N him. There are eighty eight warrants
% in all, any of them made payable per
n sonally to C. X. Mcguire, large por-
10 tion of the Others to the First Bank of
IA IIilo. The remainder were in favor of
ID II. X. Lalakea. They range in amount
n from $l19 to 5000 Nearly all the
ID warrants in favor Of Mcguire were for
y less than $500, while those to the First
N Bank of Hilo averaged more than $1,000
ID each.
" All Had Been Paid.