The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-12-11
Waste OF PUBLIC
FUNDS OF ISLANDS !.
. Barred IN REPORTS.
Chamber Of Commerce and Adj
Club Joint Committee Reveals
Astounding Recklessness
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
ARE LOST EVERY YEAR
Failure To Collect Taxes and
Properly Assess Property AS
signed To careIessness
tfrom Thnr.aay AdvertIser.l

bhoNeFlhk CONDITIONS ~ the admin
istration OF the territorial and NUM-
cipal governments which inditate that
through looseness o. methods and In,
efficiency, or inadcquaey vi me systems
under which the work Of the govern.
ments is carried on, huge sums OF money
Annually due the city or Territory ar
left uncollected, the joint committee OF
the chamber Of commerce aud the AL
tub submitted reports yesterday to
their respective organizations The re.
ports were adopted.
Waste and efficiency are the knynotes
Of the reports Backed by the more
analyticak finding OF II. Goo ling Field
"a member of the joint COMMITTEES, who
made an expert examination of records
of the Territory as a basis for the gen
etal report--it is shown that thousands
Of dollars are lost TO the government
annually through negligence of officials
or lack Of system.
Thousands Of Dollars Lost
Mr.. Field declares that through this
loose system, $SS,52575 has been lost
TO the Territory In the collection OF
license fees from automobiles alone
This is for the period from the begin.
ming Of the registration of automobiles
to December 81, 1918. In his second
report, concerned with the assessment
of property, he finds fault with the
full cash value basis of assessing
property, and ends by endorsing the
Somers system Of land valuation, which
is used in several States.
The reportof the joint committee rec.
ommends a general reconstruction, a
modern system of municipal accounting
IT finds that there is too much dupli-
cation in clerical work; too much red
tape and overlapping Of authority. An
expert should be appointed, the com
mittee stated in the reports, to work
out new system, not to leave it to
the Legislature or board Of supervisors.
Financial waste Deplorable
With these striking words, John
Guild, chairman of the Ad Club side
Of the conlrKittee, brought TO the front
the need Of such general reeonstructiop
work: 49,.
ga careful reading Of these reports
--ana every public-spirited citizen
should study them closelywill show
that one Of our greatest public ills Is
the financial, waste which has been al
lowed to exist and still Is going on un-
checked. ~ w..
The chamber of commerce strongly
endorsed the findings of the commit
tee, and asked that II continue its in
vestigatlon, and continue in co-opcra-
tion with Governor Pinkham in working
out the proposition suggested for legis-
latiye action. The Ad Club similarly
endorsed the findings of its committee,
which was composed of John Guild as
chairman and ]. T. Warren and John
Effinger as members. +. II. Paris was
chairman of the chambers committee.
with r. Q. White and George G. Guild
as members. ~, .r
Lax System Responsible .a.'
Conflict in governmental authority is
held to be partly TO blame for the loss
Of revenue. On this point, Mr., Guild
said in his report; &
For instance, out Of every 800 Of
our eollectable automobile taxes - q
comparative small source of public reve-
nue. $3.50 is uncollected. In other
words, for the period from 1906 to
1919, the sum of more than $4,000
from this source OF reyenHe only still
is outstanding. We can have some idea
from this item alone of the disastrous
results of the present conflict 10 gov.
ernmental authority which make such
conditions possible. We are, at the
present time, losing more than $1,000
per month Of this revenue through red.
tape.
20 Again, we have no STANDARDIZATION
Of property values in the Territory. 1t
is bad enough to have waste in ex-
penditpres, but, IL possible, II il worse
when the community does not even get
income that shorld and eoAld be collec,
ted Our methods OF assessments arc
not only unreliable but antiamnted. and
II is hopeless to exnect orr tax assessors
to make equitable assessments under
existing conditions of valuation Of prop.
erty.1
Mr.. Paris Report
Mr.. Raris spoke strongly on the sub
ieets covered by his report, at the meet
ing of the directors Of The chamber
Yesterday. lie outlined how the com
mittee came TO work in conjunction
with the committee Of the All Club, and
mentioned that the Governor had as.
sisted the committees in every way he
could.
Mr.. Field, a member of both com.
mittees, made his expert reports in
three installments. only two OF which
were given publication yesterday-the
Que on assessments and on license fee
collections, Tho third one-on the board
Of healih---was Withheld out Of courtesy
70 the health committee Of the chamber,
Tho report is to be handed in later
by this committee after it has read it.
Too Much Mahore' Policy
Mr.. Paris closes his report with these
yipovous words;
"There has been altopether too much
mshOrei policy, and il is a very op.
rortune and high time that some recon.
stmetfve action shonld be undertaken
This is no time for experimenting aud
Lesides, there are remedies quite avail,