Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-14

anu the remaining NiNZ,UN0 To De ui-
vided among the other islands Tho
Z revenue from real and personal prop
erty taxation is devoted to the run
. ming expenses OF the counties and
/ schools, whereas collections from in.
I heTitance and income taNrs are
/ placed 10 the credit Of the operation
/ OF the territorial departments.
, Present Economic Waste and Bond
Issue.
The bonded debt Of the territory on
/ October l. 1908, was 81 600 900.
/ whereas the territorial bonded indcht.
/ edness on June 50. 1913. amounted tn
I $6.Si4,0o0s The interest charges paid
on bonded Indebtedness, from 1906 To
/ 1913, amounted 20. approximately.
/ SLAQo.0OO. Ne are. therefore, paying
about $4,000 per annum for the
use or borrowed money On the as
sessed valuation Of real and personal
property in the territory for 1914, the
limit of the aggregate bonded in.
debtedness, as fixed by the Organic
Act at per cent of such valuation,
would be, approximately. 81, 20O. 900.
placing the limit of the amount that
may. hereafter be incurred at 1880.
900. The total acreage of public land
owned by the territory OF Hawaii Is
! i ,6S1.S1S. which. after deducting 50S..
0S9 acres for waste land and 542,692
acres for forest reserves. gives a re-
mainder of 5SI,037 available saleable
acreage TO the government OF this
latter acreage. 1904 were arabic
agricultural land and 52l.993 pastoral
and forest lands, of which HISS
acres were suitable for homesteafs.
In the case of the Bishop Estate,
for instance, with its unencumbered
3 per cent of territorial land acreage.
its financial position, as regards hold
/ fngs, is infinitely more advantageous
than that of the territory, even with
its one hundred and sixty per cent
more saleable realty, as the latter
carries with it a load, at present, of
over six and three quarter millions
of dollars. ..-.. 49,. .......
Under the law, the proceeds of the
sale of public lands in the territory
are to be set aside as a special fund
for the payment OF bonded indebted
ness of the government, or for the
purchase of other lands. When the
limit Of the territorial bonded indebt-
IL
open question whether, at that time.
the proceeds from the sale of the re-
naming acreage will suffice to re-
deem the bonds at maturity.
Disproportionate Acreage Of Govern.
ment Ownership.
1t might be stated that with the
occupancy of the public lands so
purchased, the increased revenue de.
rived from the same from taxation
will take care of the increase in gov
ernmental running expenses, but with
the present unchecked rate of in
crease of overhead charges, this add
ed revenue will, undoubtedly, fall
short of the increased expenditures
The accompanying chart, showing
ownership of lands in the territory,
by percentages, has been brought up
to date from the figures submitted to
the secretary of the interior In 1908
by the director of the reclamation
service.
Department of ADULTS and Statistics.
aIn an address before the first an
nda1 convention or our civic organt
cations IN September, 1912. strongly
advocated the establishment of a de-
statistics, to take the place of our
present inadequate control over our
public finances. My recent experience
on Hawaii, when three ,two-horse dray
loads OF accounting records. financial
reports, warrants, checks and other
similar data we're turned over to me
for examination, without any SEM
blanee of uniformity or order in their
classification, convinces me that with
out some such centralized control
over our public accounting. we shall
eventually find ourselves in a hope
less financial muddle. II would be
impossible to describe the condition
in which / found the records Of the
county auditor of Hawaii In my 10
years experience in Analysing finan-
cial transactions, both in the service
OF the federal government and employ
of large corporations, | never had
been called upon to bring order out of
such state of financial chaos. |
had first to make survey Of the
whole situation before I could even
attempt to reconcile any of the fig
ures recorded in the books.
In order, therefore, to furnish an
hUSOIul6 CHECK Oh our puUllC DOOh-
keeping, and to secure adequate pub
licity for taxation, appropriations and
expenditures, law should be passed
by the next legislature creating de-
partment of audits and statistics, the
head of which to be appointive. Apart
from this department being a clear
ing house for all information on mat
tiers of territorial and county finance.
its functions should include:
~ Conducting periodical audits
of the territorial and county books,
banks other than national, and GER
tifying to the correctness of the
same.
(2J Preparing, at regular inter.
walls, systematic and comparative re-
ports Of the financial activities of
both the territory and the counties.
(3) RemodelIing the present &C
counting system, looking to the in
PRODUCTION Of business methods about
much needed economies: and
~ Formulating methods for
making periodical budgets, which will
how clearly for what DurDOSpS