Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-08-07

3 Even pOlltlclanS lett tnelr campaign
Iabors last evening to join with other
business and professional men in at
tending the special Ad club dinner In
the dining room en- the sixth floor oil
the Young hotel building. which was
followed by a public discussion re.
garding the n9ed in Honolulu and the
territory Of public accounting in con.
fcrmity with the system Of account.
ing advocated by the United States
bureau Of census. The meeting was
presided over by President w. R. Far.
rington, the feature Of the meeting
being an address by II. Gooding Field,
late auditor Of the Hawaii county in
vestigation committee, on the subject.
Uniform Accounting Auditing and
Renorting in Our Public Offices"
The adoption of resolution and
the naming Of committee to carry
II out were the results Of the gather
ing. The resolution calls for the cut
lining of a scheme for the unifcation
CT the accounting systems Of the diff
ferent counties Of the territory and
the committee which will work with
the governor and the secretary of the
territory in outlining a plan of action
is composed of ]. Morton Riggs. H.
Gcoding Field, John Guild, John Effin-
ger and John T. Warren. ....
The resolution adopted reads:
Whereas, this club, having,
unanimously resolved that chang
es be made. without delay. in cur
present public accounting meth
eds, to conform with the uniform
classification Of public accounts
advocated by the United States
bureau Of census. together with
an Independent supervision over
the same; and
- Whereas. all the political par
ties in the territory have adopted
planks along similar progressive
lines; be il
Resolved. in order to facilitate
the installation Of such a financial
system in our territorial and coun-
ty offices, that committee of five
representative this club, be au-
thoriZed to call en- the governor
and offer the assistance Of the AID
club in making an examination of
the bookkeeping methods Of the
territorial Offices, to enable a re-
port of the same to be made and
presented to the legislature for
action" =. ... ".. ~.
The meeting was largely attended,
and the remarks of the several speak
ers were listened to with intense in
terest Besides Mr.. Field. those who
gave brief talks on topics in line with
the topic for discussion were Gov
ernor l.. E. Pinkham, z. /. Spaldlng
end Marston Campbell. Mr.. Spald.
ing's remarks dwelt upon the. financial
condition of the territory He said
that Hawaii must go slow in the mat
ter of accommodating debts. and then
pointed cut the after-results of iniu-
dicicus Indebtedness.
The governor, basing his remarks
largely upon, investigations made dur
ing recent tour of the islands. spoke
en- roads-their condition and the me-
cessity for better highways. In the
future. he pointed cut, he intends ma
king II a point to see that all home
steaders taking land from the gov
eminent help pay for such roads as
they NAV want to reach their land.
He dwelt briefly uDon his having sent
a man to Hilo to investigate the feas-
Utility of constructing new roads
there, and closed with the statement
that certain prominent citizens of the
territory had asked for his removal
from Office for the reason that they
could not agree with his retrenchment
policy.
Marston Campbell, former superin.
tendent Of public works. confined his
remarks to the need of lettering the
present financial condition of the ter.
ritory and putting stop to the vast
waste of funds which he pointed out
as now being in evidence.
In Part, the address delivered by H.
Gooding Field was as follows:
The old style of public accounting
which is still In use in these islands.
falls to give the financial facts con.
corning such management and stew.
ardship.f and is conducted with the
enc principal and primary obiect--that
of showing that the treasurer has not
public funds to his own
use. One of the first known effects
IT modern public accounting methods,
and comparative statistical reports.
was to prove, beyond any question OF
a doubt, that the losses In the man
agement of public business. resulting
from carelessness and incompetency,
have been vastly greater than those
arising from defalcation of trusted
The keeping of public accounts,
to be effective, must afford the means
of testing the efficiency of public
E