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

and the remaining $lSa. 900 to be al.
vtded among the other islands. The
revenue from real and personal prop
erty Cxalion is devoted to the run
Mag expenses OF the counties and
schools. whereas collections frum in
heritance and income taxes are
placed TO the credit of the operation
OF the territorial. departments.
Present Economtr~ Waste and Bond
Issue. - %.
The bonded debt OF the territory on
; October l, 1903. was 81 eco. 400.
whereas the territorial bonded indebt.
edneSS on June 50, 1918, amounted tn
S6.S44,o00. The interest charges paid
on bonded Indebtedness. from 1906 to
{ 1913, amounted TO. approximately.
Sl,400,000, We are. therefore, paying
about SlT5o00 per annum for the
use of borrowed money On the as
Sessed valuation Of real and personal
property in the territory for 1914. tho
limit of the aggregate bonded in
debtednesS, as fixed by the Organic
! Act at per cent OF such valuation,
would be, approximately. $ll 200, goo,
placing tue limit of the amount that
may hereafter be incurred ut $I,350,-
/ 600. The total acreage OF public land
t owned by the territory of Hawaii is
! l,63l.SlS, which, after deducting sos.
OSS acres for waste land and 542,692
acres for forest reserves. gives a re-
! maindeT OF 5Sl, 037 available saleable
acreage To the government or this
latter acreage, 590i4 were arabic
agricultural land and 521.9s3 pastoral
and forest lands, of which ,7S5
acres were suitable for homesteads.
g In the case of the Bishop Estate.
! for instance. with its unencumbered
! 9 per cent of territorial land acreage.
! its financial position. as regards hold
/ ings, 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 load. at present. of
/ over six and three quarter millions
{ of dollars.
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-
edness has been reached, it is an
| open question whether, at that time.
the proceeds from the sale of the re-
manning acreage will suffice to re-
| deem the bonds at maturity.
| Disproportionate Acreage of Govern
ment Ownership.
II 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.
In an address before the first an.
nual convention of our civic organi-
cations in September, 1912. strongly
advocated the establishment of de-
partment of audits and municipal
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 were turned over to me
for examination, without any SEM
blance 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 a state of financial chaos.
had first to make a survey of the
whole situation before | could even
attempt to reconcile any of the fig
ures recorded in the books
In order, therefore, to furnish an
absolute check on our public book
keeping, and to secure adequate pub
licity for taxation, appropriations and
expenditures, law should be passed
by the next legislature creating a 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
ters of territorial and county finance,
it's functions should include:
81 Conducting periodical audits
of the territorial and county books.
banks other than national, and GER
tifying to the correctness of the
same
(2) Preparing, at regular inter
walls, systematic and comparative re-
ports Of the financial activities of
both the territory and the counties.
90 RemodeIling the present ac-
counting SYSTEM looking to the in
PRODUCTION of business methods about
much needed economies; and