Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-03-30
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
OF HONOLULU &,
FINANCE AND TAXATION


made Tegard,Rg any OF the. territorial
Tor county road construction. showing
whether the. monies were received
from general funds or from loan funds,
and without reliable data II has been
found in many Instances impossible
to arrive at even first costs on which
to base depreciation allowances. fSee
/, report, dated February !, 1851
A request was made of the Joint
committee by the governor that We
furnish him with the figures showing
the cash values. as. of December 81,
1914. of the territorial and county per-
manent improvements which had been
made exclusively from loan fund ex-
penditures and which amounted to
S6.25a.077.1a. With the exception OF
! the inventory, as of December 81,
1914, prepared by the superintendent
i of public wsrks. for the harbor COM
mission, Of the wharves and landings
! in the Territory, including dredging
operations and depreciation allow
ances, aggregating 1927, S6S.71, there
were no other data on file from which
the facts required could be obtained
land the governor was so informed.
Our present government accounting
system provides merely for fund &C
counts. which show the amounts ap-
propriated. disbursements and bal.
ances unexpended-in other words,
simply record of receipts and ,ex-
penditures. There are no property sac.
counts kept. and it is, therefore, i'm
possible to prepare balance sheet,
showing at any time the government
assets ana liabilities and surplus O,
deficit, as the case may be. If the
Territory or the counties are to be
placed in such a position that they can
obtain the status of their accounts rep
resenting OUTLAWS for permanent prop.
critics and improvements, and show
also what they owe en- account of
these OUTLAWS. and the relation of the
bonded debt of the Territory to any
of these important financial condi-.
tons, no time should be lost In plac-.
ing an authentic value on all govern.
ment property. s.-. 1, =. - ", =. =.
In view of the present inadequate
methods of our government account.
ing, and the impossibility of obtaining
the necessary figures from the pres.
ent records, it Is, the conclusion of
the joint committee that property val
ues above referred to, can only be
had at this late date by the appoint
ment by the governorf,Gf IA commits
sion to appraise the. values of all as.f
sets of both the Territory and the
several counties and whose duty it
will be to uniformly classify the prop
critics. assemble the figures and take
the necessary steps to record these
facts In the government books. (See
report dated February g. 1915.)
Having arrived at d point where, leg.
islative action was absolutely neces-
sary. a bill was drafted providing for
the appointment by the governor Of
board Of appraisers, After consulta
ton with your committee on legisla-
ton it was recommended that the
scope Of, the duties Of the special COM
mission be widened in order that they
might make thorough inyestiga tio1,
and recommend q scientific and uni
form system of accounting, which
could be applied to territorial affairs
as well as to the several counties. ]
This bill is now before the present
legislature and we feel and are as
sured that it will receive favorable
action
We recommend that the work as
outlined by this committee be contin-
ued by members of the incoming
board of directors and we hope that
no lapse will be permitted In the eff.
forts to establish modern, scientific
and uniform system of accounting and
more practical and upto-date con-
troll of both the revenue and the ex-
penditures Of, the government.
Taxation. -
An Investigation of the methods of
assessing real and personal property
In the Territory of Hawaii was made.
The findings of the Joint committee
were that there is no standardization
of property values for taxation pur-.
poses. Instances are cited to show
the lack of uniformity between pres
ent valuations. tSee report dated
November 8, 1911 81. Sd
Further inquiry into this subject
has not been possible owing to our ,sat-
G6uIlCHs 4B6ltlSs MISUNDERSTANDING
to proposed changes in the accounting
system. We therefore have no recon-
mendations to make other than those
suggested in the report of November
3, 1914. ~: s -. .E
! A survey was made of the admins
tration and financial control of the
Territorial Board of Health. Recon-
mendations were offered which would
insure fartgreater efficiency Of admin
istraticn by centralizing certain health
matters in one branch of the govern
ment. lSee report dated December {,
1914 II
A supplementary report was submit
ted on the inspection of dairies in the
City and County of Honolulu and the
collection of milk licenses. Out of 90
dairies found to be in operation in Ho-
.nolulu the records In the. county treas.
urer's office showed that only % had
paid their licenses; and the weekly
reports of the milk inspector. required
fo be made by law. to the city and