Newspaper Page Text
THE MAUI NEWS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1915.
THE MAUI NEVUS
Entered at the l'ost Office at Wailuku, Maul, Hawaii, as Eecond-clasa matter.
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A Republican Taper Published in the Interest of the People
Issued livery Friday.
MAUI PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED,
Proprietors and Publisher
Sur.scRimoN Rates, $2.50 ter Year in Advance.
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WILL J. COOPER,
FRIDAY :
EDITOR AND MANAGER
TOP!
TEN!
DECEMBER 17, 1915.
LOOKS
THE HA NT CASH AXD OUR AUDITIXG SYSTEM.
There is something radically wrong with thv county's auditing
sy.sk m. The law pro ides for a county auducr and prescribes his
duties, hut these duties a.s outlined seem to deal almost entirely with the
issuing of county warrants, auditing the county treasurer's accounts,
and keeping the hooks of the county. The references regarding the
checking up of the hooks of the various count)- officials are vague.
County Auditor Wilcox admits that he had not audited the books of
Circuit Court Clerk Edmund II. Hart for three or four years, hut
declares that his other duties have prevented, and that the supervisors
in the past hac denied his request for more assistance in his office,
which would give him time to check up the accounis of county officials.
Some of the responsibility for the laxness in the system seems to
he up to tlie territory. The territory bank examiner is eniovered,
but not specifically required to examine the books and accounts of
every official in the county. This has never been done. In fact it has
only been in the past two years, since Territorial Treasurer McCarthy
has been in office, that the position of bank examiner has been filled
at all.
Of course it is plain that Edmund Hart could never have gotten
into the position he is in today, had there been regular and thorough
checking of his books at intervals of three or six months. It is also true
that all the other county officials and departments, save that of the
county treasurer and possibly the district magistrates, arc in the same
fix. Hart's defalcations would be still unsuspected had not Judge Edings
insisted on having an audit made. Nobody has demanded a like audit
of the other accounts of the county. They may be all right we sincere
ly hope they are but until they are audited, and kept checked up at
lrcqucnt intervals nobody can be sure. The present system is fair
neither to the officials nor to the public. Let us have light and then a
change of system.
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TAX VALUES AXD REAL VALUES.
Real estate in Hawaii, for purposes of taxation, is supposed to be
assessed at its actual value. The federal government has just offered
the owners of the "Irwin site" $15,000 above the assessed valuation
for this property for the purpose of erecting thereon a federal build
ing in Honolulu. It appears that the land in question is entered for
taxation at about $155,000. The owners demand $230,000.
In some parts of Australasia they have the science of taxation
worked out on a good deal different basis than wc have in America. In
some countries, when a man places a valuation on his property to the tax
assessor, the government has the option of purchasing it at 10 per
cent addition to this value. If the assessor decides that the property
is worth more than the owner claims, he may fix the value, and the
owner may force the government to take it off his hands at that price
if he so desires.
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ARMY OFFICERS AS OBJECT OF CHARITY.
The army officers who own automobiles, having lost their case in
territorial courts, through which they hoped to escape paying taxes on
their machines, as ordinary citizens do, are preparng to take the fight
into the United States court. It isn't a pleasant reflection that the men
who are paid good salaries from the common purse for the work they
do, are so anxious to get into the tax-dodger class. Nor is it clear
why this same class of citizens should demand and receive discounts
from merchants and business houses for purchases they make. If
Uncle Sam doesn't pay them enough to live on, their salaries should
be raised, but it is decidedly unbecoming that they should be forced
into the position of being even partially dependent on favors or charity
ot the community in which they happen to be living.
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A JOB WE MUST SEE THROUGH.
The auditing of the books of Circuit Court Clerk Edmund Hart
siiould be no half-way job. It is already evident that it is going to
be a complicated and difficult task to straighten out the tangle of
four years of negligence. l!ut it is a matter that the public now demands
be done thoroughly, and that it does not stop until it is finished. And it
will not be finished until not only the court accounts are untangled,
but also every office in the county, that handles public or private money,
be overhauled also and started off with a clean slate. The cost of
doing this as it should be done, should not be considered. The cost
of not doing it is the only thing that should be thought of right now.
Iet us know just where we stand.
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The success of such men as Ren Lindsay, of Denver, and of such
reform efforts as have established the George Jr. Republic, is the strong
est possible commentary on the recent disheartening failure of Hawaii's
efforts to handle its youthful delinquents. When boys of the slums of
our great cities can be fired with the spirit of useful citizenship, all
claims of the incorrigibility of Hawaii's bad boys becomes doubly
ludicrous. hat, others have done, we can do and we must do it
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For the past 30 years Hawaii has been just on the verge of reach
ing the limit of production of sugar; and still the real limit is probably
a good ways off. Last year's output was the highest in the Islands'
lmtory 040,446 tons. A million-ton crop does not now seem any more
improbable than this past year's crop would have seemed ten or fifteen
years ago. The price of last year's product is also most gratifying,
averaging $S9.80S per ton. J h
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The Maui supervisors have gone on record as opposed to setting
the precedent of equipping school grounds with play apparatus. The
Honolulu board isn't afraid of this kind of precedent, for it has just
placed an order for a large assortment of fancy and expensive ap
paratus to delight the kids and develop their muscle.
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The territory has indicted and is trying thirteen reform school boys
for "unlawful assembly." It is invoking the same old methods that
have been m use for the past thousand years or so. In some places
they think they have found a better way of handling bad boys than by
treating them as ordinary criminals.
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If the public sentiment has any force, the loan fund commissioners
will have strong backing in its practical protest against the delays of red
tapeism. In cutting the gordian knot, by simply ordering the work in
hand to proceed, the commissioners will have the support of the entire
community.
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Honolulu has decided to treat the soldiers of the local army posts
as "regular people." That's fine, but how do they propose treating
the officers? , . (
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Perhaps Judge Whitney could be persuaded to take the supcrinten
dency of the boys' reform school. It'-, a real man's job.
i eieDnone
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KAHULUI RAILROAD CO'S
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erchandise Department
When you need
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a Carload op a
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Telephone No. 1062
Kahului, Maui, T. B.
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