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Image provided by: University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Newspaper Page Text
ME Altv in POLYNESIAN Oil Salt : ' MJMJJHBWWWBMB JtU-B-LTSlIKl) WEEKLY, AT HONOLULU, OAHU, SANDWICH ISLANDS. "UN j. JARVES, Editor. SATURDAY, MARCH (, 1841. vol. i. xo. . i I f I Wild ' 11 ho ill V Tranliitt'd from tlio Hawaiian. im of W ?'?atoa((au Xslantis. 111 ct presrrihing the manner in which the Laws snail oe promuigaieu. . . . . i i , .1 T!if snhject ion oi mo people to. the i. ... r.iiii.M) nrrri; 1. -.1111 i a i e 1 1 1 . ( illt'l II'MII nliiiyi ujin uimiii u, ctiiij- ,e wrW understood ; so also arc some ot I - rill. I ! 1 jincii'iii laws. i Mai suo ecuon aim 111'-. I...... tut rwttt f 1 i wrtt ti Miirwl ic i natter of course, out there are many new i at i lie present tune, and it is well that io people should all become acquainted f it!i those laws. It can be done in no ihi rwav so well as in writing, wherefore "I tlw. ....wi,,.,..in..'t C.vllntir- J! ( O'.llll II 'I IIIU pllUIIIUIUIIL IIIU lUUUtt- Ij.mcN were passed. I. Hereafter no law of the kingdom Ji;i!l take effect without having been first tinted and inculcated at large. . Copies of the law shall be given to J tin. following persons : To all the Chiefs belonging to the Le isure. To each person of the Representative hIv: To all the Judges. To all tax officers. To all poliee olficers. 1ml should a Hawaiian Newspaper be rintt d, they shall be published in that, id Consuls of foreign countries shall be irnished with ten copies. :j. Should the purport of any law be dtful, or should the judges hesitate for ant of clearness in the law, they may leu ask explanation of the Supreme kL'cs, who will make known the true .n'iiniiii:. Should anv two laws be at variance with id i other in their meaning, then the one . i .i. i 1 1 i i eming the latest uatc snail ue consiucreu ' the true existing law. This act having been passed by the 'ivcrnnient, we have subscribed our lines this second -day of November in t' t arof our Lord 1810, at Lahaina, 'k!mii. (Signed) Kamkuamkha III. Kakvuiaohi. CStaptcr II. Of the Representative Rody. In accordance with.'the requirements of ''if Constitution, ccrtam persons shall be 'i'ii to sit in council with the chiefs, "r the present they shall be chosen in w following form, but at some future pe- "I tlio number will perhaps be incrcas-I- ''it at this time it shall be done as II!kvs : ; I. Two shall be chosen from Hawaii, puo iVoni Muni and the adjacent islands, Iroin Oahu, and one Irom Kauai. ! The choice shall be made as fol- Invs: whoever pleases on Hawaii may iite to the King mentioning the names d any two persons of wisdom whom they ti!uno to sit in council with the chiefs. fliu-y may write in the following form. STo Hi.; ...... .1.- l.'i.w. The object of our writing this letter r i' intorin your Majesty ot certain per- "ls "a the Island ol Hawaii, whom we piN.h r men of wisdom and prudence. I J'iie name of the first is I name of the second is It is our desire that these two persons r'""hl it in council with the chiefs the I'-Ocnt year. Ry us, The above letter when written may be circulated among the people, and all who are pleased with the candidates mention ed may subscribe their names. And even should there be many such letters written it will be well, for the persons having the majority of names in the letters will be the representatives from Hawaii. In these ballot letters there mav be a great number of signatures to the same letter. The names of all who vote will be counted, and the persons having the majority of votes will be the ones, chosen. The elections shall be conducted in the same manner also en Maui, Oahu and Kauai. II. Should any man forge another's name to a letter written as above, or should any one write his name twice, or should one write the name of another with out his approbation he shall be fined ten dollars for every name thus criminally written. A. As soon as his Majesty ascertains who are the persons elected, the Premier will then write and notify them of the day and place of meeting of the Legislature, that they may be in readiness. 5. All the expenses of the Representa tives in going to the meeting shall be paid by the government, and also all expenses while in attendance and on their return from the meeting. This act having been passed by the chiefs, we have subscribed our names this second day of November in the year of our Lord 1810, at Lahaina, Maui. (Signed) Kamkuamkha HI. Kkkauluoiii. pay his taxes, and if he do not obtain ar row root, nor cotton, nor sugar nor nets, until the specified months of payment have passed, viz. December, January and February, and if the last days of Febru ary shall have passed, then every man Au deficient shall be fined the value of two dollars. And the same rate of in crease shall be observed in relation to those whose taxes are less than those of a man. The fine shall be paid in some property that can be sold for the value? of two dol lars, but not in property subject to imme diate decay or death. 'J. Land Tax. The following is the rate of taxation for 1 . 'if i plantations, and lor latins included in Furthenno e. the governors of the sev eral Islands s all notify his majesty of all the lands which are annually forfeited, and he shall give them out again at his disciction, or lease them, or put them into the hands of those who have no land, at his discretion. i3. Respecting the Labor Tax. Hereafter a tax in labor shall not be re quired on every week in the month. On two weeks, labor shall be performed for the King and landlords, and two weeks the people shall have wholly to them selves. The first week in the month the people shall work two days for the King and one for their particular landlords; the second they shall work one day for the weeiv plantations. There shall be no state, ; King, and two for their particular land count V or district tax, but merely the fol-! ,ol'lls ml the next two weeks the people Chapter III. An Act to regulate Taxation. There is much in this law which does not relate directly to assessment and tax ation. A portion of it is merely explan atory a portion applies directly to taxes a portion applies to labor a portion applies to the former prohibitory system a portion is simply instruction, and a por tion is direct law. That part which simply disapproves of certain evils is instruction merely. If a penalty is affixed, that is absolute law. Respecting the Poll Tax. There shall be two forms of taxation in the Hawaiian Kingdom ; the one a Poll Tax to be paid in money, the other a land tax to be paid in swine. These shall be the standards of taxation, though in ease of failure in these articles, other property will be received. The amount of taxa tion shall be as follows, For a Man, One Dollar. For a Woman, Haifa Dollar. For a Roy, one Fourth of a Dollar. For a (Ju l, one Eighth of a Dollar. This is the ratio of taxation for adults and for children above fourteen years of age. Rut feeble old men and women shall not be taxed at all. In the back parts of the Islands where money is difficult to be obtained, arrow root will be a suitable substitute! Thirty three pounds of good arrow root will be taken for a dollar. Cotton, also, will be another suitable article. Sixteen pounds will be accounted equal to a dollar. Su gar is another suitable article, also fishing nets. If any individual do not obtain the money at the time when every man is to lowing : A large farm a hog a fathom loii":. A smaller farm a hog :.1-1 of a fathom long. A very small farm a hog a yard long. If not a fathom hog ten dollars in money. If not a 3-1 fathom hog seven dollars and a half in money. If not a yard hog five dollars in mo ney. If neither a fathom hog nor ten dollars, then two yard hogs, or if failing in these, then four cubit hogs, or if not these, then some other property of equal value with a fathom hog. Or if none of these, then inquiry shall be made, both of the land lords and the tenants, and he whose is the fault shall be dispossessed of his right in the land. Or if the fault is common to the landlord and tenant, then they shall have three months to put the land in good order, at which time they shall all leave it, for in that ease the land is truly valua ble, but the landlord and tenant neglect to pay the taxes. This is doing a real dam age it is downright laziness, wherefore in the same manner as these jwrsons are fined and then dispossessed, so also shall those be fined and dispossessed who hold small farms included in larger ones. Rut those plantations which have no farms in them under the direct taxation of particular chiefs, and have; never had during the remembrance of any of the shall have entirely to themselves. lint ij there is important public work to be done which is for the benefit of the people at large, then there shall be twelve working days in a mvnth. Tht people shall work three days on each of those weeks which belong esjiecially to thcmsclccs, and when the work is finished or ended then that rate of labor shall cease. Jiut as regards that kind of labor which is merely for the private in terests of the chiefs, or owners of counties, towns, district's, plantations and farms, wct, even including the King, shall receive the benefit only of his own particular days of the week. The people shall work only on Fridays or Thursdays for the landlords, and the landlords shall be exact to retpiire their portion only of the days. And so also the tax officers shall be particular to appropriate only the king's days to his labor. If the landlords or in ferior chiefs see proper to appropriate their days labor to the benefit of the kinir in the performance of any particular la bor, then the king shall return as many days labor as he has received from the landlords. And in the same way there may be an exchange of days with the common peo ple. If the king is in particular need of la bor, or if the landlords should be, it will not then be proper for the people to re fuse to exchange days. They shall ex change, and on the above conditions. 1'houtrh any man may refuse to exclrantro people now alive, they shall he taxed as; when it shall be of special disadvantage to ioiiows in tins new assessment. A large plantation two fathom hogs. A smaller plantation one fathom rj. A very small plantation a Jl-1 fathom hog. The above shall be the rate of taxation and conditions of dispossession of farms. It is furthermore added, for the purpose of clearness and equality in taxation, that if the tax officer and the owner of hogs cannot arree as to the size of the ho". 73 liimscjf. The same privilege of exchantre shall also be granted to the people. Whenev er they aro in stnightened circumstances, and shall wish to be absent from the Tues day and Friday labor, they may exchange with the tax officer or landlord, and it shall not be proper for them to refuse, though if any man should be guilty of downright falsehood, and should in real ity be in no strait, that shall be considered . .i i i ... tnen tne tax hog shall he weighed, and a the same as absenting himself from a day's r.i i ,.i...ii i i i i I.. J kuimmii uo;g Mi.iu oo considered as weigh- Manor. ing '.Ml pounds a U-l fathom hog y."0 pounds, and a yard hog 107 pounds. In the system of assessment this shall be con sidered as the regular weight of all tax hogs. If the weight of the hog hall exceed that which is prescribed for the fathom fathom, or yard hog, then the tax of ficer shall pay for the excess above the proper weight, and so also if the weight of the hog fall short of what is prescribed in the law, the laud agent shall pay the deficiency. Those landlords ami chiefs who are guilty of appropriating to their own use the labor of the people on those days which do not belong to them, and do not return an equal nujnber of days to the people sImII be fined thus : the tenants shnll be freed for six months from work ing for their landlord who has thus treated them. The following also is the fine of those people who do not go to the public labor of the King and luudloids, a half a dollar for each man. If a man arrive on the I V i 1 ?! ir II