Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 259, 11 July 1893 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

A yi kstioN W hieh late!y h«s (reated coneiderable atlention aud di,=cussion in the comoaunity ie the questi ’ii ean a government eolleel tax*s without givingthe taxpaying citizvns representation in tfae govtrmuent? While we, of course fn!ly agree with the high ar.d truly Iiberal principlee laid down in the muxim “no taxntion without representation,” we believe that the men who hold, that the provisional government being s non-repreeen-tative governnjent. has no authority to eolleel taxes. are w rong in ihe premiees. We need not reilerate what we so <>ften have stated that we consider the afl’airs of the government in yM?rtectly safe hands with the executive eouneil for the short period dunng whieh they will ho!d the reins, and that it is the duty of every citizen to do all in his power to facilitate the carrying on of Ihe government and lo support the present administration aa long as it keeps wilhin the boundariee of decency, and does ont encroach too far on the civil righla and libertiea of the people. We realize ofcourse (aud so does the government) that a general refusal to j>ay the jiersonal taxes by tbe large majoritie8 of loyalists together with the Jaj).inese and Chinese on Maui and Hawaii would be di8astrouB, and carry with it the necessary eollupee of the governnient, but we shou!d deeply regret the injury to Ihe country and the damage lo its credit if such a step was adoj>ted. The point at whieh we look is this, that the taxee whieh the government now is eollectlng huve been provided for and decided on by the proper representatives of the peoj«le. and that the eollection of them was authorized and legalired by the Legislature of 1892. Whatever administration, whieh was in power al the time of the failing due of the taxes eo provided for, w«s n«turally authorized to eolleel them. The eame repre•entatives of the people a!so provided for the ex{«end:turvs of sucfa taxes, and made the «dtninisiralion whieh was to carry out the appropriation hill together with the Auditor treneral reapons;ble to the next Legiel«tive Asseojbly for the faithfal aud straight performance of the dnties devolving on them. If the present administration tquanders the money of the taxpayera illegaliy aud unlawfully, they will have to answer some day to the pe«)ple,which will hold them iesponsible, or by passing an indemi.itv ael endorse the unauthorlzed expenditures. We hold tbat the taxes now colIectab!e do not eome in as a violation of the pnnrple of tax?tioo without repreeentation as has been claimed, and we advise the payment of them whenever il ia convenient to ihe people. •t the same lime reminding oor friends that. although, tfae penonal tax«e are due and eolleelahle from

July lst. they are not enforcab!e b?f >re December loth. After September lst.the tax-col!ecU«r though is authoru d to add ten per cent. I t«» all taxea n*>t j>aid prev«ous to that date. • I Should the goveruoient in its erralic and lrequently inexplainable ; w;>y of viewing its own pow?rs g» to work and iew r.e«v tuX-s on the peoj>le, the -ituation woutd be eom- j pletely alter-d. aiid the taxp-«yers ! I wouid be perfectly j«• ifi»-d in re- ; ! fusing to obey the demand lor their I money nnd then see what the government was goiog to do aj>«>ut it, but smce Mr. Cecii Brown in the meeti: g the eouneilā the other day c.tll*-d the attention of his eoileagues to the fuct that they are a governmeut for a speciric purj>ose. and not a regular and estublisbed goverament, the councils raay have laken on their thinking eape and arrived at the eoneiueion that their powers are very limited, and soprevent tbemselves from taking a step whieh would piaee them in a false and dangerousposition. W hen by the way Mr,Brown doubts if the government’s title to auy property ig gcH)d, we would like to know how he eau defend the appropriatmg by the Minister of Kinauee of the Crown lands’ revenue. lf the government’s title to the “two chairs generally desiguated as thrones" is doubtful we thiuk that its title to the crowu lands, aud the revenue from ihem is a great deal more so. The crown lauds never did belong to the government, nor will they ever do so except the government should succeed in purchasing Ihnm l'rom the lawlul uwuers. That exhibition of rej«ublicanism or whatever we ean eall it whieh makes Mr. \V. 0. S:uith eall the thrones f»r “two chairs generally d«*signated es thrones” shows what an innale fool the man is. If after the last French revolution an)* member of Thiers’ cabinet had suggesttni the sale of “that pieee of jewe!ry generally designated as the crown” he woulō have been laughed out of the cabinet and out of France. That kind of republicanism belongs to the revolution o 1789. and has einee only heen a u«atter of amusement and ridicule. In this Jin de eieeU, people admit theexistenceof thrones andcrownsf and recognize the great polilieal principle8 connected with those terms. To deny the existence of the objects and the principie« alike ia only poaaihle for a kindergarten pMUieian of the stripe and caiibre of the most learned Attoruey-Gen-eral.