The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-12-19
correspondence.


Informed that the Gs-oic Is under the control of the
Minister Of the Interior, and the fact that the charac-
ter Of the report j. in perfect accordance with the
treatment l have invariably received from that oni-
cial whenever l have hal business with him. Indeed
the character and wording of the article 50 perfectly
coincidcs with my experience Of the manner, language
and characteristics Of the man, thatI should be ready
To believe it euanatei from his pen and brain, if l
could persuade myself that any man occupying his
official position, and in court each day during the
trial, could So far demean himself as to misreprcscnt
and misstate the facts and evidence rs is done in this
case. Conversant myself with the facts rs they trans
pired on the plantation, and the evidence rs adduced
in court, with the exception Of the second and the last
paragraphs, | cannot, upon a careful perusal, regard
the article otherwise than a tissue of misrepresenta-
tons and miSstatements, unwarrantable and highly
derogatory to the character for common honesty of
any one sufficiently acquainted with the evidence to
be warranted in reporting the case.
The first sentence says " The points at issue in
these cases are Us follows. which is false to begin
with. The points ut issue were simply that Zitsch had
habitually abScnted himself from work without APP
parent cause, other than an innate love of idleness,
going TO town and TO the other side of the island to
prevent which his employer adopted the method
which seemed the most feasible, viz stopping his
beet, salmon and taro when he remained on the plan
tation feigning sickness, and having him arrested
according TO law, when he absented himself from the
plantation; to both of which Zitsch not only objected.
but claimed, for the first time to my knowledge,
through the President of the Bureau of Immigration.
that he should have been paid in full for one hundred
and eleven days work, ~forty-four of which he had
spent lounging in his room, on the opposite side of
the island and in town; and as he had not been SO
paid, he demanded as his right that this contract
should be annulled.
OF the first part of the second paragraph, as to
what transpired at the Government House, | profess
to know nothing except from the Minister of the In
terror and hearsay, which in this case l take with ex-
tremc caution. Ii complaints, rs alleged by the Min
lister were made there, they have not been made to
me by the Japs, either before or since, and have most
signally failed of being substantiated, notwithstand-
ing the array of Ministerial influence in their behalf,
as it is i'll proof that n large portion of the work done
by Zitsch was in the cook-house, preparing his own
food and that of his comrades consequently if his
rice was not watered or sailed to his taste, it was
through his own fault and laziness.
There is one apparent truth in the latter part of
this paragraph which stands out in magnificent bold
ness, viz . They were told to go home, and the
Magistrate would listen to their complaint on Il GER
tain day, which had in the meantime been fired, and
a summons was issued to their employer to show
N@@@S way -@ eAaNH@~Nl GSbA ANN " A4ANAAIA
And this upon the mere ipsi DIRT of this v~agabond
and his comrades, without one word of confederation
or inquiry Of their employer. Had any one of the
gentlemen comprising the Board devoted an hour to
ride to the plantation and make inquiry for them
selves, the suit would never have been brought for
annulling their contracts.
The third paragraph proceeds to state " that the
employer had procured process TO be issued against
them for desertion - and further ON g Nor was it
the deserliOn contemplated by the summons and
sought to be made out by the employer in his COM
piaint." The term desertion has been used by no
one in this case except by this falsifer of facts. lie
was arrested for habitually absenting himself from
service, and charged with that otlense. The testi-
mony was that they went to the Government House
Thursday morning, November 18th. The article
says that leaving the Government House at 60 nearly
three o o'clock - they g Immediately proceeded home"
- Their employer thereupon received two OF the men,
but refused to receive Iitsch, and requested the of
fcer who held the process to keep him in the Lookup,
anu produce him before the Court next morning.
The proof i'll Court was that Il warrant was issued
on Thursday the 18th, but not served till Friday
the 18th Of November. Again this truth
chronicler OF Court proceedings says of Zitsch
. Inasmuch US lie had not worked on Monday and
Tuesday, claiming TO be i'll, it might be considered
that he refused work, and that the 6OICeL complaint
was n mere pretext.' &c.
Now, sir, not one word of testimony was offered in
court OF THIS man ; ever having Il DOWel complaint
in his life not one particle of evidence was vouch-
safed by this man or his ministerial counsel, to show
he or his ancestor had ever been sick one day.
Evidence came from respondent and one of Zitsch's
comrades that he said he had Il stomach ache; but no
one believed him for good reasons, and no one knows
than DIR. IIutchison, professor of Materia
NIedica, the difference between bowel complaint and
stomach ache.
Mark the expression, chad not worked on Monday
and Tuesday, claiming to be ll,"-when it is in proof
md not denied, that lac was idle on Monday, Tues
H. ,nl Alpa-la in he ,nnFn a1Ga.t on rl,,-
on II visit of complaint to the doctor, yet no
signs of sickness visible to his comrades, his en-
plOyer, or the cook who declared 1t as his conviction
hat he was - shamnIng sick"
Will any man claiming Il moderate share of COM
non sense be induced to believe that this man Zitsch,
ed upon n . comparatively small quantity of rice in n
comparatively large quantity Of WATER during the
our and 4 half months proceeding, or even the
our days previous, and sick with bowel complaint, :
n any other real malady, would not have carried
him evidence of illness which the skilled doctor
Who was 50 apparently anxious to mulct the en-
lloyer in the sum paid the Government for his con-
ract, would not have seen and been able to testify !
o while on the stand /
Again, this truthful reporter says, 9 the fact that !
le was sick, rs he complained, did not seem to be :
,OntrOverted to the labOrer ut the time, and was =;
therefore, TO be taken as conceded" To which L say, O..
10 concession was ever proved, or made, of his hav- q,
NJ been sick IL day since his arrival in the country. :
IN the contrary. it was believed and kaOuca that he ~,
fcigning sickness, and he was repeatedly told his !
salmon and sometimes kuiO was stopped in con- =
euuencc of this llziness. ,
Again GU impartial and candid reporter for the I
organ says: cit appeared upon the
rial that the japanese had received in cash a very q,
mall sum of money for the services during four ,
months AS it was understood, not more than 1915 l
the rest of his Cages being used up in deductions .
made for days when he did not work from sickness, :,
it being alleged that during the month of July, he -,
made but six and a half days, being i'll of cutaneous a,
disease when he left the ship How did it 50 ap- =
? and to whom hot from the evidence by q,
whom was it alleged that he made but six and a half 4
in July on account of illness from n cutancous c
disease certainly not one syllable Of testimony a
from him, his comrades, the Minister of Int II
the Minister of Finance, or the Attorney Gen
all of whom appeared in his behalf,-apparcntly :
solicitous that he and his comrades should have =
contracts rcscindc1. -
But / have not time, nor can | ask Of you space :