The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-02-19
The Election in X omn.

The Election in Komn.
HoNAuSAU, 5. KoNA, HAWAII, Feb. 7, 1870.
Mr.. EDITOR The election for South KOna has
just terminated. 1t was most shamefully conducted,
and was not an expression of the popular voice. L
am informed that the tax collector, Charles Frederic
Hart, had placed on the voters list only 1873 names
to these 26 more were added, making in all 164 voters
in South Kona, where there are near 400 c~onstitu-
tional voters. The meeting of the Board Of Inspect
ors to correct this list was held at Napoopoo, in the
extreme northwestern corner of the district, at least
so miles from the southern PORTION of the district.
Three written notices were posted up, one at Napoo-
poo, one at Honaunau and the other at Kauhako. at
least so miles from Kaulanamauna in the south part
of the district, where the voters had no notice.
The Board held its sessions from 10 A. NJ. to 2 p. NJ,
of the two days they were in session, and on the last
day more than 30 voters from the south part OF the
district were turned away who wished their names
placed on the lists because they had adjourned at
such an early hour. The collector did not appear on
the second day, but Simon Kaai appeared in his
place. Said Inspectors refused to place the names Of
more than so voters on the lists, after they had
received the circular of the Minister of the Interior
dated the Oath of January, in relation to the manda-
mus cases. The Inspectors placed the names OF non
residents of the district on the list of voters and
permitted said non-residents to vote. They had five
unnaturalized foreigners on the list OF voters. and
allowed the subjects of Queen Victoria to vote. One
of the Inspectors at the polls was an alien, unndtu-
rallied and DdS permitted 10 role. They allowed
the friends of Simon Kaai to vote, if they produced
their tax receipts, although their names were not on
the list, and refused the same to the friends of the
opposing candidate. They allowed the friends Of
Simon Kaai to vote, when the names were not on the
list and when they had no tax receipts, and denied
the same right to the friends of the opposing candidate.
Said collector, Charles Frederic Hart, had given
many tax receipts to persons, expressing on the face
thereof that they were entitled to vote, and wholly
omitted their names on said receipts, and the In
spectors would not allow such persons to vote.
One of the Inspectors, Kamauoha, a deputy Of
Simon Kaai's, went around to houses, and placed the
names of all persons on the list, who would vote for the
said Simon Kaai, and it is said that said Chas Frederic
Hart certified their names on the iiSi, but those who
would not vote for said ticket were not thus placed
on said lists.
Hoapili, one of the Inspectors opened and examined
all the tickets presented. None of Simon Kaai's
tickets specified the district for which he was running.
yet the Inspectors counted them all.
The whole affair was so shamefully conducted,
that W. c. Jones, at 81 O'Clock in the morning,
when he had a large majority of the votes that had
been placed in the ballot box, declared, that the
election was illegal, and that even if elected he
would advocate that it should be annulled ; that such
an election was a trampling upon the rights of the
people, illegal, wrong and fraudulent, and that he
would never take his seat, if elected by such g.
shameful mockery and that it was immaterial who
elected, the people should petition to annul it.
The cause of the success of Simon Kaai was false
hood. He, the said Simon Kaai, and his many
throughout the district, had Il number of
the .uaiLe Quarterly, wherein they pretended to
read an article in favor of annexation to the United
States in that periodical, and stated that his opponent
w. c. Jones (-Aeto), was the author of the article.
This was asserted and speeches made all over the
district in the absence of said opponent and when he
had no opportunity to contradict the base falsehood.
to that time the whole district was in his
but the base lies were believed, and he did not
arrive in the district till too late to remove the effects
of the foul SANDER. On the morning of the election,
he declared the accusation to be an infamous lie
that he never wrote a word for the Mule Quarterly
that he was not q subscriber for it, and never
read through a number of it, that he was wholly
ignorant of the article charged against him. That
he was in favor of the independence of the Hawaiian
I~slands-always had been-was opposed to its annex
alton to any country. He desired to see these islands
the great commercial centre of the Pacific, under
the Hawaiian flag, open to all nations, with the motto
of { free trade and sailors rights" He wished to
preserve the Hawaiian people and to see them an
independent and prosperous nation But 1t was too
late-the poisonous lies had done their work.
There was another element that operated against
the opposing candidate he sugar-patch interest.
All the laborers from Charles Frederic Harris small
snpar- match and all from Hughes little sugar-patch.
and all the wood-choppers from Cooper's woods in
the clinkers, were formed in a band TO march to the
polls, Cooper and Hughes hiring the drums and trum-
peters. With banners flying, drums beating, flies
playing. and with Hughes like a diamond edition of
Falstaff, and with other overseers at their head, they
were marched in a body to the polls and made to
vote in favor Of Simon Kaai, the coolie interest.
They were led like sheep to the shambles to commit
political suicide, and presented a painful illustra-
ton of the power of masters over bonded laborers.
Talk of freedom-the purity of elections-it is all
bosh, tchere the authority of the master is hedged
around with q penal code.
When they arrived at Honaunau they took DOS
session Of the building and the polls, and made n
most furious noise and beat their tom-toms, like the
horrible orgies of a Fiji cannibal feast.
Simon Kaai fourished o loaded whip and threat
ened to knock down any person that interfered with
ballots. His many emissaries rOared so vocifer-
ously that they drowned the voice of the opposing
seemed determined to accomplish
their ends by fraud or force.
Hughes said that he was influenced entirely by
the labor question-that he wanted laborersHthat
the Chinese must come.
The election will be contested. The people of the
district have a petition containing the above facts.
and many additional ones, and they already have
one hundred voters who have signed their names to
the petition to annul the election, many of whom
ire persons who voted for Simon Kaai. They have
iound out the base lies and frauds that have been
upon them. KoSA.