The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-01-22
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Abbertiser.
Y, %.

SATURDA Y, JANUARY D.
We ARE glad to be able to state, that all &C
counts from Washington are of the most promis-
ing nature as regards the prospects of the Ha-
waiian Treaty. No opposition has been intima-
ted, SO far, to the speedy passage of the neces-
sary legislature for carrying it into operation
and on the 9th instant, the day after Congress
had reassembled from the holidays, Mr.. Luttrell,
a leading Democrat from California, laid before
the Committee of Ways and Means an act to that
effect. Among the members Of this ommitt
arc Messrs. Blaine, Garfield, Burchard and Kel-
ley, known to be firm friends of the Treaty. 1t
only remains for us to await with patience the
action Of the House.
THERE HAS been uttered from time to time a
great deal of complaint against the way in which
justice has been administered in the country dis
tricts Of the Islands by local magistrates and
these complaints in a great many instances have
been too well founded to be passed over without
consideration by those who exercise the appoint
ing power over the subordinates whose actions
are brought into question. We are well satisfied
that in some (~perhaps many of the outer dis
tricts, there is more or less " Office jobbing" by
those to whom is delegated the magisterial power;
and the duty of the constabulary is perhaps
equally derelict.
Perhaps it may be ~fruitless to forever r~eiterate
the necessity of appointing only to such Offices
men Of known independence and rectitude in their
dealings with their fellowmen, and who possess
in addition to these prerequisites, sound judgment
and moderate erudition it is however but right
and competent for us to use what influence the
Press is supposed to have among intelligent peo-
pie to this desired end. 1t may be too true that
in these cases the amount of salary bears a direct
relation to the amount of justice to be expected.
1t is generally held as a maxim, that the salaries
of those who dispense justice should be sufficient
to place them beyond the Immediate temptations
of influence or bribery. With our district judges,
however, the pay in many instances is barely
sufficient to exc out an existence for themselves,
or themselves and families, as the case may be
and perhaps we have no right to expect of them
any very great independence of thought or action,
considering the conditions in which they are
placed. The salary can tempt no man of merit
to quit q respectable occupation to become a local
judge, and the honor is too trifing to warrant
much selfsacrifce from the individual aspiring to
it, and therefore not always sought by the best
portion of the community.
But while these objections are valid, there still
remains q channel through which some good in
this direction may be effected, and this is none
other than the authority by which the appoint
ments are made and certainly, considering these
objections, there is all the more reason why their
efforts to this end should be the more strenuous
and unremitting. Perfection of course is not ex-
pected but at least the height of imperfection
can be avoided.
Men noted for their own infraction of the laws
they are appointed to guard, should be dismissed
the offices they hold, and not their counterparts
appointed to fill the vacancies. Men known to
favor any particular interest should be likewise
avoided and especially those who are appointed
because somebody wishes to give somebody else
an ofiec-perhaps a retainer, or the like. 1t
would be well in this relation, if little more in
Yestigation were made by their superiors into the
acts of magistrates and sherifS, and this in pro-
portion to their distance from the seat of Govern
ment. Such scrutiny would deyelope q better
knowledge as to the truth of that of which the
country people complain-that the under magis-
trates and sheriffs are too often hoodwinked by
the influence of others, and that the friends whose
counsel they heed, are not always the largest
landed proprietOrs, but various of the scurf and
scum of society down to that accessory to braWl-
ing and murder, the illicit distiller and seller of
spirits. The laws are sufficient, but its guardians
ct always to be trusted, and nothing can be
Io<tS2ralizing than such a state of affairs.
The right of appeal to the higher courts is of
course open to all-the rich and the poor, the
educated and the ignorant; but the praeticability
of using it is not always the same. Wealth and
influence often weigh heavily against the poor
in these cases, and the result can only be a
smothered feeling of wrong, ready to express
itself, as occasion offers, in overt acts-perhaps
of q violent nature. 1t will perhaps be regarded
as a token of unnecessary nervousness to hint at
the possible extension of lawlessness among those
who deem themselves injured by the partiality of
Judges and sherifs towards those in better cir
cumstances than themselves; but the wise should
take warning that the time has come when every
effort should be made to purify the fountains OF
Justice, so that there shall be no place left for the
dissolute, the unprincipled, and the drunken.
If increase of salary is the only way by which
these indications can be fulfilled, let the increase
be made but we are confident that much in this
direction might still be done by the proper exer-
else of their sense of right by those who control
the appointments referred TO.