The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1886-06-08
HAWAIIAN LEGISLATURE
SESSION OF 1885.


|, boilers To second reading.
Representative Ihurston now rose and stated
that in compliance with a resolution passed by
5 the Assembly. commanding him 10 apologize 10
{ the House Tor certain words used during the de-
bate on the liquor bill amendment on the 10Th ult
he was now ready 10 present his apology
The moor having been given TO him, Representa-
tive IhurstOn commenced by referring to the
/ chronology OF the matter saying that the words
| complained Of were used during debate which
had occurred on Tuesday the 18th Of May On the
following Friday resolution was introduced call
ing on MIN Tor an apology, on Saturday he had
asked Tor the specifications nothing specific being
mentioned in the resolution, that specification be
had received last night and he today offered his
apology.
The specification presented 70 him by the Attor-
ney-General, the introducer OF the resolution of
ceusure, was to the effect that the apology was de-
manded for the speaker suggesting that the words
and Ministers of the Crown be added as an
amendment 70 section of the liquor bill then IN
der debate, that the portion OF the said section
would then read relating TO the particular persons
TO be debarred from the privilege Of obtaining Ii
quOrl as follows 3" Il shall not be lawful for any
retailer of spirituous liquors to sell the same to
minors or women, or 70 any person Or persons who
| Of the CFOirn.
The speaker continuing said Before com
plying with the resolution Of this Assembly, /
wish 10 state that which every member of this
House who knows anything about Parliamentary
Law, already knows, there Is rule in Parliament
| tary law requiring 10 comply with the resolu-
ton. BY thai law no member can be compelled
TO apologize for anything which does not appear
upon the minutes o! the House. and there Is not
one ic0rd dorm The record Of fs House concern.
ing the words used by me which arc complained
of. This point was made in my favor yesterday
and / declined to take advantage of 1t. Last
Saturday, after / asked for a specification Of my
ofense, a prominent government official met me
and said, " Mr.. IhurstOu Won haven I the courage
/ of your opinions. You know well enough what
| you are charged with and you arc trying TO eyade
it." / am glad, Mr.. President, TO have the oppor-
tunity TO show whether have the courage of my
opinions not.
| +" BY a vote Of a majority Of this Assembly it
has been decreed that have On the floor of this
House abused my privileges and grossly insulted
| the Minister of Finance and the other Cabinet
Ministers, and that It Is the sense Of this House
that an apology is due from me. This action and
this expression Of opinion has become fixed as an
indelible part Of the record Of this Session and
! cannot be blotied out.
| "In consideration Of the gravity OF the 0ifense
charged claim the right 20 make a statement of
! the circumstance under which this alleged insult
took place. and under which this vote was passed
a right which hitherto has been denied me. l
claim this right for the purpose Of defending my
| self, and among honorable men Il would seem
| that this should be enough; but this House has
| shown me scaut courtesy IN this matter, and has
ignored and denied the sacred right OF self de-
| Tense It may be necessary for me 10 show yet
other reasons for being allow ca to defend myself
in thus House, and, ii other reason is needed, 1
claim the night TO defend the name Of an honored
| President of this Assembly. Thirty odd years ago
|
officer. and as my fathers claim the right TO
defend his honorable uamc the sole inheritance
| which he bequeathed me. The charge made
against Is personal one. land from It's personal
character shall be Obliged 10 speak IN person
al manner of the Ministers. the Assembly and my
self.
"The vote of censure, ii such It may be called,
which was passed by this Assembly, was presented
/ by His E1cellency John II. Kapena Minister of
4 Finance, who Immediately began making remarks
to the effect that had been making lying state
d. 10 ff.s1s4 IL f.
ing supplementary language, and ruling called !
for. Immediately after the ruling of the chair, the
member for Hilo, Mr.. l. kaulukou, rose and with
! his characteristic gcutlemguliuess and sense of
fairness moved that The resolution be adopted and
| the pJeriOHs question Be put If the member from
Hio a stiff, cold corpse, and question should
come up within sound of him involving the per
! sona character OF a man. and that man had had
no opportunity 10 speak in sclf-defeace, 1 should
| expect that the Hon. j. i. kaulukOu's blackened
and shriyelled lips would form themselves into a
motion for the previous question: and his bOny |
skeleton hand TO be raised to vote IN favor Of his
own motion. For the sake of the reputation of my |
native country and the Hawaiian race, am glad |
/ that the mover Of this motion was no. native |
Hawaiian, bnt the son OF an alien. lScnsatiOn.) |
Against my protest that under the circumstances
the previous question unfair and indecent, il
was put and carried, and the only member of the |
government party who had manliness enough TO |
vote against IL was the AttOrney-Geueral. thank
/ him for If, both on my own account and also as |
indicating that there is at least one spark Of fair
ness left IN the Cabinet and that it Is not the uni
yersl intention of that side of the House to carry
everything by the sheer brute force OF numbers. |
/ Thus was denied the right which by every civil
lied nation IS accorded to even lis yes criminals,
| the right which the Constitution guarantees to |
every citizen and every resident Of this land-the
! right TO speak IN self defence. ] was condemned
unheard without the opportunity to defend, to
explain, to ask question, without even a copy of
] the indictment against me, and on charge with
! out n specification Of any kind. / speak of this
thus strongly, not merely because ! am personally
lnfa rfoh hN hHH ] "a
the principle of fairness, of equity and of Justice,
without which no nation is safe and no Govern
ment is sound. Ii Is commonly supposed that only
thugs and professional assassins strike in the
dark, giving the victim no opportunity Of self-de
fence.
acting on this same principle Of unfairuess the
editor of so-called independent Journal" with
out waiting TO hear my explanation Or defence
and following the example set him, rushed 10 the
rescue Of the wounded dignity of the Minister of
Finance and the other Cabinet Ministers, and IN a
half column editorial denounced me having
gone out of my way to insult His Majesty's Min
listers and the House, restless under the itch for
notoriety,' / would not advert to this fact were
it not that coming in the connection which it did
and the Minister of Finance in his remarks intro
ductory TO his resolution upon statements made in
the DAILY Press, the statements made IN that paper
stand part of the charge against me- and / have
the right to defend myself against them.
Il am friend of independent journalism, and
admire 1t, whether 1t agrees with my opinion or
not; a truly independent Journal Is the guardian
of private character well as public liberty but
when the editor of an independent journal forgets
the duties ofhis high trust and turns his paper into
au engine for expressing his private dIslikes, he
degrades the profession of journalism.
81 know that the motives which actuated the
editor of the Press in this matter were purely per
sOnal ones, arising from no desire for the public
good but out of his Imagination that was annoy
mously writing against MIN. And this Is how
know 1t few days since a gentleman said 10
him in this effect, " What are you getting after
Thurston 50 for p The reply was, IN effect, q" he
has been writing some editorial against in the
bulletin and is writing the column IN the GA
zETTE signed ZIP. - That there may be no
for doubt in the matter, will give the name
of the genteman-iti is c. W. Ashford and can
give other names if they are needed. / should not
consider it any dishonor 10 be a contributor to
either of those papers. but under the ciTCum-
stances | think 1t is proper to say that since re
signing the editorial management of the Bulletin
a year ago last September, have not written a
line, other than advertisements, which has ap-
pear In print III the Bulletin and that since the
beginning of the last election campaign have
written nothing which has appeared IN the Ga
zETTE ercepf over my own signature IN full and
sign my name Lorrin A. Thurston. not ZP."
Representative Kaulukou liuterrupting) -
think the member is out of order Mr.. President,
he is going away from his subject, editors and
newspapers are not the subjects now before the
House.
Representative Thurslon objected to being thus
interrupted, ho considered he had perfect right
TO revert to the paper IN question as his letter IN
that paper on the subject had been the basis of
complaint By the Minister of Finance He had
not had an opportunity to explain before and
while making his apology he claimed the right
now.
Representative haulukou remained standing so
Representative Thurston asked the President to
rule whether or not the member for Hio was in
order.
The President said that the member from Hilo
was out of order and desired him take his seat.
Representative Kaulukou did not obey but In
stead made some rambling remarks addressed to ,
those nearest him, which caused such disorder
that the President raped two Or three times with
the gavel .
Representative Kaulukou still remained standing
Representative Thurston again, III an emphatic
manner appealed to the chair and President
Walker, rising directly ordered the member from
Hilo to take his seat, which order vas complied
with soInewhat reluctantly, and Representative
Thurston continued. saying:
Now, as to the alleged insult. The words which
the specification furnished nc charges against NE
are as follows; BY moving to add 10 Section l6A,
of an act entitled IN Act Amending Section 16,
16A.. etc, relating to the regulation OF the sale of
spirituous liquors. the DIS or to the Ministers
of the Crown" that Section l6A shall read, " 1t
shall not be lawful for any retailers Of spirituous
liquors 10 sell the to minors or women, or to
any person or persons who may be habituslly in
temperate or to the Ministers OF the Crown
% Incidentally it may be mentioned that il Is 4