The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1888-06-05
mae Custom House RrmornI..

Tue custom mouse hemOHNla.
Monday week our reporter stole 4
few moments of the Collector Generals
leisure. After receiving a very courteous
invitation to be seated he opened fire at
once.
Have you any objections, Mr.. Cleg-
horn, TO talking on the subject Of the
Custom House removalsP'
''Oh, not at all, was the prompt reply
| shall be very happy to give you any
information in my power" And then
the narrative began
cater the City of Peking arrived,
which was Nav l4th, we found among
the passports some which had our private
mark on the back | Immediately made
an examination and found that 1874 pass.
ports We're missing. of which we found
43 had arrived by the City OF Peking. /
went Immediately in person to the Min.
lister OF Finance, whom | found in con-
ference with his colleagues, and notified
them all at once. preferring that the
others should not hear it first from out
side sources. | afterwards sent the
Minister OF Finance an official notifca-
ton OF the same facts"
GA few days later | received this
letter from the Minister (Mr. Cleg-
horn very kindly rose and showed our
reporter the letter, and also the 43 re-
used passports), requesting me TO re-
organize the Custom House bureau, and
in particular to dismiss summarily the
five clerks specified. The letter was
written by the Minister, after a Cabinet
| consultation.
"Did you read that letter to the i've
clelks?"
Yes, to each individually. / also
received another unofficial eommunica-
tion from the Acknowledgement, in
tended to be read to all the EMPLOYEES
OF the Custom House | did read it
to them at all. 1t in substance informed
them that the Government was deter
mined to do everything in its power to
weed out corruption from the service,
and it informed them that anyone, ex-
cept the prime instigatOr, who should
feel disposed to make complete CON
| fession, would be protected from prose
cution"
'Was that document communicated
to the FIVE employees who were dis
charged"
at was"
"Why were these particular FIVE clerks
singled out for removal? Did they all
have access to the passports ?''
They all had access to the passports,
| although they were not the only ones,
Mr. Stillman and Mr. Chamberlain had
the same access, but had excellent
records, and l am entirely satisfied that
neither of them had anything to do with
the missing passports"
How were the vacancies filled2
The letter from the Minister Of FL
nance requested me to make nomina
tions for the vacancies, which / did. /
had a great many applications, and was
sorry not to be able to please every one
Of course"
Did any of the clerks down stairs use
to come up stairs as well as the Port
Surveyor and Dep. Port SurYeyor?"
q Well, Mr.. Miles used TO come up
stairs a good deal in tbs mornings as
well as the Port Surveyor and Deputy
Port Surveyor"
E" Mr.. Tewkesbury used to arrive al
\ ways within two minutes of nine O'Clock
and open up, and rarely came up stairs
except on business"
In response to some further questions
| Mr. Cleghorn said:
f" blamed the Port Surveyor whom ]
had particularly instructed to be careful
aDd inspect them very carefully He
should have turned the passports over
and looked at the backs.
! OF course we cannot be perfectly certain
that we have dismissed the right ones
We were very sorry that any of our
clerks should be mixed up in the affair
But you know how II is in business. II
your clerks have stolen, and you can
not say certainly which ones are guilty,
you generally discharge them all.
After listening to some further Obser-
vations Of Mr.. Cleghorn, made in a very
temperate and kindly vein, our reporter
thanked him for the exceedingly couT-
teous manner in which the desired infor-
nation had been impaired, and then
Withdrew.