The Hawaiian gazette., 1890-09-23
The Report of the Finance Committee.
s Statement by L. A. ThurstOn.

correspondents.
The Report of the Finance Committee.
Statement by L. A. ThurstOn.
Mr.. EDITOR: I do not wish to I'M
necessarily take up the time Of the
public IN the statement Of matters
which are personal to myself: but
as the report Of the Finance Com
mittee Of the Legislature consists
largely of charges against myself
in my late official capacity as Min
lister Of the Interior, | deem 1t
due not only to myself but my re-
cent party associates to make some
reply thereto, although a number
Of the charges are SO trivial as to
require no reply. l was absent
from town when the report was
presented to the House. Upon OBJ
tanning a copy Of it, l saw, upon a
casual examination, that there were
a large number of instances Of mis-
statements, suppression OF facts,
and erroneous differences based
thereon. to such a degree as to
render the whole report unreliable
In the last degree.
Before proceeding further l will
here state that although l was in
Office from the time the Finance
Committee was appointed until
the middle of June, and
was thereafter in town until
the 18th Of July, the commit
tee. although repeatedly in the In
terror Office while / was present,
did not on any occasion ask OF me
any explanation OF information con-
corning any matter upon which
they have reported, or in any way
intimate that they proposedto make
any charges against me, or give me
any opportunity to defend myself,
although they knew when the re-
port was fled that 1 would not be
On the floor Of the House TO answer
the charges.
Under these circumstances l pc
titioned the House TO be allowed to
reply to the report.
The unparalleled impudence Of
this request at first so filed the
breasts of the committee with
righteous indignation that they
Immediately wanted the petition
clicked out" Of the House. When
they found that the House was not
in humor so to do, they stated
that they were ready. anxious and
willing to have 4 reply; that they
were not afraid of anything that
gould be said, and triumphantly as
serted that every statement they
had made was based on the records
and vouchers in the Interior Office.
When the question was put, how
ever. their original indignation
oyercame them, and all the mem
bers Of the committee voted TO shut
me off from a hearing, and they
failed in so doing only by the cast
ing vote of the President.
The matters dealt with III the
Finance Report are based on rec
ords. vouchers and correspondence
on file in the Interior Department,
which it is absolutely necessary
that 1 should see in order to make
on intelligent reply, although l
have 4 general knowledge of most
of the facts. I accordingly went
to the Interior Office to see the
records. Mr.. Spencer was in the
Legislature, and L applied to the
Chief Clerk, stating what my
errand was, and asked him if he
wanted me to speak to the Min
lister first. He said certainly not;
that the records were public ones
which | was welcome to see. |
accordingly proceeded to look up
the data from which to reply to
the first charge of the committee
concerning the Lot for the Homo
lulu Fire Department Central Sta
ton" | had not finished this when
Mr.. Spencer, the Minister of the In
terror, came in and told me that he
could not allow me to examine any
of the records in his Office for the
purpose of replying to the Finance
Committee; upon my requesting 9
reason for such an extraordinary
proposition, he said that the Legis'
lature had so instructed him.
pointed out to him that the Legs
lature had done nothing of the
kind. and that if they had, they
were usurping his functions and do
ing what they had no legal RICH
to do, as he was Minister of thu
Interior and the law placed the In
terror Department and its records
in his control and custody, and no
in the hands of the Legislature. b,
still insisted in refusing to ALLOW
me to see any more records, bu
said that he would consult Will
Others on the subject and let m,
know whether he would change hi
mind or not. 1 have heard nothing