The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-06-06
THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.
Twelfth Day.

u
House met at 10A.x. Prayer by the
chaplain. Minutes read and approved.
Noble Mccarthy said he had noticed
that the PACIFIC COMMERCIAL ApvER-
rrRER stated every morning that the
minutes had been read, corrected and
approved. The speaker had taken the
trouble 10 look into the matter and
found that on certain days no corrections
to minutes had been made. The speaker
considered it an abuse of the privilege of
which had been accorded TO sit and re-
port the proceedings to use the opportu-
nifty to falsify the proceedings of the
House.
President Walker said that Is the
minutes had been approved, the remarks
Of the honorable noble were out OF order.
After petition had been presented by
Rep. Kamai, the President called for
Standing Committees.
Rep. MARQUES for Committee of
Foreign Affairs wishes to make q special
report.
President Walker inquiries if the re-
port has been translated.
Rep. Marquss-No. The reports have
generally been translated afterwards.
No objection being made, the report
was read in English as follows:
To the Honorable President and Mem
bers of the Hawaiian Legislature -
Pursuant to two motions made by
Hon. Rep. Brown and Hon. Noble Mac
farlane, Your Honorable Body, in the
Session of 1890 instant: Resolved, LIST,
that the reply made by His Excellency
the Minister Of Foreign Affairs on the
matter of the negotiations for the renewal
of our present Treaty with the United
States Of America, should be referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations
and 2d-"that the committee be in
structed to inquire Immediately and re-
port to the House whether the Treaty
proposed by the Cabinet, or any officer
of the Hawaiian Government was, or is,
intended or calculated to, in any wise,
prejudice or jeopardize the political OF
commercial independence Of Hawaii"
your committee now beg to report that,
in view on answering the above query,
we made an exhaustive study of all
the facts connected with the said nego-
tiations of the proposed Treaty with the
United States, and, in view of ascertain
ing the nature and intent of those nego-
tiations and their bearing on the poll
teal situation of our country, we have
endeavored to elucidate the whole his
tory of those proceedings.
To that effect, having found that the
documents submitted by His Excellency
the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the
House were absolutely insufficient, we
deemed it advisable to call on each
member of the Cabinet, and take their
full explanations on the matter.
We found them very courteously dis
posed to give us all the possible informa-
ton, and ready to answer our questions
with the exception of His Excellency
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was
willing to offer every help and explana-
ton as long as we did not ask him any
thing that he did not want the commit
tee to know, or that he did not want
to explain. In plain words, your COM
mittee regret to be .obliged to make
the following complaints against Minis
ter Austin:
l. Of not complying with the instruc-
tons of the House, given In that part of
Rep. Kalua' g resolution adopted in session
of May 9th last, wherein he was asked to
communicate all of the correspondence
on Treaty matters for the whole period
starting January /, 1889. The docu-
ments presented by him begin only on
the oath of September, 1889, and, for
motives which will be apparent here
after, he ignored all previous correspon.
dence and documents.
2. OF having distracted or caused to
be distracted one of the most important
official documents, viz: letter entered
as No. 38, from Minister Carter, dated
March l9, 1889, which contains, q
shown by the notes in the Foreign Office
information and valuable suggestion
from Mr.. Carter about the Treaty, and
also Of not having submitted to YOU
committee. his answer of April 5th te
that same letter which is equally
important. He did promise to give
us that letter No. 80 of Mr.. Carter, il
he could find it, but to the present time
he has failed to produce it, though i
appeared evident to your committee tha
the officials of the Foreign Office knew
where it could be found. This letter
might perhaps have enabled the com
mittee to fix the true responsibilities o
the Treaty and it's real purposes, ant
that is why it has been made to disap
pear. In like manner, the answer o
Minister Austin to the aforesaid lette
would have helped US in the discharg'
of our duty, as the documents of tn
Office show that this answer contains tn,
opinion of the Cabinet on the PROPOSE
tions made by Mr.. Carter, and thei
ideas as to the most promising method
of forwarding the policy there outlines
(sic.) The House will now be able
| Judge as to the probable reason to VIII
these two documents have been hiddel
| from US.
| 8. OF refusing to communicate to you
committee the minutes of all the mum
erous Cabinet meetings bearing on tn
| preliminary discussions of the Treat,
held between April and the end of Sep
TENDER, 1889 These minutes we're gen
orally written out in good shape by tn
Attorney General, and copied into boo
by the Minister of Foreign Affairs him
self and kept in his own custody. Thi
Withholding Of minutes which coul
throw the clearest light on the inten
| and real motives of the proposed Treat
and on the manner in which it va
viewed and accepted by the differer
Ministers would tend again to show ths
some compromising matters must b
kept in obscurity.
4. Having acknowledged that the mol
of the correspondence about the Treat
betweenshimself and Mr. Carter Was i
the shape not Of confidential letters 8
generally used in diplomatic circles, b,
of private personal letters, "a very sing,