The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-09-20
THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.


Rep. Cummings presented the report
OF the Public Lands Committee on pc
tition for a new road at Kalihi, from
King street leading up the valley to land
OF Mrs. Beckley. recommending that it /
be laid on the table, as the road would |
not be OF public benefit. Adopted.
Rep. Halstead presented the report oil
the Judiciary Committee on the opium |
scandal. 1t goes over great deal Of the
ground covered by the select committee,
recommending in conclusion that John
III. Soper be censured for the loss of the
Kahului opium, because, as they find,
bricks, etc, were substituted for the
opium while it was in his custody as
Marshal. Signed by VIM White, w. FL.
Halstead and Jos. Nawahi.
Rep. KaneaIii moved that the report
be adopted.
Minister Brown said the report &C
cused late officer OF the Government on
evidence that would hardly be sufficient
to convict Mr.. Soper was accused OF
getting away with some of the " +. T"
opium that was never IN his custody.
Another wrong effect of adopting the re-
port would be to exonerate others who
were under suspicion. The Attorney
General was aware of facts that led him
to different conclusion from that of the
committee. He therefore moved that the
report, together with that OF the select
committee, be referred to the Attorney
General.
Rep. Kanealii considered that the
committee had clearly proved the culpa-
bility of the late Marshal, and their re-
| port should therefore be adopted. Ii the
Acknowledgement had other facts, why
had he not presented them before the
committee? The trouble heretofore had
been that the truth was suppressed.
Rep. r. w Wilcox said it was useless
| for the Ministers to get up and try to
shield officers of the late Government. 1t
| only proved the old saying that blood is
| thicker than water. The Marshal was
| the responsible man, whether he took
| the opium or not, and the House should
mark its displeasure. He was sorry they
had Cabinet there who were trying to
shield dishonest officials. They should
be turned out of Office if that was their
| policy. Better have no Government at
| all than one that shielded wrong-doing.
Noble Walbridge called the member
| to order Tor exceeding his time and Tor
| his personalities toward the Ministers.
| Rep. Wilcox had only little more to
| say. He saw that the hon. Noble was
friend of the Ministers.
Noble Walbridge said it was none OF
| the hon. members business whether he
was friend of the Ministers or not. He
| simply desired to check the member iii
his Objectionable language, as he had
| frequently used improper language that
| had not been interpreted till afterward.
| He did not care how long he spoke if he
was kept to parliamentary language.
Rep. Wilcox held that the report was
clear and definite and should be adopted.
Noble Widemann rose.
| Rep. Kapaehaole raised point of Or
| der, but did not know what it was. He
wanted to prevent the hon. Noble from
speaking until he could find what rule
| was transgressed.
| Noble Widemann repeatedly asked
| that the hon. member be compelled to
| sit down.
| The President-What rule is it?
Noble Widemann- The rule that he
has the floor. He went on to say that
the report found the Kahului opium
reached the Station June II, while F.
Turrrill, who was frequent visitor there,
taking opium away to sell, testified that
the opium was still in Maui on October,
1889. Ii this was SO, something more
than censure was demanded
Rep. Kapaehaole had found the rule,
which was that members on rising
should address the President. He was
in favor of adopting the report and then,
if the Acknowledgement had further evil
dence, let him go on with prosecutions.
There was no doubt the Minister of FL
nance had Mr.. Turrlll dismissed because
there was something rotten with him.
| The speaker did net believe Turrill's
evidence.
Minister Peterson would like to ask
the Judiciary Committee il they intend
ed to bring in report regarding the
"F. T." opium.
| Answers-Yes.
Minister Peterson said then this report
should be laid over till the other one
was presented. The two matters could
not be separated The "F. T." opium
that never left the Custom House for the
Station, was substituted with bricks and
straw the same as that alleged to have
been stolen from the Station. The mate
rial used to replace the opium was the
same in both cases and there was no doubt
the manipulations of both were done by
the same parties He denied the charge
that the Government were trying to
shield anybody. Ii they could get evil
dence they would prosecute those sus-
pected to the full extent of the law. He
moved that the report be laid on the
table until the committee present their
other report.
Rep. Nawahi believed that the Attor-
ney- General was trying to confuse them
by mixing up the two transactions,
which the speaker had no doubt were
entirely separate. The Attorney-Gen-
eral was in the same department as the
late Marshal at the time, and had said
to the committee he did not think Mr.
Soper was guilty. How could he prose
cute the cases when he had thus pre-
judged them? They had traced the
opium in its passage from kahului to
the Station, and when Mr. Turrili said
that the opium was still on Maui in
October he deliberately lied. The Gov
eminent was justified in getting rid Of
Mr.. Turrill, a man about whom there had
been so many rumors, who had amassed
large fortune in lew months. The
committee were also satisfied that Po-
lice Captain Hopkins lied to them, say
ing he was here at time when the
records showed that he was Deputy
Sheriff OF Eva. They believed that
Hopkins was member OF the opium
ring. AS they had not evidence to con
| lla,,l-ir,S fl,n..