The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-02-10
A CHANGE NEEDED
In Method of Preserving
the Court Documents.
Now in Wooden Cupboarde-pira
Proof Vaults Recommended
By Chief Justice.

In his report, now in the hands q
the printer, Chief Justice Judd will re-
commend that suitable and ADEQUATE
provisions be made at once for tbe
preservation Of the Court documents
ana records. The present conditions
az the judiciary Building are consider
eq scandalous. Three sides of the Cir
cult Clerks office are lined with cum
boards. There is nothing pretentious
| ABOUT them,-nothing is pretentious
! III appearance in that very much I'M
swept building. They are ordinary
wooden cupboards about four feet
square, with folding doors and an
arrangement within resembling Dost
once boxes, for containing documents.
/ ne cupboards were originally placed
IN rows, side by side. When the first
were filled, others were added az fast
as 1t was necessary, until a corner of
the room was reached and then another
row was begun above the first, until
now they are three deep and the clerks
nave to climb a step-ladder to reach
the top row. At night the cupboards
are locked. Each has it's KEY. which
is lett IN the lock. There is apparently
no reason why the key should not be
lett IN the lock as anyone wishing TO
pry open the doors could easily do
SO with an ordinary large bladed knife.
These wooden cupboards are the
safety deposit vaults of the Judiciary
department. In them are contained
the accumulated documents of nearly
90 years Of litigation, in fact the
papers filed in all the cases brought
before the Court since it's establish
ment in 1852. There are filed no less
than 5000 law cases, 1000 probate
cases, 5000 divorce cases and 1000
equity cases. All of them are original |
documents, the majority of them are |
the only copies in existence, there |
nave been some abstracts into record |
BOOKS which are preserved in the cash |
safe. Many of the documents are very
valuable, especially in the equity and
probate cases, as they concern the
titles TO land and other property, and
were they lost or destroyed might in
Tolve the owners in an endless search
II records, with a possible loss of the
property itself.
Constant reference is made to these
documents. The business OF the Courts
S large and additional suits neces-
state an examination of previous
,ases. AS term time approaches one
Jerk is very frequently kept busy
the ladder in response to a
equest for permission to examine the :
,apers in a suit, or returning other
'apers to their proper places With
he additional cases of the present
ERIN new cupboard must be added
nd the documents rearranged to fill it.
1t is thought that there is little dan
er Of fire in the Judiciary Building.
hould one get we'll started it would
be with great difficulty that
ven small portion of the records
ould be saved At present it would
e an easy matter to destroy or mutt
ite document even while the clerks
re present.
Chief Justice Judd has been making :
communications, similar to the one
e will now make, for the past ten
ears. He has even had consultation
18th the proper department on the
inject and has suggested plans. Just
tt the clerks office is a long lobby
hitch is used only as passage to
he hallway. The Chief Justice said
few days since that this lobby could
asily be converted into a fire-proof
ault by building brick walls from the
)undatiOn of the building The |
lelves could be of iron and the height /
sufficient to permit two floors if ne
essary. This would furnish ample
,om for storing documents for many
ears to come. The documents would
len be on the same floor with the
)urt room and close at hand Were
lie papers stored in the vaults in the
SCISSORS office ON the first floor, as
was suggested some time since by
e Government, it would be necessary I
II at least one clerk to be in atten-
lnce all the time and at the same
NE inconvenience the Judiciary De-
lrtment.