The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-11-14

All trace of the little difficulty between
the commander of the United States Navy
transport Solace and the Customs au-
thorities has disappeared; the good ship
is now serenely churning her way to
Guam over the gentle bosom of the great
Pacific, and the Collector of Customs of
this port and every man in the Customs
department under him rests content in
the knowledge of the fact that they did
their duty in the matter, that they were in
the right, and that the Solace did net go
away without saying that she was sorry
for what had occurred and that the whole
matter of the Chinese coming ashore
against the orders of the Collector of Gus
toms a sad blunder on the part of
the executive officer of the Solace.
The above letter, an exact copy CT the
original received by Collector SIackable
yesterday, explains the ending up of the
matter thoroughly and shows conclusive
ly that the Customs authorities were in
the right all the way through the Solace
affair.
AS reported in yesterdays Advertiser,
the Chinese, Jason Chiu, was arrested
by Inspector Mitchell Monday evening as
he came ashore from the Solace against
the law and the orders of the Collector
of Customs.
Jason Chiu remained in durance vile all
night, having been detained in the police
station at the request of the United States
Marshal 1t was thought that the mat
ter would come up in the United States
District Court yesterday morning and
that Judge Estee would be confronted
with ticklish problem to solve. Eut
nothing of the kind transpired.
Early in the day the first officer of the
Solace, at the request of Commander
Winslow of the Solace interviewed Unit
ed States Attorney Baird and Collector of
Customs Stackable and explained the mat .
ter, saying that the Chinese in question
had come ashore inadvertently and that
no wi Of he neOnle ho
Solace to disobey the law in regard to
the landing of Chinese here. Mr.. Baird
satisfied with the explanation and the
2 Chinese was released from the jail and
taken back aboard the Solace.
a The first officer of the Solace regretted
that there had been any trouble the
matter and assured the authorities that
no defiance of the law had been intcrded.
1t is understood that Comdr. Winslow
of the Solace has prepared a report on
the matter which will go to Washington.
Winslow, it seems, took absolutely no
pains to have any understanding with the
Customs authorities here. AS matter of
, fact, the mastering of the Chinese crew
aboard the Solace by the Customs inspect
ors for the purpose of checking was not
insisted upon, as Winslow claims was
done. What the Customs department
d really required, and all that they asked
was simply to check off the Chinese crew
each day in order to see that all of the
any means necessitate the mastering oi
the Orientals. Winslow treated the meT
of the Customs department with anything
y but politeness and was exceedingly ob
e noxious until his big bluff was called
e The ending of this case is victory fol
# the Customs department. All Chimes,
:. from any Army or Navy vessel in thi:
- port, at any time, will be treated in pre-
cisely the same manner as was Jason Chil
II from the Solace. The Customs authoritie
? will take them into custody on any at
-, tempt to come ashore here.
Jason Chiu did not prove that he was al
l American citizen, was reported in al
W evening paper. He had no proofs at AL t.
,r show, one way or the other, and acknowI
N edged to Inspector Miller that he WAS no
=. a citizen of the United States.
y A great crowd assembled on the Nava
Is wharf yesterday about o'clock in TIN
n afternoon to see the Solace get on her wa.
w to Guam and the Philippines. Berger
band was there in all its resounding har
money and the men from the United State
tug Iroquois were on hand, as well as
large number of local military men. Man,
ladies were in the crowd and Commando
III Merry's friends had turned out in lore
Is to see him off to Guam, whittier he zoe
On to have charge of the harbor surve
no there He was decorated with many lels
and, as the steamship pulled away fron
the wharf, a large number of handker
n chiefs-many of them the dainty lace al
IL fairs-were waved in farewell
r The chief officer of the Solace had give
Of 1t out the day before that the Solace va
to leave the wharf at noon, sharp. IL
explained yesterday that this was done ]
order to insure the missionaries bein
> iaboard in time. "Otherwise,' he saiC
"they would wait until the last minut
rs. and keep the vessel waiting. It's awfr
en- hard work to get missionaries away fror
Honolulu" There were several missional
We les on the Solace, bound for the Phllii
pines.