The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-10-12
THEIR WORK
IS FINISHED
Board Of Registration
Closes.
DID A BIG DAYS WORK
Two Hundred and Thirty-Nine
Voters Signed Yesterday
Total Of 1891.

Promptly at 10 o'clock last evening
the Board of Registration closed 1t.
doors. and with signs of relief the
members OF the Board took their de-
have spent most of their time for the
last few weeks.
At the hour of closing the number OF
voters registered was exactly 5,Ss1, %!
having been registered yesterday. Dur
ing the dying hours OF the Board there
was little business and the room was
full Of lockers on to joke the last few
to come forward and to watch the
Board to Its last work.
Ten minutes before the hour for clos
Ing q question arose that was one OF
the most knokty ones that the Board
has had brought before II. A man
named August Aaron came up TO be
registered. He had just returned from
= three months trip to the Coast and II
appeared that during his absence from
Honolulu he had not maintained resi-
dence hero. He had left his tools which
he used Ia his trade as q carpenter in
the place where he had worked and he
had retained his position and it was
fully understood that he was to return
az soon as he had paid visit to friends
and relatives In California
But did you retain residence in
Honolulu while you were gomez" asked
Mr.. Andrews.
mo. 1 am afraid did not" said Aa-
ron. Il took all my belongings, clothes
and 30 forth with me-"
= at t,<
ister you" Mr.. Andrews said. THE
law distinctly says that in order to be
eligible for registration a man must
have had his residence in the precinct
in which he means to vote for three
months prior to the time when he ap-
plies for registration. Now you had no
residence here and you can scarcely
say that you have a right to vote"
Aaron agreed with him and turned
reluctantly away. Not so with Tommy
Lucas however. He wanted the man
registered and he protested long and
loud but he could not show that the
man had had residence here during
the necessary three months.
III you care to sue out q writ OF man.
damus against u.s." Mr.. Andrews final
ly said. ut can be done and the man
will be registered as Of this evening
should the Supreme Court decide that
he had q right to be registered"
But this was going too far for Lucas
and he gave 1t up.
The last man to be registered was
Frank e. Nichols of Wall, Nichols &
Company. and as he finished taking the
oath the hands Of the clock pointed to
trlo hn I'd nlnSaI
The Board was hard worked all day.
During the two sessions there was a
steady stream of would-be voters in
line. Many were disappointed but the
majority passed. The number of Por-
tuguese voters was on the increase,
while the Hawaiians continued to pre-
sent themselves in the same proportion
as during the previous thirty-eight
days of the registration.
Some of the Portuguese who have
been naturalized by the United States
Circuit Court were refused registra-
ton by reason of their being unable to
read Understandings from newspapers
and pamphlets and to explain what
they were able to read. Some Of them
could hardly write English words. A
simple sentence such as II see the
mice" puzzled many of them. The man
who could not write the latter sentence
was told that he had better wait to
register until the next election came |
along.
A Portuguese who had just been |
came smillngly up to the |
Are you naturalized?" asked Lorrin |
Andrews.
"Yes-a Democrat" was the simple
reply. Independent" George Mark
nam looked worried. This would-be
'oter was turned down because he
,ould neither read nor write under
in the English language.
Another Portuguese struck a similar
mag. 1t was questioned by one of the
Registrars as to how the man would be
'ble to make out his ballot ut the polls
With such limited vocabulary. He
vas similarly disposed of.