The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-09-23


fourth paragraph of Exhibit go, to be
found on page 154.
Not long afterward it came to my
knowledge that the Clerk of the Court.
who the custodian of trust funds
deposited in Court, was in the habit OF
divert:ng such funds to improper uses.
1t had even been the practice for the
Judges themselves to dip into such trust
funds, leaving their due bill therefor to
be repaid on a subsequent salary day.
In at least one instance / am informed
that such sum was not repaid by the
Judge (who now appears as one OF the
compliments against mel, prior to his
leaving the bench and for at least sew
eral months thereafter. i do not know
whether it has yet been paid.
TRUST FUNDS IN BANK
Immediately upon becoming aware Of
/ this state of things 1 issued an order
that such trust funds in the treasury of
the Court be deposited in bank, only to
be withdrawn upon draft of a Judge of
the Court attested by the Clerk of the
Court and the seal of the Court. This
obviously proper act, designed to prevent
| the embezzlement of tust funds by the
| officers and Judges of the Court. also
meets the displeasure of the petitioners.
me- 1 beg to refer you particularly to
| their Exhibit 26s, page 14s ct seq
! 1t is not surprising that the various
| changes instituted by me from the lax
system formerly prevailing in the Courts
to the modern methods which prevailed
in every properly organized Court in this
country should arouse the opposition and
hostility of those who were satisfied with
and profited by the old regime
| 7 have been
harsh, arbitrary, tyrannical and VIM
dictive toward members of the bar and
others appearing before my Court and
have abused my powers over them" l
beg to say that the feeling evidenced by
this charge undoubtedly prevails among
some members of the Hawaiian bar. A
large part of it, I am convinced, arises
from the change in court methods from
the old and slack system to the new, and
what / conceive to be the proper, system
of conducting the Court. system which
meets the approval of the bar of the
United States at large and in the main
tenance of which the Judges in this
country are supported and assisted by
the cordial cooperation of the bar. l
| venture to say that no lawyer of high
standing on the main land of the United
States would object to the methods
which I have adopted in the Court over
4
cause of complaint.
MAN OF KINDLY DISPOSITION.
| If 1 know my own character and in
stincts, am a man of kindly disposition.
1 believe L am not a man disposed by
nature to insult hurt unnecessarily
| any human being. Even were 1 not Of
such nature, the home training of my
Fgouth would forbid my exhibiting the
qualities which are sattributed to me.
| think / have never failed to meet the
members of the bar half way when they
approached me in a proper spirit in crit
icism of my official acts.
| From the commencement of my law
studies, however, I have entertained
high regard and respect for the courts
of the Anglo-Saxon race, believing them
to be the safeguard of our liberties and
believing that the public administra ton
of justice should be surrounded, not with
pomp and circumstance, but with prop
! er dignity and respect. I do not insist
upon the exhibition of any evidence of
respect to my own person because of
| the position which 1t has pleased the
President to bestow upon me, but have
insisted upon a proper respect being
shown to the Court over which 1 pre-
side. 1t is not strange perhaps that my
insistence upon such respect to the Court
may have been misinterpreted, by those
unused to the dignified administration of
justice, as a demand on my part for I'M
due respect exhibited toward my own
person. Such a view of my conduct by
any member of the bar believe to be a
mistaken one. 1t is certainly entirely
foreign TO my ideas and desires.
AS to my personal manner, 1 have by
nature, probably unfortunately, a some
what abrupt even brusque. manner of
speaking. This is probably evident even
in casual conversation. 1t betokens no
tunkindness, harshness, or vindictiveness
nor does it evidence an arbitrary or tyr
ranical disposition. If ii has appeared
to members of the bar upon any occasion
cannot believe that If they will calmly
recall the circumstances they will con-
clude that it was actually so.
ILL HEALTH ALLEGED
1t is possible that my natural quick
ness of manner may have been accented
by the circumstances under which
have held Court for the past year. When
took my seat upon the bench in June,
1900, was not in robust health. My as
sociate, Judge Sill.man, resigned about
six weeks thereafter. From that time
until about April Is. 1901 and again from
about April 20 until June 5, 1901, / per-
sonally performed the duties to which
two Judges are assigned by statute, pre-
siding over common law, equity. criminal
and probate cases. The calendar was
| congested, and 1 worked increasingly to
bring it up to a point where delay n
/ justice might not work injustice to Hti-
> giants and people accused of crime. Dur
, ing all or large part of this period
was under constant and vicious attack in
81 the press and by people who seemed Il
think their personal interests jeopardiz-
ed by my judicial action. 1t is possiBlG
that under such strain my manner may
have seemed to unrehecting or prejudic-
ed persons to denote an asperity which
did not exist in fact. That no interests
| of litigants were jeopardized thereby
firmly believe.
AS to the punishments imposed by me
for contempt, ii may seem that IN GER
tain instances they were unduly severe
. AS to this L beg to say that the mere
record on paper of the proceedings II
Court involving a. contempt cannot con
Stituta the whole record The DaDel