The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-04

territory or Hawaii, Once of the Attor-
ney General, Honolulu. H. l., May
81. 1901
Hon. VIM. H. Wright. Treasurer of the
Territory of Hawaii
Dear Sir: In accordance with your re-
quest of May 20, 1 submit the following
opinion relative to the matter presented
IN the letter of Hon. John F. Colburn
to you, dated May %, 1901:
Honolulu, H. l., May Is, 1901
W. III. Wright, Esq, Treasurer Terri
tory of Hawaii
Sir: In reply 20 your esteemed favor
of this date. we beg to submit the fol-
lowing facts: On February 5, 1901, we
sold to w. c. Achi a tract of land sit
uate at Mokauea, Kalihi. Island of Ca
hu, for the sum of 81 and a mortgage
to be given by said Aehi in our favor
for the sum OF 100000 payable in ten
years, with interest at the rate of
per cent per annum for the first five
years and per cent per annum for the
balance of the term, said Achi to lay
the property out into lots, dispose of
them in such manner as he deemed ex-
ped1ent, and paying to US the sum of
61z cents for every square foot of land
sold above the new line of railroad of
the O. R. & L. Co.. and Az cents per
square foot of land sold below said rail-
road line.
On the 7th day of February, 1901, the
deed was executed in due form and the
acknowledgements taken of the presi-
dent and treasurer, who by our bylaws
are the persons to execute documents of
this nature
Mr. W. C. Achi and wife, in turn. exc
cuted a mortgage to US for the above
amount of $4,000
Believing as we do that the Organic
Act passed by Congress relieved all doc
uments from placing the local stamps
thereon, We rendered the deed to Mr..
Achi without stamps thereon and he de-
clined TO receive same. Later it was
suggested by our attorneys that if any
local stamps We're needed on the said
document that the stamp should only be
81. Our attorneys rendered the deed to
the Registrar of Conveyances with the
offer to pay the stamp of 81, and ne re-
fused to place the deed upon record. He
then sought Mr.. T. F. Lansing who was
then the Treasurer of the Territory, and
that official, in turn, refused to allow the
deed to be recorded, unless the sum of
s., 500 had been paid for stamps. We
again notified Mr.. Achi that We desired
the matter settled, more especially the
constitutionality of the local Stamp Act
and in response to the same he brought
suit against US before Judge Estee of
the Federal Court, the said suit being
filed on March 49, 1901. We demurred to
the suit on the 9Th day of April, with
view of reaching the main point, and
upon a day set thereafter full hearing
was had On April "a Judge Estee de-
cided, overruling the demurrer and or
dering US to answer. From that day I'M
til within a few days ago, the matter
has been in the hands of our attorneys,
--I,- Il
appeal should be made from the decision
Of Judge Estee. However, few days
ago, our attorneys returned the deed to
us and advised US to pay the stamps
1t has now occurred to US that twenty
one days have elapsed since the 7th day
of May, or three months from the date
of execution Of said deed, and where it
might be urged that We had exceeded
the limit to place documents on record
without a penalty.
You viii observe that this case has
really been a test of the rights of this
Territory to exact stamps on all doeu-
ments offered for record. The case has
been decided in favor of the Government
and considering that we were entitled
from the date the declaration was filed
until the decision, We are within the
limit of the three months allowed by
law Our time would have elapsed on
the 18th day of May had we not had this
matter in court. Deducting the number
of days, viz, the entering of the suit
March 49, 1901, to the date of the decision
April a, 1901, total of thirty-five days.
We are still within the margin of three
months
We are prepared to place upon this
deed stamps to the extent of 1850. and
respectfully ask for your ruling on the
matter. Yours truly,
KAPIOLANI ESTATE. LTD.
JOHN z. COLBURN.
Treasurer.