Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-28
A White ELEPHANT
Hawaii Burdened With the
Big Chinese Fund.
CAUSE OF POPULATION
THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT SO DO
WITH THE MONEY.
Chief Justice Frear Severely Criticises
the Territorial Courts In
His Report.
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
HONOLULU. T. H. March 13, 1903 :
The Hawaiian government has white
elephant In the shape of so-called Chinese
fund. from which another endorsement
has just been reported. The fund originally
consisted Of $235,0OO, and Is still in the
neighborhood Of 100000. Who it belongs to
or what shall be done with 1t are questions
no one seems able to solve.
It was from the "Chinese fund" that ex-
Treasurer Wright took the $4,000 he Is
snort in his accounts. He fed. leaving an
!. y. u for the amount. and the police have
been unable to catch him. Now 1t is stated
That Agricultural Commissioner Wray
Iaylor. an old and tried government off,
cial. Is an embezzler from the same fund.
Iaylor disappeared myteriously in San
francisco, on February II, and it has been
impossible to locate him. A special deputy
OF the Hawaiian attorney general is now
on his way to Washington to secure extra
dition papers for Taylor and a warrant is
out charging him with embezzlement
An Old Cause Of Trouble.
The Chinese fund has been a matter of
controversy in Honolulu for years. It was
collected from Chinese who came here as
contract laborers during the days Of the
republic Of Hawaii. The exclusion laws
passed by the republic allowed Chinese to
come into the country only under contract
10 Ia Dor on plantations. every Individual to
De liapie to deportation If he deserted the
Plantations. For the purposes Of carrying
out this law the contracts entered into con-
famed provisions for taking out of the
wages OF each laborer the sum of $3.50, to be
deposited In the Postal Savings Bank, and
When any Chinese was to be deported, or
Was ready TO go home. he ha given
MS money back. or the government was to
use the money in paying his fare.
me organic act for Hawaii passed by
congress made all the Chinese labor con-
tracts void and broke up the whole sys-
tenn. But the s235Oe0 was still on hand,
and most of the Chinese remained in Ha-
wan. Inc money lay idle in charge of
secretary Cooper and when the Hawaiian
government ran short Cooper turned it
over to the territorial government few
returning Chinese applied for and received
1nelr SHARES, as they were going home.
Inc money was used by the territorial
government and repaid when taxes came
In. a proceeding which the Mitchell COM
MISSION on Hawaii severely condemned.
The Defaulting Treasurer.
Treasurer Wright had the fund under
control, and he was under no bond When
his I. o. U. was discovered he admitted
the shortage and skipped. The money was
still subject to the drafts of Wray Taylor,
who had been immigration agent, and held
the records of the Chinese and their con-
tracts. 1t was to him that they went when
they wanted to. draw money. Taylor left
for San Francisco on January 3, on an
official mission, and nothing was suspected
until toward the end of February when
he failed to return or write at the expi-
ration OF his leave Of absence.
What Shall Be Done With Itp
Secretary of the Territory Carter now
has the fund in CHARGE His view 10 that
the money became the property of the In
dividual Chinese who put it up when the
labor contracts under which 1t was paid
were nullifed. 1t is stated on good author
ity that this view was presented before
the executive council in Honolulu, but was
not approved.
To return the money to the Chinese
would be in many cases an impossibility
and In all cases a very difficult lob There
were about $500 Chinese who put IN S,6
each In the first place. and they are scat
tered all over. Many are dead The fund
promises to be white elephant for a long
time
The Courts Criticised.
The deplorable condition of the laws of
the islands was never more strikingly
shown than in the report Just submitted to
the legislature by Chief Justice Frear of
the territorial supreme court Between
fifteen hundred and two thousand changes
in local laws are recommended in this re-
port alone, and if the legislature were to
do nothing elss at all it's entire time of
the regular session would easily be taken
up by the work outlined by the chief Jus
tice.
The criminal laws are so defective that
the two years of Hawaii's existence as a
territory have been years of constant diff
lculty in the courts. Laws on the statute
BOOKS which We're never amended to har-
monize them with the American Consti-
tuition have caused scores of discharges of
defendants slight technicaIities The
codes are full of obsolete laws. Chief Jus
tice Frear goes through them with a dis
corning eye, and his report as printed will
be guide to the law makers
The chief justice finds much to critieise
in the conduct of the first circuit court,
under Humphreys and Gear This is the
court that has been the center of much
controversy, eliminating in charges
against Humphreys, which were heard at
Washington by Attorney General Knox.
the judge being sustained. Frear init
mates that the judges have been too free
with the power to punish for contempt and
he says that there has been great extrava-
ora in "a cfrcuit