The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-04-18
WOULD PAY BACK
CHINESE FUND
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE RE-
PORTS THE RESULTS OF IT'S IN
VESTIGATIONS.

The House special committee on the
investigation of the Chinese fund and
the departure of Treasurer Wright
made its report yesterday afternoon, /
submitting a large transcript of tes-
timony and a bill declaring the fund
a government realization and provid-
ing for means of paying back to the
depositors who paid it to the govern
ment. The report discusses the status
of the fund and the Wright l. o. U. at
considerable length. The bill sub
mitted with it passed first reading and
the report and testimony were ordered
printed. The report was as follows:
1t is quite apparent from the law,
and the testimony ELECTED that the
fund referred to is not peculiarly a
"Chinese Fund" 1t is in fact BAL
ances due depositors in the late Ha-
waiian Postal Savings Bank" some of
which is the property of other national
tiles, but the mass of it belongs to citi-
zens of China, who were compulsory
depositors in said bank At the time
annexation took place there was none
of this money on hand, all having been
used for Public Works. The Fund"
was money sent here to pay amounts
due depositors in the defunct Hawai-
ian Postal Savings Bank in accordance
with acquisitions sent to Washington
signed by the Governor and counter
signed by the Secretary of the Terri
tory. SO long as the government paid
interest for the use of those deposits
it had the undoubted right to the use
of them. BY the Organic Act interest
ceased on those deposits on the LIST day
of July. 1900, and when the Federal
, Government RENTED the exact amount
claimed by the Territorial Government
as due to the depositors for their de-
posits and interest thereon to July 1st,
1900, the money so RENTED should have
! been held sacred as a trust fund for the
! payment of such depositors. AS to
whether this fund can be used by the
Territorial Government the Attorney
General renders an opinion that it can
he so used. His opinion we do not en-
dorse. He admits that the Hawaiian
laws pertaining to deposits in the Ha-
waiian Postal Savings Bank were re-
pealed by the Organic Act. Any bust
ness man would tell him that interest
is money paid for the use of money"
and when no interest is being paid for
a trust fund in ones possession it
would be wrong to use such fund.
He does not state the law when he
! says that part of the immigration Laws
! of Hawaii are still in force. It appears
before the courts that the U s. Immi-
grafton Laws had superseded the Ha-
waiian Laws in toto and that the per-
mits in the hands of returning Chinese
were void, having been annulled by the
Joint Resolution which annexed Hawaii
to the Union. In a Territory of the
United States the immigration Laws of
the Union maintain, and when the L. 5.
Government saw fit to register the Chi
nese laborers and thereby granted them
the right to remain in Hawaii for an
unlimited period. it did so intelligently,
and such registration did abrOgate their
agreement to depart
We hold that. the money sent here
by the Federal Government is due and
payable to all the depositors in the late
Hawaiian Postal Savings bank, Wheth-
er Chinese or otherwise, except, in the
latter instance they should, when pre-
senting their pass books. exhibit thei'
registration papers.
1t would be wrong to withhold for
an unlimited time this money which is
the property of men who have earned
it by the sweat of their brows to the
enrichment of Hawaiian planters, and
who have been granted by the L. :.
Government an unlimited time of resi-
dence.
There was no forfeiture clause in the
| a agreement to depart as soon as they
ceased to be employed a agricultural
labor nor can they be now deported UNI
der any law of the United States should
they be found at other employment.
They should have their deposits when
properly demanded. We believe that
the using of this fund, as it has been
used under the directions of Acting
Governor Cooper, was most reprehens-
III r-l,, +1,f,
it has been handled in most unbusi-
nesslike manner, and presented a great
temptation to those in charge of it,
which unfortunately some of them We're
unable to resist.
After the admission by w. II. Wright
Treasurer of abstracting money OF
which he was in charge, he should not
have been permitted to go except un-
der the surveillance of an officer.
We believe that Governor Dole did
not use his customary good judgment
after he was informed of Wright
delinquency, in not ordering his imme-
dfate arrest or placing him under
surveillance and was wrong in follow
ing Secretary Cooper's advice to give
him further time to make good his
shortage.
We believe that Governor Dole and
Secretary of the Territory Cooper from
their silence in not Immediately calling
the attention of Attorney General Dole
to the fact of Wright's confession of
abstracting those government moneys
aided him in making his escape from
the Territory.
We advise that the whole fund be
placed in the Treasury and that it be
paid out to the owners of claims
against the late Hawaiian Postal Saw
ings Bank as quickly as it can be done
with regard to it's getting into the prop
er hands.
And with this view submit herewith
an Act appointing a Board to super
wise and facilitate the disbursement OF
this "Chinese Fund" and as soon as
possible placing the amount in the
hands of the parties to whom it proper
ly belongs.