The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-05

DISCOVERIES
hiIo Land Office Reeks
With ScandaIous
Management.

With the return of Assistant Attor-
ney General Prosser from Hawaii comes
a story of shortages and defalcations in
the land office that equals the methods
of personal graft disclosed in the Homo
lulu Investigations The money of Por-
tuguese and others who have attempted
to take up lands has been deliberately
misapplied, held on the personal securi-
ty of the land agents and finally dis
appeared. Indictment by the Grand
Jury wound up In a hung jury, but
proof has since been collected that will
send a warrant post haste after one
offender, who is apparently the chief
robber. though he hides his own blame
upon an absentee.
My Investigations into the accounts
of Mr.. E. d. Baldwin, said Mr.. Pros
ser yesterday morning, showed that
no books had been kept showing the
cash transactions of the office. Re-
ceipts were given from ordinary blank
books and the stubs of these We're miss
ing.
"A native or other person applying to
the land agent for a patent put up the
entire amount of purchase money ac-
cording to valuation. Twenty-Five per
cent. of this was forwarded to the Ho-
nolulu office by Baldwin and the rest
received and held as a personal deposit
until the patent was issued.
These moneys We're held often for
four years, during which time no rents
or interests were charged and the les
sees fondly imagined they owned the
patents. I made thorough investiga-
ton, going into the matter to the bot
tom and looking up all those who had
applied for or paid for patents. We
found some thirty, all of whom believed |
that they had paid the money in to a |
government official who had accepted it |
on behalf of the government. None |
of them had any understanding that |
their money was being held as a per-
sonal deposit by Baldwin and all |
thought they had secured their patents.
ut was on just this point, however,
that the Grand Jury, a very creditable /
body of thirteen men, failed to indict
holding that the moneys paid
lid not belong to the government until
the patents We're approved and that
there had been no defaI-
:ation of government funds.
Besides this Baldwin held letter
rom Boyd at the head of his depart
nent authorizing him to hold such
moneys as personal Credits
In contradistinction to this, another
and agent held a letter from Boyd tell
ng him not to so accept and hold
money, and the tale goes of how this .
and agent finally, against instructions,
ccepted in full the payment of an i'm
fortunate Japanese, giving what the {
after thought was receipt in return. {
When the japanese, however. later |
ried to sell his land and produced the
eceipt it turned out 20 be merely a |
romissory note from the land agent |
rho claimed he had been loaned the t
loney. t
w. K. RagsdaIe. who collected rents
rom landholders and appropriated the t
anne, was indicted and brought before s
jury of eight Hawaiians and four {
-hite men, the result being a mistrial.
is said that the jury would not have i,
ung had Baldwin been indicted, but t
1at the natives We're furious at the t
hite man going free while Ragsdale, a
lie part native, was indicted. n
Since the lack of Indictment against t.
aldwin, however. fresh proof of de n
llcation has come to the hands of the Il
ttorney Generals department. which ri
i'll result in fresh action against him. d
uditor Fisher now holds papers and Il
.ceipts personally signed by Baldwin
land agent which show the handling 81
81. .04290 paid in on purchase leases.
he books credit Baldwin with s260.72 CO
this amount, but s7S2.18 is still un- II
for B
CONTINUED on Page 50 "