The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1905-08-07


sum of S1,743.97
The complaints recite in effect that
Kellett as trustee for the estate Of the
late Manuel Barete, embezzled from
Maria Barete, Francisco Barete, Ema-
liza Barete, Jose Barete. Theoff Barete,
Lutello Barete, Manuel Barete, Rosario
Barete and Agnes Soares, the different
sums specified. The first sum of 800
is stated to have been embezzled IN
November Is, 1904, the second sum Of
S25 on January IA, 1905. and the third
sum Of $25 on January %, 1905. All Of
these sums are amounts paid into the
estate and, it is alleged, never account
ed for by hellett.
ANAAA@,A<nA SAN4uAA<NAo
there was something wrong in it, does
not contain any statement whatsoever
as to the number of days the men
worked. 1t gives the fraction of a
month that they were on the payroll.
For example a man credited with IS
days on the payroll is put down for
1881 of a month. In the case of last
month this would mean IA days of ac-
tual labor, for there are the Fourth of
July and three Sundays intervening
between the first and the eighteenth.
There is no rate of daily wages in the
department, but a monthly rate of $45
| per month is the rule, and the men get
paid for whatever fraction of a month
they are on the payroll. Trent's let
ter refers to men given credit for 1881
of the month of July as credited with
| having worked" Is days.
This is the departmental expana-
! ton of Trent's discoveries i'm the gar
! bage department, and if Trent had
| been around the Capitol this morning
| he would have heard some warm eX-
pressions of his alleged effort to do
some politics against Sam Johnson.
The scheme Of alleged fraud is so pal
pable anyhow, it is said, that no sane
man would attempt it.
The garbage department has been a
subject of a lot of recent knocking
and the three last Grand Juries have
spent lot of time trying to verify
rumors of something wrong. The re-
suit has been three successive checking
over of systems, payrolls, etc, and
examination of laborers who had been
discharged and had accusations to
make about their pay,-something like
those of Mulleitner against High She
riff Henry a short time ago. The Grand
| juries always exploded such stories
when they dug into them.
The garbage payrolls were made out
| by T. p. Cummins, who is with Sam
johnson on the way to Seagirt. They
| are based upon a time-book, kept by
| lunas, who keep track of the number of
days the men work. Thus the payroll
graft system apparently requires the
collision of several men. The lunas
have to be i'm it and the laborers them
selves must be trusted with the secret
that their office superiors are making
them sign for more than they get, for
each individual laborer signs the pay
roll opposite figures showing the num-
Der of days he worked. Then there
are five or six clerks in the garbage
office.
"All l know about the payroll bust
ness is contained in my letter to the
Board of Supervisors said Treasurer
Trent this morning. IF l knew or
had known any more, l would have put
that i'm the letter also. l have formed
no opinion as to the rights or wrongs of
the matter but I have simply acquaint-
ed the board with the facts as they
presented themselves to me. / have
no charges nor insinuations against
any person."
Il don't know anything about the
matter, said Supervisor Adams when
questioned Il heard the letter read
of course but. the matter is in the
hands of the garbage committee of
which Supervisor Moore is at the head.
have formed no opinion and will not
until the facts are out"
81 have so far done nothing in the
way of investigating the statements
made in Treasurer Trent's letter." an
swered Supervisor Moore when asked
what he thought of the matter. II
shall dig into it this afternoon but /
imagine it will be quite long job
to go over every pay roll. In any
event l will have report ready for
the meeting of the Board on Wednes-
day night No, / have no opinion to
express. l know nothing more than
appears i'm the Treasurer's letter and it
is quite possible that it can all be
met with a satisfactory explanation"
Acting Governor Atkinson would not
discuss the matter at all.
IAN that l know about it is what /
have seen published. l do not be-
lieve Sam Johnson to be a dishonest
man in any sense whatever" said the
governor in a manner that was con-
vincing and that was all he would
say
Chief Clerk c. M. White of the
Public Works department, was in
dignant when the Trent letter was
mentioned to him.
1.-THE attack is utterly unfair" he
said everything is as straight as a
string and l am now preparing a tho
roughly complete statement of the
different men who work and the time
which they put in"