The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-03-11
FREAR AND
KEPOIKAI
THE EXECUTIVE LEARNING A
LOT ON MAUI ABOUT THE CIR
CUT JUDGE.
(By a Star Staff Correspondent. d.
Hama, Maui, March Z. 1908.

(By a Star Staff Correspondent
Hama, Maui, March Z, 1908.
Governor Frear and party arrived
here about o'clock this evening and
will make this headquarters until Mon
day when the horseback trip around
the island to Kahului will be COM
menced.
Everybody thus far met has been
most cordial, but the governor is here
for business, and no time is being
wasted in formalities or ceremony
He has a number of things to look
into, chief of which he evidently con-
siders the land matters which embrace
possibilities of providing for home
steaders on government land a num-
ber of land exchange propositions and
forest reserves. Then there are some
political issues, on which he may be
required to pass before long, and on
which he is getting a variety of ex-
pressions on opinion without going
out of his way to inquire. The Ques-
ton of Judge Kepoikais reappointment
to the circuit bench is a very live issue
just now, and the reports of the
charges preferred against him by
| County Attorney Dan H. Case before
the Bar Association in Honolulu a
few days since, have just reached here
and are being everywhere discussed.
Kepoikai came up from Honolulu on
the same boat with the governor and
I had one or two brief conferences with
him on the trip, presumably with re-
/ ference to his case. 1t is understood
that the judge is busy getting together
! testimony to Offset the charges filed
against him by Case, which come up
again before the Bar Association on
next Thursday.
1t is difficult to predict what conclu-
sion Governor Frear will reach in the
Kepoikai matter There is no deny
ing that the judge has antagonized a
great many persons in the county and
that the fight against him is in deadly
earnest. At the same time he has
powerful backing in some of the big
gest corporations of the Territory.
While this might seem an Indictment
against him, especially when the
charges of Dan Case, which appear to
be we'll substantiated, that he holds
from the Kahului Railroad Company
at a rental of $25 per month fishing
rights estimated at from $1,000 to $2,>
900 or even higher in value per year,
neither Case, nor anyone else, in so
far as l have been able to learn, have
made any charges concerning his in
! tegrity on the bench. / have talked
with a number of prominent politi-
clans who are anxious to see a new
judge appointed, and all nave failed
even to intimate that Kepoikoi has
sullied his Office, and several even went
SO far as to say that his decisions have
stood the fire of Supreme Court revi-
sion about as we'll as any of the other
circuit judges in the territory.
But they say that off the bench he
is a despot, that he is arrogant and
domineering, that he has no respect
for anyone's opinions save those voiced
by H. p Baldwin, and that the sugar
king through old acquaintanceship
sake has become blind to his faults ana
accepts without question anything that
he proposes. '->gsI
The Judge seems also to have gone
out of his way to mix up in politics,
and his despotism here seems to have
rankled most deeply. Tales are told
of his violent temper and even acts OF
violence, but singularly enough these
seem to have always occurred off the
bench. In court he is said to be a
stickler for ettiquet, at times making
things exceedingly unpleasant for at
torneys and Jurors by criticism of de-
pertinent, clothing, etc. One grand
Juror who wore leggins into court was
made to remove them; another who
had ridden a long distance and who
wore a muddy kahki coat was re-
quired to go out and buy new one.
These are the sorts Of complaints
which come from haole opponents. The
Hawaiian sentiment is more difficult
to learn, but 1t is claimed that he is
equally unpopular with his own race
on the island and that he could not
hold any Office which, elective.
Governor Frear is hearing all these
things first handed and will probably
have some pretty definite opinions be-
fore he starts back to Honolulu.
WI. COOPER