The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-10-12
" H A 7 is A n
ORR { | n A |
PACKAGE?
Trom Saturdays Advertiser.l
Is five-tael tin of opium an original

Is five-tael tin of opium an original
package7
Upon the answer of the Supreme
Court of the Territory, or possibly of
the Supreme Court of the United
States, to this question, hangs the value
of thousands of tins of the poppy drug
that are now hidden away in various
| secret places in Honolulu and elsewhere
in the United States. If the five.tael
tin is an original package, the owners
of the opium may sell it openly at the
market price and without molestation
by the police authorities of the Terri.
tory or of the United States. If it is
not an original package the owners of
the drug are violating the law by SELL
ing it or even having it in their posses
eion-and the opium is then, or will
be-, worth, in time, several times the
present market price.
The "orignal package case" was
argued at length yesterday afternoon
before the Supreme Court and was then
i, submitted on briefs. E. A. Douthtt
| appeared on behalf of the defendant
and Deputy County Attorney Fred Mil
verton for the Territory.
The defendant is Lam Zip Kee, who
was arrested by the police and con-
victed in the district court on the
charge of having on April 80. 1909,
sold to one All 10y opium without first
obtaining license to sell poisonous
drugs, and without physician IS pre-
scription.
The opium sold was whole fve-tael
tin, part of a consignment originally
shipped by a Chinese opium firm in
Hongkong to H. c. Playfair, of San
Francisco. The defendant imported
the opium in the tin, with other tins
of like character, from a Chinese firm
in San Francisco, Tai Hing Lung &
Company. The tin was packed with
twenty others in a small tin box.
Douthitt's Argument.
E. A. Douthitt, attorney for the de-
fendant, presents the view that the
five.tael tin, and not the tin contain
ing the twenty-one fve.tael tins, was
the original package, and he presented
to the Supreme Court an elaborate and
well-worked out argument and brief
in support of his contention. He claims,
that the section of the territorial laws
for violation of which the defendant
was prosecuted is not applicable to the
sale of a five.tael tin, for the reason
that the opium sold by Lam Zip Kee
was, at the time of the sale, in his
possession as an importer in the original
package and was protected from terri
torial statutes by virtue of the inter
state commerce clause in the Consti-
tuition.
The defense comedies that when tho
opium was sold in California by the
original importer, Playfair, it became
subject to the laws of California. But
when it was imported from San Fran
cisco into Honolulu, it became an arti-
Gle of interstate rather than foreign
commerce and the defendant was,
therefore, given the same rights with
regard to the opium as were enjoyed
by Playfair, the original importer. The
rights of the defendant. it is claimed,
are therefore measured by the famous
decision of the United States Supreme
Court in the case of Leisy versus
Hardin, the gist of which is that the
right of transportation of an article
of commerce from one state to another
includes the right of the consignee to
sell it in the original unbroken pack.
age at the place where the transporta-
tion terminates.
The Principal Question.
The principal question to be decided
, in the case, therefore, is whether or
not the five-tael tin of opium in ques
tion is the original package. If it is,
then the territorial statutes can have
no application. Mr. DOuthitt claims
that it is an original package. Mr..
Milverton, on the other hand, claims
that the twenty-tin box was the oIigi-
nal package.
The defense relies upon Article 81
of the customs regulations of 1908,
which provides that each package of
opium must state on the outside the
size and weight of tho package, the
date of import, the name of the i'm
porter, the name of the vessel on which
it was imported, and the date of entry,
and must bear on its face n stamp
having on it the words, "customs
paid. - These stamps may be obtained
only through special requisition to the
Treasury department
All these regulations have been com
piled with in the case of the tin of
opium for the sale of which Lam Zip
Kee was arrested.
Mr.. Douthitt's lengthy brief goes
very fully into the subject and cites
every decision in the law books ap.
| plicable to the case.
Much Opium In Honolulu.
1t is known that there is great
amount of opium in the original five.
tael packages in Honolulu, If the Su.
preme Court holds that u fivetael tin
is not an original package, then it is
/ Illegal to sell these packages. But IL
, the decision is the other way, then
/ their sale is legal aud the efforts of
( he territorial authorities 10 suppress
/ the sale of opium In such quantities
must cease, The matter Is, therefore,
"A very important one, and several hun,
dred thousand dollars are involved.