The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-06-06
.LUMPS Hawaii
AND PORTO RICO
wrcKERsHAM SUGGESTION MEETS
WITH soANT FAVOR
HERE.

Inquiries made around town yester'
day tend TO the conclusion that there IS
much opposition to the suggestion Of
Attorncy.General Wiekersham to have
special legislation passed for Hawaii,
to meet the difficulty which has arisen
in regard to the Mahuka site hearing,
along the lines Of legislation intro.
duuced I'M congress for Porto Rico.
One very strong objection TO the
proposal is that Hawaii and Porto Rico
are different in their status and that
any approval here of special legislation
tending to place this Territory on the
same status as Porto Rico is repugnant
TO the feelings Of the people here.
1t is urged that any special legisla
tion of this kind would simply drive
Hawaii nearer and nearer to the posi-
tion Of a dependency and further and
further away from any possible chance
the Territory might have for statehood.
Felt to Be Unnecessary.
The legislation which, it is stated,
Acknowledgement Wickersham has sug-
gested, is felt to be unnecessary be-
cause of the fact that the federal judi
cial code of March 3 last, which win
90 into effect on the first day of next
year, makes Hawaii expressly a part
of the ninth circuit The provisions of
that code are ample to cover any case
of disqualification or absence of
Judge.
Hawaii is the only Territory thus pro.
vided for and this makes it all the more
evident that the Territory is not in the
class of Porto Rico As further argu-
ment against being dealt with in
similar way to Porto Rico it is called
to mind that Porto Rico always has
been until very recently, stranger
to the American legal and judicial sys-
TEN while that system has been de-
yeloped here for over sixty years.
As bearing upon this point it may
be mentioned that the celebrated Pro
fessOr Greenleaf, one of whose legal
works is still as standard as Blackstone,
conferred with the first chief Justice
of Hawaii and sought his advice on
points of law.
Would Be Derogatory.
Hawaii IS advanced condition as re-
CARDS her judicial system has been rec
ognized in other ways and it is CON
sidered that it would be derogatory to
reduce her to the status of Porto Rico,
particularly as the special legislation
suggested is only to meet a condition
which, in the nature of things, could
hardly arise more than once in gener-
alton. 1t is but very occasionally that
it would occur that one Judge would
be disabled and the other away, at one
and the same time.
In addition to all these reasons, the
circumstances, it is felt, do not warrant
special legislation for Hawaii of the
Porto Rico type. The sentiment in
! favor of change from the Mahuka
| location to the civic center is so pro.
nounced that it is expected that Mr..
Wickersham will swiftly take cogniz-
ance of it and will see that the
proposal recently credited to him of
following the Porto Rico example,
should not be seriously considered.
May Suspend Action.
The fact that a petition signed by
300 out of 5000 registered voters, urg-
ing the government to change the site
of the federal building from the Ma
huka location to Palace square, is
about to be sent to the secretary of
the treasury has been brought to the
attention of the attorney general. When
Mr. Wickersham learns of the existence
of this petition it is not improbable
that he will simply have all action sus
pended in the condemnation proceedings
pending the result of the action to be
taken on that petition when it reaches
| Washington.
Ii is considered to be very certain
that Mr.. Wickersham will be properly
impressed with the fact that none but
voters were permitted to sign the civic
center petition and that, included
among the 300 names, are those of a
large majority of the local leaders of
thought and activity
While it is the opinion of many that
the circumstances do not warrant the
special legislation proposed there is
also sentiment i'm opposition to the
suggestion that a Judge of the supreme
court Uf Hawaii might be appointed
by the Governor of the Territory to sit
in this particular ease.
Should BE Kept Distinct.
On this score tine opposition is chiefly
based upon the desire to keep the execu
tive and judicial departments as inde
pendent OF each other as possible, and
also because it is thought to be in the
best interests of the Territory that the
federal and territorial judiciary should
be kept quite distinct, The territorial
courts have their own lines of work, and
II is urged that they should, even in
the infrequent eases probable, not be
asked to take up the work of another
court with whose practise they are
necessarily, not familiar 1t can easily
be seen that, owing to the fact that
federal practise varies largely from
local practise, no judge of any other
court could take up "A federal case off
hand without serious disadvantage
Concerning the matter of special leg
islation, if any We're desirable-and III,
consensus OF opinion is against it-E
! NJ, Watson made suggestion to Fed
eral Judge Clemons yesterday which ha
attracted attention. He offered it a
q means whereby the appointment of
substitute Judge for Hawaii could b.
at once provided. lie proposed tina
congress should pass an act making eff
fective in Hawaii at once the new codi
fled judiciary act which is to come init
force on January !, 1912.
! In this way, he urged, there would b,
no need for Governor Frear TO appoin
a territorial Judge,
Simpler Proposal.
JuIUe iIautnus hiut..,lf l., ,,,,t for