The Hawaiian gazette., 1913-11-07
NOTARIES PUBLIC
ARE LOSING JOBS
Nearly Fifty Commissions on Ca
hu Cancelled in Few Days by
Attorney General Thayer.

IIouse.eleaning among the ranks Of
the large official family of territorial
notaries public has already advanced
TO stage where the work begins TO
show good results, according to n state
ment made by Attorney General W..
w. Thgyer yesterday morning.
Seventy seven commissions have al
ready been cancelled by the attorney
general and probably Us many more
win le cancelled in a few days. 1t is
Attorney General Thaycr's porposc 10
reduce The total number of notarios
public in the Territory from 400 to $50
and even under $50 ii possible.
On the Island Of Oahu, including llo
aolulu, there were 1913 duly commis-
sioned notar!es, but this number has
now been reduced TO ninety.soVcn. For
ty-siX commissions Were. cancelled dur
ing the week by the attorney general
On the Island of Hawaii tScHty.siX
commissions have been cancelled to
late. t&eivc in West Hawaii, called the
thild judicial circuit, and fourteen in
East Hawaii, the cOurth circuit. la
,hese two circuits many more notaries
will have their commissions cancelled
within few days, the attorney gen
tral awaiting only a Gual report from
he county treasurer of Hawaii to do
| his.
Maui, including Molokai, and Kauai
are to be heard from also by the at
torney general and it is likely that be
| sides the four commissions already can
celed this week on Mani and Molokai,
at least twenty-five others will he can
celled as soon as the Maui county
| treasurer reports Kauai has had only
one commission cancelled so far, but
there is every probability that seven
Others will 90 the same way.
Many Commissions Surrendered.
| During the week many notarial com
missions and books of record have been
surrendered to the attorney general and
others are expected to come in mt a
fair rate of speed for the next week OF
so. Under the law these records are
to be preserved as public documents. r
Many of the commissions cancelled
so far are of notaries who are either
dead, have moved from one iudicia
district to another or have left the Ter
ritory, and have no intention of re
turning In most of the other case
the commissions have been cancelled
because the notaries have failed to pa,
the required five-dOllar annual fee, plu
the lifty-cent territorial stamp duty
Under law passed by the last legis
latuTe no notary shall be given a licens,
until he has paid all taxes and oihe
contributions due by him to the Terri
tory or any of its subdivisions.
The non-payment of such arrears o
even the notarial animal license fe
itself does not, however, invalidate tn
powers of notary while commission
remains lmeancelled, alkwork executes
by such notary being deemed legal ant
valid. The attorney general has how
ever, the right to cancel any commission
AT pleasure as these commissions ar
granted for no specific term and ar
revocable at pleasure by the attorne
general.
Present Laws Are Lax.
The present laws governing this i'm
portant department of the territorial
government seem lax in many particu
lars and are badly in need of amend
mcnt, it is claimed. 1t is expected tina
the legislature during the coming regr
lar session of 1915 will take the matte
up fully and pass more up.to.datc law
! which will better regulate notaTies pnt
= lie and the business carried on by then
5 There seems to have been altogcthe
too large number of commission
granted in past years, the total nun
Der being in excess of 400. Even r,
duced to $50, it is claimed this numbe
is altogether far in excess Of the r,
quirements and the legislature ma
stipulate limited number of notarit
) to each judicial circuit of the TER
!, tory.
: Ia regard to the fling of notarii
{ records with the proper division of tf
government it is also felt that the la
is badly in need of betterment and IL
: legislature may require that notari'
! file full and complete reports of the
! work at stated intervals, say, quarterl
or semi.annually.