The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-05-15
FIELD REPORT
NAY NOT Be
ADOPTED
Indications Point to Widening
Of the Breach Bstwesn Big ISL
and Graft Commissioners and
Their Auditor Final Meeting
Is Held at Hilo and Findings Of
Investigators May Soon Be
Made Public,

Mail Special to The Advertiser.)
HILo, May 1.-THE breach between
the graft commissioners and their audi
tor, II. Gooding Field, is evidently wild;
ening. The commissioners are not com
ing ont with any criticisms Of Field, but
there is every indication that they win
when they make their final report and
the hearings Of the past week indicate
that they win go so far as to utterly
repudiate some of his statements. In
fact, he stands accused Of failure prop
erly to Investigate the facts before
making some Of his statements.
The criticisms made by Field Of the
Hilo Mercantile Company, the publiea-
ton of an unsigned warrant cashed by
the Bank of Hilo, and the alleged fact
that large part of his report was ta-
ken from an Eastern work on municipal
government, without being credited. are
the most direct cases in which it seems
likely that the commission will disap-
prove Field s acts and opinions. AS for
the first, il was stated after the testi-
mony of Manager T.. +. Nichols of the
Hilo Mercantile Company, and his for
mer bookkeeper, that the Field aecusa-
tions against that company had been
completely disproved. Mr.. Nichols
stated that Field had made statements
which could have been shown to be
wrong by an examination of his com
papy's books, and that Field had not
taken the trouble TO call and examine
them.
The publication, it is supposed by
Field, of facsimile Of a warrant, I'M
signed but cnshed by the Bank Of Hilo,
was characterized IN Manager Harry
Patterns testimony as grossly unfair.
He told tho commission he had handled
about 100000 warrants during the pc
Rod covered by the investigation, some
times handling hundreds in n day, and
that this was the only one Of the kind
TO "get by He said it was very UNI
fair TO publish il rs a sample warrant.
Here, again, the commission is in quite
evident disagreement with Field.
Commission Embarrassed.
As to the quoted matter, one Of the
commission, with naive sarcasm, put il
about as follows:
1T is embarrassing to the commission
to find that Mr. Field clipped without
giving credit, oil this material. 1t is
from book by Bruere, and have a
copy which i have been studying. ]
wanted to quote Bruero myself, giving
credit Of course and using some Of the
passages Field used. If do IL now,
il will look like making slap at
Field.p
The answers as they might be
called, to the various charges made by
Gooding Field in his published sum
mary of his findings, against individuals
and firms, are given in brief as follows:
Carl II. Carlsnith, accused of cashing
an assigned warrant fofty-0ne days
prior to its authorization by tho board
Of supervisors testified that he eashcd
the warrant on being told by the clerk
Of the board that il had been passed.
Later, said the attorney, it was discov-
cred that the clerk had failed to make
any mention of the matter in the min,
utes Of the meeting at which the
$8,425.22 warrant had been approved
At the request of the board, in order
TO make the record clear, he later made
resolution to pay it was passed, long
after II had been paid. 1t was due to
the clerks error in the first place, the
attorney testified, that the records ex-
amined by Mr.. Field seemed TO show
the warrant TO have been cashed before
tine board authorized il
Other Features Explained.
In the eases Of the Hilo Mercantile
Company and the Volcano Stables COM
pany, Mr.. Fields figures in some parts
of his report were simply declared, on a
re-exaniinatiOn of the books Of the
county 10 be incorrect. In others Man.
ager Wright of the stables company and
Nichols of the mercantile company were
called upon for explanations.
In the eases Of the Volcano Stables
Company and the IIilo Mercantile Com.
pany, the charge that county warrants
payable to the concerns mentioned wkre
credited on the books 70 the personal
account of member of the board OF
supervisors was answered by saying
that the member in question ordered
supplies both for himself andt for tho
board, and that the two accounts were
at times held open. The member in
p H'fNoRDA lhfiHlNho w hdNt uttl " con
tractor, doing quite q large business, In
both cases, according to the managers
Of the concerns, Cooling Field accepted
inaccurate reports. Mr., Nichols stated
that Mr.. Field had not taken the
trouble TO examine his books, but had
acted upon an incomplete report, made
while Nichols was absent, and not GOV.
ering the whole ground. sr
Sheriff Sam Pua was called upon for
an explanation Of an item Of $T5, eTi.
ticized as used without any vouchers
and simply noted as expenses. Pua
said il had been advanced TO him, ac,
cOrding to custom, as a sort Of ere,
volving fund, I" when he was started on
an extensive trip across the island,
with the understanding that he produce
accounts later He said he had later
turned some of il hack as unexpended,
and at the request of the commission