The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-06-25

The ethics of blind mg2ery took up
most of the time of the board of H.
cense commissioners at their two hear
ings yesterday.
Rosa Il Co, Wholesale liquor dealers,
have been selling to blind pigs at Ka.
huku. II is not illegal for whole
saler to sell to a blind pig; it is not
even against the order of the board;
but to keep false books and to connive
with Illicit dealers at violation of the
law is against the order Of the board,
and that is the charge against Rosa &
Company.
The case, as it was unfolded, grew
to embrace the whole subject of sell
ing to plantation storekeepers, head
meu, and agents. E. c. Peters, attOr
ney for Rosa & Company, admitted,
after the evidence was all in, that the
present practise is loose.
loose Practises Condemned
at opens the way he said, "to in
ordinate purchases by individuals, or to
commission of fraud upon the public
and the board But he argued that
his client should not be singled out for
loss Of his license, merely because he
had fallen into the accepted way q. do
Manuel Calhao, manager and treas
urer Of Rosa & Company, represented
tho firm before the board and was de.
fended by Mr.. Peters. Calhao was con
frlnted by three witnesses-a Chinese,
n Portuguese and a Porto Rican-all
of whom testified to substantially the
same conditions.
All of them had done business with
Rosa & Company under long string of
aliases, as well as under their own
names. Calhoa admitted it.
Blind Pigs Had Ears
The witnesses-Lau Chong, Santiago
Maldanado and Manuel Rodriguez
wore that Calhao had warned them
that they were buying in quantities
that were bound to excite the suspicion
of the license inspector, and had sug-
geSted to them that they adopt the ruse
of buying under other names.
Calhao swore that he had done no
ruch thing The witnesses, he said,
were agents of the firm, or "boosters. "
Sometimes they were buying, he sup,
posed, for their personal consumption
sometimes for their friends, who had
give them the orders. He never sug.
rcsted the use Of aliases or furnished
the names for them. He merely ex,
'ruted the ORDERS as they came in to
him, sometimes over the telephone
,ometimes by mail, and made out the
way bills and shipping bills to the
names given. The accounts he Jumped
under the agent 5 name for the con
venience Of bookkeepingand in order tC
facilitate his monthly collections.
Ptid Federal Licenses
In the course Of the questions put by
Clarence II. Olson, attorney for the
LOard, it was brought out that, although
Cnlhao contended he did not know he
was dealing with blind pigs, he had
Int up the money with which two OF
them-Maldanado and Rodriguez-toob
out their federal licenses, to safeguard
themselves against prosecution by the
United States government, Rodriguel
was caught. convicted and fined fifty
dollars. Calhao lent him the money Il
pav the fine.
All the witnesses denied that they
had been acting as agents. CalhaC
omitted that they received no salaries
md that he paid them no commissions
ON their orders delivered to them il
other names, but posted to their ac
counts in his ledger,
ITpropriety Admitted
THAT" said Attorney Peters, "i
'he improperly of the situation. l be
rrve it is bad practice. CalhaC
should quit it,"
Rodriguez has been doing a big bust
ness for a year. He was almost caugh
Ivy Inspector Fennell, but slipped
Trough the clutches of the law. Calha'
lnew THAT he had been under suspicion
~ b"d sold to him, he testified, sine,
that time.
an Ghong was caught convicted AM
""ed $l0l. Since that time he has no
lecn selling.
Mr. Peters devoted his time to an at
tempt to impeach the witnesses. Hi
'"oss examination brought him rathe
disappointing results. All three wit
ucsses came out more emphatically tina
ever to the effect that Calhao had sug
rcsted to them the plan of buying unde
cover!
He Fix 1t Up
He fix it up; he put it down;
never tell him" testified the Chinese
A ftnr cOuDaaI had 1nna With tho ,Ut