The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-09-28
TO GET
HEAVY DAMAGES
. FOR CROP LOSS
Supreme Court Says County Of
-, Hawaii Must Pay For
Cane Fire
JURY AWARDED II.
PROPERTY OWNERS S1l,727
Counsel and Court Clerks eau
toned On Condition and
Preparation Of Records

The County Of Hawaii must pay TO
the, Halawa Plantation Company of
Kohala, Hawaii, damages in the sum of
81, 727.79, according to the decision
handed down in the case by the terri
torial supreme court yesterday, the de,
cision affirming the verdict of the jury
which heard the case tried before Cir
cult Judge Matthewman at Kailua,
Kona, Hawaii, some months ago.
In the original case the plantation
company claimed damages for the loss
of a large quantity of sugar cane, this
loss being occasiOned, the plaintiff al
legged, by fire negligently started by
county employees doing BAD repair work
near the property of the Halawa Plan
tation Company. ~ Il. Z. vi
The case was brought to the supreme
court on six alleged errors. The SUI
preme court sustains Judge Matthew.
man in all his rulings, holding that no
errors were committed by the presid-
ing judge. The errors alleged by the
defendant county were: That the court
erred in sustaining the demurrer in
overruling the motion for nonsuit; in
oyerrulng defendants motion for a
idirected verdict; in giving plaintiff' e
/, requests for certain instructions object
! cd to by the defendant; in failing to
/ instruct the jury upon the question Of
contributOry negligence, and in over
ruling DEFENDANTS motion for a new
trial. .H.,
Laxity in Condition of Records 8
The decision, written by Associate
Justice Quarles, is unanimous. The
supreme court takes occasion to rap
counsel and clerks of the circuit courts
for the condition of the records in this
case as they reached the higher trib-
pnal. 1t also gets after Judge Mat
thewman, who, failed To, endorse on
the requests for instructions those Civ
en- and those refused. g. ~. ...
| eve desire to call the attention of
counsel and of the clerks of the cir
cult courts to the rendition of the rec
ord in this case, and do so for the rea.
son that we, find "a growing Iaxity in
the preparation Of the records on appeal
to this court says the decision.
"There is in the record here much
that should be left out, the presence
of which is ineonvenient to this court
j For instance, there is lengthy briet
in the record which was presented t.
the trial court upon the hearing of the
demurrer, which has no more place
in the record here than would a Asten
ographic report of the arguments Of
counsel I'VE -+ r..
"We find a copy of motion t.
set the case for trial, together will
the cover and all endorsements thereon
in the record There are literal copie
of five subpoenas, one of them dace
tecuum consisting of three pages, will
the covers and return of the office
serving same, the five covering twenty
one pages and swelling the transcript
beyond what it should be in size.
Much Unnecessary Literature
"To each of these unnecessary docu
ments the clerk has appended a fOrma
certificate of its correctness as a copy
and has appended such certificate to eacI
pleading, motion, the verdict, judge
ment, etc, so that we find in the rec
ord nineteen certificates by the cler
authentieating copies, whereas one a
the end of the transcript authenticat
ing them, naming each in the order /
which it is found in the record, wOnl
/ be sufficient and would make the recor
shorter and more convenient.
N"The trial court did not endorse o
the requests for instructions handed i
by the respective parties those give
and those refused, nos did it show whic
!, were given in part and refused in par
. or the modification Of any given, as II
h duired by Section 2439, Revised Law
, which statute seems to have been Is
4 nored in this case.
Q "The only way in which this cour
is enabled 10 ascertain whether r.
quested instruction was given or nj
is by comparing it with the charge gi'
en- by the court and then examinin
the clerks minutes to see whether sue
request was presented and whether 81
en- or refused. IT
D." Compliance with the statute r
ferred to would save this court cOnsi,
erable labor and Inconvenience