The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-06-09
City Purchasing Agents Former
Assistant Fails To Impress
the Supervisors
ACCUSATIONS INVOLVE
AFFAIRS OF PEANUT SIZE
Hot Counter AIIegations-Short
Ugly Word Is Passed In Course
Of Committee Session

City Purchasing Agent II. f. Wcscott
went through the special investigation
ordered by the board of supervisors and
held last night by special committee,
with flying colors, as far as the Ctaft
charges were concerned. In fact thew
appeared 30 trivial and appearances of
Irregularities were so thoroughly ex.
! planned, that the sentiment of the com
mittee appeared to be well expressed by
an INTERCEPTED remark of the learned and
dignifed former justice, Supervisor
1 Hatch, who, on hearing one item of the
charges as explained by the man max.
ing the charges, exclaimed; peanuts!
The charges were brought by James
X. Hakuole, whom Wescott recently dis
charged as assistant in the purchasing
bureau. The committee of investigation
consisted of Daniel Logan chairman.
F.,M. Hatch and b. F. Hollinger.
Nature Of Charges
| fhe charges as to graft involved sew.
eral orders of coal and of peanuts, the
latter for the public baths, at prices
which Hakuole claimed were more than
it was necessary to pay and under cir
| SuhtidAN ~ lHt pTONlSlOUS
of the law regarding the calling of bids
for supplies. Another charge was that
! Wescott had on various occasions used
improper language through the tcle-
phone in conversation with young wo-
men clerks of the firms with which the
bureau has dealings.
As TO the graft charges, the commit
tee needed no time to decide. On the
ut hnR
| no evidence to 90 upon except the state
ment of Hakuole on the one hand and
WescOtt on the other. It was decided to
defer n final ruling in order to give
Hakuole time to present evidence other
! than his own statements, of the truth Of
his charges
His Fight Intellectual
Hakuole appeared in his own behalf
aud made a game but evidently inoffcrt
ual fight. Chairman Logan opempd-thr
proceedings by teading the first charge,
which dealt. with a purchase Of coal ut
$l4 per ton when he thought it should
have been $l3. The difference appear
ed to simmer down to "a matter of DIFF
ference in hauling, and after n bit of
discussion by HakuOle and WrscOtt
Hatch somewhat impatiently remarked
that it was time to ego to the noAt
item"
The next item proved to be Of the
same nature, though there was qurs.
| ton Of the price of coal bags involved.
In both cases the orders were 50 small
five ton and six ton amounts. that H."
graft lccway seemed ridiculous. which
may have been the occasion Of Hatch :
| sudden anticipation of the next item '
| the remark" pcanuts!"
Peanut Charges Punctured
Soon after, the peanut proposition
really came up. The supervisors show
cd some Impotence when HakuOlc
| quoted law to show that it was illegal
| for Wcscott to change his source of
peanut supply for the public baths, pay
ing total Of fifty cents an order in
crease on three orders a month, with
out consulting the board. But Hakuolr
! had law to prove that it couldn't be
done.
| His legal balloon appeared to be sud
| denly punCturcd when Logan quietly
| asked whether there was any contract
| FOR peanuts, and was told that there
was not. WescOtt claimed to have used
his discretion, in order to get the best
| quality, and he said that, just as two
or three times a month he had allow
ed the city to be soaked fifty cents
extra on the peanut order that supplies
the anxious taxpayers who enjoy the
| public baths, he constantly used diScre
ton in much larger matters. With
| Supervisors Arnold and Larsen earnest
| ly urging the committee, by signs, to
| quit the investigation and let the rcgu-
lar meeting of the board start, this
| faa - ha inn HPnn.
ped!
Evidence Lacking
Hakuole repeated some language
which he said Wescott had used over
the phone to young ladies who were
clerks of various firms. Hatch rather
sharply rebuked him for not having evi-
dence to substan initiate his statements.
Wescott simply replied to the charge
by rising alongside of IIakuOle and
saying that his statement was "dirty
contemplate lie"
Wescott proceeded to offer evidence
of his right to discharge Hakuole for
incompetence. The documents he fired
| at the committee made such an over
| whclming showing that the committee
interrupted to say it didn't want to
hear any more. Hukuolc admitted the
impeachment, which he seemed to think
was IA very soft one, and he went on
to say that the mistakes in the dOcu-
ments shown were in spelling, that
WescOtt couldn't spell either, and then,
as if to clinch the argument that Eng.
fish didn't matter, he declared that
former United States Attorney General
Wickersham, in an address in Honolulu,
had made mistakes in grammar.
The committee will meet again, if
Hakuolc has any evidence to substan-
tiate the charge of use of wrong Ian.
guago over the telephone.
Electric smelling and refining nrr
goi1 IA Irnlura gtnaI mara