The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-03-30
Is Asking Only What He Believes
Himself Entitled To, He
Tells Representatives
lru0M lE0Es INTO FULL DETAIL
or BOND TRANSACTION
Refuses To Go Anto Mud Sling
ing With the Treasurer Of
the Territory Now

James H. Coke, justice Of the SUI
preme court, appeared before the n
nance committee Of the house Of rep
resentatives yesterday afternoon and
indignantly denied the charge made be-
fore the same committee by Treasurer
@. J. Mccarthy. that, through House
Bin 3l5, the jurist was trying to col
lect money for services for which ne
had already been paid in full
Coke told the committee that he
would not enter into mud-slinging
contest with the territorial treasurer.
but he said that any imputation that
he was trying 70, get money from the
Territory to which he did not honestly
believe himself entitled was q deliber-
ate lie. lSa5 ~
The bill, as explained yesterday in
The Advertiser, appropriates 1850 for
the payment Of James l.. Coke for
services alleged to have been rendered
in Washington in connection with the
refunding of $1,750000 worth Of ter.
ritorial bonds, and the bin broadening
the powers of the territorial public
utilities commission. As segregated
by Coke, 5000 is payment for his SER.
vices in connection, with the bond re-
funding and $3.50 for his work in con-
ne"tion with the public utilities matter.
"I am not trying to get one cent to
which I do not honestly believe / am
ss.sVIed, UoKe told the committee yes
terday. eff the committee thinks i
am entitled to the full amount Of nv
claim, we'll and good. If il thinks /
. am entitled to only part of it, or If
it thinks have already been paid in
full; all right, That win be only a
difference of opinion. ~ H. ~, l.s,
Statement Of Judge a4c,..g IT,. 80,
z Coke Is statement to the committee
was marked by conservation and was
given without heat. He said he want
ed to explain the whole matter from
his standpoint. His statement, in its
essential parts follows: .4,a... % = "
''In regard to my services in con,
nection with the refunding Of the
bonds my connection with the matter
began abOut the middle of January,
1916. I was in Washington and Char
les r. Forbes, who was there then,
told me that he had been commissioned
to represent the Territory In, gstting
the refunding bill through. He said
that he had decided to 20 home and
asked me to stay and attend to the
matter. -5& D.. q, f.E,M ... g. .,
introduced BY Forbes '........... Al,
81 consented; and on January IS
he came to me and said he was leaving
Washington that afternoon and wanted
me to 90 with him to the Office of the
secretary of the interior so he could
introduce me and explain that was
to handle the refunding matter. We
went there and met Assistant Sec.
Rotary Myer, Myer said it would be all
right for me to handle the matter.
Forbes left that afternoon and the
next day i went back and had several
conferences over the matter. Finally
II was submitted to Secretary Lane
and the matter went through. ii
"In the meantime, had had no
direct authorization from Hawaii to
haldle the matter. 1t was necessary
to 60 to the President and get the issue
approved, and it occurred to me that
/ should have some direct authority,
so at my request Delegate Kuhio cabled
to the Governor on January "a asking
for authority for me TO act. At that
time l had already been working a
week on the matter. "a d
81 found there was still lot of
work to do, but on January 2S finally
got the. President s approval of the
papers. The papers went back TO the
interior department, and il was neces.
sary to get the approval of the secre,
tary of the treasury. I went TO the
treasury department and it took much
careful detail and hard work but on
" February s or o 1 got the treasury
department approval. Then ] had
to make up certificate copies for the
New York attorneys. St..
son January 81 I had received, a
cable from Honolulu to send to New
York a certified copy of the President 3
approval. ] went to New York and the
attorneys there told me that what they
wanted was certified copies of the en-.
tire record. j got them fixed up by
February II. On my return 10 Wash.
ington February IL, I wrote to Treasur-
or Mccarthy that had returned from
New York and told him that my work
in connection with the bonds was com
pleted. said was returning to Ho.
nolulu shortly and upon my arrival
would present him with my bill.
Mccarthy In Bad Humor e.
Son my return to Hawaii i saw Mr..
Mccarthy. found him in bad humor.
He started in by blaming Superinten.
dent Forbes for leaving Washington
before the bond matter was completed.
] told him had nothing to do with
that. Mr., Mccarthy asked me what
considered my services worth and ]
told him $1,000. He said they were
= &ottH nothing Of the kind. He made
much of the fact that the Governor q
cahlegram authorizing me to handle the
work was not sent until January "a
As a matter Of fact, had been work,
ing for more than a week before il
was sent and it never would have been
sent had / not asked Kuhio to cable
him to send me direct authorization 70
act, t, r., *.l,'#' ",..s
,nTreasurcr Mccarthy refused to pay
ma eln0O Ha fnld ma Ia hadf - a.. !,