Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 395, 23 February 1892 — OUR VIEW. [ARTICLE]

OUR VIEW.

Tiio 'faot be.iring oii uie qn«»t:on.J of wiuther a Notary •i$ an j "officer of the governnitrnl M w:tnin ihe meaning of e«ction 20 ofthe.. ! C.onBtitution, liee on tbe very sur-; face. If we take even the literai wording of th . :ction in its mo?t, r«Btricted sense, we find the w(r«is: salary or emolmnent /wm the gov-1 ernment as *he bar to an entrßnce : to tbe Legielature. I It may be truthfuliy eonleiuleei that a Xotary Public reaeives-.hif. fee» from fhe Puhlie and that the govērnment exerci«es no more eontrcl over a Notary or hi» emolu-' meut. than the Bupreme Court doeg over AttorneyB-at-law Both re*i oeive their fees from the publicj whom they eerve, and the "Kinu J ia Privy Councii" being .the eole appointing power, therefore, a Notary i% free of all control from the the govemment, &s such. Thi§was a wiae provigion of law, intenied to secure to the holder of so importaot t trutt t perleet freedom «id! independence from-the inAuenoe and control of any branch of thā Korernment. In thia impoHanl Ti«w oif the poaitfefi of a Koiary t it ia diffioalt to tksder«Und how tMr Hooora tho JndBMt » tho ftpinio& io cooid have daaaed 4k commM«kmerB to take aeknowl* meste H io the aame category» with HoUuHwe, aa far ae their le§ai etatoe )8 e(MieeraedL If we eoneider the ▼ery eenone inoonyenieace to whieh the public would be Bubjected by - the resignatKm of a Notarv, we may reaaonably conclude that the TiBgielatore nor the framerB of the conetitution ever inteoded the view taken bythe Judgee. \Vhat dispasition is to be made of the documeots whieh remain in Ihe 1 aion of the Notary after he hae beoome a member of the Legielature? le he to hand them over to eome oneelae? Who will be entitkd to reeeive the fee for inepeeUon or e>pying? Who ia to perform the datiee of 2fo4ary, in eneh dietricta ae Kohala or Hilo for inelanoe, dnring the interreenum between Ihe reeignation of the Notary and the appotatment of hie eocceeeor whieh. *< beoPn only be appointed by the Privy Oooneil; mev not Uke plaee for moaths. Where ie the law whieh hae auticipated »1! this. None, proviog t hat no aueh ehi .fting of Notariee wae ever coutempiM- ed in law. or equity. In Englind a Notarv ie «o indfpendent of the GovernmenU that the Government ean neither ap* point nor remo\e hiin. The Arch* hlehop of canterbury ie theappointin* pertoci in Ehgland and there ieoo ber in thet country to a memherof Parlment holding the tloo of NoUry.