Apache Axis not taking "final" parameters for webmethods?

Question

I tried java2wsdl a Webservice with Apache Axis 1.3/1.4 and implemented my Webmethod with final parameters like this:

public boolean myWebMethod(final String p1, final String p2, final String p3) {
    ...
}

When I tested the webservice with the build-in Webservice Test Explorer in my IBM RAD I always got an exception. I tracked it down to a very weird issue:

Only the first parameter got passed into the method, the other parameters were null. After removing the final keyword from the method signature the webservice worked like intended.

Anyone has more information on this issue? Is it a bug? Is it expected behavior? Is it something that IBM RAD does to my poor webservice? Or is it like a general rule: Don't use final in your webservice...?