The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-01-19
Can Government Do More With
Wharf Than Railroad?
Mr.. DILLINGHAM; WRITES AGAIN
What are the Desires of the People =?
Quotations From Original
Railroad Acts.

MIR. EDITOR:-The Star last even
ing reports an interview with Attorney
General Smith, reproduced below, out
lining the Government policy in re-
ference to the ownership of the
wharves of Honolulu harbor, which
was evidently called out by my letter
ing.
The interview is worthy of note.
1t clearly confesses what l have charg
ed, namely, that the Government is
out to confscate the wharfage business
of the Oahu Railway & Land Co. rath-
er than it's wharves. He says in re-
ference to the new wharf: "The plans
of the new wharf now in the course of
construction call for continuous dock
of 900 feet. This will answer all needs
for the present When the time comes
that more room is needed for docking,
then slips can be easily cut into the
long wharf now being built" In other
words, the Government can easily"
so the Attorney General can easily"
make more wharf room whenever it
chooses to without disturbing the
wharf used by the Railroad Co. Then,
Mr.. Smith, if you can-tO use your
own Words-easily secure more wharf
room on land now in possession of the
Government and unused, why, in the
name of common honesty, do you find
it necessary to confiscate the wharf
used by the Railway? Why confscate
our wharf, and at the same time fill
in land that can-tO use your language
again-be easily made into wharveS?
If you must drive the Railroad Co.
out of it's wharf, will you not let us
utilize this area which ''can easily be
made into WharVes whenever you want
tor What is there that impels the
Government to fill in tide lands that
you say can easily be made into
Wharves, rather than let the Railroad
Co. Or some one else utilize it for
wharves? Why is it that the Govern
ment, with one hand, is destroying
and abandoning wharfage area of it's
own and, with the other hand, confis
eating the railroad wharf? Is it not
fact, Mr.. Smith, that the Railroad Co.
is charging just the same wharfage
dues as the Government, and that this
confiscation simply means that the
Government wishes to make the profit
that the Railroad is now making from
it's wharf? You do not deny, Mr.. Smith,
do you, that the Railroad wharf is
being used all the time in loading and
unloading the freights of the different
enterprises built up along the Oahu
Railway? If the Government takes this
wharf you can do no more with it in
this respect to the advantage of trade
and commerce than we are doing, can
you? The Railroad is taxing the wharf
to it's utmost capacity now, is it not?
Can you do any better than that?
It is charging no more than the Gov
ernment is charging, and we are driven
back to the conviction that the Gov
ernment covets the profit that the Rail-
road Co. is making out of the business
it handles at that wharf and covets it
none the less because that business
was created by the Railroad itself.
We admit that the scheme of the Gov
ernment in taking this wharf, or rath-
er the profits of this wharf is justified
on broader grounds than those taken
by Ahab when he coveted Naboth S
vineyard. The Attorney General tells
| us that the Government cOvets this
| vineyard for the benefit of the peo-
| pie In this connection we suggest tC
the learned Attorney General that the
people covet other things besides
| wharves; that the people as such are
| covetous of the honor, good faith, good
name and credit Of the Government
and while they may not object to TAX.
ing away this wharf from the Rail
road, if it can be fairly and properly
done, they will object to anything tina
savors in the slightest degree of un
fair dealing or reputation on the par
| Of the Government towards any on,
of its citizens, or anyone in fact LIE
me recite TO you, Mr.. Attorney General
the pledges of the Government mad
to this Railroad, and recommend then
to your consideration: By the laws O
1878, the Government, under the Mon
archy, granted to railway corporations
"the right to make jetties, wharves
warehouses" etc. And by the Law
of 1888 in an Act passed to permit tn
organization Of this very Railroad, tn
Legislature, of which you were a mem
Der, authorized the Cabinet, by con