The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-05-04
REPORT ON RAILROAD WHARF
MEASURE.
Committee Favor Indefinite Postpone
Wines Passes Senate-The House.

The following gentlemen were elect
ed members of the Council of State
I this morning by the Senate: Cecil
Brown, Z. c. Jones, John Ena, C.
Bolte, Mark Robinson.
Preceding the election the follow
ing nominations were made:
By Senator McCandless: Senators
Brown and Wilder, p. c. Jones, J. A.
Kennedy, C. Bolte.
BY Senator Holstein: Senator'S
Brown, Wilder, McCandless, Wright
and Waterhouse.
BY Senator Schmidt: j. B. Ather-
! ton.
BY Senator Waterhouse: Mark Rob-
inson and John Ena.
BY Senator Hooking: George Car
ter and J. +. Hackfeld.
Senators Wilder, McCandless, Water
house and Wright all declined to run.
One ballot was taken with the result
above stated.
Senator Baldwin read committee
report this morning in regard to the
bill introduced on behalf of the Oahu
Railway and Land Company. The re-
port recommends that Bill No. Is be
laid upon the table. The report reads:
Honolulu, May 3, 1898.
Hon. w. c. Wilder, President of the
Senate.
sir: y Special Committee, to
whom " eferred Bill No. Is, euti-
tied. g Act to provide the Oahu
Railw y and Land Company with land
for wharves in Honolulu harbor," beg
leave to report that we have had the
same under careful consideration.
The object of this bill is to direct
the Minister of the Interior to convey
in fee simple, at an appraised valua-
tion, to the said Oahu Railway and
Land Company, for wharf purposes, Il
long narrow strip of water frontage
bordering on the land owned by said
Railway Company, on the Eva side
minus of their railroad and where
their wharf is located.
suit is now pending in the courts
between the Minister of the Interior
and the said Railway Company rela-
tive to this same strip of water from
tage, but as your committee under
stand it, the attorneys for the Rail
way Company, fearing lest they may
lose the case in the courts, have had
this bill introduced in the Legislature,
providing as stated above that the
Minister of the Interior shall deed
the water frontage in question to the
Railway Company at an appraised
valuation.
The equity suit now pending be-
tween the Minister of the Interior
and the Oahu Railway Company may
be stated more fully as follows: The
suit is brought to obtain an injunc-
: tion against the Oahu Railway and
Land Company proceeding with con-
, demnation proceedings for securing
5 the fee in said harbor frontage which
was leased by the Minister of the In.
: terror to the Railway Company in
1890, with the agreement in the lease
that the Minister of Interior can take
back the leased land on ninety days
notice and payment of actual cost OF
| improvements made by the Company
The Government has rested its
claim in this case on the right giver
to the Minister of the Interior by thi;
agreement, and that the Government
has the right to take the property fol
public wharves, and that such public
use is superior to that proposed by
the railway company.
The railway company, on the othel
hand, claim that its wharf plan pre-
: sents superior public advantages ovel
that of the Government.
Whether the Railway Company hai
legally acquired, or can legally ac
: luire, the owership of the harboJ
= property in question is the issue ii
the case.
In regard to the question as tc
whether the Legislature should talk
S up and decide questions of this mature
/ your Committee are of the opinion
that all cases which can be set
tied by the court should be left fo
U the court to settle. This has beer
l the position that has usually (thougl
v not always) been taken by the Leg
islature in the past.
AS legislators, We We're elected T.
pass appropriations and make law
!. for the country, but not to eXecut
the laws or to sit as court of equl