The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-09-12
WATER
SCHEME
Continued from Page u

assented to the agreement although he
would have drawn it differently. After
the Ryan letter McClanahan and Wun- {
denberg refused to sign.
AS to the inducements held out by the
Gehrs to the Parker interest, Gehr said
TIE surveys were the only consideration
offered. McClanahan asked, however
if Jones did not state that a coalition
would prevent an auction of the privi- |
lege and several attempts were made to !
have him admit that the sense of the I
words used was a delivery of the goods
and the real basis of agreement Gehr |
denied categorically that an assurance /
was given that the privilege would not
be auctioned.
TALK OF OFFICIALS.
McClanahan had Gehr prove that Nc
Clanahan had asked Jones if a. certain
official was interested in the concern,
ana Mr.. Gehr said that at the time the
question was resented and assurances
given that no official was connected
with the plan. He said also that the
reference was to the Commissioner of
Public Lands or the Commissioner of
Public Works.
Gehr said that he first heard that
Parker was going to break the agree
ment while he was at Chicago about
November. McClanahan then led up to
Ia conversation between McCrosSon
and Gehr at Washington, and said that
meeting was for the purpose of keeping
the agreement. Gehr denied that he
stated that the basis of a new agree
ment should be the Parker agreement.
McClanahan tried to make it appear
that Ballou's statement before council
was made simply to facilitate consid-
Grafton of a license, but Gehr said Bal
lou had made the withdrawal of the
Parker application as the negotiations
for coalition were far advanced. He
said also that the Booth option alone
prevented agreement, which was to be
| transferred to the combination.
| AS to the Booth option, Gehr said
| that Booth had had some talk with Col.
Jones looking to giving the option to
! the Gehr company. AS to the statement
of E. S. Boyd at Washington, McClan-
ahan asked if Senator Thurston did not
prepare it and both Thurston and Boyd
denied this. Gehr said that the infor-
nation given away was when the maps
were shown at the council meeting and
afterwards at the office of the attor-
neys. He had, he said, evidences of the
work of party of seven engineers, at
the head of which was Nelson A. Sager
of Chicago, an engineer recommended
by high authority.
i Gehr said that at meeting at the
Bungalow Col. Parker said there should
be no fight and terms were considered.
IMcClanahan then said Gehr should
make the statement of values as he had
been in the mountains he knew more
about the values than they of the Par
ker side. There was q colloquy over
| the work to be done and Gehr maintain
ed that mis- work so far was valuable
but would not admit that he had no
other assets.
E. S. Boyd was called to the stand by
Mechanism and said he had some cor
| respondence, but the original applica-
tion of Parker and a letter attached
were mislaid. A letter from Boyd as
; secretary to J. F. Brown, acknowledg-
ing the receipt of the application and
asking for more information was read
and Boyd said the only map filed was
a map of Hawaii with an ink line of a
proposed ditch but no surveys.
He was asked for a series of letters
from the law firm addressed to Gov.
Dole, but Halves was missing and these
| could not be found. Gov. Dole's letter
opposing the legislation and criticizing
| the bill now in Congress was then Of
fered, as was letter signed by Secre-
tary Hitchcock transmitting Vandeven-
ter's opinion.
A letter dated Oct. 1, 1901, from Kin
ney, Ballou and Mechanism, addressed
ter recited the facts of the coalition at
tempts and the fact that Parker's ap-
plication was renewed and that the ne
gotiations were off, and there was no
prospective agreement. Mechanism
said that he thought there was no an
sWer.
BOYD WANTED RESTRICTIONS.
Boyd said he saw the original license
u,h oh OF ho q T1nrnUa1 nf thn
ner's council prior to May z, 1901, but
he materially changed it when he was
made commissioner. His objections to
the first license were that the two
bitches seemed out of place, but none
to its form, but there were restrictions
added later. He said the government
is opposed to the passage of the bill
now under consideration by Congress.
His objections were principally those
set forth in his statement to the COM
mittee.
Boyd said that under the opinion Of
the Deputy Attorney General the gov
eminent had the right to issue licenses.
He said the recommendation that Con-
gress pass laws giving the Territory the
right to grant licenses was not the po-
sition now as by the decision of the In
terror Department this was unneces-
sary.
| He said the government was very
anxious to have the ditch built with
proper restrictions. He said the gov
eminent would oppose special legisla-
ton even with every safeguard. He
said the attitude of the government
was that if there should be any legisla-
ton it should be general and not spe
cial. Boyd said he knew that Gov. Dole
had agreed with McCandless not to OPP
pose the bill, with restrictions, but the
changed conditions acted to change his
opinion.
/ AS to the Albany hotel meeting he
denied that he stated that if there was
a consolidation of interests he would
not put up the license at auction. AS
to the meeting he said McCrosson was
called into it to clear the air and thus
stop the throwing of insinuations
against the government. Asked as to
other leases he said the Hawaiian Com
mercial lease was made by another
government which was not responsible
to anyone. To Senator Mitchell he said
! he thought Gov. Dole heard of the Ry-
an reversal while at San Francisco.
On cross-examination Boyd replied to
the questions of Senator Thurston that
since the organization of the Territory
! only one license for diverting water was