The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-03-18

The salary of the county clerk of
Oahu was fixed at $500
County clerk of Hawaii. $1,000
Paris made a protest at this point
against cutting salaries which he
claimed would lesult in setting in cheap
men. Then the cutting went on as
follows:
County Clerk OF Maui, 1920.
County Clerk of Kauai, $1,000.
Auditor of Oahu, $500.
Auditor of Hawaii, $500
Auditor of Maui, $500
Auditor of Kauai $500.
County Attorney of Oahu, s24OO.
County Attorney of Hawaii s24O0.
County Attorney of Maui, $500
County Attorney of Kauai. $780,
WANTS NO ASSESSORS.
When it came to fixing salaries Of
assessors, Dickey said that he did not
want any county assessors at all. He
would favor letting all taxes be COL
lected by the Territory, the counties
receiving their pro rata. The assessors
We're passed, therefore. and the whole
matter of the assessing and collecting
of taxes went to the Judiciary Com
mittee.
The salary of the Treasurer of Oahu
was fixed at $1,000 and there was no
more trouble until Paris made a pro-
test against cutting the salaries of
other County Treasurers, saying that
cheap pay would only get cheap men.
and that county government would in
evitably mean higher taxes.
NO HIGHER TAXES.
and if 1 thought county govern
ment would mean more taxes l would
vote against it, said McCandless.
I'VE are paying taxes enough now"
He proceeded to argue for the reduc-
ton. Paris held firmly for his conten-
ton and Achi supported McCandless,
saying chat if taxes We're doubled it
would cost $44 a year for a man to
live in Hawaii, which was more than
any other place in the world. 1t would
drive people away. If we were to have
county government, honestly and sim
cerely given, We must make the coun-
ty appropriation according to the in
come. If that were not done, the coun-
ty law would fall to pieces.
Gandall spoke in Hawaiian, in favor
of the policy of salary reduction in
the interest of the success of county
government. He favored putting the
fixing of salaries into the hands of the
County Supervisors.
Then the salaries of County Treas
urers, outside of Oahu, We're fixed as
follows:
Treasurer of Hawaii, $500.
Treasurer of Maui, $500.
Treasurer of Kauai, $780,
When it came to fixing the sala-
ry of Deputy Sheriff of Oahu, Achi
moved that the whole matter of fixing
salaries for deputies be put into the
hands of supervisors
CALLS IT GRAFT.
Paris opposed this, and Bishop ia
vored it, saying that when you organ
lied county government with a lot of
fat salaries for subsidiary officers it
was not county government. it was
graft. This Territory is not ready and
never will be ready for county govern
ment until the people will show them
selves willing to serve the public for
the public good
And that" he said, lis the extent
of my so-called opposition to county
government. I do not know how far
we are personally pledged, but 1 do
know that we all sailed under the
banner of the Republican party, and
that we We're pledged by it's platform.
But, when / came into this Senate 1
took an oath to do my duty according
to my best judgment and l will not
sacrifice my judgment of what is best
for the Territory to any clamor. If We
are to have county government, We
must cut these salaries to the bone
The Achi motion was lost, and then
the salaries of Deputy Sheriffs of Ca
hu were fixed as follows:
COUNTY OF OAHU.
Deputy Sheriff, Honolulu, $500
Deputy Sheriff, Eva, 5000.
Deputy Sheriff, Waialua, $500.
Deputy Sheriff, Koolauloa, $500.
Deputy Sheriff, Koolaupoko, $780,
After salaries had been fixed thus
for Oahu deputies, those in Hawaii
were taken up and Achi moved that
the matter of the salary of a Deputy
Sheriff for South Hilo be stricken out,
because. under section of the act al
ready passed, each county was a cor
porate body and nobody outside the
people of that county had power to fix
salaries of the officers of the corporation,
In answer to a question from Paris,
Achi said he did not care how smart
the lawyers were who had drawn the
county act. A mistake had been made
in trusting to able lawyers, once before,
and that was the biggest mistake ever
made. He insisted, all the same, that
in his view the law was wrong.
Nobody seconded Achi's motion, and
then Dickey moved that the salaries of
all officers below principals shall be
fixed by Boards of Supervisors, but
not more than is fixed in the bill.
Dowsett opposed this, believing that
the counties would have. as Achi said,
corporate rights that should not be in
truded upon. The Dickey motion was
beaten.
At this point the Senate took re-
cess to witness the police riot drill,
and a few minutes later adjourned