The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1905-09-18
QUEEN STREET RAILS !
CAUSING TROUBLE
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circulation, it received the signatures
of all the owners and hence it became
the duty of the Supervisors of Oahu to
see that the wishes of constituents
were consulted.
Supervisor Lucas took the matter up
with characteristic energy and then the
row was on.
AS long ago as November Is Of last
year, the -.ttorney Generals Depart
ment was asked by the Superintendent
of Public Works for nopinion on the
question of the right of the Rapid
Transit people to allow their tracks to
remain on Queen street when they were
running no cars there. The Attorney
Generals guarded reply was to the eff
feet that he believed that under the
general provisions of the charter, the
Rapid Transit could not maintain a
public or private nuisance, though this
of course let it up to somebody to prove
that the tracks as they existed, were
a public or private nuisance.
Then came County government and
the County assumed the contEol of
streets and roads which was previous
Public Works The companys charter,
of course, knows no such body as the
Supervisors of the County of Oahu. for
the excellent reason that no such body
existed when the charter was granted.
but an amicable arrangement was
tacitly agreed upon by which the Coun-
tvs wishes should be submitted
through the Superintendent of Public
Works.
The Supervisors went ahead with the
improvement of Queen street, but ever
this impeachment of the Rapid Transit's
unused rails came in the way of the
plans and this led to a communication
being addressed to the Rapid Transit
on the subject.
The Rapid Transit's reply was to the
effect that it had done its share in
= keeping Queen street in repair and
that it had received no notification
from the Superintendent of Public
} Works.
, Here the Rapid Transit stuck to the
, letter of the law which says that re-
; pairs when ordered by the Superin-
/ tendent of Public Works in writing"
) must be made within ten days.
So the Supervisors took the matter
= Works with the result that a letter of
} the following tenor was sent to the
! Rapid Transit people on the 18th inst.
I by the Superintendent of Public Works
, 81 have been advised by the Super
visors for the County of Oahu that they
p have written to you in regard to the
r matchmaking of Queen street, request
p ing that you bear your share of the ex-
Ia, s,s,-r AI.
7 vided for i'm your FRANCHISE. Your reply
under date of September addressed to
d. Kalauokalani, Clerk of the County
, has also been referred to me
While you have had no direct in
structions from the Superintendent of
q Public Works to repair the portion of
: the road between your tracks and ex-
I tending one foot on each side, it seems
to me that such request from the
= Supervisors should be sufficient.
2 by provision of the County Act, the
| repairs of roads are now directly I'M
7 der supervision of the county officials
l would ask that you either submit to
the Supervisors or myself a proposition
to place that portion of the road oc-
cupied by your tracks i'm the same con-
dition as the remainder of the street
or agree to have this work done by the
, county the expense to be borne by
your company.
f 1T is about time that a final deter
l mnation was reached as to what you
: are able to do under the terms of your
franchise. 1t is absurd to say that
the surface of the street between the
2 car tracks was in good condition at the
time work was started on the other
portion of the road by the Supervisors.
Il believe your suggestion that the
road committee of the county confer
with you when improvements are to
a be made on streets on which your
tracks are laid is wise one, but j
! cannot see how the failure of the
supervisors to notify you of the pro-
posed work on Queen street releases
you from any liability.
Il would appreciate it if you would
advise me at your early convenience
whether the stand taken with the coun-
| ~ supervisors is also to be observed
with the Superintendent of Public
Works"
Up to noon today no reply had been
received by the department, but l..
= Tenney Peck, president of the Rapid
Transit, stated to The Star that a re-
. ply had been prepared and was doubt
less in course of delivery.
j I'm the first place" said President
Peck, lit must not be imagined for a
e moment that the Rapid Transit is
abandoning Queen street. We are, in
e point of fact, contracting with the
Union Oil Company of San Francisco,
d for the erection of a standpipe for the
J. delivery of crude oil for fuel purposes
near the Hackfeld wharf, direct from
the oil vessels. With the construction
of a switch we will run our oil cars up
to the pipe ana thence, using the tracks
o now on Queen street, will deliver the
\ oil where required Our charter gives
us specific rights to use our power fol-
"al of the purposes of railway traffic
whether in the transportation of pas
. sengers, mail, freight or otherwise So