The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-08-16
ANNUAL REPORT ON
WORK OF CHAMBER
f. J. LOwREY MAKES
HIS ANNUAL REPORT AND RE-
VIEWS WORK OF CHAMBER.

the retiring president of the Chamber
of Commerce, f. j. Lowrey. 1t re-
views the work of the Chamber dur
ing the past year:
To the Members of the Honolulu
Chamber of Commerce.
Gentlemen: AS another year in the
life of the association is brought to
a close it becomes my duty under the
bylaws to review the doings of the
past year and to make suggestions
looking to furthering the interests of
the Chamber, and in conformity there
with l beg to submit the following:
Under the present order of things
the business of the Chamber is prac-
| tiCally all done by the trustees, the
meetings of the Chamber being to re-
ceive the reports of the trustees as to
what they have done from time to
time. While probably in some respects
it is better that a few members should
transact the business of the associa-
ton it will be unfortunate if this
method results in the loss of interest
on the part of the general member
ship. The present trustees have urged
upon members that they bring to the
attention of the board matters which
they think should be considered but
there has been a poor response 1t
was thought by some that if meetings
of the Chamber were held more often it
would be better and during the war
the bylaws have been changed so that
now they are held every two months
/ instead of quarterly as before
! The trustees have had many meet
ings both regular and special and they
/ have been well attended
The archives have been arranged ana
! indeXed and are here in this hand
| some piece of furniture for reference
! whenever wanted.
! The Promotion Committee while not
/ entirely a committee of this body has
| two of it's five members from our
| number, and the gentlemen appointed
! for the year were Messrs. F.. I. SpaId-
| ing and J A. McCandless. whose terms
| of Office expire with the election of
new officers of the Chamber. This
committee has I believe done fine work
| during the year and deserves the
thanks of the community for what it
has done in the past and the inter
/ est and support of all in the future.
During the year Mr.. H. P. Wood was
placed in charge of the work and the
unanimous opinion so far as 1 have
heard is that of having "the right
man in the right place" Work on
promotion lines is in the beginning
necessarily slow but I think all APP
preciate results which are showing and
there is every reason to look for great
err results in the future from work
which has been under way during the
last few months. While the San Fran
cisco disaster may have a tendency to
divert tourist traffic in a different di-
rection, probably all who have follow
ed the matter believe that the coming
year will bring more desirable tourists
to us than we have ever had before
and gatherings on our shores of such
bodies of men as will be represented
in the editors soon to be with us will
certainly advertise the Territory as
nothing else would.
Mr.. Wood while giving most of his
time to the promotion work has also
acted as Assistant Secretary of this
association.
One of the first acts of the trustees
was to send a letter to Secretary Shaw
requesting the assignment of a revene
cutter to this district, and a prompt
reply was received to the effect that
the department had intended to send
a vessel here for the winter and that
one might be permitted to remain for
a year. Later a vessel was sent and
has been stationed here ready for any
emergency which might arise, but for
tunately nothing serious has arisen 1t
was hoped by some that an appropria-
ton for a special vessel might be made
at the last session of Congress but this
was not done. The vessel now here or
a similar one will probably be with
us until one specially adapted for the
place is provided.
After the pleasant reception tender
ed the Taft party just at the close
of our last year, arrangements were
under way for making the stop of the
party on its return trip pleasant one
and at the same time have the gen.
tlemen return to the mainland with
the needs of Hawaii prominent in their
minds, but a change of plans which
took them home another way foiled
this good intention.
At a special meeting of the trustees
the needs of the harbor both as to
lights and wharves were considered,
Lieut.. Slattery and Superintendent of
Public Works Holloway being present
and explaining the proposed work. The
territory has since gone on with the
Improvement of the waterfront and
work is now under way which when
completed will enlarge the docking
capacity of the harbor a great deal
and make it much easier to handle the
large steamers which are now coming
to the port, and furnish a place for
arriving and departing passengers
which will in all respects be an i'm
provement upon present locations.
The Chamber has continued its sup
port of the Militia during the year as
it had done before, contributing from
its own funds and seeking to interest
oil In