The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-03-05

INNHNNflE NNhA tue ntAffAlNM VI NAAN JUS I
for Hawaii will be the first judicial app |
pointment President Taft will be called |
upon to make.
The Postmastership.
As matters look the appointment of |
a postmaster at Honolulu will go over !
TO the new administration. The Post !
office Department, as is frequently tho !
ease with such appointments, is show
ing no haste about selecting Mr.. Pratt s
successor. There is no reason why IL
should as postmasters under their com
missions can hold on till successor
qualities. There is no doubt, from in
formation here, that MIR. Pratt is to
have another term. The department eX
presses satisfaction with his admins
tration Of the Office. Delegate Kaani-
anaoe stated today that there were
no other applicants and that Mr..
Pratt g endorsements on file at the de-
partment were very complete
Pearl Harbor Dock.
There has been great TODD about
the construction of the drydock at
Pearl Harbor and at present there is
much uncertainty whether the construc-
ton can be undertaken tor year or
two. However, some way out of the
difficulty can probably be found.
The lowest responsible bid-that of
the Pacific Construction Company--was
considerably above the S2OOO,0OO estl'
mate originally sent to Congress and
embodied by legislation into an author.
ization. Immediately after the open.
ing of the bids described in a previous
letter, Admiral Hollyday, Chief of
Yards and Docks, had a supplemental
estimate forwarded to the Senate in
the hope that it would be Incorporated
into the navy bill, then pending before
that body. Senator Perkins and other
Californians were appealed to to have
the supplemental authorization incOr-
porated in the Naval Appropriation
Bill but Senator Hale, in charge of
the bill was unwilling TO do so. There
was n big time about it. Delegate ha-
lanianaole and Mr.. Mcclellan camped
on the trails of Senators and members
from the Pacific Coast to no purpose
and finally went to the President. lie
was very wrOthy, said hard things
about Senator Perkins, whom he char
acterized as not "a quarter of man
and all that sort of thing but the up
shot was that the naval bill passed
the Senate without any additional au-
thorization for the Pearl Harbor dock
and there seems no way of getting 1t
at this session of Congress, perhaps not
till another year when another Naval
Appropriation Bill is passed.
The Delegate and Mr.. Mcclellan
have had two or three talks with Adj
miral Iiollyday about the matter. lie
is thinking of undertaking construc.
ton of only half of the dock, so that
the work can 20 ON in the meantime.
This will probably be done, if no way
is found between now and the close of
Congress for getting the additional au-
thoIizatiOn, but whether an arrange
mont will be made with the Pacific
Construction Company on the basis OF
their bid already submitted or whether
there will be another advertisement so
that new terms can be put into the
contract has not yet been finally de-
tcrmned. 1t is in Admiral lIollyday S
mind to have a provision in the con
tract by which the builder will go on
with the construction of 60O-foot
dock and agree to build the entire dock
on condition that Congress soon au'
thorizes the necessary appropriation.
Various Appropriation Bills.
The Rivers and Harbors Bill, Just re-
ported to the House, carries provision
for the survey of Eleele harbor, on the
Island of Kauai, and of Kahului on
the Island of Maui. There appears to
he considerable doubt whether the
Rivers and Harbors Bill will be allowed
to pass at this session, in which event,
of course, the provisions for Hawaii
would be lost.
The Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill,
Just reported to the House, carries an
appropriation of 100000 for a cavalry
post at Honolulu, which emphasizes
/ anew the plans of the government to
have big army stationed in the mid
Pacific. The while Congress and the
administration are planning to build
n great naval base in the Pacific at
Pearl Harbor it is undoubtedly the pur'
pose to have there also an army sufii-
cient to man the great land fortiica-
tions and also to repel any invading
force. Good authorities here think il
not improbable that in the course of
the next eight or ten years an army of
| 10000 men will be stationed in Ha'
/ wall. That would include the coast
artillery necessary to operate the big
| guns commanding the entrance 20
Pearl Harbor and those commanding
the entrance to Honolulu
The same bill carries another item
! $4,000 for filling in the artillery post
] lands at Waikiki, and $4,000 toward
| the public building at Honolulu, already
authorized; also Sl5O,000, the amount
remaining under the authorization for
| the Hilo breakwater; and 100000 fol
coast artillery quarters in Hawaii and
the Philippines, just what proportion
of this 100000 will be spent in Ha
waii is not known, bu, probably it wil
be toward a half
The plans for the Honolulu public
building continue at q standstill, due
il is claimed, to the hostility of As
sistant Secretary of the Treasury Win
throp, who did not like it little bi
because his arrangements for changing
the site for the public building did no
90 through There is some anxiet,
among the friends of the Islands her
regarding Mr.. Ninthrop's continues
tenure in the Treasury Department, be