The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-07
City Attorney Answers Mayor.

lily Attorney CaiHcdIG lucu pACoChs-
ed his answer to the questions pro-
pounded to him by Mayor Fern. The
opinion Of Cathcart on the several
points is:
''In replying to your letter of the
9Th inst, asking my advice upon GER
tain points, | would respectfully pre-
mise by saying that It would be dlsln-
genuous in me to affect to believe that
your request for my advice is dictated
by any bona fide desire to know or to
follow my opinion on the construction
of the law involved Your failure to
seek my advice heretofore; the time at
which you presented your letter to me,
during the session of the board last
evening; the manner of such presenta-
tion,-handing it to me at the board
| meeting, and at the same time giving
a copy to the clerk and directing him
to read it publicly; the form in which
you present the questions on which you
ask my opinion,-being in the nature
of a controversial argument in favor
| of the construction of the law already
made by you or your advisors, and
bearing evidence of being prepared by
a trained lawyer; all these deeisively
show that whatever the purpose of SUBJ
hitting to me your request for advice,
| it is certainly not done with the inten-
| tion of being guided by my answer.
However, | am perfectly willing that
| you should be informed of my construc-
ton of the law involved in the several
points that your letter raises.
Gin my opinion, under the Municipal
| Act, the charter of the City and Ccun-
! ty Of Honolulu took effect at noon on
| the 4th day of January, 1909 and was
not in effect in the month Of Deem
Der, 1908.
"In reference to your request for
| resolution of the Board of Supervisors
| of the County of Oahu, to which you
refer, upon appointments made by you,
I would say that, whatever might be
the object of the provisions of Section
| 146, it's own provisions and construc-
| ton of the entire charter render it in
| operative. In other words, the charter
evidences the unskilled hand of the
| craftsman, and no construction there
| of, as a whole. can, in my opinion,
render the section on which you have
relied in making your appointments
operative.
HThe Board of Supervisors of the
| County of Oahu, if they created any
offices or positions, had certainly the
| power to abolish them, nor was that
| power taken away by any legislative
act, and the provisions of the charter
will have to be construed with a view
/! to that power remaining in the Board
| of Supervisors of the County of Oahu,
| IF there were no offices, to which you
had the appointing power, existing
| when the charter took effect, | cannot
| see how any appointees of yours could
assume nonresident office.
"Section 81 of the Municipal Act
gives to the Mayor, with the approval
of the Board of Supervisors, the APP
pointment of 'All officers of the City
and County whose election or appoint
ment is not otherwise specially provided
for in this charter or by law.
"Section 145 provides that within a
certain specified time, the Mayor 'Shall
make all the appointments provided by
this charter to be made by him. But
f; the charter nowhere gives to the Mayor
the power to make appointments with
out the approval of the Board of Su
pervisors and it would therefore seem
that Section LAG is imperative in this
respect. However, if it should be held
to be operative, then the approval OF
the board would seem to be necessary
In such event, the only persons the
Mayor, with such approval, could ap
point would be officers whose election
or appointment was not otherwise pro
vided for, and in my opinion, there
were and are no officers of the City
and County of Honolulu whose election
or appointment is not otherwise pro
vided for, either by the charter or By
law. On the other hand, if it should
be held that there were extant certain
offices of the County of Oahu which
became offices of the City and County
of Honolulu, within the meaning o.
Section 81, after that municipal corpo
ration came into existence, no possibl,
construction of law could make officer
out of bandmasters, lamp repairers
lire men, lamp trimmers, dynamo men
assistant dynamo men, poundmasters
keepers of parks, chain men, col
lectors of garbage, lunas, bookkeep
ers and timekeepers, stenogra pher
and clerks, foremen, Watchmen, stabl
watchmen, men to take up estrays, roat
. lunas, stable lunas, blacksmiths, stabl
; men, laborers on the roads known a
eantoniers and messengers, such as yol
, have attempted to.appoint.
"The resolution of the Board of Su
, pervisors of the County of Oahu, t.
, which you refer, abolished all boards
, committees, commissions, offices, posi-
! lions and employments and repealed tn
, divers actions by which such wer
, created and at the same time repealed
, its own rules and regulations. Such
, resolution was clearly within the powe
] of the Board of Supervisors. IF the.
! E>created offices, employments, boards, o
! commissions, they had the power t.
abolish the same and had the powe
J to repeal the action which created tn
] same. They had the power to max
} rules and had the power to repeal them
} The County Act contained no limita
! lions on these powers. The question o
! the reasonableness of the resolution re
! ferred to was for the Board of Super
} visors of the County Of Oahu to deter
! mine, and a failure to provide for tn
! business of the County after the pas
! sage of the resolution would be of n
! practical Importance in view of the fac