The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-03-19
ANOTHER TRY At
An ENABLING ACT

fff6m "Wednesday Aurtrtiftfl
Apparently me basis nf b. settlement
~ ~ qussiiuh ri che Iia ymuni uf cts
aud Jnunis employee. during she period
~ disagree between the Mayor hnd
Supervisory. Was reached yesterday ni
tefnnon of q conference between thc
Uovernot and The members of thr Sen
ate o. committee ct the whole. Their"
had been some conferences between the
Governor aud Senators previously mi
which the Governor had stated that
there seemed 30 b. some miHapprchcn
sion of the argument Of his VITO Of the
enabling act the other day. DE point.
cd out that his argument WAS not that
persons legally appointed and entitled
10 be paid should not be pa 4 simply
because they did not work hen they
we're prevented from working 10y others
His argument was hat being in control
VI public funds neither the Governor
nor the Legislature had a rig II 10 pay
them out to persons who had neither a
legal nor moral claim 10 be paid.
The conference with the Senators
was largely for the purpose of discuss
ing the legal aspects Of the ease. IL
was agreed on all hands that such of
she Mayors appointecs as he had the
legal right to appoint were entitled TO
their pay, provided they had attempted
to perform the duties of their appoint
mont and had stood ready 10 perform
them. The Kaleiopu bill now in the
House ignored this aspect of the case
altogether, so that even II II passed
she Legislature and was approved by
the Governor II would not settle the
question after all, for those having a
legal right to pay eonld enforce their
tights in the courts.
ON the other hand it was pointed out
that the Supreme Court decision was
rendered on March ], and decided I'M
squiVocally the status of the Super
visors' appointees, for the ccurt de-
aided that the Supervisors had absO'
htely no right of appointment what
sver; that they could appoint neither
heads of departments nor anybody else
Thereupon every one of the Super
yisOrs' appointees knew ON March
shat they had no legal standing as EN-
ployes of the City and County. And IN
fact very little work was even pre-
tended to be done 10y the Supervisors
appOintees after that time, though they
acid control of the City and County
property. But the KaleiOpu bill pro
poses to pay them up to March IL. Al
was stated in the conference this would
be to pay persons who were not only
illegally appointed but had done n,
work Neither the Governor nor tn,
Senators would stand for this.
1t was tentatively agreed therefore
that if any bill on the subject is to b.
passed, it should be one which woul,
"a. ln 90 L.
gally entitled to be paid, and thOs
who, even if they did not have a lega
Slain to be paid had as yet in GOO
faith performed service for the Cit.
and County.
Another agreement reached was tina
the enabling act should only includ
salaries and payrolls up to the date q
the Supreme Court decision, March
for after that time the status of all tn
Supervisors appointees, at least, ha
been definitely fixed
A third point of agreement was tina
II any bill We're drawn up IL shoul'
state the name of each person to re
eeive pay under il and the amount o
pay he is to receive, so that each in
aividual ease could be subjected to
searching investigation.
On the basis OF these three essentla
features the Senate committee of tn
whole has asked the City Auditor, an
the City and County Clerk, and tn
Mayor, to make out n certified list q
every person claiming pay from tn
City and County for services betwee
January and the end of Februar,
whether appointed by the Supervisor
or the Mayor, with the amount claim
ed by each. When these lists are mad
ont, which will probably be some tim
today, it will be possible to inquir
into the exact circumstances of eac
case.