The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-09-27
THREE WORDS
MISSING CAUSES
EXTRA SESSION
WHY CALIFORNIA; GOVERNOR
YESTERDAY CALLED LEGISLA-
TURE TO DO ITS WORK OVER.


wing to a defect in the text of the
roposed Senate Constitutional amend
lent No. 1, providing for the separa
ION of State and local taxation, wnicl
) to be voted upon at. the genera
lection in November, the Merchants
yesterday decided to asl
Governor J. N. Gillett TO call a specia
ession of the Legislature for the pur
ose of having the defect remediet
efore the election.
Advise Gillett by Wire.
In telegram sent last night to Gov
rnor Gillett at Eureka, the following
ull explanatory statement is made:
After a thorough consideration
of the amendment the board of di-
rectors of the association had de-
cided to indorse the measure and
recommend it's adoption to it's
members, but in examining the
amendment for the association,
it's attorney, Allen G. Wright, dis
covered what appears to be Gle
rical error in the subdivision of
the amendment, which specifies
how the gross receipts of the cor
porations taxed are to be COM
puted.
In the amendment proposed in
1907 it was provided "the gross re-
ceipts and gross premiums herein
mentioned shall be computed for
the year ending the 3lst day of
December prior to the levy of such
taxes" In the amendment which
is now to be voted upon by the
people, the words "the year end
ing" are omitted.
Error Might Kill Measure.
While the attorneys who have
examined the matter are of the
opinion that in all probability the
court would hold this to be a cler-
ical error and that it is plain from
the history of the amendment and
from the context what words were
omitted and what the intention of
the amendment is, still, owing to
the Importance of the amendment
and because there is some doubt
as to the proper construction to be
given the amendment, and believ-
ing as we do that this omission
will in all probability be used by
the opponents of the measure to
defeat it, and as the amendment
is of such importance to the peO-
pie of the state, the Merchants
Association held conference this
day, attended by the representa-
tives of the State Federation of
Realty Boards, the State Tax Com
mission, the Commonwealth Club,
the Assessors Association, the
State Board of Equalization and
the Attorney General to consider
how to avoid the effect of this
error.
Three Words to Cost $1,000.
After thoroughly canvassing the
matter it was the unanimous senti-
ment of those present that this
error would likely imperil a pro-
per expression of the sentiment of
the people on the merits of the
amendment itself, and in view of
the fact that the matter has been
under consideration for six or
seven years and the State has
spent a large sum Of money in
having the matter investigated
and in the preparation of an
amendment of the Constitution to
be submitted to the people for
ratification, it is thought that no
better expenditure of public
money could be made than in call
ing an extra session of the Legis-
lature to supply these words so
that the people might, without
having their attention diverted by
this error, express their senti-
ments directly upon the merits of
this measure. 1t is thought that
the expense of such a session
would not exceed seven thousand
dollars, as the session need not
last more than one day, and in
view of the great saving of money
and benefit to the people Of the
State which will result from the
adoption of this amendment, we
respectfully request that such a
session be held at the earliest
practicable moment.
In 1907 a similar omission oc-
Cured with respect to the San
Francisco seawall bond act, and
an extra session was called to sup