The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-03-10
HAWAII COUNTY
GETS LINED UP
Bfo 1sf.ANp nrrL Provides roR
PBRFEor GOVERNMENT BY
COMMISSION.

(Erom Wednesday q AdveFtinor.l
A plain steal Of Onhu's thunder by
Hawaii county was one df the features
Of the session os the senate yesterday
morning when Senator Baker slipped
in lengthy bill, which was read by
title, caused mild sensation and then
was forgotten in the printing commit
tee oblivion.
The title intimated that the bill was
for the purpose Of regulating the gov
ernment of Hawaii county, the only
mild curiosity evinced at the time
Clerk Wise read It being over which
way this latest attempt wanted to regu-
late. People have been regulating Ha-
waii county so long that as a press
agent sensation it is growing stale.
But the bin shelters complete form
Of commission government for the is
land, nearer the perfect commission
than any of the many other attempts
to create new governments which are
being made in the Legislature on both
sides of the corridor.
The Baker Commission Bill outlines a
form Of government as simple as gov
ernmental forms can be reduced to and
probably more applicable to Hawaiian
affairs than Solomon IS wisdom.
As beneficial as the bill might prove
to Hawaii county, long suffering COM
munity, it will doubtless prove to be
gall and woImwood to the professional
politicians who pride themselves on
their otherwise freedom from the bonds
of toll.
There are bat six elective officers
provided for; board of FIVE super
visoIs and safety valve in the form
Of an auditor. Each is to be elected
at large. All other officers win be-
come the appointees of the board as
whole and will serve directly under
members of the board individually.
The board will organize itself, elect
ing a chairman and apportioning the
various departments among the mem
bers. Their salaries are set at $2400 a
year, as is that of the auditor, but
the salaries of the appointed officials
corresponding to most of the elective
offices in the-other counties, are left to
the board itself. Great fear of undue
extravaganza in the payroll is made
almost nil by the natural conclusion
that the board members would not pay
salary higher than that they receive
themselves.
The crux of the bill is in an insig.
nifieant section which reads:
"The duties of the administration
of the county affairs shall be distIib-
uted among the members Of the board
in such manner as the members may
determine. The board shall determine
policies to be pursued, but each mem
ber Of the board shall have full power
to carry out the policies or have the
work performed in his department
I THO fsc-.sSnIulan4 10 aiuiaed into five
departments, over each of which one of
the members of the board of super
visors win preside. The apportioniDg
in the bill of the necessary work of
government among these departments
shows that the bill was not hastily
constructed, but was drafted by some
one who had full knowledge of what
he was talking about.
The first of these departments is to
be the apartment of finance and pub
lie affairs; the second, the department
of engineering and public works; the
third, the department. of public safety;
the fourth, the department of public
property, and the fifth, the department
of health and charity.
The first department is divided into
nine subdivisions or subdepartments,
respectively, treasury, legal, p1rchas-
ing, assessing, sinking funds, tax col
| lections, claims, registration of voters
and county clerk.
The second department is divided
into highways and waterways, street
watering, sewers and drains, water
and water works, bridges and engi-
neering.
The third department into police,
fire, lighting, wiring, weights and
measures and conduits.
| The fourth department into build
ings, parks and public grounds.
The fifth department into health,
county physician, poor and public
hospitals.
/ To superintend the affairs of these
subdepartments under the direction of
the departmental supervisor, if that
term may be coined in advance, a num-
ber of officers are to be appointed by
| the board as a whole. They are the
county clerk, attorney, treasurer, engi-
neer, physician, chief of police, chief
Of the fire department, street commits
sioner and Others.
There are in all fifty sections in the
bin, outlining in fullest detail the du-
ties and emoluments Of the auditor and
the supervisors. So decidedly are these
matters provided for that there is
hardly possibility that the members
twill become deadloeked and require ju'
dieial interference as did Honolulu
county when it was breaking preee-
dent.
Each Of the elective officers Is re,
quired in the bill to secure bond OF
$4,000.