The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-11-15
GOVERNOR WILL
URGE A CHANGE
Believes Commission Form of
Government for City Is
the Best.

Celebrating upon ideas which he has
entertained for several years, Governor
Frear will urge in his Forthcoming mes.
sage TO the Legislature, the adoption
Of the commission form of government
for Honolulu. This mode of municipal
government is that which is in force
in number of the cities of the main
land and is fast growing in popularity.
| and is in nothing similar to the great
Hawaiian bugaboo, government by
military commission.
Under the commission form of gov
eminent as it is operated with success
on the mainland, and as the Governor
would urge it for Honolulu. five com
miss toner's, nominated for their ability
in different lines are elected by the
people to govern the city. Politics is
supposed to play no part in their selec-
ton. the idea being that the governing
of city is as much business as any
thing else and that business methods
| applied by business men should rule in
the conduct of municipal affairs. The
| commissioners are paid salaries high
enough to permit them to devote their
entire time to the business of the CITY.
| In this way authority is conferred in
a few men who are held responsible.
Useless offices are abolished and the
money is spent by experts who know
what the city should receive and what
it should pay.
Present Objections.
Governor Frears objection to the
present system of city government is
that authority is so scattered that no
one is held responsible. Money is spent
blindly and the results do not Justify
the expenditure. He suggested that in
asmuch as it is proposed to form an
| organization to prepare a new charter
for the city, that this body if formed,
could take up the question of commits
sion government and study it. The
Governor has gathered much data on
the subject, and it is expected that be-
fore the Legislature meets, a campaign
of education on commission govern
ment will be waged.
Two other measures of equal import
ance will be advocated by the Governor
in his message, one of these as an
nounced in The Advertiser recently, is
the formation of public utilities com
mission, and the other is a workmen IS
compensation act.
Asked if he did not expect spirited
opposition to both of these latter meas
ures from the big business interests the
Governor said that he did not think SO.
Big business on the mainland" he
said, 'has recognized the fact that it
is either a question of government regu-
lation or government control of public
utilities. Where the interests at first
fought the creation of public utilities
commissions because the measure was
deemed extremely radical, they now
hold it as conservative safeguard be-
cause such commission is the only
thing which wards off government CON
troll.
Employer Liability Act.
AS to the workmens' compensation
act, Judge Lindsay has been at work
for almost year gathering informa-
ton as to laws of various States on
this subject. L have sent for one hun
dred copies of a model measure of this
character recently drafted at confer
ence of commissioners on uniform state
laws. These will be distributed among
employers and employees so that the
proposed law can be studied and dis
cussed. This model form probably will
go before the legislators almost in its
entirety
tSuch a law is designed to be fair
to both employer and employee. It's pur-
pose is to make business bear the bur
den of injury rather than the employe.
By fixing scale of compensation for
injuries sustained, it does away with
expensive litigation and in States