Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-02-01
Proposed Features Vigorously
Discussed at Meeting
Last Night

: Materially increasing the difficulty of
!. the recall and making fother important
changes in the preliminary draft OF
tie proposed city and county charter,
the general committee of thirty-three
now WORKING on plan for short-bal-#
lot government held lengthy meet
ing last right in the senate chamber.
executive building.
A variety Of opinions on every i'm
j pprtant point was presented and the
/! discussion ran to such lengths that
/; finally the committee adjourned until
3 Friday evening, after having gone
over less than orie-third Of the prelim-
y mary draft as printed and submitted
! fer discussion.
[; Governor Frear called the meeting
10 order and the committee shortly
vent into committee of the whole with
Mayor Joe Fern in the chair. John
Effinger was secretary. Judge w. L.
Whitney, chairman of the sub-comnlit-
tee on drafting, was kept busy explain
ing what the committee had done un-
ill finally the members got warmed up
10 the discussion, and after that the
Judge sat back and let them talk it
out.
/ Four general features Of the pro-
posed charter were all that the CON-
mittee was able to take up last night
and the last was not finished. Sew
eral matters Of detail were speedily
settled, such as the name-City and
County of Honolulu-and the usual
powers inhering in municipalities.
| The first bit of discussion came
over the definite enumerating of the
various public utilities that the city
/ would have power to condemn and
! take over. Finally water and sewer
works, electric light plants and gas
works, telephone, street railroad sys-
TENS, power plants and other public
utilities were included by name.
Preferential System Liked.
| Next came the proposed plan of
| election, and here wide diversity of
! opinion on detail existed, although
| practically everyone spoke for some
! direct primary plan. DR.. Scudder, W.
! A. Bryan, T. NJ Church and others ia
vored the plan of preferential cleo,
ton system, doing away with the old
time primaries and making every vote
/ count Under this plan, the voter
casts a ballot directly for the candi-
date he favors, for his next choice for
! the same office and for his third
! choice, and in making up the returns,
| If the first-choiee votes do not elect
! a certain man, his votes as a second
choice are added and possibly also as
4 third choice. This is one of the sew
eral preferential systems, and the
| committee last night did not decide
/ upon any one, though favoring some
/ preferential system and leaving the
details up to the drafting committee
to work out and present again.
| New Recall Plan.
Next the committee tackled the re-
call and here there was wider differ
3 erce of opinion than on anything else
/ However, from the first it was plain
/ that the drafting committees proposal
of twenty-per cent of the vote for del
/ egate being able to set a recall cleo
] ton in operation was rot going to
stand. Mr.. Church even moved for fifty
{ per sent, and w. r. Harrington amend
led 10 rake the figure forty per cent.
Several members declared that the re-
! call should not be made easy, and fl
nally a compromise was adopted. This
compromise calls for a plan under
which thirty per cent of the vote for
any candidate sought to be called mus
! be signed to petitions for a recall cleo
! ton. The petitions must be individual
documents and not blanket petitions
and must be signed in the office Of
| the city and county clerk. 1t is held
that the necessity Of going to the Of
! flee Of the city and county clerk and
/ signing the petition there will prove
| a limitation on the use of the recall
! and check hasty action of the work OF
! q small, factiOnal minority.
| Having settled this, the committee
! then got to a point where II quickly
made little progress except in the
| frank discussion. This was as to the
matter of electing commissioners. Tn
der the plan proposed by the sub-com- !
! nittee, there are to be five commits
siCners. each elected to a specific Of
flee. Thus, one is to be elected head