The Hawaiian gazette., 1913-03-21
SUGGEST SIMPLE
UTILITIES BILL
Bills IN LEoIsLAruRn ARE uN
WORKABLE As
THEY ARE
trrom rhurday Advcriisorl

Before the house committee ON luui-
ciary and the senate public lands and
internal improvements committee last
night, in the old throne room, com.
mittec was heard. consisting " Mcssis
l.. 4. Thurston, G. n. Hcmcnway u. L..
Wilmington, R. b. Anderson and A. l.,
Castle a large number OF interested
persons were present, including heads
OF many large corporations.
The subject under discussion was the
public utilities measure. which Is GOV
cred by three bills introduced by
senators Rice and Metzger aud Rep.
resentative Goodness. Tho legal array
above named represented the Honolulu
chamber of commerce, the merchants
association and the Hawaiian sugar
planters association, and presented,
both orally and in typewrittcn form,
lvolumnous arguments which tore the
bills in question into unacceptable
| shreds.
The opening statement was made by
lC. Il. Hcmcnway, who outlined gem
orally, the main objections to the meas
ures under consideration. Presentation
of briefs followed by l.. A. Thurston
and d. l.. Wilmington.
The legal committee of the mercan-
tile corporations mentioned above stat
ed their report would be printed and
members of the house and senate com.
mittees would be each furnished with n
copy for further examination and ref
erenee.
General Argument.
The general line of argument was
that the legislature did not have the
free hand to legislate concerning pub
lie utilities in this Territory that n
state legislature had, for the reason
that state legislatures had exclusive
control of utility companies operating
exclusively within the State; while in
Hawaii federal law was paramount.
Congress has exercised its power by
| including railroads operating exclusive
| ~ in territories within the jurisdiction
of the interstate commerce commission.
Congress has further exercised its pow
er to legislate within the -erritory by
granting federal franchises to ten diff
ferent public utility companies operat.
ing here.
A further complication was pointed
out to be that number of utility cor
porations had charter rights in the ma
ture of contracts with the government,
which could not be changed without
their consent, which were inconsistent
with the terms of the pending bills.
1t was pointed out that the pending
bills were, with exception of differences
in detail, copies of the California Act
! 1t was further pointed out that un,
der the conditions above set forth a
state law was not adapted to applica.
ion in a Territory, where all of the
above enumerated complications must
be taken into consideration.
The committee submitted basis fol
the enactment of a law which would
be simple, effective and which could
go into immediate effect without inter
fering with federal jurisdiction, legis
latiOn or charter rights.
The following is the basis suggested
Abolish Secrecy-Compel Publicity.
One of the chief factors, in connec
ton with public utility corporation,
which works against equality of treat
ment and fairness of rates, is secrecy
Secrecy begets rebates, preferences ant
unfair determinations. If publicity Of
all the rates, regulations and transac
lions of public utility company is sc
{ cured, the mere fact of such publicity
will, to large extent, eliminate many
of the existing inequalities and abuses
now carried on under cover.
In other words, publicity, although
not cure-all, is the remedy for grea
number of abuses by public utility cor
poratOns. Let secrecy be abolished an(