The Hawaiian gazette., 1913-01-28
This Appears To Be the
Question Faced By
Inter-lsIand.
CFtOm Saturday Advertiser)


1.-THE question at issue between our
company and the members Of Homo
lulu Harbor "a is this: is the bust
ness to be managed by the board Of
directors, representing the stockhold-
ers, or IS it to be managed by the har-
Dor, composed of the masters and
mates and others in the company's
servicein so declared an official of
the Inter.lslan Steam Navigation
Company yesterday, declining, how
ever, to allow the use of his name, as
he spoke without the authority of the
board of directors. He undoubtedly
voiced the opinions of the members of
Z that board, however.
= The dove 'opments of the past two
days, since The Advertiser first made
pubic the news of the arrival in Ho-
! noulu of a number of certificated
mates, retained under waiting orders
/ by the lnter-Island Company, presum-
ably to he put into the active service
J of the company when needed, have
| been fairly rapid, SO much so that it
was announced officially yesterday, in
! the name of the harbor, that the mas
/ tiers and mates are ready to walk out
again at moment IS notice and will
walk ont If "forced' to do SO. As
justification for the attitude they take,
the legal representative of the union
makes public this morning a portion
of the correspondence that has recently
passed between it and the steamship
company, including one letter in which
the union complains to the directors
OF the actions of President Kennedy
and the reply of the directors, in
which the hartor is informed that the
actions of Mr.. Kennedy meet with the
approval of the directors, the only
ones necessary to be suited.
Thompson Case First Cause.
The immediate cause of the
present extremely strained rela-
tons between the company and
it's higher employees is over Cap
tain Thompson Of the Niihau. For
what was considered by President
Kennedy sufficient cause, this captain
was notified that his services would be
no longer required. Thompson mott.
fed his fellow unionists of his dismiss
nal, whereupon, in rather irritating
language, the harbor notified the
company that it had to retain Thomp-
son or lay up the Niihau, because no
other captain would take the vessel
out until the harbor had satisfied it.
self that the dismissal of Thompson
was proper. The harbor asked the
company to submit its complaint
against Thompson, with the names of
the ones complaining and the dates of
6 the alleged offenses, together with any
evidence in the possession of the COM
pany to back up the complaints
When this was submitted, the union
said, it would appoint board of its
members competent to judge these
matters,' and let the company know
whether it would consent to the dis
miseal of Thompson or not.
This attitude brought the directors
to a complete realization of the fact
that the company was in the power of
the harbor and utterly unable to fight
back, whatever the provocation. Hence
the employment of a number of mates
lacking only the KNOWLEDGE of local
&, waters to qualify ns interisland skip
pers.
Condition Intolerable.
''The attitude of the harbor is in
tolerable,'' said an Inter Island man
yesterday. sour directors, or the
. ones they employ to represent them in
the active workings of the company,
must be the sole judges as to whom
the company shall or shall not employ
as officers OF our boats. Even if we
wanted to do such thing, We cannot
delegate to the harbor the right of
saying whether we have or have not
justification to discharge captain or
a mate. We are legally responsible
for the lives and property of our pa
irons and what our captains do we
have to assume the burden of. We
Nvnuld laaL w;d;ar1nua ~
should happen to one of our steamers,
IL we were to 60 into court and state
that the Honolulu Harbor "a was re-
sponsible for the employment of that
captain, and not the board of directors.
We cannot shift that responsibility,
even IL we cared to.
''Our attitude has been one of fair
ness to our men. Many of the mem
bers of the harbor are old and valued
employees. But the Inter-Island Navi-
CATION Company cannot and will not
submit to having the management of
the company taken from the hands of
the directors and assumed by the men
of the harboT or any other men. The
harbor, in a communication, assumes
the right to say that our captains
should be judged ON their seamanship
only, while anyone win know that
there are many things we have to con-,
slider in our captains in addition to
their knowledge Of things purely
NAUTICAL
The Ultimatum.
The attempt TO dismiss Captain
Thompson was made early last Novem-
her, drawing a letter from Secretary
Poor, of the harbor, to President Ken
nedy, which said;
'We beg to notify yon that the sum
nary dismissal of Captain w. +.
Thompson of the steamer Niihau has
been brought to the attention of this
harbor, and we desire 10 state that il
you wish to dispatch that vessel today,
Captain Thompson must take her out
Rs no other member will accept the
position until just cause for Captain
Thompson discharge has been re.
ceiyed, which we viii be- pleased 20
consider az a future meeting"
President Kennedy. replying, said that
the company bad "Teceived num.
Der Of complaints from various Of our
patrons which upon investigation ehow