Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-12-11

FOR DISCUSSION
OF RECENT LAWS

B., = 80 = III 4 ~ -. ~-E D..
Acts 81 and :13i Of 1918. the district
improvement laws, formed the subject
of an informing and lively discussion
at the meeting Of Liliuokalani school
assembly hall, Kaimuki, held last night
under q call OF the local Improvement
club. Probably owing chiefly to show
ers about the hour CT meeting, the at
tendance was not large and would
have been smaller still were 1t not for
the presence OF a delegation from
Manoa, the suburb that has taken the
lead In efforts to bring the street i'm
movement measure into operation.
President ]. Fl. Fiddes of Waialae,
Kaimuki and Palolo Improvement
Club was In the chair.
r. r. Reidford OF Manoa, the first
speaker, gave a concise and lucid ex-
position of Act 49, saying at the cut
set that the measure had suffered more
in popular esteem from being tagged
as the frontage tax. law than from
any other cause. mi BIZ fopinioh the
better the law Ras Understood { the
more did 1t win public favor. The as
#sessment of the property benefited by
street Improvement, he maintained,
Was an investment rather than q tax,
and this law gave the people good.
streets when they wanted them and
paid for them II made under the gem
Feral revenue the people would nave
to pay for them any ways bit the good
streets would be a. LONE time coming.
He argued iii favor bflilakiilg the as
easements by area, d the law made
Optional. rather than by frontage. One
reason for the preference was the
peculiarly Irregular boHAdaries Of land
holdings in many sections OF Homo,
lulu. Mr.. Reidford gave examples
from personal knowledge Of the sue
cess of systems of assessment of prop
serty benefited to pay for its improve.
fnent in Pacific coast cities.
Daniel Logan, superpisor-eleet, oil.
fered some ideas on the method of
assessing the property benefited SO
as to make the leyies eGuable and
meet the difficulty of treating main
arteries of traffic. He favored rrea
In preference to frontage assessment.
After giving some data regarding the
good roads movement on the main
land and in Europe, he Appealed to
Kaimuki people to taxa advantage of
the improvement measures in ques-
ton. He pointed out that these laws
had received stronger ratification from
the people than most innovations ever
enacted In Hawaii. They were In the
platform of the Democratic party
when It won Its signal victory Of two.
years ago and in that OF the RepublI-
can party when it made its clean
sweep this year--the Democrats on
the latter occasion making special
issue Of the question by attacking
these laws Of their own creation.
= A. F. Clark produced. statistics Of
road expenditures for several years
past and contendedr for the frontage
against the area tan saying that the
former had salmosts universally dis
placed the latter in. mainland cities.
The discussion was continued by
w. L. Howard, Ed Towse, Supervisor
elect William LARSEN H. s. Johnson,
of Manoa. superintendent of Public
Works c. ri Forbes and L. 8. Warren
of Manoa. A 2. Cooke, John F. ,,rae-
Illus and others added interest to the
debates by apt questions - different
speakers. - - 500
Mr.. Forbes made q diversion by adj
vocating the delimitation Of city bounds
and placing all the roads outside
thereof under the territory. The
trouble with your roads Is too much
politics, he said IN replying to a ques-