The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-08-06
UTILITIES BOARD
|. HANDLESSEVERAL
INTRICATE CASES
Small Complaint Against Maui
= Telephone Company Regard
ed As lust BY Commission
SAFETY FIRST RULES, ... ..,.,
r.. ORDERED FOR SEAMEN
Rates and Encouraging Interest
In National Guard Fea-
:. lures Of Meeting
Z. q .

The temper Of the Public Utilities
Commission toward its work was
brought rout yesterday in two paren-
thetieai remarks Of Chairman Charles
r. Forbes. d.. ...'
Anything we can do to eliminate
accidents, he said, Should be done.
And / believe,'' he added, "that the
public utilities corporations are equal
y anxious to attain the same re-
Jlilts. ~ h 49, ~, AYR g.! 20 Il
Later, there came up the complaint
of q resident of Maui who had paid
in advance for new telephone. The
company ala mot install 1t until the
sixth Of the month, but when his bill
was rendered he was charged for the
full month. IL was not case of vast
Importance and might even have been
dismissed as piece of fussiness, but
the board did not take II that way.
81 think this man has a legitimate
kick, - said the chair. "We've got
to give the public look in on these
things; They We got it coming to
them.'' s.f- II - d
Accordingly, the secretary, was d..
rected to refer the complaint to the
company with request for an ex.
PLANTATION of its attitude
Safety First Rules Ordered e
In line with the desire to prevent &C.
cidents, the board will cause to be pre-.
pared q set of siiaple . Safety Flrst''
rules, printed in Eggiish, Hawaiian and
Japanese, for the Instruction of Inter.
sand seamen in the elements Of self
protection, as a duty to themselves,
the community which is protecting
them and the company employing them.
ut has been my observation" said
the chair, 'that the Hawaiian seainen
of the Inter. Island know less English
than any set of. men I ever have met on
the Islands. Some OF them can t speak
a word Of English. II Is impossible
for their, officers to give them orders
In reply to complaints from residents
of Hawaii against the Hilo Electric
Light Company, a statement from the
company was read in which It showed
that it was abolishing its flat rates,
estimated to be the equivalent of a
meterod charge of ten cents the kiio-
watt hour, and substituting metered
service, based on a charge of ten cents
the kilowatt, reduction of seventeen
per cent.
Metered Service Makes Trouble
Based on what seems to be an uni
versal, though unknown, principle of
psychology, every attempt to change
from flat to a metered service,
whether it be for telephone calls, water
or electric light, always encounters op.
POSITION The subscribers are really
getting cheaper rates, but they cling
o a delusion that, under flat rate,
they are getting something for nothing.
The same opposition was encountered
here when the telephone and electric
Ighting companies installed a metercd
service and is being encountered now
against metering the water service. q,
The lIilo electric light subscribers
COMPLAIN that the proposed charge per
kiIOwatt hour is greater than in Homo
lulu, although the Hilo plant is
hydro electric plant, against which
here are no charges for fuel. AS a
matter of fact the charge per kilOwatt
is the same in both cities. Il
In the second place, the Hilo COM
rapy called attention to the fact that
its output was probably 'one fortieth of
that of the Honolulu company. Ouanti4
ty output bears relation TO the cost
at production known to every engineer.
In addition, there wis the fact that
the water SUNNY was sranty ana uneer-
tain, so that the company had to sup,
port an auxiliary steam plant. The
commission took the case under advise
@'Ftt,.@ |Hh - .'-- III
Incident of Patriotism '7 go o." s
Henry P,.No Sullivan, secretary to
the commission. who was tquaIifiea AS
member of the National Z Guard of
Hawai- rifie toam anpIied pnerm;s.
sion to attend the national Isboot at
Jacksonville, Florida, betinnfnR Oetot
Der rs. He would have TO leave Hos
nolulu September % and be absent six,
weeks. -, y " 'ic-.a@17, I 4 81 FL
81 thinx," said c6mmissione-, GIG.
noux, 1--WE ought to encourage him In