The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-12-03
AMATEUR NIGHT "
.'' At CITY HALL
Many Pleasing SpeCiaIties At
Public Hearing On Beretania
Street Improvement

A goodlv assembly was present at the
city hall last night at the public hear
ing in connection with the proposed
Beretania street improvement. The i'm
provement district outlined Is that part
of Berctania street between Nuuanu
and King streets.
Written pTOtes were received from
the following property holders: Pang
Lnn Now, Chun Chin, s. Yamaguchi,
Harry Roberts, Jane Mist, Cow hang,
l.. All Leong, Mary Dowsett, II. Won
Holt, Henry Williams, CIV Gem Marian
Rawlins, Frank Pahia, II. Sam Yen,
Pang San, Annie K. Wong Leong, Carlos
A. Long, w. A. Hall, Young zee She,
Palama Investment Company, Wing
Kai Company, George J. Campbell, trus
tees Of the estate Of Henri tia Lun-
ing, and Oahu Rice. Min.
James K. Jarrett said that So per cent
of the property owners had filed pro,
tests and that according to law there
could be no debate on the matter. He
said that he represented l.. l., McCand-
less and others, and on this account
asked that the contemplated improve
ment be held up.
City Engineer Whitehouse stated that
43.9 per cent of the lessees or owners
of the property affected bad fled writ
ten protests, representing 1879 front.
age feet, and that 53.7 per cent of
the lessees or owners, representing
1915 frontage feet, had not protested
Objections BY Mecandless =
l.. l.. MeCandless declared that II
was not intended that the frontage
tax should apply to old established
highways. The contemplated improve
ment, he stated, should be made out
Of the general fund, the city getting
the money expended back out Of the
increased taxation based on the i'm
proved property. He stated that he did
not favor the frontage tax law in any
| form, whether the city paid One-thifd
of the cost of the Improvement, more
He said that the people ought to gel
something for the taxes they paid Gad
said that il the government would
| waive his taxes and let him put the
money into street improvements, he
would be satisfied. He objected, how
ever, to paying taxes and building
streets for the government at the same
time. -,
Supervisor Logan waxed exceeding
eloquent in defense of the frontage
tax, and particularly with reference Il
the Improvement under consideration
His speech was by far the longest anC
most impressive that he has delivered
since he joined the board, and, as one
brother supervisor said after the meet
ing it s pity that photograph rec
i ord of Logan 3 talk couldn't have beer
obtained for the purpose of every nov
and again having the supervisors lister
to it for the purpose of obtaining sOmC
idea of what speech really should
be. -
Logan dealt out a mass of statistic
with reference to the operation of from
tage tax in mainland cities, and whel
he had finished his address was discreet
| ly applauded; that is as far as the rule
OF decOrum which govern the session
Of the board, would permit.
Larsen Is for Improvement
Supervisor Larsen said that the las
time there was frontage tax hearing
he had extended sympathy to the af
ficted and had been sat on. He state
that he didn t intend to deal in sympa
thy on this occasion. lie appealed +
MeCandIess well known public spirited
ness to approve the proposed improve
ment. He said there was only on
thing for the board to do, aud that wa
to make the proposed Improvement uI
der Act l64, or not at all.
McCandless suggested that q test cas-
\ should be made. He said that it wa
outrageous that Aala Park, Nuuan
stream and the street intersect ion
should be considered as frontage, at
was planned to do, and rehuked tn
board for spending money on fire equiv
ment and automobiles instead of D
roads. In his enthusiasm he referre
to Mayor Lane as Mayor Fern, and wa
gently corrected by the former dign
tary.
Supervisor Hollinger defended tn
board for spending money on automC
biles and the fire department, and the
moved that the hearing be closed.
Supervisor AHA said that there seen
ed to be feeling among ecr ain proper
in improvement matters was spiteworl
lie corrected this impression with cor
siderable fervOr.
The motion to declare the hearin
closed carried unanimously and Cit
Engineer WhitchOuse was instructed I
compute the percentage of owners an
property involved through the protest
received, and to report to the board O
the next general meeting which take
place tomorrow night.