The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-04-28
invitation To Join Charter Con-
ference Is Debated and Then
Laid Over r. =
HATCH ADVISES CAUTION
, IN NEW FRANCHISE DEAL
Prospects Of Military Road
terence Is Debated and Then
a..l To Give Support


supervisors, last night, on which Inn
mediate action was urged. The public
utilities commissioners, were present I'M
holly and through Chairman Forbes
urged the board to accept the invita-
tion given to meet with the commits
sioners and directors of the Rapid
Transit in discussion of what the
proposed new charter for the railroad
company should contain. This the
board, after discussion, laid on the ta.'
BILE to be taken up at the next meeting.
The other big matter was the request
from the chamber of commerce that the
board give assurances 10 the secretary
Of war that the supervisors would
maintain any military roads which
might be built on this island under the
direction of the war department.
Board should Be Careful v
In the discussion Of the Rapid Tran.
sit, charter conference, Supervisor
Hatch took the stand that the board
should be very careful in the matter,
Of approaching the subject. He said
that as far as he was concerned he was
much battered as member of the
board to have had the body considered
as members Of the conference. There
was q great deal Of importance involved
in the consideration Of a charter for the
railroad company and the supervisors
should go very slowly in giving away
the rights Of the people without due
consideration of the matter at hand,
The present matter, while only prelim-
mary, would put the supervisors in a
position to deal with the lawyers of the
company who had had years of study
on what they wanted and knew to a
hair 5 breath just what they were try
ing to get. W.
Hatch Advises Caution
The supervisors might not be as ia
miliar with matters involved as should
be desired and anyhow he doubted the
procedure Of drafting a charter in O
rush and submitting it to congress with.
out first having il submitted to the
Territorial Legislature for action. IL
Let preliminary draft of the char
ter, he said, be presented to the board
in concrete form 90 that the members
would know just what the railroad
wanted; then would be time enough to
consider it. He thought that the legal
department Of the city should be com.
missioned to act for the board in the
conference, as il was able to deal with
the technicalities which might slip past
the layman. In years to come the su-
pervisors would be held responsible for
the loss I'd. the city, should any be in
Cured. .N'
He objected to undue haste. The
present charter was to expire in four.
teen years when the whole plant would
revert to the Territory Why was 1t
necessary to 'jeopardize the rights of
the public by granting a perpetual
now, IL anything could be gained by
wait. He eomplimented'the company
on the good service provided, as far
as it went, and its treatment of its EN-,
I.loyes. He was not satisfied that there
was any immediate reason to change
the charter.
Premature Deals Unsatisf aetory
have very strong prejudice
against, renewing leases and charters
long time before they run out" Mr..
Hatch said, my experience has been
that in these cases the public gives
away something that il is sorry for
later. The public interests suffer. i
do not know enough at the present
time about the matter to form an op.
iniOn as to the necessity for an imme-
date change. There are two sides to
the question, of course, but I do not
know the moving reason of the Rapid
Transit company in this natter /
feel that the tracks of the company
have, to the present time, been laid
with view to holding strategic places
in the streets Of the city and for the
reason that IL they are there, opposi
tiOn can be better repealed, -
This Is no matter in which we can
take anything for granted. We can.
not give our approval until we know
what Is wanted by the company. For
a paltry fourteen years. wait, we do
not want TO throw away the control Of
the streets forever.
Supervisor Arnold was of the opinion
that the city should hang onto what
little power II now had in the matter
of control of the streets.
Logan said that he thought the mat
ter Of the committee would be a good
thing and did not believe that the ap!
pOintment of a committee to work with
the others would bind the board.
Hollinger thought that the motion TO
defer the consideration Of the invita-
tion till the next meeting was a good
one and seconded Arnold's motion 90
to do. 1t was carried.
Moana Hotel Matter Settled
The matter Of the right. of.way be
tween the Moana Hotel and Hustaee
Villa was settled TO the satisfaction Of
all concerned by the transfer of a
strips of land from Hustaee to the Ter.
ritory, which win be exchanged for the
piece wanted bV the hotel. This will
shift the boundaries of the right Of way
about three feet and leave II at TIL
same width as before. A protest
against tho narrowing Of the right Of
way was received from seventy.tWC
property owuers Of the neiRbboTboo G
who consented to the new arrange
ment,