The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-03-09
Decision Reached After Lengthy
Conference With Members
OF Harbor Commission
COMMITTEE WILL GO TO
HlLoTo SlFT CHARGES
Speakers At Hearing Declare
Allegations Against Structure
Are Result Of Prejudice

The black eye which Representative
Bernard Kelekolio Of Hilo declares, in
house resolution, has been given tC
Kuhio wharf Hilo, by some Of the
steamship companies was the cause Of Q
grave consultation yesterday afternoon
by legislative surgeons and physicians
The subject was seriously considered
in the absence, however, Of the patient
and was decided to be Of such gravity
as TO demand personal inspection.
As result, the committee on public
lands and internal improvements of the
house, which was holding the consulta
ton, decided to go 10 Hilo on the
Mauna Kea' tomorrow morning to make
full and careful investigation and in
spection.
The house committee had with II
Charles r. Forbes, chairman of the har
Dor commission, and his fellow commits
sioRers, Mccarthy, Mcclellan, Wake
field and Church. Lorrin A. Thurston
president of the Hawaii Consolidated
Railway Company, was also present and
which he did at length.
What Committee Wants
As outlined by Chairman Norman X
Lyman; what the committee wanted tc
find out was whether or not Kuhic
wharf has, as Kelekolio stated in his
resolution, been given BLACK eye
by the refusal of some of the steamship
companies to use the wharf; also
whether or not there was good reason
for such refusal, and whether or not the
legislature would be justified in furthei
large expenditures for Kuhio wharf and
the new wharves at Hilo projected by
the commission. F.L III
1t took but d cursofy examination for
the board to determine that Kuhio
wharf has indeed been given a black
eye by some Of the steamship compa
MES. The companies themselves sup.
piled the evidence in Communications
addressed to the committee in reply to
letters written by it asking them why
they refused TO use the wharf.
But when the other side put on its
testimony 1t became apparent that the
black eye was Intentionally admins
tered by the steamship companies, and
that there was no good reason for such
treatment of the entrance to the Big
Island metropolis. |IS 'M&Els ,J-
Lyman read letter from ]. A. Ken.
nedy, president of the Inter-Island
company, severely criticizing- the wharf
and urging that radical and important
changes and additions be made to it for
the benefit of the Inter-Island. bE,.
Calls Wharf Dangerous @} q. 4. T. +
In his letter Kennedy stated that
Kuhio wharf Is dangerous for vessels
ThOored alongside, and stated that FIRE.
quently their lines have been broken by
the surging and ranging of the vessels.
He also said that the wharf shed sould
be extended and wanted various other
changes and alterations in the wharf.
This letter aroused the ire Of Com.
missioner Wakefield, who fatty and un.
equivocally contradicted Kennedy g
statements. Kennedy had said that the
freight gangplanks of Inter Island
steamers at the wharf had been broken
by the movements Of the vessels due to
the currents and the surging Of the yes,
sells. Wakefield declared that the
gangplanks were broken through the
negligence of the steamship company in
leaving them out over night. d. .4&
Regarding currents at the wharf,
Wakefield said that it is true there are
heavy currents there sometimes during
stormy weather, but that ninety five
days out of one hundred boats lie mo-
tionless at the wharf. he suggested to
the committee that if it would secure a
sufficient appropriation from the legis-
lature for the harbor board, the latter
could have all the hard material from
the bottom in front of the wharf re.
moved, thereby rendering its entire
length disable. ~
"The Inter.Isiand wants to be car.
ried around in baby carriage with
soft blankets = added Wakefield.
Letter From Drew ~ II at"E u
Chairman Lyman read a letter from
John H. Drew, manager of the shipping
department Of the Matson Steamship
Company, relative to the Great North
ern not using the wharf. Drew wrote
that Captain Altman, master OF the
Great Northern, does not consider his
vessel safe at Kuhio wharf. President
Gilman Of the Great Northern Pacific
Steamship Company, he said, Is anxious
to get the Great Northern to 90 to the
wharf IL it is possible, but Captain All.
man refused to take the vessel there.
If the committee desired, he would have
Captain Altman appear before it March
12 and give his reasons for refusing to
go. alongside Kuhio wharf. +
Commissioner G. j. Mccarthy made
u statement:
"The harbor board he said, "does
not know definitely why the large
boats do not use Kuhio wharf. But
the lighterage system at Hilo is owned
personally by Captain Matson, and if
the big boats were TO use the wharf,
he would lose the money that is now
paid for lighterage."
Mccarthy said that the use of the
wharf would greatly benefit the pas.
sengers to Hilo, and added that in his
opinion large vessels would be abso-
lutely safe at the wharf at nearly all
times. "There seems TO be preiu-
dice against the wharf, he declared,
'and besides, the pocket of somebody