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THE MAUI NEWS, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1914.
THE MAUI NEWS
linteied at tlio Posl Oflico lit Wiiilului, Maui, Hawaii, as xpcond-clafss mattpr.
2
. J Republican Paper Published in the Interest of the People
Issued it'rrv Saturday.
MAUI PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED,
Proprietors and Publishers
Sl'HSlRIPTION RaTKS, $2.50 I'KR YEAR IN ADVANCE. .
WILL J. COOPER, : : ' ; EDITOR AND MANAGER
SATURDAY, : : : NOVEMBER 28, 1914.
Kahului Railroad Co
9
avoid run appearance of evil.
In creating a county engineer's department for the. county, the super
visors may or may not have taken a wise step. There can be no
two opinions on the wisdom of placing the technical work of the
county in the hands of a trained engineer. That is the only way that
Maui can ever hope to have roads and water works and school build
ings constructed and operated in a reasonably sane and economical man
ner. I In t can the supervisors create an office, appoint a man to fill it,
!: his salary "as may from time to time be agreed upon," give this
;.j pointee the power of appointing every district overseer, water works
superintendent or other employe properly coming under this depart
ment, and still have EFFICIENCY, and not FOLIC Y the watchword
of that office? It is extremely doubtful.
In our opinion the ordinance as proposed is fair neither to the county
engineer nor to the members of the board, and is an invitation, in almost
every clause, for playing politics. It should be specific. It should pro
vide for entering into a term contract with the engineer, which could
i ot be broken readily by either party. The board should not expect
to have any voice whatever in tlte appointments of employes of the
engineer's department. As the ordinance now reads the engineer may
appoint and remove the men he must depend upon for results, only with
the "approval of the board." Engineer Howell says he will not play
pontics. How he can keep his job under the present arrangement and
not do it, is pretty hard to see. lie is to be a creature of the board
m every sense and subject to removal at any time, or of having his
salary reduced or eliminated, which amounts to the same thing. And
'iir.iy election coming" on !
M ,.crd be no reflection upon the membership of the board, but supcr-
. '(" and county engineers are but human. The proposed ordinance is
. e -i i,;nilu eictly adapted to machine politics. As will be noted prac
l.eaiiy the whole of the labor patronage of the county will be brought
under one control. If the supervisors who hope to be reelected a few
months hence do not make use of this machine in some measure at
least, it will be because they arc more closely related to the angels than
most people have ever suspected.
Perhaps the best way to handle the engineering work of the county
would be to have the office of engineer elective for a term of from four
to six years. The engineer should be subject to recall by the people
in case his administration proved unsatisfactory. And this would re
!uire an act of the legislature. But the board might enter into a con
tract with Mr. Howell for two or three years irrevocable, save only
:or misfeasance or malfeasance in office. There would be no more
risk to the people's interests through such an act than there is through
the election of officials for a given term without power of removal, as
under our law at present. And the freedom under which the engineer
would then pei lorm his duites could not but be beneficial. But in any
event the ordinance finally passed should be less open to suspicion
than the one at present proposed.
utilities COMMISSION AID for the farmer.
The East Hawaii Cane Planters' Association proposes that the scope
ot the public utilities commission be extended to include all sugar
mills, pineapple canneries, or other plants which obtain raw product
in whole or in part from individual growers. The matter will in all
likelihood be brought up in the legislature next February, and if our
commission of rather doubtful utility gets out alive, it may have this
new feature tacked on to it.. The proposal, has merit. As things stand
;;t present the relations between the small grower and the manufacturer
are entirely too one sided. This is particularly true as regards the
pineapple canneries, which buy a large part of their fruit from indivi
dual larmers. 1 he season just past is a case in point where some re
viewing body might well have turned on the light of investigation. In
this instance growers were paid much less than actual cost of produc
tion and were culled to the limit. Yet the pack was scarcely in the
cans before the report was current that the supply was exhausted. The
i rouble is that under present conditions the small grower can learn little
d real conditions that concern him. For reasons best known to them
i . es the pineapple packers shun publicity as satan is said to shun holy
..iter. Light never huU any legitimate business unless it was the manu
i.ic'iure of photographic supplies, and only certain kinds of light are
bad for that. Let's have a real utilities commission, and let's have
plenty of light.
u a :: u
.OS MAK1SG A CLEAN START.
The reorganization' of the Maui Athletic Association should mean
the wiping of the slate clean and a fresh start. The only value in re
membering mistakes of the past is that they may not be repeated. With
a new membership list and a lot of live sportsmen united but for the
single purpose of insuring wholesome, clean sport for Maui, there is
no reason why the new year should not be the best in the history of
sport in this County. There is no question as to this result if everyone
w ill do his part.
xx xx xx xx xi
If Bob Breekons goes to Washington as Kuhio's secrtary it won't
make very much difference whether the delegate stays "on the job
.1 ,ot.
Farmers to Have Parly
"Rube" Costumes Barred
Carda have been Bent out to mem
bers cf the Haiku Farmers' Associa
tion notifying them of the fact that
a fancy dress party ia being an urge!
by the social committee of the or
ganization for next Saturday e i!us.
The affair will bi held in the Kuiaha
school lioue, and promisee 'o bo a
very jolly one.
ORGAN RECITAL NEXT FRIDAY
NIGHT.
Mrs. J. C. Villiers, assisted by Mr,
II. V. Baldwin, and the choir, will
give an organ recital. In the Church of
the Good Shepherd, on Friday even
lug next, December 4th. Offering for
the Belgian Relief Fund.
Self-conceit is a good asset. A man
can't hope to be popular with his
friends unless he is popular with
himself.
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Tel. No. 1062.
Kahului, Maui, T. H.
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