Panama-Pacific International Exhibition Commission

Corporate body

Panama-Pacific International Exhibition Commission

• PPIE
• Fair Commission

1911-1916

On February 28, 1911, J .R. No. 1 was approved. It provided tor the establishment of a commission or five, one from each county, to report to the 1913 Legislature on plans for an exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Intemational Exposition to be held at San Francisco in celebration or the opening of the Panama Canal. The Chairman was H. P. Wood and members as follows: John A. Hughes, Oahu; John M. Lydgate, Kauai; J .N.S. Williams, Maui; and Charles E. Wright, Hawaii. Sub-committees were appointed to study education, agriculture, forestry, commerce, manufactures, immigration and home building, transportation, irrigation, ethnology, climatology, botany, marine biology, geology, and history. Albert P. Taylor of the Advertiser was appointed as secretary. Simultaneously, a site committee was formed in San Francisco composed of Chairman William G. Irwin, Captain William Matson, Wallace Alexander, George Rolph and E. M. Walsh. Reports from the various sub­ committees in October led to the decision to ask for Federal matching funds. On March 29, 1912, the Chamber of Commerce moved to ask the Governor for $5,000 from his Contingent Fund for current expenses of the Fair Commission. On June 10, 1912, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association made $10,000 available to the Commission and plans were formulated to ask the next Legislature for $150,000.

The 1913 Legislature passed Act 154, which provided for Hawaii's exhibit at the Exposition and making a special appropriation for the construction or a build­ing or buildings to house the exhibit ( or the leasing of suitable space) and for the expenses of installation and maintenance. $1001000 was appropriated from the general revenue in the Treasury and placed under the Secretary of Hawaii acting with advice and assistance from the Commission. Proceeds from sales were to be government realizations and unsold property was to remain with the Territory under the Secretary. The Governor authorized the appointment or a Commission of five men to collect a suitable agricultural, industrial, educational and aesthetic exhibit on behalf of Hawaii, cause the erection or suitable buildings, install the exhibit and maintain it, and make suitable disposition of it at the conclusion of the ex­position. The 1915 Legislature amended this by stating that members were not to receive a salary but only travel and living expenses. These were to be paid out of the fund after submission of vouchers approved by the Auditor, and the total was not to exceed $4,000. The second Commission was composed of Chairman H.P. Wood, C. E. Wright, John Hughes, John H. Wise, and J.N.S. Williams (Vice-chairman) and J.H. Wise was appointed Secretary. Wright resigned and was replaced by John Effinger on May 21, 1914; Hughes resigned and was replaced by Bertram C. Rivenburg on July 23, 1914. On January 5, 1915, Wood went to San Francisco as resident commissioner and stayed throughout the run of the exposition which opened February 20, 1915.

Honolulu
San Francisco

Joint Resolution No. 1, February 28, 1911, Territorial Legislature
Act 154, S.L.H. 1913

2021-08-23, Carol Kellett: Entered into AtoM.