HAWAII

The earliest territorial law relating to automobiles is 1903 Act 54, passed April 28, 1903, to amend an 1896 law by adding automobiles to the list of vehicles being taxed.  There was a $5 annual tax on all types of vehicles.  Another law, 1905 Act 89, was passed on April 26, 1905, and effective January 1, 1906, which raised the automobile tax to $20 annually.  This fee was apparently reduced to $10 in 1907.  1909 Act 136 also addresses automobile taxation.  None of the laws passed before 1912 provided for registration or license plates.  This was left to individual counties, with Honolulu County being the earliest to pass an ordinance requiring license plates in 1906.

1911 Act 146, which took effect in 1912, amended and expanded the earlier laws.  Automobiles "and other power-driven vehicles" were now taxed yearly according to vehicle weight, at 1c per pound.  The assessor "shall number and register such automobile...and shall furnish the owner with a metallic tag...with the number and year marked thereon..."  This tag, which cost an additional 25c fee, was a small annual territory-issued disc (other shapes were used in later years) that was to be attached to the county-required license plate, which at that time was generally owner-provided.  These small tags were issued for ten years from 1912 to 1921.  Further amendments were made in 1917 with the passage of Chapter 135, but the details are not known.

The first law to provide for a territory-wide unified registration system was 1921 Act 198, passed April 26, 1921, which was effective January 1, 1922.  Repealing the earlier motor vehicle tax laws, this law required annual county-issued pairs of plates (or single motorcycle plates) with one design, size and color scheme common throughout the territory.  License plate numbers were coded by county as follows (although the plates for Territory of Hawaii and City/County owned vehicles were suggested assignments only; it's not known if they were followed):

                    PASSENGER         MOTORCYCLE       GOVERNMENT

      Territory         -                  -             1 -  99

      Honolulu    1-000 - 19-999       100 - 1999      100 - 399

      Hawaii     20-000 - 29-999      2000 - 2999      400 - 599

      Maui       30-000 - 39-999      3000 - 3999      600 - 799

      Kauai      40-000 - 49-999      4000 - 4999      800 - 999

The highest 1922 passenger plates known are #8-688, #20-691 and #40-393.  Registration figures for 1922 can be found in the table below.  Motorcycle plates were also issued starting in 1922, but the earliest known plate is a 1926.  Honolulu ordered 350 "flat enameled" plates for 1922.  Finally, plates were issued for Territory-owned vehicles, as 1922 #T/H 45 is known.

KNOWN REGISTRATION FIGURES:

         OAHU   HAWAII   MAUI    KAUAI   TOTAL

1905       25                       8       80

1906       90                              125

1907      180

1908      294

1909      329

1910      555     122     109      75      861

1911      900

1912    1,015

1913    1,264     408     354     209    2,235

1914    1,782     576     403     274    3,035

1915    2,309     600     507     365    3,781

1916    2,993

1917    3,791

1918    4,582

1919    5,527

1920    6,384                   1,187

1921    7,191

1922    9,115   2,717   1,972   1,532   15,336

KNOWN METALLIC TAGS:

AUTOMOBILE  (Aluminum 1912, brass 1913-21)

1912 Disc                944 - 1340

1913 Shield               18 -  527

1914 Scallop shell       865 - 2092

1915 Auto radiator        80 (Maui), 708 - 1787(Oahu)

1916                     119

1917 Rectangle          1781 - 7173

1918 Oval                486

1919 Tuna                588 - 5424

1920 Touring car      O 3107 - O 4968

1921 Surfer on wave   O 3979 - O 7306, M1307, 4330

MOTORCYCLE  (Brass 1915, 1921)

1912

1913

1914

1915 Disc                            105

1916

1917

1918

1919

1920

1921 Square with notched corners   O 165 - O 425