The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1856-10-16
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
O l6.

NHSA
incompetency. of the present head Of the Department
OF Public improvements to fill the Office placed by &C
cident under his control, it is necessary only to OBJ
serve the manner in which our hlrbor improvement:
are now being carried On, and the public money,
thereby wasted. Any one who takes the trouble t.
walk down to Robinson s Co.'S wharf can see how
the mud, after having been dag out near the whlrves
is thrown where II portion of it can't help being wash
ell back into the harbor with every ebbing tide. What
under heaven hinders the held Of this department
from Immediately causing Il retaining wall to be built
and thus keep this mud where it belongs? Are our
ministers blind that they cannot see what should be
done in the matter, or do they see it and only wish 10
make an eternal job Of it If the latter is the only
reason, Please bear in mind who foots the bill. Com
mon sense would have dictated that a wall of some
kind SHOULD have been constructed in the first place
before 4 carload Of mud WIS thrown there, in order
that it might be kept in its place, and thus save doing
the work over again. It is quite as important that
the mud be kept in its place, us that it is dug up from
the harbor.
Bat we are coolly told that there is no money to
buill a retaining wall. No money Indeed! There.
money in the treasury to pay for the dredging and
for ill-timed and perhaps useless s~teImin.-there's
money to support a useless war establishment and an
lille soldery, at the rate Of $4,000 to 1000 per
HiOiiLiI -lllCl > iHOiIeS 70 ply y dIIul embassies 10
foreign countries-there's money to support a silly
ministerial organ (llmost the only existing relic of that
by-gone 6 blue-llw SYSTEM which it holds up to rid
icule)-for all these pseudo-igportant objects there's
plenty Of money but the real interests of the King
dom must be suspended, because, frsooth, there's no
money for them.
Does the head Of the department say there i. no
appropriation for building II retaining wall, which if
We understand Alright, is the last pretext resorted to.
III order to avoid carrying on this important work,
and fulfill the wishes Of the people, as decreed by tn.
last three legislatures e.? Ii such Il position is taken,
then most surely a blindness has come over the eyes
of the minister who has the charge of this department,
which nothing short of Il miracle can cure. The last
Appropriation bill reserves : : ) 100, 900 for dredging
Honolulu harbor, building 6reakvater and deepening
the channel on the bar And Il little further on the
bill reads, " For OtarUes aad other improvements at
IVaikahalulu (wharf lots,) removing fort, sc. $15,-
Pray, what other authority than this is needed
to commence the work to-day?
But we are told that it would be impolitic to COM
mcnce the removal CT the fort just at this time that
the new prisonis not completed, sc. And why is
not the new prison completed, when So, 900 or 81, 900
Will render it secure and commodious One large
stone building with 80 or 10 good cells is about fin
ished, and the enclosing walls are nearly complete.
The completion Of these walls, and a few sheds or
.tenements, not to cost 81, 900, would make it far more
comfortable and secure Il place Tor the prisoners than
the present dllapidated fort. The last legislature
voted SNo,pOO to complete the prison and make
It MT for occupancy, but we believe nothing has been
lone towards completing it, since the legislature adj
Let this new prison be completed, and
old fort be got ready for demolition, and let the
public interests no longer suffer from the supineness
those having the charge of this department.. We
Know that the old fort is Gerry convenient to the court
lousc, and that the officers occupying it are 10th to
cave their snug quarters, but ought this reason to {
weigh 4 feather III the scale when the voice Of the 7
,eOple has decreed it shall be removed? 7
Only two weeks ago, the clipper ship PamDero ar )
wed III our haFbor with 500 tons of good grave ell bal p,
which was offered gratis to any body who would
AXE il ftom her hold. Here was q capitol chance to s
for nothing dry stulr to IN Ike Il dixie OF to re-
an the mud sccopel ont Of the harbor, until IA good
ubstaGGtial wall could be built. And there the ship
" within twenty-five feet o. The SPOT where the BAL f
'st was needed to make the dixie, and where a 40 ~
1 thirty prisoners would have discharged it in three .
Hys by a plank singing on to the wharf lots, with "
cry Little more cost than the bare labor of getting It :
ut OF her aoid. But why was not this done? Ii no =
else cen assign a reason, we can. 1t is because
ne head of til. department has too much else to do to
tter look the public business as it should be attenIa
D. Two or three other clippers are expected in a f., -
tys' ana II they load here, VIII have IL thousand to
lteen hundred tons of ballast to dispose OF, AMI the +
ooNc VIII "sIt to see whether our government will
IKE advantage Of or overlook, the opportunities at :"
'rded to cheaply expedite the public works. :,
IN proper course IN carrying on our much desir- :"
l improvements would have been, first to hive COM III
,eted the PRISON, next to have built the retainin J0
an ana Lastly to carry on WITH energy the harbor e'
'edShS. This course would have been the simplest. ~
che'pest and the quickest. But the heal of the ~
'Ptrtmeht. against the expressed opinions Of our re- ="
'oie pilots and exploits, and in order no doubt 90
Keep a ~pllything before the public eyes, or for 9TH 90
reasons best known to himself, commences the -
eoslng before the place is properly prepared to re- y
the mud. oe
Inc sum of the whole matter is this, that the bureau "
fuolic Works is not in the proper hands. The
lolic nave long been convinced of this, and on every ~,
lie we hear only dissatisfaction. They consider Mr. 10
9lile' Whatever may be his qualifications for his re- bH
aiming duties, entirely incompetent for conducting tb.
puoiic works. We said that it was by accident wt
was placed in charge of that department. We Of
III narrate the flcts. In 1855 it was pronose1 in foo
cordance with NJ. Wylle's f.vorite theories. 70 sb,
IKE our war department tremendously effective. by tw
1ptOyIng q military enpiDear ub,o oo,Il