The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-10-08
THE PACIFIC
Commercial A0Ontlser.
SATURDAY. OCTOBER 8.

OF DuDllC IMPROVEMENTS NAo
island steamer is our main highway, and IL
private enterprise cannot or does not keep this
road omen. it must be done at the public expense.
To make such a steamer pay her own way, how
ever, should be the first care and duty of the
Government. The great difficulty in steam
boating amongst these islands, and we speak
from long experience, is the delay and uncer-
tainty in landing and shipping freight>and pas
sengers at every port on the group outside o;
Honolulu, without one single exception. 10
have to send ashore a few packages or receive
thirty or forty kegs of sugar by each trip OF the
vessels surf boat, at every port she touches at.
is simply contemplate from a steamboat point O.
veiw, and one cannot depend upon always being
able to do that. We are well aware that there
are great difficulties in the way of TemedyIng
this, but that it is impossible to remedy it to
a very important extent we do not believe.
We were very much struck with the descrip-
ton in the Gazette Of the Dist ult., OF the iour
cornered ship or floating telegraph station, and
we have referred to the London Mechanics Mag
azine of the 9Th July last, where we find the
apparatus figured and described, as Captain John
Moody's sailing craft but the quality which
will recommend it for our purpose, is that it
can be anchored in a seaway with very little pro-
liability Of its dragging, upsetting, filling, or
shipping water-while at the same time it is
stable, and with a slight addition or modification
can be converted into a floating pier which will
stand almost any gale and sea with IMMUNITY.
One of these of suitable size anchored off Lahaina,
for instance, with the new wire suspension tram
way and carriages connecting it with the shor'
would be invaluable. The Rildued could lam
and take in her passengers and cargo, and be o.
on her voyage, before the Lahaina people ha'
fairy Weakened up of a Tuesday morning. A
many of the other touching places, a similar ar
rangement would be equally valuable.
The roads on shore, however, require quite a
much Of Government care as this ocean road.
We believe that the best money this country eve
spent would be to order at first, on trial, one o
the new steam road rollers, which are now making
81 the rough places plain /" in most of the civilized
countries of the earth. We had the pleasure o,
a conversation the other day with our road Super
visor on Oahu, at the spot where he is repairing
the valley road. The plan of mending the road
is, as it must be here at these islands, to dig out
the stuff (earth and stones) from the side of the
road and throw it on to the road, making 1T a little
higher ~ the middle, but otherwise as level as
possible. Captain Luce complained that where
there is 50 much horse traffic, one length OF the
road got spoiled, before he could complete another,
and we saw that it was SO. Before the newly
made bed of earth and stones had time to CONSOLE
date, the traffic got it into holes and ruts which the
first rams worked into little pits and ravines, and
the road is spoiled. At best the vehicle traffic in
time works the road down, all except the stones,
which project like the surface of a magniied nut
meg-grater to try the springs of the carriages, the
spokes of the carts, and the feet of the horses and
bulIocks. The steam road roller cures all this
it smooths and consoIidates the surface after one
or two ~rollings, and subsequent traffic hardly
affects it. We believe that one of these rollers in
each of the main islands, would in three years
be a direct money saving to the country, to say
nothing of the value and pleasure of having good
roads instead of bad ones.
But this is not all. The steam road roller is
the pioneer of the road steam carriage, which is
now becoming an invaluable servant in countries
which cannot yet afford railways and tramways.
We would refer our readers to an article on this
subject copied into the Scientific American of July
10th, from the Engineer. The road roller on
! each island might be hired out by Government to
planters and others to consolidate their private
roads-when we should soon see them free from
the intolerable expense and nuisance of the use
and destruction of an indefinite number of work
ing cattle for carting cane, sugar, &C., by the in
PRODUCTION of the road steamer.
Another valuable legitimate enterprise for the
investment of the common fund of the country
{ would be, we believe, to import a certain number
of good but not extravagant priced stock, say
welI-bred saddle horses, draught horses, bulls,
rams, Jacks, &C., from the nearest and cheapest
5 market. Advertize them at public auction al
: Honolulu, so many of each to be taken to certain
3 islands, sale without reserve. Let the country
. pocket the profit or the loss, and the Ministers
; take the responsibility of getting the best animals
! for the money that could be expected.
9 1t has been thought that one improvement
8 we all see is wanted, but which nobody will give
! US, viz, a good hotel in Honolulu, is not a fl
! enterprise for a government to undertake. We adj
NIT that His Majesty Ministers could not ''keep g
hotel, - but it is a very fair question whether they
might not build one on their own ground for some
Q one else to keep. We have had committees, anc
/ committees on this subject, and we are just where
y we were. We will suggest an entirely new plar
and a new location. Let the Government fill In {
good big piece of their own reef, say two or thre'
: acres. between Mr.. Fosters shipyard and MIR
Sterling's house, let them fence 1t IN, lead TIT
water on it, plant it with grass and trees, and II
the middle of it erect a nice, moderate-sized, two
story, suitable brick or stone building and out
houses, and when nearly finished advertise it IL
the newspapers here, in San Francisco. and Aus
: traIia-ss to be let for five years for a Hotel, ant
for no other purpose. The said lease to be pu
nm at public auction, on a certain day, and OF
the same day every FIVE years l
would be a hard case if the government would
> not legitimately realize nine per cent on their in
yestment, to say nothing of adding directly to TIT
value of their reef in the neighborhood, or of thu
: indirect value to them and the people of bringing
, strangers here with means, and keeping then
here. Our San Francisco and Australian visitor