The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-09-06

LAST Wednesday and also on Thursday, for
several hours the water was shut of from the
city without any previous notice being given.
This is not the first, nor the second time that q
similar ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to call it by a worse
name-has been inflicted upon the payers of
water rates during the ~incumbency of the pre-
sent official in charge of the Government water
works. In the case of steam workshops and of
families, the shutting of Of the water without
notice is quite liable to result in a serious trouble,
and something more than a mere annoyance.
Occurring as it did on Wednesday about the mid
die OF the forenoon and lasting until past one
O'Clock, we may imagine the trouble it must
have caused the housewife, thus deprived Of the
means Of cooking her husbands dinner, due
promptlya at u, and the good mans maledictions,
not loud but deep, in consequence. Ii may have
been to the profit Of the saloon keepers, for the
strongest minded t~eetOtaler in town could not
have got a drink Of water from the taps. We do
not doubt that in equity a cause OF action would
lie against the Superintendent of Water Works,
who on behalf of the government for a stipulated
sum contracts to furnish the rate-payer with
water, but which he fails to do without reason
able excuse. The excuse in this instance as we
are informed is that a Chinaman in the employ
of the department shut off the water in the
to the public, but the superintendent i, and If
not the latter, then the Minister who appointed
him, or continues him in Office. Former incum-
bents of the Office invariably gave ample notice
whenever the necessity occurred Of shutting off
the water. The official in question (of Water
Works. has really too many irons In the fire,
and it is therefore not surprising that some of
them should occasionally get burned. The duties
of Superintendent of the Water Works, IN their
present and prospective enlarged condition, if
thoroughly and carefully attended to, ought to
occupy the time and attention of one person
kut xuhan the ame individual holds in addition
to that Office those of Road Supervisor for the
Island OF Oahu, Superintendent of Public Works
and Clerk of the Market, with probably per-
quisites, besides attending to outside business, it is
no wonder that some Of the irons are burned, and
the public regard it in the light of an omnibus
affair, with a decided squint towards favoritism.
The attention Of the Minister of the Interior is
respectfully directed to this view of the case.
As Road Supervisor, this same official of many
titles and much emolument has been the subject
of frequent complaints from a patient public, of
neglect or ignorance of the proper discharge of
his duties. As a case in point it is only neces-
sary to state that we were informed on Wednesday
evening last, II. r. ii. the Heir Apparent mar
rowly escaped a serious accident while passing
along Beretania street, from the close proximity Of
an excavation made and left unfenced and unligbt-
ed 1.-THE night was quite dark) in the centre of
PunchbOWl street and mauka side of B~eretania
street. A visit to the spot by a representative of
the ADVERTISER, disclosed to view a pit four feet
IN diameter dnQ lhO U lDIec IetI II ueDLn. ana
up through which a stream of water was pouring
from an orifee in one of the main pipes, some
six inches in diameter. This beauty-spot on the
fair face Of our vigilant and careful Road Super
visor's domain, might have been regarded with
only curiosity in daylight; but we involuntarily
shudder when we suppose a happy family re-
turning from a drive or a picnic with no thought
Of danger-children ~prattling and parents happy
in their cbildren's happiness-when, without a
sign of warning the horse suddenly SHES and
a wheel goes into the pit, the carriage is over
turned, limbs are broken and perhaps lives are
lost. Are we to wait for the occurrence Of some
such accident before we censure? An ounce of
preventive is better than n pound of cure; and
therefore in the interests of the public we declare
that through ignorance or gross negligence, or
both, the present incumbent OF the Office Of Road
Supervisor is unfit for the position.
We repeat, the result is damaging to the pub
lie service when several important offices are
heaped upon one Individual. As Clerk of the
Market, another performs his duties while he re-
ceiyes the e~moluments. As Superintendent Of Wa
ter Works, he is utterly regardless of the convent
ence or the rights of the public, and he neglects
the interests of the government by allowing the
water to run to waste. As Road Supervisor be is
guilty Of criminal negligence and disregard of the
comfort and safety Of the public. Thus this per-
son Of many parts stands indicted at the bar Of
public opinion.