The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-09
THE CONDITION OF THE CITY.

Ii
There is little to be gained by being
sharply critical at the present time about
the condition of the streets and footways OF
the city. When a few months ago the Leg
islature assembled and the Minister of FL
nance reported a balance of $33s,SSO In
the Treasury some good might have been
done by a spirited comparison of honolulu
with towns of its size elsewhere, N oy a
little clamor for improvements. The Legls-
lature has dispersed, the Appropriation Act
is passed, and for the period 1851
50 there are S25, 900 available to keep ''roads
and bridges in Honolulu in repair and for
all purposes of construction and formation.
A shade over $1,000 a month may be suth-
cient to prevent our streets from falling in
to any worse state than they are at present.,
but as to any improvements" we are ma
BILE to see how they are to be accomplished.
The people of Honolulu therefore,, VINO
directly contribute more to the revenue
than all the rest of the inhabitants of the
Kingdom put together, need not busy them
selves to enquire what expenditures are de-
sirable, since unless they put their hands
into their own pockets to provide for them
"a course they lave a decided objection to
they cannot look for any material inn
provement of their ~thoroughfares for some
time to come. Our more influential citi-
zens are wont to glide over the uneven
roadways in easy vehicles; the footwalks
are for the most part terTGe incOgnitae to
them. The populace to whom the condition
of the streets is of moment is made up of
various races who cannot combine in any
movement to secure better attention to
khair. naalo4 UWoo oxrotapo Of oloofinn. mann
bers of the Legislature anew for each ses-
sion gives no abiding connection between
the constituency and it's representatives.
The only part of the foreign white popula-
ton of the town that has any cohesion is
that which feels least and knows least of
the things that need remedy. Altogether the
look out cannot be said to be hopeful. I'm
less something like a "public opinion"
"a be reused on the subject we need not
look to the Government or the Legislature
for any help. We are glad, however, to be-
lieve that the " condition of the city" is
forcing itself forward as a subject of street.
corner talk, the precursor, let US hope, of a
definite public opinion upon, and public
demand for, necessary improvements.
The improvements which are most re-
quired, especially in regard to the foot
paths, are such as cannot be accomplished,
until City Bylaws, defining the duties of
individuals, have been passed by some
competent authority. Nothing can we'll be
more anomalous than the present system in
regard to the ~foot-ways, which are of all
manner of widths, dwindling, here and
there almost to nothing; all manner of
levels, rendering a walk in some of the
streets a mild sort of steeple-chase; all
manner of materials, here handsome tiles,
there decaying concrete, in some places ap-
parently formed of the rubbish elected from
neighboring premises. TIL way in which
they are DISTRACTED, appropriated and in
jured by occupants of the houses and stores
abutting upon them, is equally at variance
with the customs of well regulated towns.
Here and there throughout the business
portion OF the town, the drippings from
verandas n balconies, form pools and long
cutters on the foot-paths this for want of
the customary Building Regulations.
Workmen employed about the front of any
premises take possession of as much of the
foot-way as suits their convenience, or
their ~laziness, as for instance, when a pain
ter on Fort street could find nothing
more suitable to support the plank,
he stood upon two huge t~restles, the full
width of a pathway, which is wider than
c-ommon;-this for want of proper Police
Regulations. Builders engaged in the
repair or the construction of build
ings in the busiest and narrowest
of our streets, do just as they like
with their materials, obstructing the foot
ways wholly, and the roadway to the ex-
tent of half its available width, leaving
their chaos of bricks, mortar, lumber, &c.
%unlighted at night-a trap to the unwa1y
passer-by-as in Nuuanu-street just now =
this for want both of Building Bylaws and
an efficient Police Ordinance. Every store
keeper who finds that it suits his conve-
nience to use the footpath for the display
or storage of his goods does SO. Every
driver who is too lazy or careless to turn
his vehicle with care drives over the corner
of the ~footpath, if it be low enough to suit
him. Public opinion may reprobate all
these practices !; but until it can make
itself felt through them medium of legisla-
ton, it will not be able to curb them, and,
like all other bad habits, the longer they
are INDUCED in, the more difficult they will
be to eradicate.