Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1885-09-24
THURSDAY. :. SEPT. "a, 1885
s<xIrxRY CONDITION or HoNo-
III.

Following up the statements here,
which we partly presented to our
readers yesterday, we would call atten-
ton to the courts of Nuuanu street
just mauka Of Beretania- deep and
insufferably filthy while crowded with
Inhabitants. Another of these same
neighborhoods is to be found past this
side of the Queens Hospital, although
the yards there are kept comparatively
cleanly, the cesspools are in such close
proximity to the houses as to render the
region a dangerous place in case any
zymotic disease should break out
among US. Still other toya Of danger
are to be found makai of Aliiolani Hale
reaching along Queen street as far as
the old Government building
Hackfeld & Cos,
Amy inquirer can readily ascertain
the fact that Honolulu is situated just
over an old bed of volcanic ashes and
scoria, which rarely lies deeper than
three feet from the surface Of the
ground. These ashes are as porous as
a sponge Any diffusable substance
would find its way through it as it
would sponge.
Now when we remember that for ages
untold, Honolulu has been the abode
Of considerable number of people,
who for many years past have congre-
gated here in such numbers as war
rants us in calling the place city, and
that never, even until the present day,
has the slightest attempt been made to
properly attend to sanitary matters,
what have we the right to expect in
the future So far, we have mainly de-
voted our attention to districts in
habited principally by the poor and the
lowly, but go where we will we doubt
if in hardly a single home in Honolulu
are matters sanitary in an even passable
condition. Open cesspools with their
decaying contents pollute the air In
every neighborhood and if disinfection
is attempted it would seem to be only
in careles, desultory manner, en-
tirely without permanent results. That
Honolulu should so long have escaped
the ravages of cholera, the plague, or
some other as equallya severe
visitant, has been owing entirely 10 our
isolation, thing which is now some
thing of the past and it behooves each
and every thoughtful person in the COM
munity to wake up to realization OF
fatcs, stern facts, ere 1t be too late and
the enemy be upon us.
In fact only five years ago typhoid
fever visited us and the gaps in many a
household are still open; the wounds in
many heart are still unhealed, while
later still smallpox took nearly three
hundred of our citizens over to the
silent majority and stopped the wheels
of business for many weary months.
Such calamites have cost US thousands
of dollars, all of which might have been
averted by care and forethought.
In our article of Tuesday we gave
an account Of how severe epidemic
Of typhoid fever came about in city
in Pennsylvania, namely through con
taminated drinking water. How about
our own water supply1 1t is Of course
well known by those whose attention
has been turned in this direction that
we depend entirely upon the valleys oi
Nuuanu and Makiki for this absolute
necessity Of life What are the con,
ditions Of those valleys ? Makiki,
which supplies the least amount, has
no inhabitants above the place at which
the water is removed from its natural
bed, but Nuuanu must have at all
times considerable number for some
miles above the spot where the water is
diverted into the pipes which supply
the major portion Of the town. Now
suppose typhoid fever case happens
among the people living above oul
source Of supply
Plymouth had population Of S,ooc
and from one case being allowed tc
contaminate their water supply, r,aoe
cases followed, which was the cause oi
100 deaths Our population is, say,