The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-23
MANAGEMENT OF THE VOLCANO HOUSE.
Mr. j. 4. Jordan Defends himself


ED. p. c. ADvERTIsER-D Dear Sir:
am in receipt of a letter from the 1.
/. 5. n. Co, wherein they make great
complaints of the manner in which
the Volcano House is run at present.
During the time that I myself run
| the Volcano House the tourists were
being told at Hilo by their hosts that
the man Jordan was very rude, and
likely to offend them. This must
have been very unpleasant for those
people.
This feeling did not rest alone with
the hotel-keepers of Hilo, but ex-
| tended far down into the low element,
making its terminus in the beer
! shops, so that the guides were thor
| oughly tainted with it, or so much So
that the Volcano House was con-
| tinually losing combs, brushes,
towels, spurs and saddle blankets.
One instance, which may be well
worth mentioning, is that of half
caste. On his leaving, l thought of
counting the spoons, but my atten-
ton was at once. directed to the ele-
waited position of his saddle. ] counted
the blankets and found that two were
missing. This may all be due to the
fact that was Road Supervisor at
Hilo for two years, where / had made
canals, laid wooden railways, and
done many other outrageous things,
which called out medical, mechanical
and professional skill to remedy
This work made one gentleman's
heart sick. Three years later / had
some business with him, and found
that he was still unwell. A doctor
or shoemaker don't know which,
though he might have been a little Of
both-told me that unless I would
erect windmills in all of my canals,
people obliged to travel through
would be liable to suffocate. A gen
tleman in Honolulu wrote to the Ga q
Sette that I was preparing for war;
others told me that the entertainments
on either side were liable to cave in
and kill multitudes of people. A
petition was circulated praying that
1 be dismissed. a gentleman of in
fluence in Hilo got widow woman
and nine children to sign it. The
Government sent it up to me and i
signed it myself, and shortly after
took my departure in disgust. This
may account for my troubles on the
Hilo side, although j was in hopes
that it would die with my commits
sion.
Knowing, as 1 did, that the Vol
cano was the chief point of interest
in this Kingdom, which caused
tourists to go to the great expense of
coming here, felt it my duty to try
and contrive some means to make
their visit more pleasant. TO 10 tha6
it was necessary for me either to give
up the place or arrange matters in
such a way that they could come
from the Kau side, which would
necessitate building q road, an idea
which would be likely to meet with
much ridicule, as it was not yet FASH
ionabIe to have roads anywhere out
side of Honolulu To broaeh this
subject to the i. I. S. n. Co. was also
an undertaking, and one likely to
meet with silent contempt, and the
sneers s.nd snarls due to one likely to
suggest absurd things. But, how
ever, after doing more talk than
would be necessary for a New Yorker
to do to stock and bond a road from
to Vesuvius, the company
moved in the matter, and a sort of an
agreement was made to do the work
and carry on this business.
This agreement, being made on bad
cloth, seemed to be changing color.
In order to overcome the impression
that the house under my manage
ment was not satisfactory to the pub
lie, therefores entered into partner
ship with Mr.. Shipman, feeling that
he would be more suitable, and hop
ing that lie would give public salts
faction. Now that the road is COM
pleted to the Halfway House, the /.
[. S. n. Co. begin to feel that the
business is a paying one, and they
have set their monopoly dog 10 bark
ing, thinking by this plan to gain an
easy acc ess to the ownership of the
Volcano House. We are not sensi-
tive to the barking, knowing that
this method is unjust. A private af-
fair is private affair, but this seems
to be matter in which the Govern
ment and the public might feel i'm
posed upon, should they be influenced
to take sides with the 1. 1. S. n. Co.
in the course of complaints; there
fore, propose to offer a controlling
interest in the Volcano House, and
all the land belonging thereto, lying
east and south of the Volcano House,
which is about four miles in an east
erly direction and six miles in the
other, TO a party whose business and
standing in the Kingdom is such as
to be a guarantee that the Volcano
House will be run in manner salts
factory to the public, feeling, also,
that in such hands it would become a
resort for a greater part of the island
people. We have concluded that we
have good business in the remain