The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-05-15
MAKES SOME MISTAKES.
ERRORS OF A LOCAL WRITER ON
Pearl HARMON
His Serious Objections Easily Answered
1t Is BY Nature a Naval
Station Place.

EDlGOR OIAR. over tue name o.
"Student," a writer in local paper
fills seventeen columns in four sue.
cessive numbers Of that paper in a
laborious effort toproveits useless
ness to Uncle Sam as a naval sta
ton or as anything else" A
Scare" heading very properly EN-
titles it IAN unorthodox view" II
its author could be thought sincere,
it might be termed cranky view,
SO destitute is it of any basis oil
truth or of common sense. The
writer however is a good observer
and not unfamiliar with his subject,
erring evidently not through ignor-
ance, but from set purpose to make
out a case. His descriptions in
general are picturesque and not
wholly lacking i'll general accuracy,
although he ought really to be
able to distinguish the coral bluffs
of the lagoon from lava" lodges.
The first objection made is that
the channels are to narrow for a
manoeuvering ground. Naval
ships cannot turn i'll them in a
single sweep. Now the deep
water channels are nine miles in
length and over one-fourth mile
in width. That is, there are
1900 acres of good anchorage for
the largest ships, much of it close
alongside the banks. There is
plenty of space for them to move
without fouling each other.
The writer shoulders again at the
difficulty of finding the entrance.
1t will be the easiest possible thing
to station signal posts on shore and
buoys at sea to mark the channel.
He discovers difficulty which no
one before has thought of--and
scores Of the ablest naval men have
scrutinized that place.
Again he objects that no effect
i've Notifications can be provided.
AS the attacking ships must lie out
side the reef, five miles from the
enemy, it would seem that very
efficient protection might be given.
Excavation in the coral will thor
oughly hide and shelter the guns,
whose aim will be far steadier than
that from moving deck. Agar
oba thickets will still more thor
oughly conceal their guns.
AS to the bar, Student makes a
most serious misstatement in des-
cribinS the needed cut through it
as two miles in length, whereas it
is only 1900 feet, as any good map
would have shown him. AS to the
sand washing i'll again, there is no
more reason to fear that than in
the case of Honolulu bar. Indeed
there is less, because there is evil
IDENTIFY much less accumulation of
sand around the channel than there
is at Honolulu.
The writer is greatly exercised
about the speculative spirit of the
owners of Pearl City and of Ford S
Island. The former parties at
least do not base their hopes OF
profit upon the expected Naval
Station, but upon the use of the
harbor by the fleets of steamers
crossing the Pacific after the
Nicaragua canal has been opened.
Honolulu harbor being too narrow
for the accommodation. OF such
numbers of steamers calling for
coal supplies, as well as of golfers
supplying them, that business must
be largely done at Pearl Harbor.
Pearl City peninsula possesses pc
culiar advantages over other points
in the harbor reaching deep water,
viz, better fresh water supply,
cooler air, and better communica
ton with the main land. 1t will
be the natural business center of
the harbor. MANANA.