Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-07-07
HAWAIt'S TIDAL WAVE
Japan Sends a Destructive Visitor
Eastward.
REPEAL OF TIE fHUNBEARK Law
The Introduction Of Japan's Deadly
Sake.
LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS
Spe ciaI Correspondence of The Evening Star

Special Correspondents of The Evening Star.
HONOLULU, June 20, 1895.
The western coast of the Island OF Ha-
wall has just been visited by tidal waves
| Of considerably destructive force. They
! seem to have come from the northwest.
Small half-hour Gibbs and flows occurred
! in Honolulu harbor at the same time, last
| ing seven hours, from am. to 2 pm. of
June 15. The tide gauge recorded fourteen
| half-hcur tidal waves, averaging about one
| foot in height At the head of the harbor,
where it narrows up to the estuary of a
stream, the strange ebbing and flowing was
| so deep and high as to create considerable
alarm. the Gibbs leaving fishes stranded on
| the mud flats.
1t is difficult to understand why such
heavy tidal waves as struck western Ha-
wall an hour later should have been SO
| light at Honolulu, and have been unnoticed
| on other parts Of Oahu.
The first wave struck Kawaihae at about
| $40 a. m. This port is in the blight of a sort
| OF broad bay. The wharf was completely
| demolished. Kailua, thirty miles south, was
| struck at $50 The third wave, an hour
| later, was the highest. The first phenome-
non was a sudden ebb, laying bare the
| rocks at the bottom of the harbor, sue
ceeded by towering wave, rushing I'D
| over the shores, and carrying away sheds
and lumber piles. The lower story of Miss
Paris Hotel was flooded, and her es-
adjustment temporarily broken up. This
| is where Miss Kate Field lodged a few
days before her death. 1t is a large two
story stone mansion, erected on a massive
stone platform at the shore in 1910 by the
| famous Gov. Adams. or Kuakini. 1t was
afterward used by King Kalakaua az a
rural palace
Thirty-Five Feet High.
civ
| bay. the water reached points thirty-five
feet higher than the sea. Nine houses were
demolished, five Of them wooden, among
them the dwelling Of the principal native
resident. Fish were left entangied in the
thorny branches of the lantana bushes
Happily, no lives were lost. At Kealakea-
kua, or Cooks bay, six miles farther south
the wave struck at am, reaching thirty
rect at the village of Napoopoo, where
| three houses were destroyed, and NJ F.
SCOTS lumber piles scattered all over the
bay On the opposite side Of the bay
WheEe COOKS monument stands, the water
reached tmrty feet, and must have washed
the base of the monument. The wharf and
Moses Barret's house were destroyed Much
damage was done to goods in the ware
house.
| Hookena was reached about $40 am,
destroying the wharf and the Chinese
stores The wave rounded the south point
OF the island. and struck the kau landings
"poul Hes ndu been warned by teia-
phone from kona. The steamer W. G.
Hall, lying at Honuapo, called in her boat
ana steamed out to sea, until the danger
was over. At Punalun where in 1868 a
local earthquake wave had destroyed the
village and drowned over forty people, the
inhabitants forSook their homes for twenty
TOUR hours. Considerable damage was done
at kaalualu and Honuapo but none at
Punaiun. AT kaalualu the wharf and four
houses were washed away, the sea rising
twelve feet
At Hilo the waves were lighter begin
ming about ~ am, and reaching height
or eight feet. Some damage was done TO
boats. etc. 1t was evident that the waves
came from the westward, leaving Hilo pro-
tected by the island mass. There is no re-
port OF damage from tidal waves else
where, except at the southwest point of
MAUI. where some ancient fish ponds were
destroyed, and on the southeast side Of
IL aual 100 miles northwest of Honolulu
where the tidal waves seriously molested a
steamer and her boats
Other Destructive Waves
About 1910 and 1874, twice. has Hilo bay
been visited by very destructive tidal
| waves, Kahuleu bay, opening eastward on
Mauni, suffering at the same time The
later waves were known to have crossed
| the ocean from the western coast of South
America. where enormous earthquake
waves destroyed a large seaport and car
| rted United States war steamer two
| miles fnlard. The velocity of propaga ton
Of these tidal undulatiors was about 500
miles an hour. At sea they are wholly i'm
perceptible, but on reaching a bay opening
toward their approach they develop a
feaVy wave or bore. The bottom is first
laid bare by the outdraft of the approach
ing tide, which then drives in like a wall
sweeping high up on the Shore
Our next mail from San Francisco may
tr1ng us ord of some distant locality on
the Pacific, possibly Japan where con-
XlISi0n u-hi
tidal waves. Or the CONFUSION may have
been somewhere in midocean, not soon to
be heard from. 1t should be added that no
tidal waves have invaded any Western
coast Of these islands before, since their
discovery.
Authority for Rounding.
Our legislature adjourned sine die on the
18th, after 100 working days Of the ses-
sion, ten having been added to the regu-
latfon ninety by special grant Of the pres
1dent, In order to enable an act to be pass
ed to refund the public debt at per cent
This was done; also a per cent loan au-
tforized for public improvements to the
amount OF $2,OGD.00O. This Is to be borrow
ed from time to time as required to meet
specially authorized expenditures For the
present biennial period the expenditure of
$S55,OOO is thus specially authorized Among
these public works are $1O5, 500 for roads in
Aile, $4,000 for roads in Kona, $4,000 for
Nunanu Pail read and 100000 for road in
hohala; also $5O,0O0 Tor wharf and break
water at Hilo.
Besides these special expenditures there
are authorized considerable expenditures
for public works out Of current funds, in
cluded in the regular appropriation bill for
the two years. This amounts TO 81. SO4, Ssa,
or over 100000 year, this being exclusive
Of the $S55,G0O loan appropriations named
above. AS I have heretofore pointed out,
q large part of the latter are of so pro-
ductive q character that the taxes from
values of property increased will more
than pay interest on the whole expendi-
lures. These evidences of the great ma
terial prosperity and high financial credit
Of the republic Of Hawaii more than JUS
tify all the very favorable expressions
attributed to Minister A. S. Willis while
in Washington. In view of Mr.. Willis
originally hostile attitude to this govern
ment, such highly commendatory state
nents from him now deserve to carry
great weight with the American public
Thumb-MaFk Law Repealed.
Two somewhat remarkable pieces of leg
islation during the last days of the session
are to be noticed. One was the repeal of
the registration act, passed two or three
months earlier. know of no similar case
on record, of the speedy repeal of a la w
in the same session, and by the same men
who passed it, and in surrender to a niece
popular clamOr, This act was Substantial