Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-04-30
THE FIRE LIMITS.
A Correspondent DiIates ON the Hen
eft oftheir Extension.

eft oftheir Extension.
EDITOR BULLETIN:-The extern
sion of the fire limits of Honolulu,
on account of the crowded condi-
ton Of the down town districts, is
a matter Of great importance and
should be accomplished as soon
as possible. There is no sense In
becoming sentimentally lenient
because of the possible hardship
worked against small lessees or
lot owners. It's extremely doubt
full if such hardship would be
worked at all. In case a lot owner,
whose ground is occupied by
cheap wooden structure, sus:aiUs
a loss by fire, and is not able to
rebuild according to the require
ments of the new law, he at least
has the satisfaction of knowing
that his neighbors will enhance
the value of his property material
ly 10y erecting better buildings.
And in fact there would be scarce
ly an instance wherein a property
owner would find himself unable
to put up a good building. In
the first place, he could obtain
better rents, better tenants and
could borrow much more money
upon his land were he to propose
building we'll instead of poorly.
The great number of miserable
eyesores, which would disgrace
the streets of anything but
mining camp, are source ofridi-
cule by every visitor and new
conner to the city. This country
will, in the future, become a
great tourists resort. Thou
sands upon thousands will visit our
shores, expecting entertainment.
Filling up the principal or, for
that matter, any Of the thorough
fares with badly constructed,
hideous caricatures of architecture
will disappoint that class Of peo-
pie who spend money lavishly.
They are accustomed, in their
trips to other parts of the world,
to find we'll kept streets, lined
with handsome buildings indica-
tive of prosperity.
The salubrity of the climate,
the attractiveness of the scenery
and the natural wonders of the
country, are all enhanced in
value in their eyes by the fact
that the business houses are Of
an up. to. date variety. They con-
slider it convenience, although it
may in no wise add to their COM
fort. This may seem singular
and unintelligent statement to
make, but it is susceptible of easy
proof.
But upon the broad ground of
rendering the greatest good to the
greatest number-which is most
emphatically not No. lit was
the duty of the Legislature to pass
this bill. Every enterprising, far
seeing builder, like the owners of
the Mulch building, the Won Holt
block and others, has right to
expect that the risk to his proper
ty of destruction by fire, shall be
considered. 70 continue to allow
the erection Of the rickety fire
traps now going up all over town
and, in many cases occupied by
an entirely irresponsible class OF
tenants, is a constant menace
to the lives and property
of the whole neighborhood
A good building raises the value
of all the adjoining property and
tends to increase that of an entire
community. 1t is entirely at vari'
ance with justice and equity tc
allow an individual to eternally
reap all of the benefits of increas.
ed valuation from better surround
ings and at the same time place
him under no obligation to render
a mutual benefit to his neighbor
o.