Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1897-03-03

] or Stone u Ut'f'1hlN. Is NNN Il''
cure any stone required; this
sample | consider is rs called for
After a weeks delay it was an.
nouuced in the newspapers that
the bid of A. Harrison, which was
1884 higher than the lowest and
S494 above Mr.. Fred Harrison's,
had been accepted. As will be
seen above he was the fourth
highest and fifth lowest among
the eight. During the time the
contract was in allegiance the
newspapers announced the build
ing would have to be furnished in
four months. On the Cd of Feb.
ruary Mr.. A. Harrison and the
Minister of the Interior signed
the contract for Mr.. A. Harrison's
original bid of S27 $50 and Mr.. A.
Harrison gave bonds to the
amount of $1,000 that he would
erect the building in ten months,
having been given in the contract
to finish it on or before the 18th
of December, 1897.
Such is summary OF the facts
concerning the awarding of the
contract. Now arises the ques
ton why was this done by the
Ministerp What was tie influence
used? Was it of his own motion
or were the whole Cabinet con
cerned in it, as it was understood
at the time that politics were to
cut no figure in the AFFAIR." Such
discrepancy in the amounts to
our already overburdened treasury
is too great to think it could have
been done without some power
full motive. On making inquiries
Mr.. Fred Harrison was told by
Mr.. Rowell that the quality of
the sample stone was what de
cided the award. This is per.
fcctly absurd, rs Mr.. Bowler's
was undoubtedly the best
sample submitted, though Mr..
Fred Harrison, Mr.. Thomas
aud others had equally as good
samples practically, though those
sent in were, strictly speaking, as
samples not so good as Mr.. Bow
ler's.
To the best of my knowledge
none of the samples sent in were
submitted to crushing or fire tests,
or in fact to any test by any ex.
pert, to show which was the best
stone. So far as my personal
opinion and experience 60 l con-
slider the stone selected is not
only not fireproof but is positive
ly dangerous, in case of fire being
liable to explode. How much
heat will it stand before explod-
ing l am sure the Government
do not know and yet it is their
duty to know. Any ordinary Ha
waiian will tell them it
cannot stand fire. This
has been proved time and
again in preparing an imu or
oven for cooking underground.
Hawaiians when preparing an
imu carefully reject all specimens
of such stone and if by any chance
one OF them gets in they are speed
lily made aware of it by the expio-
sion which follows. The same ex-
perience is met with all through
the Islands of the Pacific. 1t may
be good enough for foundations
while it is underground, but not
for superstructure where it has
liability to be exposed to the action
of fire. And our past experience
of fires in this town has shown us
that heat is frequently engendered
sufficient to warp iron shutters
and door frames. If the govern
ment had thoroughly compre-
hended their duty in the premises
they would have tested
it's fire, resisting qualities and its
action under heat long ago, before
permitting as much of it to be put
up as being a ireproof material.
The porous stone is much better
in this respect, though not so or
namental as the close grained lava.
Some of the samples sent in
have been and are on public exhi-
bition for anyone to compare with
the successful bidders, and [
challenge any test to be made that
will show any superiority in his.
The value of the stone work is less
than one-half the whole contract,
and the difference to any contract
or to be required to substitute
stone equal to given sample for
another would be exceedingly