The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-03-05
AFTER SEVENTEEN YEARS
REV. WALTER FREAR TELLS OF
THE REMARKABLE CHANGES.
From the "Moses Taylor" to Sixteen
Majestic Ocean Liners-Great I'm
provement in the Business Portion

provement in the Business Portion.
Rev. Walter Frear, father of Asso-
ciate Justice Frear, formerly pastor
of the old Fort street church, upon in
vitation of s. f. Bishop, has just given
a few impressions of the changes in
Honolulu after an absence of nearly
seventeen years:
THE first and most vivid as well
as charming impression is that Homo
lulu has wonderfully increased in
beauty" said Mr.. Frear. SIN those
years ago there were homes of great
loveiness along Nuuanu avenue and
isolated ones here and there elsewhere,
but now Nuuanu, beautiful as a pict-
ure still, seems narrower and less
ornate comparatively than il did then,
and is equalled if not surpassed in
other quarters. Along many streets
the visitor finds himself thrilled with
a sense of beauty, as if in highly or
namented park.
There could hardly be any such
crying need of a park in Honolulu as
there is i'm some of the cities of the
Coast like Oakland at present, unless
it be for bits of green in the poorer
and denser sections. for the city itself
in its residence portion is park New
varieties of trees and Towering shrubs
the importations. | infer, from many
lands, appear everywhere. Honolulu's
beauty is not in its residential archi-
| lecture, but such lawns and luxury of
growth, with stately palms and bloom
and vines of brilliant hue give even to
unpretentious cottages something OF a
{ ,1,t, ,,l
| then field of unsightly weeds. and
| Beretania beyond was an unfenced
country road bending this way and
that over the treeless plain. Punch
bowl was quite bare and the present
Qualification of its lower slopes was
quite umdreamed Of
Less pronounced than this sense OF
rare and exotic beauty is the impress
sion of improvement in the business
part of the city. The Strengthened
and widened streets, the new thor
oughfares cut through, the fine maca-
dam, the many excellent business
| blocks erected, seen for the first time,
are very pleasingly impressive, but
these things in equal and greater de
gree are seen in many familiar cities
on the Coast | recall that in my
farewell remarks seventeen years ago
| stated that there was new era of
building. The Government building,
the Palace, the Hawaiian Hotel, and
several fine business blocks had been
erected. 1t is pleasant to note the in
creased development in this line.
Another marked impression to the
visitor in whose ears, the past few
years, the cry of hard times has not
ceased to ring, is the multiplied evil
dences of business prosperity, enlarg-
ed incomes, courageous enterprise, wi
der and enlarged commercial relations
and facilities of communication with
the outside world. A general air OF
thrift prevails. OF course in no COM
munity does pecuniary success come
to all, but i find not few are now
reputed to be more wealthy than the
two or three reputed most wealthy
ones then; and that many incomes are
now considered to be larger than the
largest then. The sailing fleet and the
tonnage have increased many fold. In
| stead OF the steamers twice month
of single line, | find not less than
sixteen fine steamers advertised as
arriving and leaving your harbor reg
ularly for the main centers of COM
merce of the Pacific. This is in de-
cided contrast to the one and only
steamer, the old rolling Moses TAYLOR.
| that brought us to Honolulu in 1870,
with ten days voyage. The well
equipped railroad also. calling into be-
ing and aiding as it does gigantic en-
terprises, helps to make Honolulu a
new city to us. The telephone also is
everywhere, and the horse car pre-
ludes the rapid transit.
Il might mention the indications of
increasing intellectual life, the rebuilt
and better endowed Punahou, the
grand kamehameha, the great improv-
ed system of public schools, and activ-
ity in the Central Union church. the
other church organizations and mis-
sions, all of which impress the absen-
tee of seventeen years.
Il VIII name but one other impress
sion not the least of interest and hone
fulness. 1t is the large number of
promising youth that are in evidence
here. Families have averaged larger
here than one is accustomed to else
where. And this appears to be time
When relatively large numbers of the
young people are taking their place
on the stage of life. There is GOOD
promise of Hawaii in this.
MANY loved and revered faces are
not seen, but it is something of
surprise and very much of pleasure
to meet the many who make good.
and delightfully."- so, the identity of the
Honolulu of today, with the Honolulu
OF seventeen years ago"
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