The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1898-05-03
Continued from LIST page.)

| 'hoi' pooo'eSIOu' hltoI worry Suioit
run the Noeau reached the wharf in
Honolulu at 10 o'clock, and the
party dispersed with wonderful
alacrity, seeking home and dry
clothes.
The impression OF the trip is that
the Board OF Health is doing excel
lent work at the Leper Settlement,
and that the important questions,
with which they have to deal are
FOOD. FUEL AND FLUID.
After the observations made during
our brief visit, we suggest, that any
Responsible man at the settlement
should be allowed to start cultivst-
ing taro on large scale. We do
not believe that the government
should undertake the task The
lepers, as a rule, will not work and
most decidedly not for a govern
ment which virtually confines them
to a prison although they have COM
mitted no offense. A private in
dividual, paying reasonable wages,
can always fud laborer, and there
is abundant land for taro enter
prise, although the best lots, through
the blunder OF some idiotic admins.
tration are used to "plant kanakas
in" instead of taro, or in other
words as a cemetery. We hope the
food question will have the earliest
and earnest consideration of the
Board OF Htaltb, and that no private
"pull" will interfere with the estab-
lishment of the taro industry at the
settlement.
Fuel is getting very scarce. The
mountain sides are nearly bare, and
it does not seem to us that any in.
telligent steps are being taken to re-
new the forests. II Algeroba
trees had been planted in the So
called crater few years ago, there
would now have been a very large
grove there of that desirable tree.
Owing to the weather we were I'M
able to make thorough inspection
OF the nursery. A cursory glance
did not indicate that much progress
has been made, or that any imme-
date results or help can be expect
cd from that quarter.
At Kalawao they use as fuel
shrub, which grows very readily and
owing to the hardness of the wood
makes excellent fuel. A large plot
on the mountain side has been
planted with this shrub, and there
seems to be no reason why tho ex-
ample should not be followed at Ka-
laupapa. The shrub belongs to the
Aca'ypha family Of the order of the
EttphorJice@, and is very prolific in
tropical and semi-tropical countries,
where it is frequently used as an
ornamental plant owing to its
beautiful colorsd leaves. As fire.
wood the shrub has proved excel
lent, and due attention should be
paid to its further cultivation.
In regard to water we have very
little to say that hasn't been refer
red to in the columns of this paper
The settlement can get all the water
it needs, il an eight inch main is put
in from Waikolu. The expense
would not be very great, and the
next Legislative committees visiting
the settlement would be spared the
humiliation of finding the water
pipes at Kalaupapa dry, an expert
ence which we enjoyed until
the rain came. There is water
enough in Waikolu to supply a town
like Honolulu; all that is needed is
a pipe system of the proper size.
The men who, for to-day at least,
hold the fates of the unfortunate
people on Molokai in their hands,
have now visited the settlement and
seen for themselves how a large por-
ton of our revenues is being annual
ly expended not alone in the inter
est OF those who are sick-but for
the benefit of "the other fellow" We
hope they have gained much in