The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-30
THE BOARD OF HEALTH.
Has a Conference With the Special
Sanitary Com r-,ittee

At O'Clock yesterday afternoon the
Board of Health met in conference witt
the special committee appointed by
the Board some time since The Board
was represented by President Cooper
in the chair, Drs. Day and Wood, and
Geo. w. Smith. The special commit
tee was represented by George r. Car
ter and c. B. Ripley. President Dole
and Ministers Mott-Smith and Young
| were also present, awaiting the con-
clusion Of the Board meeting to have
a special meeting of the Cabinet in
order TO discuss the quarantine.
George r. Carter read the report of
the special committee, which detailed
the result of their labOrs in the China
town district and contained their rec
concentrations for alternating much of
the evil existing in the troublesome
district. The report in full reads:
Hon. H. E. Cooper. President of the
Board of Health, City:
The commissioners appointed to in
vestigate the sanitary condition of the
district lately quarantined, known as
Chinatown. and to make recommended
lions for its improvement, beg to sub
nit the following report:
Your commissioners find a terribly
cOngested district in a wretched sani-
tary condition. We believe a detailed
report of the condition found, with the
names of the owners of the property,
would be a revelation to the commu-
nifty.
We are not surprised at the indigna-
ton expressed when citizen finds he
is living in a community where fresh
meat is exposed for sale in shops with
in a few feet of which are cesspools
reekinS with filth and vermin, from
which come clouds of flies; where res
tIurants have cesspoOls with no other
covering than the kitchen floors, into
h.ch cockroaches crowd by the thou
sands after a. night of fOraging over
tables and dishes; where poultry is
kept huddled for weeks N small coops
one above the other: where poi is .
manufactured, and sold in shops sour
with fermented slime; where kitchens
are built next to fOul-smelling privies,
and so arranged that ray of light
never enters them; where sinks are
with long, leaking drains:
where cesSpoOlS and priVy vaults are
crowded together or combined and left
unopened year after year to saturate
the ground with filth and germs; where
cesspools are often without ventilation
Of any kind excepting the crevices Of
the floors above or perhaps a rickety /
wooden vent ending within two feet of !
a sleeping-apartme window, which IS |
overcrowded at night with occupants, !
and where the ground is often without |
drainage, so that the seepage from the
accumulates and becomes /
The responsibility for such a state
Of affairs cannot be fairly said TO rest |
wholly with the Board of Health any |
more than board of directors can he |
held wholly responsible for the details
Of the management of business en-
.erprise. What the Board lacks is a |
competent manager in whom can be
entered the responsibility, and 10 |
whom can be delegated the authority |
Of enforcing its regulations. If he neg
Iects his duty, and the present cond1-
ton continues, or if they lose conf |
1ence in his ability and cannot sup |
port him Loyalty, then they would be |
negligent in continuing his services.
To condemn the whole district or TO |
remove Chinatown is impracticable: 70 |
pass resolutions which cannot be en-
forced under present laws is useless.
Many regulations which should be