The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-04
To
Be BUILT
Plans for the u. S, Naval
Reservation.
SURVEY BEGINS AT ONCE
Commander PrindIe Making Es-
timates--Small Chance for
Pearl Harbor.

Judging from the preparations which
the Navy Department is making for
the Improvement of the Naval reserva-
ton and the erection of shops In Homo
lulu 1t will be some time before any
steps will be taken toward building the
big naval station at Pearl Harbor.e
Commander Prindle, of the civil en-
gineering branch of the Navy Depart
ment said yesterday that the Navy De-
partment proposes to erect on the
Naval reservation along the harbor
very extensive repair shops.
My orders from Washington were
simply" he said, ''to report to the
commandant here, Captain Merry, and
to carry out the work he has in hand,
and likewise to prepare estimates for
the shops which the department is
planning to build here. 1t was the In
tention originally, / believe, to build
these shops at Pearl Harbor and to
make the Naval station there a big
thing, with large dry dock and all the
appurtenances of such navy yards as
those at Mare Island and League ISL
and near Philadelphia. But the Gov
ernment has as yet been unable to Sc
cure the necessary land at Pearl Har-
place such an outrageous valuation on
their land that the Government refuses
to buy 1t. Uncle Sam. you know. OBJ
1ects decidedly to being held up. The
difference in the attitude of these land
holders here and in the States is par
ticularly notable, when you remember
what the people of Philadelphia did
when it was first proposed to estab-
l.-l, Il
They raised fund of $l,O0O.OO0 and
purchased all of the land and gave It
to the Government. 1t may be argued
that even If the station Is established
at Pearl Harbor 1t will not be of benefit
to Honolulu, as the harbor is some dis
tance away, but that argument is fall
lacious, for such station would give
employment to thousands of men and
even though it is fifteen. miles away
and the employees would have to live
most of them, near the reservation,
they would do all of their buying in
Honolulu and it would in that manner
prove of great benefit to the city.
But as matters stand now it is like
ly that it will be long while before
any steps are taken toward improving
Pearl Harbor. and in the mean time
the Navy Department will make the
best possible use of the land on the
harbor here. 1t is the intention of the
department to erect smithery, and
foundry and steam-engineering
workshop on the reservation and am
ldirected to make the preliminary sur
veys and to send estimates to the De-
partment of the cost of such struc-
lures. They will all be large buildings
and when completed we shall be able
to almost completely outfit ship here.
I'VE shall have no room for a dry
dock and one will not be erected here
unless more land is secured by the
Government or the portion of the reef
is used just at the entrance of the har-
Dor. 1 shall also prepare specifications
for the commandant's residence on
the property owned by the department
on the slopes of Punchbowl, and shall
. arrange for a fence all around the re-
servation and the general Improvement
of the reservation, as well as the COM
. pletion of the new wharf and the
dredging of the slip.
; THE funds for this work will have tc
be appropriated at the next session OF
Congress and it may be decided, II
reasonable arrangements can be made
with the land holders at Pearl Harbor
to have the buildings erected at Pear
Harbor instead, but that is not likely
and another year will in all likelihood
see all' of the new buildings here vel
l toward completion"