The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-29
As It IS IN
CHINATOWN
Rebuilding Awaits the
Street Lines.
HUNDREDS GRAB FOR JUNK
Nature and Real Estate Agents at
Work in the Fire Swept Waste
Fences Down.

1t seems that yet a little while must
pass before there rises from the fire-swept
land of Chinatown a new aggregation of
tenements. The barriers of quarantine
are down, the fences have been auction
ed off by the yard, and the land is only
waiting for the coming of the pick and
shovel and trowel, the mason. the car
penter and the plumber, that it may
yield it's black baked surface to the crea-
ton of perhaps another Chinatown.
The hitch in the march of progress at
present, as far as the recently quaran-
tined area is concerned, is that rebuild
ing must wait upon the establishment of
the street lines
1t was voted by the Cabinet yesterday
that the Superintendent of Public Works
oe instructed not to grant any building
permits until the Surveyor General or his
deputy shall have certified that the
street line has been located on the ground,
and further that the Road Supervisor
snail inspect the location of all buildings
hereafter with reference to their erection
ON the lines and grades designated by the
survey Department; and further that the
superintendent of Public Works shall
Immediately notify the Road Supervisor
N writing to these respective locations
and grades upon signing any such permit.
Extensive street changes have for some
time been planned in what was once the
most unbeautiful spot Of Honolulu, ana
although Chnatown'S name was not
| mentioned in the meeting of the Cabinet
| yesteruay, IL goes without saying that
| mat dIStrlct was the cnlet locanJy almeu
al when the above resolution was passed.
flans of many new tnoroughIares have
I att... hoe. nav con
| uec.ued upon; others await determinat ion.
Nearly all of the fence AROUND the burnt
14strct is down and the Chinatown enu
| Of Beretania street, Hotel and Hauah.
| streets, are open to those whose busi-
less, pleasure or curiosity may take them
tiUHg these roads. Some crosS-SueetS are
also being USED. Union square VIII l..
~ Likelihood be opened today, inasmuch
as the fence inclosng that area was solo
yesterday at auction. The Pantheon
dock IS next in oruer to be opened, tnen
| viii follow the ground where the Hawall-
an Hotel stables formerly STOOD.
The first man to obtain a permit to
| build in old Chinatown is VIM. Savidge,
! VINO will erect frame structure near the
corner of Beretania street in block 3.
| 4Aireaoy the blaCkness of the scene in
| oId Chinatown is relieved by The enter
| prislng syn boards of wlde-awake real
estate agents. Dame Nature, too, has
laughed al plague bacilli and Board Oh
health interdlctS and has in many places
spread herself in struggling banana trees,
! weeQs. Green grass grows where once
the ooze from insantarily-c POI
shops soaked into the ground Vines OF
many kinds affectionately cling AROUND
| me pase-StoneS of old kaumakapill, ana
greedy creepers strive to grasp the soil
| where formerly the inhabitants of China
| town lived, moved ana ignored the first
| laws of health
And yet, despite the efforts of nature
OLD Chinatown is at present black &C
| tually as 1t was previously black meIa-
| phorically.
| 1he work of clearing the burnt district
| S beng materially FASTENED by the horde
| of seekers after scraps and relics. CHI
nese, Japanese and many others are hust-
ing and Scrambling for old iron and 9TH
er stuff from which they may possibly
realize little money.
| A great deal of old iron was piled up
| near Loves bakery, on Nuuanu street
| The Board of Health, at it's own expense,
| had collected from all over the burnt dis
| trict all kinds of junk and piled it III
| this one place. When the fences came
| down there was a rush for this pile
which is salvage, by everybody who hao
nothing more important profitable to
| DO. Wagons, wheelbarrows, hand-carts
! old baby carriages-in fact, any old thing
! on Wheels-were utilized in the carrying
| away of the spoils. The old iron amount
| cry of the City Mills and much other
bulky stuff. Nothing of all this stuff re-
mains except a few pieces too heavy to
| be taken away without the assistance OF
| machinery No objections have been
made by thecBoard of Health to this bus
| mess, nor is it believed that the health
authorities have any use for scrap iron