The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-04-17
WAIKIKI CLEAN
Good Work of George
Manson.
How Money Could be Saved by Keep
I ing Him and Getting Others
Like Him.

An effort has been made in the Board
of Health to relieve George Manson of
his position as Waikiki Health Agent
and vest the duties among tie paid
inspectors who charge great deal more
for their work without doing il any bet
ter if so well. Mr.. Manson has held
the position of Agent of the Board for
about year and half. He served the
first three months without pay and his
services were so satisfactory to the
Board that on the suggestion of AttOr-
ney General w. o. Smith he was given
salary of $25 per month, which he
has since been receiving. Here are a
few of the things accomplished through
Mr.. Manson's efforts in the Waikiki dis
trict:
All Illicit wash houses have been sup
pressed along the Waikiki road and the
owners forced to do their washing at
the Iwilei wash house, resulting in an
increased revenue to the Government
besides the suppression of a rapidly in
creasing nuisance.
There were over 500 hogs maintained
in about forty different hog pens in the
district between the King street june
ton and the Waikiki bridge when Mr..
Manson was appointed. Through his
efforts the Board of Health finally pass
ed an ordinance forbidding the keeping
of hogs in the Waikiki district. and to-
day there is not a single hog pen in the
entire district.
Through his individual efforts. and
acting on complaints made to him by
residents in the locality. the low marsh
lands on the old Waikiki road have
been put in a semi-sanitary condition
and there are no longer any complaints
from effluvia along that road. On his
representations and after a personal
visit to the locality the Board OF Health
condemned a tract of about sixteen
acres of land along this road belonging
to the Bishop Estate as insanitary and
ordered the property filled in to the
level of the road II ii had not been
for the plague this land would have
been filed in by this time, and IL was
the intention of the Board to follow this
condemnation by others in the locality.
Many stagnant ponds in Waikiki
have been wholly filed in and others
kept clean through Mr.. Manson's eff
forts. ana in some instances threats TO
proceed against the owners in the
courts.
All water courses between the ponds
and tide water have been constantly
looked after by Mr.. Manson personally
and in many instances he has caused
obstructive gates to be removed.
When he was engaged by the Board
it was with the special understanding
that he was to devote such time to the
work as he thought necessary or could
spare from his other avocations. He
was never expected to work every day.
Consequently he makes MS rounds at
odd times; the Chinese and Japanese
never know when he is coming and
knowing that he is liable to drop in
on them at any time they keep their
places clean all the time, instead of
cleaning up enthusiastically.
Today and all through the plague ex-
perience Waikiki district is and has
been the healthiest part of town. There
have been no plague cases and very
little sickness of any kind. Compared
with the conditions which obtained be-
fore Mr.. Manson's appointment the dis
trict OF Waikiki is a paradise today.
While IL is true much remains to be
done in the district in sanitary work, il
is also true that the work has been
mapped out in advance by Mr.. Manson
and the necessary steps will be taken
as soon as the plague epidemic is over
to make the whole district sanitary.
With regard to sanitary inspection
or house to house visitation as now
carried on. this is not part OF Mr.. Man
sons duties and never was Still IL
may be mentioned incidentally that he
commenced house to house visitation
Immediately on the outbreak of the
plague and kept it up daily for three
weeks until the Citizens Sanitary Com
mittee took the matter in hand. II
was largely through this early inspec-
ton that all residents of the plague dis
trict who were released after the first
quarantine vas declared off were kept
out of Waikiki.
This showing made by Mr.. Manson
leads no the suggestion that IL other
public-spirited men in Honolulu would
take charge Of forty districts at s25 or
$50 per month and keep them as clean
as Waikiki ii would be the best solu-
ton of our sanitary inspection prob
lens. r'orty men at s25 per month
means $1,000 per month or S12.0 900 per
year. The present system OF inspec-
ton as indiferently carried on is cost
Ing about 1926 per day. S3750 per month
or $4,000 per year.