The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-27
TAKE HEROIC
MEASURES.
Board Of Health to
Condemn Fish
Stream.
KEWALO'S ONLY
SALVATION
Committee Will Confer With Su.
perintendent Boyd to Begin
Legal Proceedings.

The swamp lands of Kewaio, where
water stagnates and menaces the en-
tire crowded community of that an
sanitary district, are doomed to under
go change under the direction of the
engineers of the government The
Board of Health yesterday appointed
a committee consisting OF Attorney
General Dole, Executive Officer Pratt
and City Sanitary Officer Tracy to
confer with the Superintendent of
Public Works as to what must be
done to condemn certain lands between
King street and the ocean front
whereby the sluggish waters can be
led to the sea.
The land which is selected for con-
demnation is upon the property OF Mrs.
Ward who owns extensive holdings
from King street to the sea, including
the homestead known as the "Old
Plantation" and property lying makai
of the Catholic cemetery. Through the
Ward property runs a small stream
which is kept clear by the government
under an agreement entered into with
Mrs. Ward whereby she allows the
government to carry away surplus
condition that it be kept clean free OF
expense to her
The Board of Health has approach
ed Mrs. Ward to gain her consent to
using the stream to conduct all the
stagnant water from omsKewalaeswhich
otherwise collects in the bottoms. She
has objected to this arrangement, SO
it was stated in the Board Of Health
meeting held yesterday afternoon, be-
cause by this stream the young spawn
came up from the sea ana entered the
many fishing ponds upon the Ward
estate. These ponds are small, but In
the past have been useful to the own
ers in the propagation Of fish. from The
ocean, and 1t Is stated that for this
reason the owner dislikes turning the
clean stream into one by which filthy
water and all manner of liquid refuse
shall be carried off.
At the Board of Health meeting, at
which were present DIR. Cooper, preSi-
dent of the board; DIR. Sloggett, +. G.
Smith and Attorney General Dole, City
Sanitary Officer Tracy made a verbal
report of his Investigations Of the con-
ditions existing in Kewalo, and his
recommendations for relief to the resi-
dents there. Displaying a map .on
which are details of all the property
situated in the district below King
street and from South street to the
Waikiki boundary of Mrs. Wards
premises, he stated he had found the
CoIultlOllS litlfc VI lAe
The water from all the sources collect
ed on Manuwai street ait its junction
with Peck street, and filed the entire
area with unhealthy liquids. There
was a drain leading from Peck street
along Manuwai street to the drain
near South street, which it met at
right angles, but there was no fall
and the water backed up into Peck
tstreet From this condition there was
| ra1i h1y Hpa IN TO uaT
the old drains, as sufficient fall could
not be obtained.
He recommended the condenining or
the stream in Mrs. Wards property
by the usual methods, or of making
| a drain leading down through Peck
street, and then branching off to the
South street drain halfway down to-
ward the sea, where the fall might be
sufficient to carry away the unclean
water.
| Executive Officer Pratt said that
much of the time Manuwai street was
| impossible and residents were often
compelled to climb over their back
| fences to reach town. President
Cooper suggested that the Superin-
| tendent of Public Works be asked to
make an estimate of what he thought
would be ample to cover expenses of
condemnatory proceedings. The Board
of Health members were generally of
| the opinion that steps should at once
be taken to remove the danger OF a
spread of disease in Kewalo district. a
note of warning was sounded many
| weeks ago. when the members visit
! ed the district and made a thorough
examination of the insanitary places.
Upon motion. President Cooper ap-
pointed Messrs. Dole, Pratt and Tracy
TO confer with the Superintendent OF
| Public Works They will arrange a
meeting with the latter official to-
day
| A proposition was submitted to the
| Governor two or three months ago to
| allow a firm of contractors to fill up
the entire district with sand and coral
to be dredged and pumped from the
ocean The plan met with the approval
of the Governor and his counsellors,
but the many obstacles in the way OF
public betterments caused by an empty
| treasury and the inability of the Leg
tisIature to rise to the occasion and
suggest a means for refiliing 1T, have
caused no action to be taken in the
Imatter. Had this been done the meth
DDS now proposed by the board would
have been unnecessary, as the entire
tract would have been raised several
| feet. and bitches and drains could
have been put in on the new grade
with all the fall needed to carry off
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