The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-08
RAYMOND VS..
RICHARDS
Relief Camps Closing
Argument.
BOTH SIDES ARE HEARD
Philanthrophy as Opposed to Sanitary
Necessities in Honolulu
City.

/ y
The Board of Health and Theodore
Richards differ as to the keeping open
of Relief Camp No. 2. Mr.. Richards
asked the board which had condemned
the camp, to allow the occupants to
requirements would be demanded FOR
the camps retention. The Health
Board on Friday refused to allow the
camp longer lease of life On Mon
day Theodore Richards wrote the Ad-
vertiser as follows:
Editor Advertiser: Your notice con-
corning the closing of Relief Camp ''2''
| in Saturday mornings issue suggests
lsome explanation. The owner of the
premises on Vineyard street mot the I'M
idersigned) desires to continue the home
for the seven hundred or more people
there. letter was written to the Board
of Health requesting to know what the
requirements might be in the way of
sanitary improvements There has been
no official answer to that letter as yet,
but we are informed by the Boards rep
Iresentatives that the place must close.
Following is the rather comical posi-
ton of the Board Although the owners
nave OHeTeU TO meet every
build the sewer, put in all necessary
plumbing. dig anything reasonable, etc.,
the Board only replies, I'VE can not give
you the right to qualify; we simply de-
clare the place closed
But what of the places in worse con-
Idition?"
1--WE will take care of them in time. .
/ Where are these seven hundred peo-
pie going?"
THAT is not orr affair: if they go to
worse conditions, we will follow them
and root them OUT
| How is the city to grown"
/ 1T mustn't grow until we get ready
to handle it. We are short of excavator
lcarts, but the main trouble is that the
excavator service is too COSTLY
/ Ay-ah, Here's a dilemma Rather
hard for the Board of Health, it must
be admitted, but still harder for some
of the poorer classes of the City. It is
as though a mother were to say to a
child, Your pants are outgrown; efface
yourself from the earth till I get time
| to make you pair
! The present owners of the land and
buildings formerly occupied by Camp '2''
will hold them (empty) till-the Board
says six months)-the sewers amble our
way. In the meantime it is presumed
that neighbors have their own pri-
vate sewers to the sea-
Thanking you for the space,
THEODORE RICHARDS.
President Raymond of the Board of
Health said yesterday:
The statement of facts concerning the
matter is as follows: The land is owned
and controlled by ]. B. Atherton and
Theodore Richards, according to Mr..
Richards statement to me. and the
buildings were on Friday last purchased
by ]. B. Anterior with the exception of
three. The Board quite recently declar-
| ed the place unfit for human habitation
and passed resolution closing the
| PIX ce. Executive officer Pratt visited the
premises and reported to me on Satur-
day in the following letter:
| Dr. j. H. Raymond, President of the
Board of Health.
Sir: Complying with your request
| for statement of facts re the Theo-
| dore Richards matter, have the hon
| or to report as folloWs:
! On December &c, 1900, letter was
received from Mr.. Richards address
| ed to the Board of Health and was
read at the meeting of the Board
| held the same day, in the afternoon,
and by vote of the Board was refer
! red to the Executive Officer for re-
| port.
| Thursday, December 27, Mr.. Rich
ards called to sees what action had
| been taken by the Board, and I told
him that his letter had been referred
| to me by the Board for a report, and
that / should like to visit the place
with him. We arranged for a meet
ing at 10 a. m. on Saturday, Decem-
/ Der 90, and at that hour we went
there and I examined the place thor
oughly. 1 came back in the hack as
far as the Capitol with him and told
him after we got out that / would
make my report to the Board at the
next regular meeting, which would be
held on January 2, 1901.
The receipt of his letter I considered
had been acknowledged in person by
what has just been stated. As the
regular meeting was postponed from
| Wednesday until Friday, and the auc-
ton was to come off before the
meeting, I considered it was fair to
him to let him know what my report
would be. 1 therefore telephoned him
that / would like to have him call at
the Office. and he came January 8,
| about 10 a. m. / explained to him that
there would be no meeting before the
auction, and that I would tell him
what i considered was necessary to
be done in order to put the camp in a
sanitary condition, and the probable
cost of the same.
That connection with the sewer
would have to be made, but before
that could be done the plumbing
would have to be entirely remodelled,
that garbage retainers should be put
in front of every room and collected
by the men in charge of keeping the
camp clean and put in larger contain
ers so that these could be collected
by the garbage carts; that bitches
and drains would have to be put in in
certain portions of the camp, cutters
put on all buildings with pipes leading
to the street to carry off rain water,
and several other minor matters; that
the expense of these improvements
would be about from thirteen to fif-
teen hundred dollars as near as
ccal6 roughly estimate and that it
J would probably take a month to a
| month and half to do this work
!. outside of connecting with the sewer.
He wished an assurance from me that
this would be all the Board would re-
| quire. answered him that this
simply an outline of my report to the
Board and I could not tell him what
action would be taken by them on the
report. We then dr;fted into the sub
ject of sewer connections. Finally he
said that he was very anxious to
| know before the auction just what
the action of the Board would be on
my report and wanted to know if a
special meeting could not be called.
told him that if he wanted a special
meeting called that he had better see