The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-13

VA
IL going of the transports which
HI used to put in at this port on
their way to the Philippines
from San Francisco Something is
missing from the hustle and hustle of
the waterfront which can i'll be spared
When the transports stopped calling
here on their way to Manila from the
coast it was generally understood that
the reason was that Uncle sam was IN
such a hurry to get the troops which
have served in the Philippines for the
past two or three years back to the
United States, that he could not spare
the time for the vessels to put in at
this port for coal and water and So
coaling them for the through trip on
the coast, he is now rushing them d.
rect TO Manila.
1t is true that a large number OF the
soldiers now in the Philippines nave
to he back in the States by the first or
July. and that the transports are being
rushed to that end, but the real reason
that Honolulu has been cut out as a
port of call for the ships of the United
States army transport service is that
quarantine conditions here are sucn
that altogether too much time is
wasted. and that should transports put
in here for coal. water and provisions
and so forth, the troops in the Philip
pines would never be gotten home by
the desired time.
The Kilpatrick's experience in this
port did Honolulu great deal OF
harm. She came here from the coast
with rush orders. She was to take
on the necessary coal and other
thiries and to. get away for he.Philip-
pines within two days after she ar
ried Instead of that 1t was over
week from the time that the Kilpat-
rick anchored off port until she sailed
away for the Philippines.
1t will be remembered that when the
Fitzpatrick arrived off the harbor she
had smallpox aboard, and that she was
placed in the strictest quarantine.
She was not allowed to enter the
harbor, and no one from the ship was
permitted to come ashore; nor was
any one from ashore allowed to go
aboard
The smallpox cases were taken from
the vessel and put on quarantine is
land and several cases of measles
which followed during the vessels
stay, were also removed from the ship
and placed on the island in qarantine.
The Fitzpatrick had tos be coaled and
she had to take on water. She also
needed a supply of fresh provisions.
She had sailed from San Francisco
with orders to stop here for all these
things, and she therefore had not been
stocked in San Francisco with suff1-
cient coal, water and provisions to take
her through to the Philippines. She
had over thousand people aboard. and
the fact that they were compelled to
remain outside the harbor for over
week while the steamship was being
coaled and supplied from barges in the
slowest possible manner was an object
lesson to the transport authorities,
which resulted in cutting off the SER
vice.
Major Robinson, the depot quarter
master at this port, when seen by an
Advertiser reporter yesterday concern
ing the matter, said:
1.-THE recent experience of the trans
port fitzpatrick was undoubtedly the
cause of the transports being sent di
rect to the Philippines. The quaran-
tine accommodations are not such as to
warrant the troopships calling here
having aboard cases of contagious
disease. If the accommodations on
quarantine island had been such as to
permit the men from the Fitzpatrick be-
ing placed on the island while the
transport was fumigated and then
brought alongside of the wharf and
coaled all would have been well.
"All of the transports are at present
rrnO vsw,r~
the Philippines have to be returned to
the United States by a certain time.
This could never be accomplished as
long as the. transports are detained at
this port the way the fitzpatrick was.
Even though the accommodations on
qarantine island were not sufficient to
allow the troops from the fitzpatrick to
be landed there, half Of them, at least,
could have been put on the island
while the other half was housed at
Kalihi. could have seen to it that
enough guards were placed to insure
the city against any possibility of
danger from the men landed.
Then tents could have been put up
or the quarantine island to shelter the
soldiers of the Fitzpatrick. They had
tents aboard the ship, and we have
tents ashore which could have been
used. The board of health, however,
did not see fit to do otherwise than they
did, and the result is that the trans
ports cannot afford to run the risk of
repeating the experience of the Kill
patrick at this port.
"Coaling outside of the harbor is
very difficult and tedious matter, not
to speak of the danger to the men who