The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-12-24
THE BISHOP ESTATE UNIVERSAL
PLAYGROUND
No Suitable Locations Present Them
selves-Question of Cosmopolitan
Character Of Children a Grave one.

Inc discussion on the question OF
public playground as provided for un-
der the Bishop Estate trust and arrang-
ed by G. r. Bishop several years ago,
has again come up among the trustees,
but seems likely TO fail Of immediate
| fruition from the complex problems or
location and utility which present them
selves in the arrangement of the
scheme.
Under the terms Of the trust a sum,
not exceeding twenty thousand dollars
was to be applied for the purposes of a
public playground for the benefit of the
youth Of the community i'm general with
the preferential spirit that is an essen
tial Of the trust, that the Hawaiians i'm
particular are to reap to the fullest eX-
tent all of the benefits of the PROPOSE
tion.
The particular difficulties that pre-
sent themselves against the immediate
carrying out Of the plan are headed by
the lack of central or suitable loca-
tiOn. Several localities have been sug-
gested, one being the ground lately fill
ed in by the harbor dredgings on the
other side of the Nuuanu stream bridge
This was objected to by ]. O. Carter
and others as being unsuitable in many
ways, both by reason Of It's lack or CEN
trality and the decidedly slum charac-
ter of its neighborhood.
1t is felt by the trustees that the en-
Nirons of such playground would play
almost as important a role for the good
or evil of the children frequenting 1t as
the ground itself. also that such aIocal-
ity would prohibit many parents from
allowing their children to go there and
thus defeat the very purposes for which
! the ground is designed.
Another suggestion has been made to
place the playground at the head Of
Vineyard street adjoining the ground
leased by the Boys Brigade for a sim
a sIF,l.
not however large enough for practical
| purposes, and the playground would
! be subject to the same criticism as the
other for it's position which would
| rather help one section than benefit the
| whole community.
Available ground in the heart of the
! city or in central position there is
! none. Ground selected beyond Dia-
! mond Head or in any of the outskirts
| while perhaps ideal in many respects
| would necessitate car fares for the chill
| dren and thus bar many of the class
] which IN ie in nt"ndaI TO benefit
| The playground was tended and Is
intended, not for the children of those
who can afford them private pleasures
| of books and the pleasant guidance and
! comfort of home life but rather for the
! children of the laborng classes alone.
This idea is made terribly complex by
the varied nationalities and their char
younger generation of the laboring class
| of Honolulu.
There are the Hawaiians, the aggres-
/ Slve Portuguese from whose ranks
much of the hoodlumism of the city is
/ recruited the more amenable Chinese
! and the just as orderly Japanese
! Young America would not at present
it is expected, be largely represented.
TO control all these elements and
| make the ground pleasure unallOyed
| by juvenile rowdyism to all these class
| cs is problem, the easiest part of the
| demonstration of which would be the
I eXpensCe of a high fence and the con-
tinual maintenance of a guardian on
| the premises who would have to be
! possessed of rare tact and discretion
to prevent the cinder track the merry
go-round the swings and other para
phenalia being entirely monopolized by
| the more aggressive and rough among
the children which would mean the "
innate surrender of the grounds TO
them by the absence of the other races
The dominant race ii is Imagined by
the trustees, would prove to be the
! Portuguese i'm the end. From a philolo-
gist standpoint the Latin races having
! outgrOwn their original civilization of
their parent stock and also that of
their own particular branch of the
worlds race have not like either the
l Hawaiian, Chinese or Japanese a re-
naissance to look forward to and are
in consequence harder to teach, more
incOrrigible and less amenable to diSci-
pline than the other races mentioned.
Neither is the motto Honor thy father
and mother as prevalent among them
as i'm the Oriental races as the result
of their home training or rather lack Of
it..
I Weighing these two problems Of uni
versal utility and location the trustees
are reluctantly holding the matter in
u allegiance, fearing to start a playground
that may i'm a short time be abused by
the few to the disuse and dissension
of the many The trustees are not
bound by the terms of the trust as to
whether the playground should be pre-
sented, intact or whether part of the
money should be appropriated to its
maintenance for a certain time or per-
petually; but they do not wish TO
create an institution that will not be
I permanently of benefit to the cOmmun-
ity at large, the particular classes it
was meant to reach in accordance with
the general spirit Of the trust.
Fine lob Printing, Star Office.