The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-06

member of the lower house of the Leg
stature and Scotsman by birth, lea yes
on the Picking today. to attend the an
nual Masonic conclave. His friends will
see him off as far as possible by the sea
route, and to this end, through the in
Strumentality of Andrew Brown, another
Scotsman, have chartered the tug Fear.
less. The ocean going tug will be loaded
down with Scotchmen, haggis and aud
mountain dew. and it is proposed to see
Archie safely around Diamond Head if
not Koko Head, and 1t is proposed to give
him the biggest send off of the season.
The " Phillle" Gets a Warn. -
CoaHng on the United States cruiser
Philadelphia was finished yesterday. and
the smoke-begrimed, active tarse at once
commenced to wash down ship. Several
streams of water were played on the
vessel the wharf, and on an occasional
group of luckless sailors who happened
to get in the way The dock was cleared
of its heavy coating of coal dust and at
tention was then turned to the cruiser
itself A superficial bath was given her
with the hose and the jackies then got
down to business with mops and holy
stone and worked with q will. By sun
her white sides had disappeared. The
sail-cloth castings on the guns Were re-
moved and the "Phillie'' looked like her
old self again. She will sail for San
Francisco tomorrow.
improving the Olympia.
Many improvements have been made to
Admiral Deweys famous flagship Olym-
MO haiy I'M al
the navy yard. Boston, says the Wash
ington Star. When she next goes into
commission she will be a much better
ship than she was during the historic
battle of Manila Bay, May l. 1895 Bronze
stem and stern ornaments have been
added to commemorate that great vic
tory. These ornaments were designed
by Naval Constructor Baxter, who is SUI
perintending the work on her: Some of
the bronze used in casting the two pieces
was taken from the Olympia, and this
gives added value to them. The stem
nament is the more elaborate, and is
work of art. A winged Victory holds
high above her head an eagle, which she
is about to launch into the air. Victory's
wings lie against the sides of the ships
prov. The stern piece consists of a shield
with mass of scroll work on either side.
Cable for Hawaii.
An announcement in London that the
all-British Pacific cable is in such state
of forwardness that it will be ready for
service next year calls pointed attention
to the sluggish manner in which this
government has approached this very i'm
portant matter, says the Washington
Star. For years past the need of a Pa
citic cable has been discussed in this
country. Even before the Hawaiian rev
olution of 1893 definitely demonstrated
that the public interests of the United
States required cable communication at
least with those islands, commercial con-
siderationS demanded that the govern
ment lend it's aid to such a project. The
war of 1895 caught this country without
means of communicating with the Ha-
waiian Islands by wire, although that
archipelago would have become a stra-
tegic point of the utmost value had
SPANS fleet escaped from Manila and
shown strength on the Pacific, and did
in fact play an important part In the
military operations. The acquisition OF
the Philippines rendered the cable ne
cessity beyond the possibility of further
delay, but the matter was deliberately
discussed and relegated to the limbo OF
the regular appropriations and thus many
precious months were wasted. Finally an
amendment looking to the acquisition OF
the necessary landing stages for the
cable from San Francisco to Manila
after having been approved by commit
tee, was lost in the shuttle through which
the sundry civil bill annually passes.
Even had this proposal been incorporat-
ed in the law the Government could not
have proceeded with the actual Work OF
ordering the laying of the cablesg Mean
while, as noted, England has gone aheao,
taking advantage of our delays, and her
cable will be in working order probably
several years before the first signal is
flashed over our own. The incident re-
fleets no credit upon our national Tore
sightedness or business sagacity-