The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-05-08
WILL FIND SITE
FOR CABLE LANDING
s. S. DICKINSON OF THE PACIFIC
CABLE COMPANY
ARRIVES.
EAST OF DIAMOND HEAD MAY BE
CHOSEN AS PLACE.
Will Consult With Naval Authorities
as to Anchorages and With Bushes,
Men Concerning Details of Service

Men Concerning Details of Service.
s. S. Dickinson, passenger on the
SOnoma, comes here on an important
mission and will prove a welcome
guest as the forerunner of the Mackay
cable to Honolulu, which Is to reach
here before the end of the year. Hts
presence furnishes tangible evidence OF
the actual progression of the living
wire" that will prove more satisfactory
than many mainland reports.
Mr.. DiCKinsOns particular missions
which will be but a short one, is te
choose the landing place for the cable
on Oahu and to generally outline the
plan of operation, schedule of time and
other matters, over which he will hold
consultation with the representatives
of the business interests and the local
press. M
With the various climates and OUT
of-the-way places upon which the ca
Bile lands, special arrangements to cons
form with the hours possible for work,
the length of shift that can be borne
and the regular business hours of the
place are all taken into considerations
making difference in the size of the
staff to be imported and other details 4
All these data will be looked up by Mr..
I Dickinson during his stay: The shifts
| viii probably consist of eight hours at
a time and the hours Of business de-7
pend largely upon local requirements,
from eight to eight, earlier or later, as
the conditions prove the need.
The matter of landing the cable
some five miles from Honolulu is pure
! ly a provisory one," said Mr.. Diciin-
! son this morning. II have OF course
had no time to look around at present,
but from the study of the charts 1 am
| inclined to imagine that a landing
! somewhat to the eastward of Diamond
| Head will be found the most satisfact-
! ory. The distance from town has moth
ing to do with induction, but is taken
| as a precautionary measure against
! interruption. With the cable crossing
! regular anchorages or even those used
more infrequently, there would be con-
slant danger of having the, cable foul
ed and injured with all its eomrercial
! value destroyed by unreliability and,
uncertainty caused by the mendings
! that would be necessitated. There is
no particular place apparently, judg
ing by the charts that would be pre-
ferable as far as the slope to the shore
! is concerned. One other matter has to
be considered in choosing the landing
and that is the Importance of laying
the cable in a line with the general
| trend of the water as it sets in to-
wards the land.
should we decide to bring the cable
ashore at Diamond Head it would en-
ter a cable house, a small building of
one room, where 1t will change it's
character into a land cable transferred
through iron piping to Honolulu, where
our offices will be situated. There the
messages win be received. The old
time opera tor reading the news from
intermittent flashes in a mirrors is
thing of the past The whole machin-
cry is self-operating, practically, and
ticks away the imprint of the message
on tape with mechanical precision.
There are cases in connection with the
Atlantic cable where the message is
transmitted and repeated for safety
twithout any human interpOsition. The
object of the cable house is primarily
J a means of determining without waste
, of time whether any break that may
r occur is located in the land or the sea
cable. 1t is usually in the latter es-
pecially where civic improvements are
, rife.
I'VE shall endeavor to obtain some
protection for our cable landing, tina :
is some means of making it generally
known where the cable comes ashore,
so that it will be free from possible in
[ reference. That matter as well as the
, locations of the anchorages l shall take
up with the proper authorities as soon
as have had time to take prelimin-
airy survey or so myself
Il expect also to consult the business
community and of course the press as
to the hours which will best serve the
community. Where any great world
news comes along, a victory, a death,
a yacht race or a prize fight, any of the
great sensations, why the cable will be
there to receive the news all hours OF
the night and day, but generally ouI
hours will conform to those registered
[ by custom. l suppose there is not very
r much difference in the length Of time a
man can work here or the usual busi-
ness hours between here and the main
land.
81 cannot tell you exactly when they
will commence laying at the other end
Eight hundred miles Of the cable is
completed already and once the wire
gets round the Horn and aboard the
ship, 1t does not take so very long
This is not such tremendous under
taking as far as Honolulu. II is the
long stretch from here to Guam thai
makes the matter difficult The dis
tance can be covered easily enough
but with so long a cable without an in
! termediary landing, the speed of send
ing the messages is sensibly diminish
ed. l expect while here to CLEAN some
information relative to Midway Island
l believe no one lives there at all, but 4
Is quite possible that we shall utilize
it as link in the long chain and make
a landing there on the way to Guam
1t will not be much more desolate thar
Fanning's Island.
"Our stan here at the start will prob
ably consist of about half a dozen
They will suffer no hardships here al
they do on some of the remoter land
| ings as they will live close to the mali
! offices in the town itself. At Vancou
] yer l have over sixty on the STAFF