The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-12-23
Honolulu. Dec. Z, 100
Hon. George r. Carter, Governor
OF the Territory of Hawaii

1OllOlulu, DeC. Z, lJuf.
Hon. George r. Carter, Governor
OF the Territory of Hawaii
Sir: Recent newspaper articles relat-
ing to the new buildings for the In
sane Asylum in the Territory and the
alleged statement of the attorneys for
the American and Hawaiian Engineer
ing Company (the contractors) that the
reason why the specifca tions for said
buildings called for the concrete blocks
to be moulded under a pressure of
not less than 400 pounds to the square
inch," would be "a rich story when
told" prompts me to set before you the
facts in the matter. as l am the party
solely responsible for the preparation of
the said buildings.
1 was commissioned by Henry f.
Cooper, Superintendent of Public
Works to prepare plans and specifica-
tions for the erection under the loan
bill of the new Territorial buildings for
the insane. The instructions given by
him at that time being that l was to
see that the appropriation of $4,000 was
expended in a way that would secure
to these unfortunate wards of the Ter
ritory a comfortable, sanitary and so
far as possible, a fireproof home, the
location thereof to be left to the Board
of Health, with whom l was asked to
cooperate.
Considerable time was spent in the
exploitation of various and sundry sites
and it was finally decided that the pres
ent location of the Asylum for the In
that the new buildings could be erected
without interfering with the operation
of the institution. This / undertook to
do. The problem was not easy of solu-
ton, but by the enlargement of the old
grounds somewhat, the moving of some
OF the old buildings and the taking
down of others, We have been enabled
to fence off the sites for the new build
ings from the present grounds and to
preserve intact the driveways, walks
and beautiful trees and shrubs that are
such charming features of the institu-
tion, and the sites for the new struc-
lures are today, and in fact, have been
for months, ready and waiting. The
superintendent of the asylum has, l un-
derstand, seen fit to give me much
praise for the arrangements made, but
the truth is that the doctor himself is
entitled TO a great deal of the credit,
Is is also my architectural business as
sociate, Mr.. Thomas Gill.
The next problem to be solved was the
material to be used in the construction
of the various buildings. The rainfall
in that section is very considerable, and
the character of the occupancy of the
hot 1,ai tor
portion be subdivlded into many small
cells, which, in order to meet the re-
quirements of sanitation, should be we'll
ventilated and must be constructed of
a material which would be, so far as
possible, impervious to moisture, so
that long continued rains would not
penetrate the outer walls and make the
| interior cells damp and unhealthy.
] Brick was therefore far from being
suitable material and the lava rock
was much less so. This left but one
J fireproof material at my disposal to
wit, concrete, and as a complete sys-
| TEN of ventilation was an essential,
decided to use the hollow concrete blocks
so much in vogue on the mainland
Under my direction many hand tamped
blocks were made, but to my disgust
l found that even they would Absorb
a great deal of moisture. Knowing that
a great in 7rovement in the manufac-
ture of brick had been made by hav-
ing them moulded under pressure the
idea occurred to me that concrete blocks
made under a heavy pressure would
show the same improvement over the
ordinary blocks that the Philadelphia
pressed brick shows over the ordinary
hand made brick, and at great dea
of cost to myself and others who were
intereJ tied with me, | commenced eX
perimenting with concrete, moulded un,
,, der heavy pressure, the results being
highly satisfactory to us all.
In these experiments l was given tn,
hearty cooperation of the Concret,
Construction Company, Mr.. l.. L. Pink
> ham, the Board of Health and tn,
Board of Public Works. Mr. Marstol
, Campbell particularly assuring me tha'
l was on the right track in my effort.
to secure an ideal construction for tn,
buildings committed to my care. A
the end of my experiments l found tina
concrete blocks moulded under a pres