The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-09-12

hakaakO anu htWdio are certainty
the prize unsanitary sore spots of Homo
lulu. II the strength OF a city's sani-
tation lies in abolishing pest breeding
holes in its purlieus, then the city
fathers have a task before them which
should not be sighted.
The tenement section of the town,
that inhabited mainly by Hawaiians OF
the poorer classes. the voters whose
numbers give, the politicians more un-
easy moments than those of any other
section of the city. is certainly In a
deplorabie condition.
This condition can easily be RENEE
died, all that is required being an out
lay of money by the County Super
visors. Money judiciously expended.
can make our Kakaako and Kewalo in
to residence sections which will be
credit to the city and make for a
better health record than at present
obtains.
A visit to these two sections indi-
Gates to a layman that what is mainly
needed there is filling-in. The sections
are too low and are barely above
flood-tide of the ocean. To penetrate
the soil there a couple of feet Is to
encounter water. In fact. Kakaako and
Kewalo are the drain sumps of the
upper parts of the town.
People will live there. Poor people
have not much choice in the matter,
for rents there are cheap, and their
wages are generally small. pitifully SO.
Even those who are in the employ of
the territory or the county work hardly
a half month, and on their small
earnings they have to pay rent, supply
food and clothes to their families and
fight against illhealth, which all too
surely comes from these fostering.
stagnant pools, lined with rank
growths.
This portion OF the town is County
Supervisor Lucas hobby. He wants
something done for the section and
soon, and he is after the county to let
him have funds to make the improve
rnents. Lucas has plan for the up
building of Kakaako and Kewalo which,
IL carried out, may do much to reduce
the insanitary conditions existing there.
An Advertiser reporter went over the
whole district on Saturday. Queen
street from Punchbowl street to a little
beyond the Magoon tenement is now In
q fairly good condition, the crown Of
the newly-built road being sufficiently
high to shed rain water to the cutters.
But the flow generally makes its way
makai to the lower levels and collects
In stagnant pools and narrow streets
which. in wet weather, fairly reek with
filth and stencil, and are impossible
to foot passengers except they remove
their shoes and stockings. t,s
1t is below Queen street that Lucas
is endeavoring to center the attention
of the County Supervisors. That area
is thickly populated. The cottages are
small, the front yards are but few
feet.in extent, and in wet weather the
grounds are generally under water. All
houses there are raised up three or
four feet above the ground to insure the
lower floors being out of reach of the
floods.
South street below Queen has not
been raised to it's proper level. The
sewer manholes are at least foot
above the street level, In the section
known popularly as the sand Lot"
hundreds of people live. some in tene-
ments, others in small cottages and
still more in shacks Through the
sand Lot is an alleged extension of
Halekauwila street, which ultimately
runs past the mauka side of the Naval
Station and ends at Fort street. But
between Punchbowl and South streets,
Halekauwila street encounters a mo-
rass. 1t is a sinking, filthy pool and
facing 1t on both sides are numerous
dwellings with children in abundance
playing on its banks. When the sun
strikes into this pool after rain. as
it did on Saturday, the air fairly
reeks with foul odors. An manner of
filth finds it's way into the pool, and
yet very little has been done so far
to put the street all the way through.
At the end of South street near the
Union Feed Company's warehouses, a
hill of coral stone is forming. There
Is located the dump composed of the
dredgedout material from the new
Alakea slip. A railroad track extends
from the slip to the dump and the
pile is increasing daily in extent. This
dump is not far from Halekauwila
street
Supervisor Lucas believes this dump
to be gold-mine to the county. 1t is
in this dump that Lucas wants to put
some of the county funds. He wants
to have this material, so close at hand,
carted up South street and dumped in
to Halekauwila street so that the road
way will be built up of the hardest
road-making material in the islands,
and complete one more good road for
the city.
AS is we'll known a street was start
ed from King street through the Old
Plantation, or the property of Mrs.
Ward, to Waimanu and Queen streets
in Kewalo. This street is an extern
sion OF Kapiolani street and runs from
the Eva side of Thomas square through
the Old Plantation cocoanut grove.
About five years ago an, agreement
was made by the Territory with Mrs.
Ward to convert the strip into street
without delay. Mrs. Ward gave over
the strip. but up to the present time
there is only a trail through It. 1t will
be wide thoroughfare, when complet-
ed, but now II Is mainly a swamp.
Marsh reeds grow In this street"
Ward street is an important artery to
the Kewalo district. and is conve-
nient short cut from King street for
its residents.
Lucas plan is to extend the Alakea
sin railroad track from the present