The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-01-09
MARINE

marines Tor the relief Of the detach
ment detailed there for the past yea
or 30. which she IL bringing back will
her. She ~ expected Friday.
She also carried supplies for the sta
tion but, owing TO the rough weather
on the port tWells Harbor). she wal
not able TO land all Of her supplies.
Lieutenant slattery has just received
from Washington the letter OF Sec
rotary of War to the Speaker OF the
House in reference to the preliminary
examination OF the harbor under the
last River and Harbor Act. Lieut.
Slattery was instructed to make this
preliminary examination and he rec
commended that the expense involved
in improving the harbor was not war
Tanted at present. In his letter TO
Brigadier General Mackenzie. Chief OF
Engineers. through Col Heuer, of San
Francisco. Division Engineer for the
Northern Pacific. he says:
considering the cost OF improving
the harbor and the small commerce
TO be benefited thereby. l do not con-
slider the harbor worthy OF improve
ment, nor do l consider that the cable
company's needs warrant the improve
ment.
Lieut.. Commander A. p. Niblack,
u. S. Navy. states that some twenty
years ago, the Navy Department start
ed to improve this harbor with the
view to establishing a coaling station
on the island. He further states that,
in his opinion, the harbor ought to
be improved, so as to allow the Navy
10 maintain such a coal supply To
provide facilities for storing coal at
this point, and for the rapid coaling
OF naval vessels, would involve a large
expenditure in addition to the amount
necessary for the improvement of the
harbor. The cost would indeed be so
great az to be, in my opinion, almost
prohibitive.
THE Improvement of the harbor for
this purpose does not therefore seem
warranted, unless the maintenance of
a coaling supply at this point is a
vital necessity for naval operations.
IF the construction of Notifications
for the protection of the cable is con-
templated, the Improvement of the
harbor would greatly facilitate the
construction of such works and the
supplying of such troops as might
thereafter be stationed at this point.
Even for this purpose, however, 1 do
not consider that the Improvement
would be warranted.
ut is therefore recommended that
nothing further be done in regard to
the Improvement of Welles Harbor.
Midway. unless the establishment there
of coaling station or the construc-
nf hn In npt wi
the defense of the cable is considered
a vital necessity"
The report was endorsed by Col.
Heuer confirming the recommendation.
The Division Engineer says:
There is nothing in the way of
commerce that warrants the improve
ment of this harbor.
IF Congress appropriates money for
defenses and a naval or coaling station,
or either, then a harbor may be neces-
sary for the construction of these
works.
Under present circumstances and
conditions 1t is my opinion that 1t is
unworthy of Improvement"
The Board of Examiners for Rivers
and Harbors considered the matter at
a meeting and likewise concurred in
the Lieutenants views. They say:
There may be other reasons than
those of commerce which might make
the Improvement of the harbor desira-
BILE such as the construction of a coal
ing station here or the fertilization
of the island with a view to the pro-
lection of the cable station. Should
Congress decide on either of such pro-
90 1, CHI
be undertaken, the amount and char
acter of which improvement would
depend upon which of such projects
was adopted or whether both were in
oluded. But the Board is of the opin-
ion that the probability of such pro-
jects being taken up is so remote that
a survey is not now considered neces-
sary.'
The Pacific Commercial Gable Com
pany. through whose influence II Is
supposed that the item was inserted in
the River and Harbor act for the pre-
liminary examination, set forth the
claims of the harbor for attention in
the following letter:
Honolulu, Hawaii, June 49, 1905
Dear Sir: Referring to our CONVEX
sation. re Midway improvements,
communicated with my company in re-
gard to this matter. They reply as
follows: Midway's necessity and re-
quirements, in the way of improve
ments, can not be measured by the
value in dollars and cents of the cable
traffic which passes through the sta
ton there established. The Govern
ment having insisted that the CONNER
cial Pacific cable should land only on
American territory. Midway became
an important and indispensable link in
the chain of cable stations between
San Francisco and Manila, and its i'm
portance should therefore be deter
mined by the value of the interests
which II serves. Gable communication
is essential TO the preservation and ex-
pansion of this country's commerce
with the Far East. and the cable sta
ton at Midway being Indispensable it's
Importance must be measured by the
value of that commerce. 1t not only
enables merchant TO communicate with
merchant, but 1t enables the American
Government to communicate with its
Philippine possessions by route which
at no point touches foreign soil, which