The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-09-06
BREAKDOWN Of
THE NUUANU
PUMP
CFrUm Wednesdays Advertiser,

.
Howland's seven thousand dollar
pump went out OF commission yester-
day morning. A short time ago the
Advertiser predicted that the rate a.
which this pump was being driven In
an attempt to get more work out OF
It than II could perform would result
In breakdown. and the breakdown
has come. somewhat sooner than had
been expected. To repair the break.
which - In the cylinder OF the driv-
ing engine. will take ~ least two
months time and cost In the neigh
borhood OF several hundred dollars-
It Is unlikely. under the circumstances.
that the repairs will be attenpted st
al. At least for the work 1t the Nuu-
Anu dam. and the pump may DO con-
stdered pau. This experiment 10 far
has cost the Territorial taxpayers
about eight thousand dollars and there
is broken pumping outfit to show for
the money.
Il was rumored yesterday that this
Is the last straw. that the camers
back has been broken and that So
perintendent Holloway is preparing his
resignation again. This time Il win
probably be accepted. although his
term as superintendent expires nat
urally in the end OF November. with
his chief. Rowland senior would have
to go and with him Howiand junior
The resignation OF the superintendent
Is to be presented to Governor Frear
soon after his return from Kauai.
Yesterday was day Of stoppages at
the new reservoir. In addition to the en-
forced stopping Of the expensive pump
ing plant. all other work was stopped
at the dam. with the exception of sluic-
ing from the Waikiki side of the gulch.
All the employees OF the contractor ex-
cept the seven or eight sluicers were
paid Off and none will be reemployed
until the new loan Is effected and the
one hundred and thirty-two thousand
dollars voted by the last Legislature
made available for the carrying on
and the completion of the work
At the beginning OF July there re-
mained to the credit of the contract
about $14.4OO. In July the amount OF
work done was valued at $500. and in
August the payrolls totaled some
$4,000. leaving now about $500 to work
on. This will last, according to the
payroll now in force. well on until the
first of the year. by which time the
new money ought to be available.
1t has been the contention of the
present Superintendent of Public
Works that the Whitehouse contract
would terminate as soon as the amount
now endorsed on it was expended. but
the contractor has never agreed with
this and in his contention, that he was
to have charge of the work until the
dam was completed and turned over
to the government, he Is upheld by
Auditor Fisher. 1t will be remembered
that the amount originally endorsed
on the contract was $4,000, and the
public was given to understand that
this amount was to build the reser-
voir although the lowest bid of any
contractor was for more than double
that amount. This $4,000 was soon
expended and the $500 more was en-
dorsed on the contract out OF an
amount voted as a blanket appropria-
ton by the Legislature of 1905 for
Honolulu Waterworks general" This
is the money of which a small bal
ance now remains. The point of the
Auditor and of the contractor is that
there exists absolutely nothing now
to prevent the carrying on of the con-
tract with the new loan money that
there did not exist at the time the
second endorsement was made. If the
of Public Works could
force the Auditor to endorse eighty
thousand on then. the contractor can
force an endorsement now of enough
to go ahead and finish the work.
Last week the contractor came to
the rescue of the department and
made over enough money to them to
uanu dam accounts which had been
held up by the Auditor. These are
the labor and material accounts for
the putting in of the fiume for the
now broken down pump, the lemon"
handed to Howland on the Coast
which has already been sucked dry.
1t will be remembered that the de-
partment presented a bunch of bills
charged up against the running ex-
penses of the Honolulu waterworks.
the Auditor refusing to pay them be-
cause the bills were not for running
expenses at all but for the work un-
dertaken by the government on the
Nuuanu dam pump scheme and for
the construction of the Makiki reser-
voir. The matter was finally passed
up to the Attorney General and he
has decided that the Auditor is right
This left lot of laborers in line TO
wait for their money until the next
Legislature met, as there is absolutely
no fund out of which they could be
paid. whitehouse agreed, however, TO
release enough of his contract money
to pay for the Nuuanu work, but the
payment of the AIakik accounts,
amounting to over thousand dollars
are hung up high and dry and the
laborers and the suppliers OF material
will have to whistle for their money
until 1909. As the Makiki reservoir
is not finished yet, 1t may also have
to stay III its uncompieted state until
the same time, although twelve thou
sand dollars has been spent on it and
it was to have cost in the first place