The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-01-18
PETITION FOR
A NEW PARK
White Plague Fighters Will Be
Asked to Help Save a
Breathing Spot.

The crusade just started against thA
tuberculosis bacillus has awakened 9th
or movements indirectly towards thS
same ends and petition is now in the
course of preparation to have n park
created in the heart of the Chinese dis
trict which lies mainly between River,
Beretania and Fort streets and the
waterfront.
1t is expected that this petition win
be presented to both the proper off,
Gals and to the property owners of the
district who possess lands available for
a park. Repeated attempts have been
made to secure such benefit for the
district but none have ever gone far
enough to awaken much interest ana
none have received wide enough pub,
LEFTY. All have failed.
To the missionaries that are working
in the district comes the knowledge or
many more cases of real restitution
and disease than ever comes to the at
tention of those who are generally at
the head of the larger philanthropie
movements, but who are too tar remo~-
ed from the real heart of things to APP
preciate or understand the difficulties
that must be COPIED with.
The prevalence of tuberculosis among
the orientals that is known to exist
| both by actual observance on the part
of those who are working among them
and statistically by those who have
| at,,1iaI q,
admitted to be due to the confined
quarters in which they, and particular
| ly the Chinese, live.
AT present, in the worm eaten tene-
ment in front of the stable on Pauahi
and Smith streets there are several
cases of tuberculosis, women for tho
most part, that are so far gone that re-
covery is doubtful In the Winston
block, VIGOROUSLY the worst of its kind
in the city from several standpoints,
are many more such cases, and through
the tenement district in general tho
disease is prevalent.
AS yet the campaign against the
white plague has not reached a stage
where the individual case is being con-
sidered, and the plans having been SO
lately laid and the machinery not yet
| III tht VIA
come with such consideration is lack
ing.
When the fight on the disease comes
to a point where it is matter of de-
tail and not of speculation it will be
found that the chief ally of the CAM
paigners will be breathing places where
the habitants of the district will have
a chance to counteract the foul condi-
tions that exist there.
This is the drift of the petition that
will be presented, and which will prob
ably be sent to the Central Antituber-
culosis Committee as well as to govern.
ment officials whose help is needed to.
wards obtaining the desired ends.
At present the half-block occupied
by Chinese florist between Beretania
and Pauahi on Smith is looked upon
as being not only the most desirable,
but almost the only available place in
the district.
In launching this scheme, the petit
TONERS call attention to the fact that
all the parks of Honolulu are situated
in places where the surrounding dis
tricts are in themselves almost parks,
each house having spacious grounds.
Attention is also called to the fact that
|
size in the United States that has no
square or park in its center with the
exception Of Bishop Park, fenced from
the public and situated besides strictly
in the business district.
AS third point in arguing for the
creation of park in the Chinese dis
trict, the petitioners point out the fact
that the mushroom growth that this
particular district has experienced since
the big fires indicates that in very
short time it will be solid mass OF
buildings, and buildings besides Of tn
very worst description.
When that time comes it will be too
late to establish what will then be seen
to be an absolute necessity. HONOLULU
can not always remain inside of Ito
present dimensions and any one who
looks into the future, say the petition
ers, can not but see the justness Of tho
request for cooperation towards secur-
ing park, both as a safeguard for
health and in that manner against dis
ease and as a cure for the white plague
that has already made such ravages in
the district.