The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-11-24
HILO DISCUSSES
ON WHARF PLANS
CountyEnulneer Points Out Flaws
In Plan and Filler Points
Out Flaws In Him.

Of the location Of tho proposed Hilo
wharf still engages large share Of the
public attention here. A meeting Of
the board Of trade was held yesterday
at which nothing else was discussed,
the talk eentoring around report sub
mitted by County Engineer South
worth, primarily on the location Of Tho
right-of.way to bo granted tho Hilo
Railroad, principally on the location
and style Of the wharf TO DO built.
Mr.. Southworth presented a number
of objections to the plan prepared by
the railroad company, saying, in part;
"The proposed location across the
head of Kuhio Bay is in a poor position
to enable easy docking at the Same es.
pecially the docking of large ships;
"a 1000-fOot wharf with only one
side available for docking facilities is
inadequate to handle the shipping OF
the port at the present time, and win bo
entirely inadequate to take care Of the
large increase which is predicted for
the immediate future.
"The general arrangement Of the
wharf does not satisfactorily meet the
requirements of the small shippers, and
the proposed location is such as to in
terfere seriously with the future devel.
opment of docking facilities in the On.
tire eastern end of Kuhio Bay.
"The design and arrangement Of the
proposed wharf in Kuhio Bay is the
most economical and the most practical
as a railroad wharf, for which il was
originally designed, as admitted by all.
This design is one of nine different
plans prepared by w. Il. Rowell, en-.
gineer, than whom there is no one in
this Territory more eminently qualified
as wharf engineer, and this plan was
selected because it best met all tho
conditions. Mr.. Rowell's wharf designs
have been standard in this Territory
for the past twenty years, and too much
cannot be said of his ability, his knowl.
edge of local conditions and Of his
judgment in these matters. I would
venture to say that if Mr.. Rowell wero
called upon today to design q wharf
to meet the present requirements OF q
government wharf his plan would be Of
a very different nature.n
What He Would suggest.
Mr. Southworth submitted his ideas,
which included: ga wharf with
single shed, docking facilities ON both
sides and sugar storage in warehouse
which we would suggest in connection
with the designs Of a government
wharf. By constructing
wharf heading in a northwest direction
towards the entrance to Kuhio Bay the
triangular area Of shoal water can be
used in the general scheme. Further
more, by building wharf in Ehis
direction future wharves can be built
parallel to IL and all Of these wharves,
pointing as they do towards the en-
trance of Kuhio Bay, are readily access
able to ships of any size -
In regard to the matter OF road
to the proposed wharf and a railroad
right-of-wRy to the same" concluded
the report, "I am confident that the
railroad company does not want right
of.way on the street where there is
bound to develop mutual interference
between general and railroad traffic. I
would therefore recommend that the
railroad company be granted separate
right-of-way extending if possible
through the middle of our general
block system and not on any main street
or Streets"
Plans Ideal, but
The Southworth plans were attacked,
politely but firmly, by superintendent
Filler Of the railroad company. Filler
said that he had studied the Southworth
plans for the past half hour. He had
found them ideal. However, South
worth has made one serious mistake,
and that was that he had made no
allowance for the fact that at times
of rough weather the breakers swept
completely over the breakwater. For
| this reason the wharf as proposed by
him would occasionally become utterly
untenable.
Furthermore, the scheme involved
much expensive dredging, involving q
cost of from seventy-five cents to $50
cubic yard on account of the hardness
Of the material to be handled. The
proposed railroad wharf plan had been
submitted to all the Matson and the
All captains, rs well as to many
/. /. s. N. company captains, and they
had all said that there would bo no
difficulty in docking their vessels there.
The SOuthworth scheme would also in.
volve so great an expense for filling for
a railway terminal, that the railroad
would probably be prevented from get
ting such q station.
| On the whole, the scheme, while an
ideal one theoretically, was out of the
question, as neither the government nor
any corporation would be able to stand
the expense involved. The filing alone
would cost more than the appropriation
available, and IL the railroad company
should decide to gil for It's terminal,
at cost Of about 800 a square foot,
the shippers, who always paid the bills
IN the long run, would suffer accord.
ingly.
Filler finally said that sonthworth
had been asked to furnish the board
with a report on the question Of roads
and rights Of way 10 the wharf only,
and that in discussing the wharf plans
and the location Of the wharf, tho eoun.
~ engineer had gone beyond hla sub
Jeet. lie moved that the report aud
the maps accompanying Il DO ggatefpliy
received, II vas,