The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-09-19
ROAD NO GOOli
WANTS HIS MUNEY
Can Not Afford to Wait In hllO Tor
a Dry Spell-Blames the
Public Works Man.

mail Special to The Advcrtisor)
HInO, September l5.-work on the
construction Of Kuhio street was this
week ordered discontinued for the pres
emit by the county engineers Office. The
contractor in charge Of tho work, Isaac
Erickson, has gone TO KOna to attend
to another job. He says that he consid-
ers that he has done all the work that
he can be required TO do, anyhow, and
he is not inclined to monkey with it
any longer. The road is no good, he
admits. He does not believe it will
ever be much good. That, however, is
the fault Of the department of public
works, says Erickson. He wants his
pay.
Erickson has been working on the
building of Kuhio street about two
months and half. His main troubles
started when it came TO rolling the new
thoroughfare. Several times his steam
roller sank so deep into the mud which
formed the street that il had to be lit
orally excavated, and even now the
rolling merely shoves road material
from one side to the other without ac-
HpisnlnB any gOOd.
The road is no good. / know it. L
don t think il will ever be much good. T"
Thus spoke Erickson last week, just
before he left for Kona, where he will
work on the contract he secured for the
repair of the courthouse and jail.
-" But it is not my fault that the road
is no good, continued Erickson.
"That is the fault of the specifications.
In the first place, they made no provi-
sions for drainage. AS a consequence
all the water from the federal lot above
the road runs down into the new road
and makes the subgrade so soft that it
becomes nothing but mud in the kind
Of rainy weather that we have had late
ly. Then there is no provision for
making the subgrade solid with big
rock, and the whole thing rests on loose
dirt or on small rock, none more than
two and n half inch in diameter, that
are of no use. AS matter Of fact,
when ] saw what was coming l put in
a lot of big rock in the worst place,
but when they saw that the specifca-
tons somewhere required that no rock
must be bigger than the two and a half
inch diameter, they made me take my
big rock out, cut it into small chunks
and put it back again in the mud,
where it sank without doing any good.
That had to do under orders from the
public works department.
Dry Weather Uncertain.
"When it came to rolling the road,
the roller sank into the mud, and the
trouble started. Then Marston Camp
bell came and he told me to keep on
rolling with the big steam roller they
had given me. / told him that it was
impossible, and that he could not make
me do thing that was impossible It
was not my fault that the road was so
soft, but the fault of his own specifca-
tons. Now l have been rolling the
road, but all do when I roll the
mauka side is to shove the dirt over
on the makai side, and when roll the
makai side just shove it back again.
/ told the engineer that would keep
on rolling. The specifications require
me to keep at it until it is enough. But
they told me it was not any use to 90
on now, and that / had better wait
until we had dry weather."
Erickson squinted up at the leaden
sky. "'I have lived in Hio many
years, he said. 81 don t know when
& ~ - EOiAE W ENb VI 4 hANO Dttu On
this job over two months and half,
and have got to work to live. / can't
stay here until it gets dry, when that
may not happen in six months from
now. Now am going to fix the gutter
where have cracked it in few places
with my roller Then I am going to
quit. I think I have done all that 1
am required to do under my contract,
and County Attorney Beers thinks SO,
too. have been paid half Of my
money. Now I want the rest. A letter
has been written to MarstOn Campbell,
and am waiting for a reply to that.
Maybe he will order me paid. Then
have no kick coming. don't want to
fight this out in the courts, If I can
possibly avoid it. There is nothing in
litigation but / have seen lawyer,
and he says that ! am right. Now 1
am waiting for my money"