The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-11-10
Secretary Of Navy and hawaii
Dredging Company Settle
Points in Dispute
coNTRAc1ORs WILL NOT
GUARANTEE CONSTRUCTION.
Final costOf important Improve
ttient WIN Be About Five
Million Dollars

After n delay Of about eight months,
In which the secretary Of the navy was
considering The matter, an agreement
was reached between the department
aud The Hawaiian Dredging company,
contraetors for the Pearl Harbor dry.
dock, which win result in the resump.
ton Of work on the dock at an early
date.
This Information is contained in
tablegram received by -. H.. DinmQ
ham, from Walter DillingbnIh who rs
in San Francisco. The general terms
Of the agreement are not known but
Mr.. Dillingham; states that the cable
gram said the arrangements were en-.
tirely satisfactory to the contractors.
cAief POINT At Isuue
7. The chief point where the neqotia.
tons were delayed was the fact that
the navy department wanted the con.
tractors to guarantee the construction
work on the drydoek, which the latter
were unwilling to DO as long as they
were required TO build the docls on
plans and specifications furnished BY
the department and accordingly TO the
directions Of navy engineers ana in.
spectors
The original construction work stop
ped last February, when the dock then.
under way, collapsed with pressure OF
water from below when one Of the
sections was pumped out for the hrst
time. There was so much controversy
over the cause and responsibilities for
the failure of this work that the pro-.
ject hung in the balance for time.
A number of reports on the dock were
submitted by local civil apd naval en.l
gineers, and the late Alfred Noble, the
distinguished Evil engineer, made q
special trip to sHonoluln to INSPECT the
dock He reported favorably to the
c0ntipuance offthe project, Suggesting
some few notifications in the plans TO
overcome the alifieulties which had
been encountered. ~
Technical Details Adjusted
(. Following thhi submission Of Mobiles
report, the technical details were nd
jpstedl and sobgIess Increased the MP
fJfbfriation ~ ihe dock To- nearly
s5,000,0O0.. Nothing then remained but
TO order, the resumption of the work,
under new terms. Then Secretary Dan.
iels in the midst Of negotiations, ordered
the contractors TO proceed. Work was
resumed under the old Specifications,
for a few days only when the depart
ment agreed on new deal.
Waiter Dillingham; at the time was
on q special triptb Washington in the
interests Of thee Hawaiian Dredging
company, in an endeavor 10 secure a
Speedy settlenlknt of fha dianntad
points. This he was unable TO do, and
the matter has lain before the secretary
of the navy for about eight months
without any material change in its
status. -. ft
The service Journals commented upon
this state Of affairs aud remarked that
in the event the contractors abandoned.
the completion Of the dock, or the navy
undertook TO build ID, the final cost
would prove a great deal higher than
the original figures. In view Of this
fact, they evirced some wonderment
Tint the matter should be still held M,
the efficiency Of the naval
Plant in Hawaii. r. n
work win Be Resumed 3 -. \
This summing up Of the situation pro-,
badly had something to do with the
final action Of the secretary Of the
navy, the result OF which is the am
nouncement from Walter Dillingham;
that the arrangements are satisfactory
to the contractors. An immediate re-
sumption of work ami the speedy com,
pletion of the Pearl Harbor drydoek
may now be looked For. ~" \
- - \ So