Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-01-30
Chief NEEDOF
MAUI At PRESENT
IS GOOD ROADS,
CONTINUED from page one)

(ConlnOeu from page One)
Of this must, until very recently have
been covered on horseback has been
! reduced about five miles by an extern
sion Of road from the Hama side. But
still there remains between Is and 20
| miles CT trail.
But why the belt road? What is
there to warrant the expenditure of
from 100000 to $1,000 needed to
open a satisfactory highway to re-
place the present trails? What is
! there at Hama or in the mountain dis
triCt intervening TO justify the whole
| island in slOuldering such an under
| taking? True, the road would be a
! convenience to the people of the Hama
! district, but they are few in number
and have weekly steamer service.
: The rest Of the island is in no sense
dependent upon this part Of the island.
! Hama Districts Isolation.
1t is true that Hama is a small com
: munity. There is a sugar plantation,
small as plantations go in these ISL
andS, which surrounds the town Of
) Hama, and q still smaller one at XII.
! pahulu. some 10 miles further east.
1t might be mentioned in passing that
neither of these plantations is doing
very we'll under. prevailing sugar
prices, and their future is far from
| bright. At Nahiku, some eight miles
west Of Hama, is the center Of Ha-
/ walls rubber industry, which is not
yet out of the woods so far as profits
are concerned. There are scarcely
| dozen white families in the district,
and they are almost all connected with
! the plantation or with the rubber bust
ness. A few hundred Portuguese have
, their little homes here, characteristic,
cally surrounded with vines and fruit
trees. A few hundred more Japanese,
Filipinos, Porto Ricans and Koreans,
! with their families, fill the plantation
camps, while the remaining part of the
/ population consists Of native Hawaii
ans in considerable number, scattered
along the coast
Twenty-Five mites west of Hama,
I without road connection from either
direction, is the tremendous cash run.
ming from the top of Haleakala to the
sea. known as the Keanae valley. This
valley is broad and fertile. 1t is the
| home of probably 200 native Hawaii
, ans and a few Chinese. For weeks
at time, Keanae is frequently cut off
from the rest of the world through
I inability of the inter-island steamers
to land passengers or freight at the
rough landing
A large part of Hama district is
rough and rocky, but the soil is fer
tile and abundantly watered. 1t seems
l to be especially adapted to fruit of
many kinds, and vegetation generally
ffourlshes in a manner not to be seen
in other parts Of the island. It will
probably some day be thickly settled
with prosperous population of much
Importance to the rest of the island
But this condition will not come with.
cut greatly improved transportation
facilities, and road connections are first
and most important in this connection.
How Maui Will Profit.
But looking into the future, there
is every reason to believe that the isl
and of Maui as whole will profit
from the belt road in a much greater
measures than will districts which will
receive such immediate benefit. In
the first place it would be the islands
greatest asset in attracting tourists.
not excepting even the proposed road
TO the top of HaleakaIa And Maui
has for a good while been enviously
noting the constantly increasing
stream of transient travel which is
setting to the territory, without rhus
far being able to attract any appreCi-
able portion of it to her shores. In
spite of attractions which in many
ways excel any Of the other islands,
the tourist does not come. There are
number Of reasons for this. the prin-
clpal one of which is that it is too diff
fiCult and expensive to visit the most
magnificent scenic points. lao valley
is the one easily accessible beauty
spot. llaleakala calls for considerable
preparation, and an cight-n,iIp horse
back ride up and down. which is i'm
POSSIBLE for some and uncomfortable
Tor very great many. And the won.
derful ditch country" section on
East Maui through the wonderful No..
nOmunu and keanae valleys and or
to Nahlku, the section before referred
10 which now has no rOadS-Which
IS considered by most persons who
have seen II to be more beautiful than
any other place IN the territory, is now
seen by not one tourist in a Thousand
In fact II has been seen by cOmpara-
lively few residents NOT only Of the
islands, hut Of Maui as well. SIpp, ial
arrangements must now be made be
for" one can make tn" trip a Present.