Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-05-18
ROADS,.
Editor Honolulu star-BulIetin.

Sir: When Broadway Was a Trail.
is the title Of movie photo-play that
has been recently shown here at one
of the theaters. 1t was quite inter.
esting and caused people to harken
back to the early days. But what will
grip the people OF this city more than
all else would be a movie" entitled.
When Beretania avenue was a
street" No particular emphasis on
the word Beretania, the name of any
old street in the city may be sJhsti-
tuted for it and it will not lose it's
interest
We have the camera fiend, the dope
fiend. the speed field and now we may
add to that category the road-building
fiend Every male inhabitant of this
city has an idea that he can build q
better road than has yet been built in
this city, and the writer is about ready
to believe that is true. ), ; &
The road-building 1experimenter's
paradise. That is what Honolulu is.
There is entirely too much. expert
menting in road work here Each cleo
tion places d new SET of supervisors 10
power, consequently a new head to
the road department follows naturally.
The new road departme nt head has all
kinds of theories on road making and
he starts right in experimenting with
them The result is that we have a
bunch of road building experiments,
each and every one having proved a
failure, and because they mark the
opening between the houses we let
them pass for streets.
A gentleman, who was a delegate to
the roads conference in London last
year, passed through here recently,
and was by no manner of means i'm
pressed with our streets, that is, not
favorably. He stated that it was gen.
orally accepted as a worldwide axiom
that the condition of the streets of a
city indicated the spirit of the people
in SO cases out of possible 100. We
do not know why he made the excep-
ton of one and if he came to any con-
illusions along those lines Jef reckon,
ing he must have putt qua down for a.
set Of savages. Il 81 ::
+ am a citizen Of this City, have
been, one for a good many years. and
expect to be one for "a gbSd tmany
years To come. love Hofo1ilII from
"kiver"to t.kiver,H and at the same
time l win say, as everyone else is
saying, that the streets of his city are
a disgrace Ito the fair ha4e Of Homo
lulu am not sbiekhg A any par.
ticular street for they are all in a
NEST wretched condition. In the same
breath wish to, state that, the truth
about anything is never, a knock.
In all of the promotion literature
that is sent out by the Promotion
Committee can you find line that
reads; Come to Hawaii and bring
your automobile" Not on your Paris
panels A. - '.>S."
There seems to have been consider;
able Joking and leyity in connection
with the ''molasses" road that was
tried as another experiment some
time ago. 1t was referred to as a
candy road and "taffy" road and
other sweet names. In fact, there was
so much fun poked at it that it seems
to have died aborning. Now, | am told
by parties who have seen it with their
own eyes that the roads that have
are finest in the land, especially the
government roads. That these mo.
lasses roads stand all kinds of traffic,
and with little care are kept in the
finest of condition 8 +. '
While / do not profess to knows any
more about building road than a COW
knows about drug store, cannot for
theSlife of me understand, when a
piece Of road is to be rebuilt, why 1t
is necessary to pillow uD and cart away
the best part of the old foundation,
Ii would seem that, after a street has
been in constant use for several years
by heavy drays and other teams,
no better Foundation could be obtain
ed. It win certainly last longer than
a new one unless the new one is of
solid concrete. | have noticed that
wherever the Rapid Transit has built
any road between its rails it is built
in manner that makes 1t stand up
under any and all traffic. while the
rest of the road melts away.
-, don't know why we have to put
up with such miserable apologies for
streets and roads throughout this
county. A gentleman tried to answer
that for me the other day. He said
that when all the assistants, sub-as-
sistants, clerks, sub-clerks, sub-sub-
clerks, ordinary clerks and lot more
that have forgotten have been fat
fened up with salary there is not much
left for the roads and streets. Per-
haps he was right Is. y -
Right or wrong, we have with us
this evening" a. bunch of streets that