Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 498, 16 January 1902 — PUBLIC LAUNDRY A PUBLIC PEST [ARTICLE]

PUBLIC LAUNDRY A PUBLIC PEST

CHINESE m THE PBOPEBTT Swfct Drying Ground. for Parifyiaf Cothes of t&f People, Supplied by GoYernment. Ditch of Green Stagnant Water a Receptacle for All the Rubbiah. Dirty Water and Filth That Oriental* Can Accumulate Not Washed Away by the Tide. Situated a: the extreme end of Jwllei, right makai of the notorious stockade, is the government public laundry, an institution the like of which is seldom seen. It consists of two long buildings between which is a large yard where the clothes are dried. Each house contains washrooms in the lower floor and sleeping quarters on the upper floor, each washroom having a sleeping room of its own. Here Johnnie Chinaman reigns supreme with long sticks of bar soap and with water from faucets and jets all around him. The floors in the washing rooms are cemented and the water runs off to some extent but the heathen Chinese often accumulates a pile of rubbish, harness, horsefeed and other material, so that his innate taste for artistic disorder is satisfied. John Keeps His Comforts. He is unable to create his favorite high perfumes in the washrooms on account of the avalanches of water which daily pass through these places, but he tak»:s good care that the water does not touch his sleeping quarters where he can store up gimcracks. dirt and ail other material necessary to a Chinese coolie's well being. He evidently never has time to wash his own bed clothes and mosquito nets, the latter especially l-ing so dirty that they often resemble a thin mud wall more than a piece of gauze. .Vo regular dump pile graces the premises of the public laundry. Rubbish is thrown anywhere. On the Ewa side of the houses a long row of ojd tins, paper and numerous odds , and ends of Chinese rubbish, which 1 only an expert could classify, exists all along the buildings. Healthy Drying Grounds. The drying yard is a sight. How the Fake keeps his washing clean is a wonder. The planking is rotten and broken all over, and bits of paper with odds and ends of rubbish j of ail kinds fill the holes and cracks. The worst filth Is right outside the houses, however. On the Waikiki | side a ditch filled with green stag nant water serves as a receptacle for lubbish. the ditch runs down to the mud flats which form the terminus of the washing establishment, but as it does not seem to empty anywhere the water remains stagnant. Filth of the Mud Flats. The mud flats into which is drained all the water from the wash houses.! are the worst place of all. They are filled with rubbish and unspeakable, filth of all kjmis. The smells which reign supreme there are overpower I ing. There is practically no outlet for all this. The tide comes in and ! covers th“ flats but the water comes in and sinks away so slowly that it only lifts up some of the rubbish to • deposit it at the same place where it iay before, when the tide runs out. The toilets ar» also situated here being built on piles with a bridge running out to them. There has been no attempt to make even a cesspool and the sigh» and smell of the place. I especially a* irwv Cde when there is ■ no water whatev- r over the mud. can i hardly be imagined. Chinese Run the Property. Tbe government’s public laundry is run exactly in the same manner as it would be run by the Chinese; themselves. The laundrymen enjoy their liberty and the place is very! popular, only a very few shops being unfenanted. but that the place is not! in better condition is surprising, as anyone who visits the place can see. at a glance that many improvements* are needed especially with regard to j the draining of the wash water and filth from the mud flats. In the wash houses the constant; splashing of water in which the t lothes are washed Into the wooden partitions has so soaked and satur ated them that they are almost rot ten in many places. And this is where the soiled linen , of most of the people of Honolulu is supposed to be made clean *