Hawaii | Page 315 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 19, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Privy Council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government.

The word “privy” means “private” or “secret”; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch’s closest advisors to give confidential advice on affairs of state.

As a private council, the Privy Council is distinguished from a modern cabinet of the executive; in the monarchical tradition, a Privy Council lent legislative powers to the monarch and served judicial functions.

The Privy Council is an institution of European monarchies. The English Privy Council developed out of the royal court of ecclesiastics and high officials that advised the Crown.

The Hawaiian government was a constitutional monarchy comprised of three branches: Executive (Monarch and Privy Council), Legislative (House of Nobles and Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower courts).

During the Hawaiian monarchy, local affairs were administered through the Privy Council, the Minister of the Interior and the governors appointed by the king for each island.

The adoption of this western institution by the Kingdom of Hawai‘i reflected the effort of the time to conform the organization of the government to the norms of the community of nations with which Hawai‘i was having increasing economic and diplomatic relations.

Every member of the Privy Council of State, before entering upon the discharge of his/her duties as such, takes an oath to support the Constitution, to advise the Monarch honestly, and to observe strict secrecy in regard to matters coming to his/her knowledge as a Privy Counselor.

While the first official record of the Privy Council began in July 1845, the body existed previously as the council of chiefs (the House of Nobles similarly comprised of the members of the council of chiefs.)

Under the leadership of King Kamehameha III, the Privy Council was authorized by the Act to Organize the Executive Ministries on October 29, 1845.

The Kingdom of Hawai‘i’s Privy Council was a body comprised of five ministers and the four governors along with other appointed members that served to advise the King.

With the King in Council, it received foreign policy documents and approved the declaration of embargoes, orders of nobility, cutting of timber and use of coral reefs, prices for the sale and leases of government land, audit of internal taxes, the budget, assessment and minting of coins, regulations, compensation of teachers and diplomatic agents, granting of patents and appointments of the local officials.

The Cabinet Council, by Act I of Kamehameha III in 1845, acted as a consulting body for policies of the executive ministries. It also received and directed the publication of diplomatic correspondence, directed the accreditation of Hawaiian diplomatic agents and commission of consular agents, approved departmental seals.

Kingdom of Hawai‘i Constitution of 1852, Article 49 noted, “There shall continue to be a Council of State for advising the King in the Executive part of the Government, and in directing the affairs of the Kingdom, according to the Constitution and laws of the land, to be called the King’s Privy Council of State.”

Article 41 of the 1864 Constitution, issued during the reign of Kamehameha V, reasserts the continuing need for a Council of State “…for advising the King in all matters for the good of the State …”

“… and for assisting him in administering the Executive affairs of the Government, … which Council shall be called the King’s Privy Council of State, and the members thereof shall be appointed by the King …”

Article 42 of the 1864 Constitution further specifies that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, and Finance and the Attorney General would be ex officio members of the Privy Council.

The duties of the Privy Council lapsed when the monarchical government was repealed by the Proclamation of the Committee of Safety on January 17, 1893.

Act 1 of the Executive and Advisory Councils of the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands (approved on January 20, 1893,) vested the powers and duties of the Cabinet of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the Executive Council of the Provisional Government.

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Kamehameha_III_conveys_with_Privy_Council_during_the_Paulet_Affair-KWilliam-Richards-and-Gerrit-P.-Judd-sitting-across-from-Robert-Crichton-Wyllie

June 18, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Aloha Amusement Park

An amusement park for the city of Honolulu was a long contemplated project by a number of prominent citizens, and various sites convenient to the public traffic were considered.

The “official” opening of Aloha Amusement Park on Kalākaua Avenue in Waikīkī was September 14, 1922. (Although the American Legion held a 4th of July carnival there as its first use (even though the park was not completed, they used the partially completed facility for the celebration.)

The three-day 4th of July celebration attracted nearly 25,000 paid admissions to the park; of this number, 16,395 attended on the closing day.

That year’s annual report of the Honolulu Rapid Transit and Land Company noted the opening of the park “resulted in a considerable increase in night travel. This attraction in its present location will no doubt stimulate travel on the cars.” (In part, the siting of the facility was due to the accessibility over the transit line.)

Reportedly, the Advertiser described it as “another laurel to the wreath of Honolulu’s progressiveness.”

The reception was not all good. Apparently, the Outdoor Circle and many residents called it an “atrocious ballyhoo bazaar”. There were complaints of commercialization of Waikīkī.

Likewise, a petition, signed by property owners in the area, said the park was misrepresented when the permit was granted, would lead to immorality. RA Vitousek, attorney, represented the park and its manager, WA Cory.

City Supervisors said they cannot revoke the permit but feel it should be investigated. (Krauss) (The City’s 1922 financial report notes a $50 expense, for “Aloha Amusement Park Investigation”.)

The operator noted the complaints were coming from people who are already operating hotels, bath houses and dancing places – all of which were catering to the rich. He noted that the rest of the people should have a place in the same area. (He had considered and decided against siting the Park in Pālama.)

Aloha Park was adjacent to Fort DeRussy, an American army base and was opened by the Aloha Amusement Company, a group of local investors. They invested $250,000 to build and equip the park with modern rides. They hired Los Angeles resident Cory to manage the park and gave him a stake in the new company.

While Honolulu only had a permanent population of 90,000, it also had a transient population of 30,000 soldiers, sailors and tourists. And its mild climate was perfect for year around operation.

Although its proximity to the army base was helpful, the five-acre site required extensive filling and dredging to make it into an amusement resort. Two acres were set aside as sunken gardens and grass lawns.

Technical director Mark Hanna was in charge of the park’s construction. The park’s entrance was designed after the Palace of Fine Arts arcade at the 1915 San Francisco Exposition.

The park’s rides included the Big Dipper roller coaster designed by Prior and Church of Venice, California, a Noah’s Ark fun house, a 70 foot high Traver Seaplane, a ten-car Dodgem, a carousel built by Arthur Looff, and a miniature railroad.

The dance hall had a floor 120 x 150 feet, with a 20 foot lanai, where refreshments were served, and contained boxes for private parties. Music was provided by the Hawaiian brass band, that played at the band pavilion where a big musical revue was staged nightly.

Electric lights at light brightly lit up the grounds and rides. Free daily entertainment was provided. Oscar V. Babcock performed his thrilling bicycle loop-the-loop during the park’s opening weeks.

Running into financial difficulties, the Park went into bankruptcy in 1924. New investment came in and the park was renamed Waikiki Park. It is believed the park lasted until the 1930 Depression.

The Park played a role in the Massie case in 1931. Five young men who had been charged with rape of Thalia Massie, as she walked home from a Waikiki nightclub, had reportedly been at a dance at the Aloha Amusement Park (and used that as an explanation in their defense.)

Lots of information here from National Amusement Park Historical Association and Bob Krauss’s newspaper notes.

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1925 Entrance to the Waikiki Amusement Park-Ilikai

Aloha Amusement Park-Hnl SB-Sept 14, 1922

Honolulu and Vicinity-Map-1934-(portion-noting-Waikiki_Park)

Honolulu and Vicinity-Map-1934-(portion-noting-Waikiki_Park)-Waikiki_Park-Honolulu-Map-1927

June 17, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Preparing a Constitution

Collaboration between Ali‘i and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the introduction of Christianity, the creation of the Hawaiian written language, widespread literacy, making Western medicine available, and the evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition with harmony and choral singing.

In addition, the missionaries collaborated with the Chiefs on the promulgation of a constitutional government. Reverend William Richards came to Hawai‘i in 1823 as a member of the Second Company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; he was instrumental in transforming Hawaiian governance, through a constitution with individual rights.

It was a time of transition. when the Hawaiian people were faced with the difficult task of adjusting themselves to changing conditions. They turned to their teachers, the American missionaries, for guidance along this intricate path.

The king and chiefs, acknowledging their own inexperience, had sought for a man of probity and some legal training who could act as their advisor in matters dealing with other nations and with foreigners within the Islands. (Judd)

Richards “accepted the invitation of the Chiefs to become their teacher, and entered into engagements with them which were signed on the 3d of July (1838). According to those engagements, (he) was to devote (his) time at (his) discretion to the instruction of the King and chiefs, as far as (he) could and remain at Lahaina, and do the public preaching.”

“(He) was also to accompany the King to O‘ahu if important public business called him there. (He) engaged to act as interpreter and translator in government business of a public nature when called to it, and was to receive for (his) services 600 dollars a year, to be paid in quarterly enstalments of 150 dollars each.”

“As soon as the arrangements were completed, (he) commenced the compilation and translation of a work on political economy, following the general plan of Wayland, but consulting Lay, Newman and others, and translating considerable portions from the 1st mentioned work.”

“(He) also met king & chiefs daily when other public business did not prevent, and as fast as (he) could prepare matter read it to them in the form of lectures. (He) endeavored to make the lectures as familiar as possible, by repeating them, and drawing the chiefs into free conversation on the subject of the Lecture.”

“They uniformly manifested a becoming interest in the school thus conducted, and took an active part in the discussion of the various topics introduced in the Lectures. The Lectures themselves were mere outlines of general principles of political economy, which of course could not have been understood except by full illustration drawn from Hawaiian custom and Hawaiian circumstances.”

“In these illustrations (he) endeavored as much as possible to draw their minds to the defects in the Hawaiian government, and Hawaiian practices, and often contrasted them with the government and practices of enlighted nations.”

“The conversation frequently took so wide a range that there was abundant opportunity to refer to any and to every fault of the present system of government. But when the faults of the present system were pointed out & the chiefs felt them & then pressed me with the question, ‘Pehea la e pono ai,’ (How will it be bettered?)”

“During the year (Richards had) been called on to translate various documents and laws, some of which were transmitted to the USA & some were for promulgation at the Islands.”

“(He had) said scarcely nothing to the king and chiefs respecting the existing evils or defects in the government, except as the subject has come up naturally and almost necessarily while discussing established principles of Political Economy.”

“A system of laws has been written out by (Boaz) Mahune, a graduate of the (Lahainaluna) high school, and he was directed by the King to conform them to the principles of Political Economy which they had learned. Those laws are some what extensive and protect all private property.”

“According to this code, no chief has any authority over any man, any farther than it is given him by specific enactment, and no tax can be levied, other than that which is specified in the printed law …”

“… and no chief can act as a judge in a case where he is personally interested, and no man can be dispossessed of land which he has put under cultivation except for crimes specified in the law.” (Richards Report to the Sandwich Islands Mission, May 1, 1839)

No Ke Kālai‘āina (translation of William Richards’ Book)

Classes in political economy were taught by Mr. Richards for the chiefs; these laid the foundation for the political reforms started soon after. Indeed, it can be said that Mr. Richards exercised a profound, though somewhat intangible, influence on Hawaii’s evolution towards a constitution form of government.

Richards translated portions of Dr Francis Wayland’s ‘Elements of Political Economy’ into Hawaiian and organized discussions with the Chiefs on constitutional governance.

The Chiefs proposed themselves to publish the work which I have compiled, & they are to have the Copy Right & defray the expense of the publication.” (The book was known as No ke Kālai‘āina.)

Richards was instrumental in helping to transform Hawai‘i into a modern constitutional state with a bill of rights (1839) and a constitution (1840).

A project of the Hawaiian Mission Houses bicentennial commemoration involves translating the Hawaiian text into English and research William Richards and process of constitution in Hawaiian language sources.

Click HERE to view/download Background on Preparing a Constitution

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Elements of Political Economy-Wayland

William_Richards

June 15, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Smallpox Epidemic – 1853

Smallpox was introduced to Hawai‘i by an American merchant ship, the Charles Mallory, sailing from San Francisco and arriving at Honolulu Harbor on February 10, 1853.

Displaying a yellow flag indicating a serious infection on board, the ship berthed in isolation on a reef off Kalihi.

One of the passengers had smallpox.

When the period of quarantine ended in late-March, no new cases had been reported, the smallpox patient was recovering and the ship set sail and left.

In May 1853, the disease reappeared.

Two native women were stricken; their homes and the adjacent properties were cordoned off and their infected clothing and grass huts were burned.

This time smallpox spread rapidly; cases were reported from most of Honolulu’s districts.

In response to the growing impacts, June 15, 1853 was declared a national day of mourning, prayer and fasting.

The epidemic was at its worst in July – August with the island of O‘ahu recording more than 4,000-cases and 1,500-deaths.

Despite efforts to contain it, smallpox spread to Kaua‘i, Maui and Hawai‘i, killing at least 450-people.

The people on Ni‘ihau, Moloka‘i and Lāna’i remained protected because of their remoteness, stricter quarantine and better vaccine quality.

Missionary Dr. Dwight Baldwin was the government physician for Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna’i during the smallpox epidemic. Due to his vigilance, the number of smallpox deaths on these islands was only 200 deaths.

Statewide, during an eight-month period, about 8% of Hawai‘i’s population died of the disease.

When the epidemic ended late in January 1854, the estimated number of statewide cases was 6,400 – 9,100 and an estimated 2,500 – 5,750 deaths.

The intensity of the epidemic led the Hawaiian legislature to make vaccination mandatory for both residents and visitors in 1854.

Smallpox is a serious and contagious disease due to a virus, causing illness and death wherever it occurred. It mainly affected children and young adults. Family members often infected each other.

Smallpox localizes in small blood vessels of the skin and in the mouth and throat. In the skin, this results in a characteristic rash, and later, raised fluid-filled blisters.

After a twelve-day incubation period, patients developed severe headaches and backaches, a high fever, and chills, followed by a severe rash, a return of the fever, and bacterial infection. Death came by infection of the lungs, heart, or brain. The entire course from infection to death usually took five or six weeks.

Smallpox spreads easily from one person to another from saliva droplets. It may also be spread from bed sheets and clothing. It is most contagious during the first week of the infection. It may continue to be contagious until the scabs from the rash fall off.

It is reported that the Honuakaha Smallpox Cemetery (near South Street and Quinn Lane in Kakaʻako) has more than 1,000 burials from the 1853-1854 smallpox epidemic.

This is near the present Honolulu Fire Department Headquarters stands, adjoining the former Kakaʻako Fire Station. (Some suggest, because of this, the Kakaʻako firehouse is haunted.)

Because of the smallpox epidemics a Small-Pox Hospital opened. Likewise, over the years a small island in the reef across from Downtown Honolulu was used as a quarantine site.

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‘View_of_Smallpox_Hospital’,_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Paul_Emmert,_c._1853-59

Honolulu_Harbor-Reef_Titles-Reg1471 (1885)-Note_’Quarantine_Island’-(present_day_Sand_Island)

Smallpox

Kakaako Fire Station, Hook & Ladder Building, 620 South Street, Honolulu-LOC-218878pv

Kakaako Fire Station, Hook & Ladder Building, 620 South Street, Honolulu

Hawaii_Small_Pox-tally

Hawaiian officials documented statistics of the smallpox epidemic, O‘ahu, 1854

June 14, 2019 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Moana Hotel

Waikīkī was once a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres (as compared to its present 500-acres we call Waikīkī, today).

In the late-1890s, with additional steamship lines to Honolulu, the visitor arrivals to Oʻahu were increasing. In 1896, Walter Chamberlain Peacock, a wealthy Waikīkī homeowner at the time, proposed to build Waikīkī’s first major resort to provide a solution to the area’s main drawback – the lack of suitable accommodations on the beach.

Often called the “First Lady of Waikīkī,” the Moana Hotel has been a Hawaiʻi icon since its opening opened on March 11, 1901.

The original wooden center structure of the Moana Hotel is the oldest existing hotel in Waikīkī. As such, it deserves recognition as a landmark in Hawaii’s tourist industry.

Designed in the old colonial style architecture of the period, it boasted 75 rooms and was the costliest, most elaborate and modern hotel building in the Hawaiian Islands at the time.

Each room on the three upper floors had a bathroom and a telephone – innovations for any hotel of the times. The hotel also had its own ice plant and electric generators. The first floor had a billiard parlor, saloon, main parlor, library, office, and reception area.

The Moana was one of the earliest “high-rise” buildings in Hawaii and was the costliest hotel in the islands. In spite of numerous renovations and changes, it has retained its tropical openness and is a welcome change from the more modern high-rises that surround it.

The original four story wood structure, designed by OG Traphagen, a well known Honolulu architect, features an elaborately designed lobby which extends to open lanais and is open to the Banyan Court and the sea.

By 1918, Hawaii had 8,000 visitors annually and by the 1920s Matson Navigation Company ships were bringing an increasing number of wealthy visitors.

This prompted a massive addition to the hotel. In 1918, two floors were added along with concrete wings on each side, doubling the size of the hotel.

In the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape underwent a dramatic re-development when the wetlands were drained with the construction of the Ala Wai Canal. The reclaimed lands were subdivided into 5,000-square foot lots.

Matson Navigation Company bought the Moana in 1932; it paired with Matson’s other Waikīkī property, the Royal Hawaiian.

From 1935 until 1975, the Moana Hotel courtyard was home to the “Hawaii Calls” worldwide radio show, with its trademark sound of waves breaking in the distance.

The 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor and Second World War interrupted the flow of visitors to Waikīkī and the region becomes a rest and recreation area for soldiers and sailors coming and going to the war in the Pacific.

After the war, tourism thrived in the late-1940s and 50s, with the introduction of regularly scheduled airline service from the West Coast.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day make-up of Hawai‘i, (1) Statehood and (2) jet-liner service between the mainland US and Honolulu (Pan American Airways Boeing 707.) (That year, the Moana was sold to the Sheraton hotel chain.)

These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry in the state into the number one industry that it is today. Tourism exploded. Steadily during the 1960s, 70s and 80s the millions of tourists added up, as did the new visitor accommodations in Waikīkī.

The Moana remains a constant reminder of the old Waikīkī.

In the center of the Moana’s courtyard stands a large Banyan tree. The Indian Banyan tree was planted in 1904 by Jared Smith, Director of the Department of Agriculture Experiment Station (about 7-feet at planting, it is now over 75-feet in height.)

In 1979 the historic tree was one of the first to be listed on Hawaii’s Rare and Exceptional Tree List. It has also been selected by the Board of Trustees of America the Beautiful Fund as the site for a Hawaii Millennium Landmark Tree designation, which selects one historic tree in each state for protection in the new millennium.

In 1905, the Moana Hotel was at the center of one of America’s legendary mysteries. Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University and former wife of California Governor Leland Stanford, died in a Moana Hotel room of poisoning.

After several renovations and additions, the hotel now accommodates 794 guest rooms, two restaurants, spa and a bunch of other hotel amenities.

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