No. 174.
Mr. Comly
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States,
Honolulu, April 10, 1882.
(Received April 25.)
No. 213.]
Sir: Referring to your No. 114, and to my No. 209,
I have the honor now to present my report as much in detail as seems to be
practicable.
The figures as to unoccupied available lands for sugar and rice promised me
by a merchant who was formerly editor of a newspaper and afterward in the
government service (vide No. 209) have not been
forthcoming, though I have exerted myself to the utmost to obtain them. I
must say that there does not seem to be any special alacrity to make an
exhibit of the quantity of available sugar lands still unoccupied. Such
facts as I have been able to gather will appear further along.
With this explanation I take up the consideration of some matters and
questions affecting the future of the Sandwich Islands.
I. The aboriginal native race is not only in its decline, but the immigrant
population is rapidly on the rise. The decadence of the native race is not
only in its numbers, but in every component of strength known in the
constituent elements of the state or commonwealth. Out of a population of
about 45,000 natives of aboriginal descent, all told, there are over 700 who
are condemned and isolated lepers, at the leper settlement on Molokai.
Physicians of the highest standing estimate that there are from 3,000 to
5,000 concealed lepers in the islands. The government physician at the free
dispensary in Honolulu, Dr. Fitch, reports officially—and the figures are
given in the philo-Hawaiian Pacific Commercial Advertiser of Mr. Gibson, for
Saturday, April 8, two days ago—that out of 4,055 new
cases treated by him for the first quarter of 1882, 2,748 were
syphilis and 508 leprosy diseases, not only incurable but unavoidably
transmissible by heredity as well as by contagion and infection. In the same
report are 51 more cases of other venereal diseases, making the frightful
total of 3,307 persons afflicted with diseases of this class, out of 4,055
cases treated, leaving only 748 for all other diseases, even such as coughs,
colds, &c. This is the report of a government physician, where the law
requires that lepers be isolated and sent to Molokai, yet there are 508
lepers open applicants for relief, in one quarter’s time, in the single
district of Honolulu. Dr. Fitch says further: “The disease is everywhere
among us: members of the police, soldiers, the band, pastors of churches,
teachers, students, are all among the sufferers.” He says further, in the
same report, that at a recent meeting of physicians in Honolulu, one of the
oldest and most favorably known physicians of the islands stated his belief
that four-fifths of the native population of the islands are infected with
syphilis, and Dr. Fitch says “I believe this statement too mild.”
[Page 335]
The report is not officially promulgated yet. I will ask to forward copies
hereafter, as part of the inclosures herewith.
To these terrible antecedents must be added constantly increasing sterility
and impotency, and in a large degree more and more foggy perceptions in
sexual morals. The physique is, therefore, from all these causes,
deteriorating frightfully, and the morale is falling
still lower. The robust race of the ancient Kanaka has shriveled and
dwindled to this melancholy handful, some of whom are still of noble
physique and all of whom are of amiable character, but too many of whom are
crippled by rheumatism, syphilis, paralysis, or leprosy. They are crippled,
alike in person, in morals, and in fortune—in mind, body, and estate. Where
sugar and rice planting are the chief industries, there is, I am assured,
not one Kanaka of pure blood in all the islands who owns or exclusively
operates a plantation. Some serve faithfully as contract laborers for
foreign proprietors, and some put in small lots on shares, but they do not
own or operate the plantation. The town-bred natives of the lower class are
too unstable for any systematic work, and cannot be depended upon. There is
no mercantile or manufacturing business in the kingdom that is owned and
managed by a native of full blood. On the other hand, Americans, English,
Germans, or more largely still, Hawaiian-Americans and Englishmen (or to use
a better-understood term not in vogue here, Creoles),
own and operate the sugar plantations. Rice is almost exclusively in the
hands of the Chinese. Cattle ranches are largely operated by Portuguese. And
the thousand and one little shops, bakeries, restuarants, and the like, are
in the hands of Chinese, Portuguese, and other foreigners.
The Chinese already constitute more than half the adult
male population of the kingdom. The Portuguese are increasing
rapidly. American capital is increasing much more rapidly than American
population. All these hungry hordes of foreigners bring with them habits of
industry and thrift, to which the poor Kanaka is nearly a stranger, and he
is rapidly going to the wall, clutching wildly at every straw for national
life.
South Sea Islanders, not only of lower type than the Hawaiian, but savage and
lawless, and without either the noble physique or the amiable character of
the ancient Kanaka, have been brought, at great expense, to transfuse the
blood of a so-called cognate race into the dying Kanaka people; and the
result has been failure. As fast as their contracts expire they prefer to
return to the low cocoa-nut islands. Even if successful, the experiment must
have resulted in lowering the type of the Kanaka by the infusion of an
inferior race. Large expense has been incurred, also, in bringing
Portuguese, Norwegians, and others, as laborers and as population; but this
mostly results in simple substitution of the alien for the Kanaka race—a
result which does not greatly delay the ultimate absorption of the native
race into a new fusion of different nationalities of more or less
contradictory character and habitat originally.
It is not alone that the commoners of the race are disappearing at the rate
of one and a half per cent, per annum; it is even worse with the “chiefs.”
The “House of Nobles” is created by the sovereign, and is not necessarily of
“chief” blood—I do not refer to it. Nearly half of the members of the “House
of Nobles” are whites or half-castes. But the natives are still of feudal
temper, and their attachment to the native aliis or
chiefs is deep and abiding, incapable of transfer or substitution. The
constitution requires that the sovereign shall be of the native alii or “high chief” blood. Of all the royal family
and collateral there is but
[Page 336]
one
frail little girl, half-white daughter of Princess Likelike, to represent
the second generation. Queen Douager Emma is childless. Queen Kapiolaui has
no children. The Princess Luka (Ruth), sister of the late Kamehamehas, has
no heir of her body to her name or her large estate. Mrs. Panaki Bishop,
daughter of old chief Paki, has never had a child, and has once refused the
nomination to the succession. Unless the genealogical tables of the kingdom
shall be reformed and enlarged, there is no other family left eligible to
the throne. One life alone in the next generation, the little half-white
girl constitutes the reserve of high-chief blood to draw from, and even that
is not accepted by the body of the natives. They do not recognize the
Kalakaua family as true high chief blood. The distinction is made painfully
apparent when any of the present royal family are brought in contact
publicly with Queen Emma or Princess Luka.
With the native race rapidly disappearing, and the high-chief blood nearly
exhausted, with already a majority of the adult males in the kingdom of
alien races; with a constitution resting upon a moribund constituency, and
relying for functional life upon nearly defunct agencies, what future is
there for the native race and the existing dynasty of the Sandwich
Islands.
As part of an American Zollverein, part of our productive and commercial
system, the problem of replenishment of the vital forces of Hawaii demands
consideration of us. If we will not have it drift away into Asiatic
possession, and an oriental civilization, or have it drawn into a British
protectorate through the introduction of East Indian coolies, the wards of
Great Britain, we must be watchful.
Leaving out of account every consideration except the good of the Hawaiian
Islands, our own American colored race can supply a more desirable
population, without drawing too heavily upon our resources, than any of
these other races or peoples now in prospect.
II. There are, strictly speaking, no government lands suitable for homesteads
or small holdings. There are no homestead lasws. Lands to till “on shares,”
or small quantities for rent, may be had, and planters with mills are glad
to encourage independent production in this way. But, in this as in other
countries, sugar-planting is a business requiring large capital. It is one
of the disabilities of the native, that he seldom or never has capital
enough to carry on a plantation. To remove this disability, native statesmen
in the legislative assembly have made grotesque efforts, which would be
ludicrous if they were not pathetic. In order to put the native on an
equality with the Haole in this respect, it was
gravely proposed in the last legislative assembly to make an impossible loan
of ten million dollars, a great part of the proceeds of which were to have
been disposed of by government in helping poor Kanakas, (“who could not get
money at Bishop’s Bank” having no security to offer) to buy lands and
machinery, and become rich planters at a bound, by act of the legislative
assembly and use of the public credit. One Hoapili Baker, in 1880, issued a
manifesto full of such absurdities, a copy of which was inclosed with my
dispatch No. 104, April 10, 1880. This manifesto, so ridiculed before the
election, made its reputed author a legislator, and it was soon found that
the real author had a party behind him which came near wrecking the kingdom
with disastrous projects threatening practical confiscation of American and
other foreign capital invested here. The same author has again put forth a
manifesto, before the late election, fathered this time by a statesman named
Lilikalaui, and subscribed by Walter Murray Gibson and others, elected
afterward to the next legislative assembly, called to meet on the 29th
[Page 337]
instant. I inclose three copies
separate, as printed matter. The absurdity of this document should not
mislead anybody as to its mischievous and dangerous power over the native
mind clothed with legislative functions. I only state the prevailing public
opinion among intelligent foreigners here, when I state that the firm and
prudent action of the resident diplomatic body alone saved the country from
bloodshed and probable revolution, during the Moreuo regime, in 1880, when the Hoapili manifesto was sought to be put
in action. Like trouble is expected at the coming session for 1882, as
indicated by the Lilikalaui manifesto The King and all natives long with a
desperate longing for a complete Kanaka ascendency, and they do not see any
better way to accomplish this than through legislation practically charging
foreign capital with the support of not only the government but the people
as well.
III. The question how much available sugar and rice land is still unoccupied,
and how much further expansion may be expected in the productive industries
of the islands, is one upon which I have found it difficult to obtain data,
as already before stated.
It will appear from the inclosures that I early applied to the foreign office
without success; that I was promised reliable data from private sources,
which have not been forthcoming; finally, on the 18th of March, The Pacific
Commercial Advertiser published statistics purporting to come from the
minister of the interior (inclosure No. 2), and a tabular statement of
unoccupied lands made up in 1872 (inclosure No. 3), with interesting
comments by the editor, Mr. Walter Murray Gibson (inclosure No. 4), which
seemed to cover the points desired. I thereupon addressed the minister of
foreign affairs, requesting to know how far these statistics might be taken
as reliable (inclosure No. 5), and received his reply, discrediting them
almost wholly (inclosure No. 6).
I forward all these without further comment; also, separate, as printed
matter, three copies of the Commercial Advertiser, of March 25, and one
unmutilated copy of March 18, the date from which above clippings are made,
sending these simply as possible objects of curiosity to the Secretary of
State, and not as regular exhibits for this dispatch.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 213.]
The Labor Question.
A copy of the following circular requesting statistics on the labor
question has been forwarded by his excellency the minister of the
interior (as president of the board of immigration) to each known
employer of labor in the kingdom:
“The board of immigration desire statistics on the subject of labor and
request your kind assistance. It is important to know the number of men
employed on all the plantations, and their nationality. If this
knowledge is accurately obtained, it will enable the board to estimate
the number of laborers required for any proposed increase of the sugar
crop. For instance, one planter says that his crop of 400 tons was
produced by the total labor of 80 men, or 5 tons to the labor of each
man. If this estimate should be verified by the experience of all the
planters, it would be of great value in determining proximately the
number of laborers actually employed in sugar making.
“Accurate returns of the different nationalities of the laborers will
enable the board to ascertain the movements of immigrants. For instance,
it is said that there are 14,000 Chinese in the kingdom. If it should
appear that only 5,000 were employed on the sugar estates, it will be
possible to estimate the number engaged in rice planting and other
occupations; and if the number engaged in rice planting is subsequently
obtained, it will be possible to ascertain the number of the floating
Chinese population, which is a matter of no little importance.
[Page 338]
“This request of the hoard may not reach some of those engaged in
planting cane only, and therefore the planters are requested to consult
their neighbors and obtain statistics from such persons, and from those
who employ only a few hands. The returns should show the number of
laborers on February 15, 1882.
“Upon the return of these statistics a general summary will he made up
for the information of the community. I would request that the inclosed
blank form he filled up and returned to me.”
Circulars were addressed to the following corporations and persons. Those
names marked with a (*) have, at the present date, made no returns.
Hawaii.
Hilo.—Hakalau plantation, Wainuku plantation,
Onomea plantation, Paukaa plantation, Honomu plantation, Waiakea
plantation, *Waiakea mill, Pepekeu plantation, Spencer’s plantation,
Hitchcock & Co.’s plantation.
Hamakua.—*Paauhau mill, *Paauhau plantation,
Hamakua plantation, Hamakua mill, *Aamano plantation, Honokaa Sugar Co.,
Pacfic Sugar Mill.
Laupahoehoe.—W. Lidgate & Co.’s plantation. A.
Lidgate & Co.
Ookala.—Soper, Wright & Co.
Honokaa.—J. R. Mills.
Kohala.—*Star mill, Ookala plantation, Thompson
& Chapin, Halawa plantation, Union Mill Company, Niulii plantation,
Beecroft plantation, Hawi mill, *Montgomery & Co.’s. plantation,
Kohala plantation.
Kohala and Laupahoehoe.—*R. R. Hind.
Kau.—Honuapo plantation, Naalehu plantation, Hilea
Sugar Company, H. M. Whitney, Chas. Wall, *Hawaiian Agricultural
Company.
Pahala.—W. Goodale.
Maui.
Ulupalakua.—Makee plantation.
Waihee.—Waihee Sugar Company.
*Hawaiian Commercial Company.—(Spreckels &
Co.)
Wailuku.—Wailuku plantation.
Makawao.—Brewer and Crowninghurg, East Maui
plantation.
Hamakua.—Huelo plantation.
Haiku.—Haiku plantation No. 1. *Haiku plantation
No. 2.
Paia.—Alexander and Baldwin’s plantation, J. M.
Alexander.
Waikupu.—Waikapu plantation.
Huelo.—Huelo Mill Company.
Lahaina.—Pionner Mill.
Kipahulu.—Kipahulu plantation.
Hana.—Hana plantation.
Makawao.—*Grove Ranch plantation.
Olowalu.—Olowalu plantation.
Hana.—Kipahulu mill.
Kauai.
Koloa.—Koloa ranch, Koloa plantation, Eleele
plantation.
Eleele..—Fr. Bindt.
Kilauea.—Grant and Brigstock, Kilauea
plantation.
Kealia.—Makee Sugar Company, Kealia plantation,
*R. W. Purvis.
Hanarnaulu.—Chris. L’Orange, Hanamaulu mill, A.
S.Wilcox.
Lihue.—Lihue plantation.
Kekaha.—Kekaha Mill Company.
Waimea.—Kekaha plantation.
Nawiliwili.—Grove Farm.
Hanalei.—Princeville plantation.
Molokai.
*Moanui plantation, Kamaloo plantation.
*Kalae.—R. W. Meyer.
Oahu.
Kaneohe.—Kaneohe plantation.
Koolau.—*Heeia plantation, *Ahuimanu
plantation.
Laie.—Laie plantation.
Waimanalo.—Rose & Company, Waimanalo Sugar
Company.
Waianae.—Waianae Sugar Company.
Waialua.—Waialua plantation.
[Page 339]
The following is a summary of the statistics received from seventy-two
returns. It will be noticed that returns from the Spreckels and other
plantations are not in, but they will be included in an amended report
hereafter:
Nationalities. |
Sugar
boilers. |
Engineer. |
Clerks and lunas. |
Laborers of all
kinds. |
Hawaiians: |
|
|
|
|
|
Men |
6 |
11 |
6 |
2,248 |
|
Women |
|
|
|
118 |
Chinese: |
|
|
|
|
|
Men |
3 |
|
|
3,984 |
|
Women |
|
|
|
19 |
Americans |
11 |
15 |
16 |
140 |
English |
10 |
21 |
18 |
61 |
Portuguese: |
|
|
|
|
|
Men |
1 |
|
|
395 |
|
Women |
|
|
|
80 |
South Sea
Islanders: |
|
|
|
|
|
Men |
|
|
|
516 |
|
Women |
|
|
|
299 |
Germans |
5 |
3 |
12 |
85 |
Norwegians: |
|
|
|
|
|
Men |
|
1 |
|
202 |
|
Women |
|
|
|
25 |
Japanese |
|
|
|
15 |
Danes |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Other
Nationalities |
7 |
|
|
90 |
|
Total |
41 |
52 |
53 |
8,277 |
Number of laborers desired, 2,885.
Nationality preferred, excepting Hawaiians, as
follows: |
|
27 |
planters prefer Portuguese, and want |
1,000 |
35 |
planters prefer Chinese, and want |
1,600 |
4 |
planters prefer Hindoos, and want |
75 |
3 |
planters prefer New Hebrides, and want |
60 |
1 |
planter prefer Swedes or Scotch, and wants |
150 |
|
2,885 |
[Inclosure 3 in No. 213.]
Table of statistics of sugar cane plantations on the
Hawaiian Islands, 1872.
|
Hands
employed. |
Males,
native. |
Females,
native. |
Chinese. |
Other
nationalities. |
How many
more would employ. |
Acres in
cane. |
Cane land
in the neighborhood. |
Race preferred. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acres. |
|
Kaiwiki |
175 |
132 |
36 |
|
7 |
50 |
650 |
7,000 |
Japanese. |
Kaupakuea |
245 |
125 |
20 |
100 |
|
50 |
600 |
1,500 |
Polynesian. |
Paukaa |
100 |
100 |
|
|
|
25 |
180 |
7,000 |
Chinese or Japanese. |
T. Spencer |
150 |
128 |
12 |
10 |
|
|
400 |
1,000 |
Do. |
Kohala |
200 |
182 |
18 |
|
|
50 |
900 |
2,000 |
Do. |
A. Hutchison |
39 |
29 |
|
5 |
5 |
45 |
150 |
4,000 |
Japanese. |
Onomea |
180 |
127 |
|
51 |
2 |
50 |
500 |
3,000 |
Polynesian. |
Dr. Wright |
50 |
50 |
|
|
|
10 |
100 |
|
|
J. C. Costa & Co |
14 |
12 |
2 |
|
|
15 |
60 |
4,000 |
Japanese. |
E. C. Bond |
5 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
30 |
3,000 |
Polynesian. |
D. Hitchcock |
32 |
32 |
|
|
|
40 |
60 |
5,000 |
Chinese. |
Hinds |
100 |
100 |
|
|
|
20 |
150 |
2,000 |
|
Thomas Hughes |
25 |
19 |
6 |
|
|
|
120 |
300 |
Portuguese. |
Henry Cooper |
15 |
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hawaiian. |
H. N. Greenwell |
11 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
Do. |
Frank Spencer |
10 |
8 |
|
2 |
|
6 |
|
6,000 |
Japanese. |
E. Bond |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
6,000 |
Hawaiian. |
J. W. Smith |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
6,000 |
Portuguese |
James Woods |
7 |
9 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
4,000 |
Hawaiian. |
[Page 340]
maui. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Makee’s |
170 |
78 |
|
51 |
41 |
100 |
1,200 |
3,000 |
Japanese. |
Haiku |
200 |
90 |
37 |
58 |
15 |
50 |
850 |
3,000 |
Do. |
A. H. Spencer |
77 |
60 |
12 |
2 |
3 |
|
400 |
600 |
Polynesian. |
Wailuku |
250 |
170 |
60 |
14 |
6 |
100 |
500 |
3,000 |
Japanese. |
Waihee |
180 |
156 |
24 |
|
|
25 |
800 |
1,000 |
Do. |
Waikapu |
130 |
120 |
10 |
|
|
50 |
900 |
1,200 |
Chinese. |
Hana |
80 |
70 |
|
10 |
|
25 |
150 |
500 |
Do. |
Bailey |
60 |
60 |
|
|
|
|
100 |
|
|
Hobron |
60 |
60 |
|
|
|
|
150 |
|
|
Campbell & Turton |
268 |
180 |
43 |
35 |
10 |
50 |
600 |
1,200 |
Chinese. |
West Maui Sugar Association. |
150 |
130 |
20 |
|
|
|
400 |
|
|
H. P. Baldwin |
60 |
40 |
|
20 |
|
30 |
400 |
760 |
Japanese. |
Ed. Jones |
12 |
10 |
2 |
|
|
70 |
5 |
500 |
Do. |
oahu. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Chamberlain |
37 |
15 |
7 |
15 |
|
20 |
140 |
3,000 |
Japanese. |
Laie |
60 |
50 |
10 |
|
|
|
200 |
30 |
Polynesian. |
Waialua |
25 |
19 |
6 |
|
|
10 |
50 |
|
Japanese. |
Keaahala |
25 |
20 |
5 |
|
|
|
125 |
|
|
Kaalaea |
120 |
100 |
20 |
|
|
25 |
400 |
|
Japanese. |
Kaneohe |
60 |
40 |
|
20 |
|
25 |
150 |
|
Chinese or Japanese. |
M’Keague |
60 |
35 |
|
25 |
|
25 |
200 |
|
Do. |
R. F. Bickerton |
4 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
5 |
1,000 |
Japanese. |
S. N. Emerson |
10 |
9 |
1 |
|
|
3 |
|
350 |
Do. |
J. H. Coney |
15 |
15 |
|
|
|
100 |
|
|
Hawaiian. |
Walker & Allen |
5 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Japanese. |
W. W. Hall |
8 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
kauai. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princeville |
155 |
80 |
10 |
65 |
|
120 |
350 |
3,000 |
Hindus. |
Lihue |
120 |
87 |
8 |
20 |
5 |
30 |
180 |
1,600 |
Japanese. |
Waipa |
30 |
30 |
|
|
|
20 |
100 |
|
|
E. Lindemann |
30 |
10 |
6 |
14 |
|
20 |
100 |
350 |
Chinese. |
A. Conrad & Co |
25 |
20 |
5 |
|
|
10 |
|
|
Japanese. |
D. M’Bryde |
12 |
8 |
4 |
|
|
4 |
|
1,500 |
Do. |
A. Smith |
9 |
6 |
2 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
Do. |
H. Wright |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,000 |
Do. |
J. & F. Sinclair |
30 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
5,000 |
|
molokai. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. G. Dwight |
5 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
|
3,000 |
Hawaiian. |
lanai. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. M. Gibson |
15 |
10 |
1 |
4 |
|
50 |
|
2,000 |
Hindus or Japanese. |
|
3,921 |
2,904 |
395 |
526 |
96 |
1,330 |
12,355 |
105,810 |
|
[Inclosure 4 in No. 213.]
[From the Pacific Commercial
Advertiser, Saturday, March 18, 1882.]
court news.
On Monday, 6th instant, His Majesty paid a visit to Paia, returning to
Wailuku the same evening. At Paia His Majesty was entertained at dinner
by the inhabitants of the district, and addresses of welcome were
presented,
His Majesty subsequently went by sea to Hana, remaining there until
Thursday last, on which day he proceeded by the steamer Lehua to
Lahaina, arriving there in the evening. The town of Lahaina was
illuminated in honor of His Majesty’s arrival.
From Lahaina His Majesty will return direct to the capital, and may be
expected here to-morrow morning.
[Page 341]
the development of a decade.
By permission of Ms excellency Wm. N. Armstrong, president of the board
of immigration, we are enabled to lay before our readers some very
interesting statistics collected by the board in relation to our
industrial enterprises and the state of labor in the kingdom at this
time; and at the same time we present statistics on the same subject,
collected and prepared by the secretary of the immigration society in
1872; so that the industrial development of a decade in the country’s
history is clearly shown, by these being placed alongside the statistics
of 1882.
The information obtained, both at the former and later period, is not
quite full, but sufficiently approximate to warrant correct deductions
with regard to the progress and development of the country.
In 1872 there were 12,355 acres cultivated in sugar-cane, with a yield of
16,995,402 pounds, for that year, much of the indicated area being newly
planted. The estimated laboring force was 3,728 hands which would give
an average of nearly 3⅓ acres to the hand.
No statistics as to the acreage under cane have yet been taken for this
year, but we hope to obtain them hereafter. The force of hands at work
(if, as is reasonable, we put down 2,000 for the plantations whose
replies have not yet been received) is, in 1882, 10,277, and it is
estimated that the crop will be 130,000,000 pounds. Even if we take last
year’s crop of 92,393,044 pounds as the product of the laborers
scheduled, the comparison between the results, in proportion to the
number of hands employed, is very striking. It should be stated that
whilst the returns of this year discriminate between field laborers and
mill employés, the returns of 1872 did not; there must be, therefore,
made a small deduction from the estimate of the field force of that
period.
The great difference in results shown is to be attributed to increased
experience, but more especially to the introduction of improved
machinery, and the great extension of means of irrigation. When we
consider the large percentage of juice which is now obtained, in
comparison with the average secured in 1872, and that at that time
immense quantities of molasses were allowed to run to waste whilst now
the skimmings, even, well filtered, yield an important percentage of
saccharine product, we readily perceive some of the reasons for this
great change.
In respect to labor, it will be noticed that in 1872 the Hawaiian people
supplied the whole labor force, whereas in this year the Chinese supply
nearly half of the whole, and other foreign laborers one-fourth.
Reverting to the statistics which show the preferences for different
nationalities of laborers which exist among planters, the most notable
feature is the great preference manifested in 1872 for Japanese, who are
now not mentioned. There have been no immigrants here from Japan since
1868; hence that race is not now considered in the calculations of
planters. Portuguese and Chinese are now most largely called for,
because they are supposed to be the only races available. But if it were
known that Hindoos and Japanese were to be brought here, they would be
very generally preferred.
[Inclosure 5 in No. 213.]
Mr. Comly to Mr.
Green.
Legation of the United States,
Honolulu, March 23,
1882.
Sir: About two months ago I had the honor to
consult your excellency verbally with regard to obtaining certain
statistics as to available sugar and rice lands not yet taken up, as to
lands available for small holdings, and what inducements are offered by
Hawaiian laws in the way of homesteads for immigrants of small means
desiring to occupy such small holdings, as to amount and kinds of labor
already employed, wages, &c.
It was not then practicable to supply exact figures or reliable
conjectures on these points.
In this week’s Hawaiian newspaper I note what purport to be official
figures, founded upon non-official answers to inquiries, covering some
of these points, from the office of the minister of the interior.
I now have the honor to respectfully inquire of your excellency whether
in your opinion those before-mentioned figures are sufficiently exact
and authoritative to be used by me as reliable data in answering an
instruction from the honorable Secretary of State; and, if so, when and
where I may obtain official copies of the same.
I have, &c.,
[Page 342]
[Inclosure 6 in No. 213]
Mr. Green to Mr.
Comly.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Honolulu, March 28,
1882.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your dispatch of 23d instant, in which you inquire with
regard to obtaining certain statistics, as to available sugar and rice
lands not yet taken up, as to lands available for small holdings, and
what inducements are offered by Hawaiian laws in the way of homesteads
for immigrants of small means, and as to amount and kinds of labor
already employed, wages, &c.
I will, if you will allow me, answer the second question first, as to the
inducement offered by Hawaiian laws in the way of homesteads for
immigrants, by stating that the government possesses no lands, or at
least not in sufficient quantity to make it practicable to offer small
holdings for immigrants.
There are, however, opportunities continually offered by private parties,
to planters of sugar-cane who wish to take up small quantities of land.
This, however, is in the way of lease, not sale.
With regard to the available sugar and rice lands not yet taken up, I
regret that the government have no reliable statistics. What appeared in
the Pacific Commercial Advertiser of last Saturday week, purporting to
give the available sugar lands, was got up hastily by the Planters’
Association, in 1872, and is not reliable.
I have asked the vice-president of the new Planters’ Association if he
could furnish me with reliable statistics, but he informs me that it
would require a special committee, and take some months to work them
up.
With regard to the amount and kinds of labor now employed, the statistics
which have appeared in the papers lately are tolerably correct as far as
they go, but they are incomplete, and not sufficiently exact and
authoritative to be used by you as reliable data in answering
instructions from the honorable Secretary of State.
I remain, &c.,