Polynesian., 1851-11-15

| "REMARKS.-The estate above referred to consist:
of 2300 Acres, of which $50 cultivated: about
400 cwt OF coffee sent home from the estate
last year. The crop of this year now gathering viii
exceed 1000 cwt, from present prices in England
expected TO realize l20 to l30 per cwt. Should tht
lowest price be got for the coffee, it will be observed
that at the end of the fifth year, under cultivation
the estate will be cleared Coffee plants from thu
seed do not commence bearing till the third year
and consequently the l4O0 already got from tht
during the last and present year has been
the trees planted in 1886 and 1887. At present
of the Oldest trees upon the estate produce upwards
OF ID OF coffee. In each acre there on an aver
age 500 trees; so in $50 acres already cultivated
100000 Trees; but taking good and bad trees and
seasons together, suppose an average of 34 ID only
each tree, the quantity of coffee would still be 2f5C
cwt which calculated only at 85s per cwt would pro-
duce flO,242. .
The above particulars were furnished to me il
1910, through the kindness Of Duncan Dunbar
Esq, the large shipowner of London.
OF course do not mean that coffee estate Oh
these Islands is to he worked a coffee estate on
the Island of Ceylon. But think there is some
thing to he learned from the CeylOn system of
keeping plantation accounts. And it ought to
afford the Hawaiian planter no small lLencOnrage-
nent to know, that where his Cpylon competitor
has to pay OH an average f3-Si4 40c-per acre
for clearing his land, little If any outlay of that
Where the Hawaiian planter lahors under
disadvantage as in the dearih Of money, scarcely
Of labor and want Of facilities for fencing. But
a wise legislation may do much to facilitate the
removal Of these disadvantages, for wherever
lives and properties, are protected, high rate of
interest will attract an influx Of capirnl-and, as
naturally, high wages will attract labor.
1t is as much to he Iamented, for the future pros
perity Of these Islands, for the present Of many
ri,inu MI lai,c fhnf fhs
most promising plantations, are. at present, on the
verge Of utter ruin, from the want of these two
elements. The want of labor might he supplied
by the idle profigates with which the Islands, in
many parts abound, if they could he induced to
labor, even for fair wages, and for their moral
and physical health, but of that there seems tn he
no hope. much regret that the experience OF
every subsequent year has but confirmed the view
which, on the experience OF old residents, ven-
rured TO express in my note No 70 published IN
the Friend Of lst November 1874.
A Bank of loan, discount and deposit would
do much to save planters from ext0rtion and dis
tress, aud facilitate advances on the security of
their crops l,ut such useful institutions can never
he planted where any doubt exists Of the stability
or strength ut the government to protect them,
efficiently, from violence. To render the GO
vernn,ent Of the King stable and strong is there
fore less the interest of the foreign merchant,
than Of the planter, as was amply shown by the
past year of 1880, when the latter Obtained good
prices, and the former made large and profitable
sales. With continued confidence. increased cap
ital and more abundant lanr, the same prosperity
will return and il willsgo auemeniing from year
to year, in geomefrical ratio. But, in the mean-
while, il is to he feared. that many will fall, who
if we had such hank as have suggested, would
easily overcome these momentary embarrsss-
fnents.
Before conclude the suljecr Of coffee. | may
mention that the consumption has latteriy fallen
|off in Great Britain. During the present year, n
|memorial was sent in IN the Chancellor of the
Exche9uer, signed by Messrs Matheson & Co.,
Gregson & Co., Forbes Fofhee & Co., Einiay,
Aodgsan s CO., Fredrick Huth & Co., Scott,
Bell & Co., aud other London houses, in all up
wards If seventy, praying for the total repeal Of
the coffee duties. That memorial set fnrth. sibai
while the consumption Of every article, largely
used by the British public has greatly Increased,
the consumption Of coffee has progressively de-
lclined from 81, 600 lbs. in 1847 to s4 600
lbs in l649, aud for the nine months of the pre-.
sent year, compared with the corresponding
months Of last year, from 26, ,4s9, ,26l lbs. TO
%, GAS, 795 ll,s. Information derived from va
rety of sources cohvinces your rhemorialisfs that
chicory and other substitutes are extensively mix
ed with and sold as coffee, by which dishonest
practice the public revenue is defrauded, the