The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-07-28

THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
JULY %.

THAT there has been some hasty and uncalled
for ill-feeling lately manifested in New Bedford
against Honolulu, on account of the poor success
of the whaling fleet last year, our readers have
before been informed. 1t was natural that some
of the ship owners, who had never known re-
verses, should keenly feel the disastrous season,
and quite as natural that their first expression of
ill-feeling should be against Honolulu. We
therefore took early occasion in December last,
when reviewing the poor whaling season and on
one or two occasions since, to state candidly the
reasons why some modification must be made in
the manner of conducting the business in future.
or it would greatly fall off. And one very i'm
portant drawback was stated to be the large and
imprudent bonuses paid to shipmasters by the
agents at home.
That the season was disastrous we all know,
but the immediate and chief cause of it Law
beyond human control. The first reasons assigned
by the New Bedford paper, why the season would
prove a disastrous one, were rs malicious, Us they
were false. And when the first paIers reached
US, in which they sought to cast ON Honolulu
merchants and ship chambers the odium of an
unlucky whaling season, virtually charging them
with being a set of swindlers, p~reying on the
capital of New Bedford, or in their own words
: the merchants of the islands are growing in
wealth at the expense of New Bedford capitals
ists," we took immediate occasion to reply TO
these groundless charges, and to show that, in
view of the unfortunate season, the merchants
here had studied the interests Of the ship owners,
and practiced economy in expenditures, TO an
extent never before done at any port in this
ocean.
What we then said appears not to have been
without some effect at home. for by the last mail
we find a change of sentiment, and see that the
New Bedford papers are ut length assigning the
real causes why little or no profit has attended
the last years whaling, and owning up honorably
that the fault lies '. ut home'' in ship owners
paying :. extravagant lays to captains to which
we called their attention in our issue of March Sd,
and in the large shipments of oil and bone from
this port, in some cases perhaps unnecessary and
accompanied even with bonuses All these
evils originate and can be corrected in New Bed
ford, for agents here follow orders from home,
and pay bonuses only when ordered to do SO.
The following VI quote from the N. B. Times:
The WHALING BUsINEss.-lf is not to be disguised,
that the present price of whale oil offers but poor in
ducemen,s for the citing Of ships. No man can
figure out profit upon even a successful voyage, so
far as the quantity of oil taken is concerned, at the
rate Of As cents per gallon. Some change must take
place, or the whaling deet must be materially dimin-
ished, il the business be not abandoned. Such is,
we believe, the concurrent opinion of the shrewd.
est men engaged in this enterprise. 1t is true, that
the expense of fitting ships has been very much in
creased, and that of necessity. 1t. Is also true. that
necessarily the length of the whaling voyage is much
greater than it was formerly and that seas are now
visited, where there are increased liabilities to disas-
ter. But the large expense in the 6tment of ships,
and the greater length of the voyage, DO not account
entirely for the fact, that but few Of the ships, now
arriving, bring oil enough at present prices to pay
for their outfit and disbursements. One great evil
beyond question. Is the ertraragant lays giren to
Captains. This has grown out OF a most impolitic,
not to say foolish, competition between ship agents
In securing what are termed fancy Captains. No
blame OF course attaches to the latter. who consult
their own interest in the matter, But the result has
been, that the parties furnishing the capital, and
running the risk, do not now, in any case, make
more than six per cent on their money, while the
Captains pocket from one thousand to i've thousand
dollars per year. Another evil, is the fright. ex-
pense incurred in foreign ports, in the repairs and
recruiting of the ships. The extent of this evil is
enormous, and the heavy drafts that come home
from the Pacific would stagger any but New Bedford
merchants.
There is another evil, the effects of which are now
being felt by the whaling interest most sensibly.
Since the first Of January, eight merchant ships, Of
the tonnage in the aggregate of 1858 tons, have ar
rived at this port from the SIndui ch Islands, bring
ing on freight, by computation, ia, 65l gals. sperm
oil, 1,433, 154 gals whale oil, and 1.l56, 627 lbs,
whale bone the freight amounting to more than
s125 900. 1t is more than intimated, that as an in
ducement for the shipment Of this oil and bone, the
CAPTAINS of lrhaiing resseis are aifoued q bonus.
Whether this be so or not, we need not stop to in
quire. One thing is indisputabe. that the arrival
Of 20 large . quantity Of oil has a most disastrous eff
feet on the market, besides the additional and in
most cases needless expense of freight For in the
large majority Of instances, the vessels taking the
oil, have sufficient capacity to bring all they catch.
in fact, we have known cases. where the whaling
vessels which shipped the oil, have arrived at this
port. and by no means full, besore the arrival of the
freighting ship. Beyond all question, there are cir
cumstances which make the SD pment Of oil, particu-
larly sperm oil, very proper. But the eencrai policy
Of shipping oil. in merchant ships. is bad. The in
the market. Whale oil is now selling for about IS
cents ; say AZ cents, ~ We understand come sales
have been effected at that price. The expenses Of
freight Insurance. &c, are about ten cents per gal.
This oil srS-;.~ - s-s .~r:~-