The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-01-05
The Government, md Rum Di.siIIa ton.

MANY ridiculous things have appeared in the
Polynesian, but the most contemplate of late is
the closing paragraph of the leading article for
the closing year. The editor says SO When at
mpting to discuss politics to the natives, why
not give him the whole truth and both sides of
the question ?'
This is the winding up ola most extraordinary,
canting, whining, pitaible and false dissertatio l.
upon the blessings that would flow from the
manufacture or distillation of rum and okolehoo.
The Editor of the 50 Hokuka" is charged in
the official organ of the Government with pro-
mitigating silly, untrufhful nonsense while using
the following language
If the rum spreads over this country, the little good which
remains to US will be nearly lost. This is something very bad
something to kill the people both body and soul. Great shame
on US. If the foreigner should cali our land a rum-0ying
country Therefore let US rise like true men, and choose rep
resentatives who viii oppose this evil" &c.
And the inference is that had the " Hokuloa''
informed the natives that rum is a good thing
and ought to spread over the country, had he
praised the flavor and effects of that stuff called
' okolehao," had he informed them that a new
era is at hand when all that has been called
good is to be called bad, and all the bad good,
the editor of the POlynesian would have been
pleased and, by a fair inference, the Hawaiian
Government, by whom he is employed and paid,
would have been pleased likewise.
Why not give both sides of the question ?
Why not, Mr.. HokulOa, when you undertake to
lead the people, in advance of the election of
Representatives,, lead them the right way and
the wrong way both at the same time? Per-
baps it is because there are no trO rays about 1t.
There is only one right ,cay, and that, it ap-
pears, the HokuAOa has advocated in language
as noble and true as that of the Government is
mean and untrue. And the Government has no
right to insult the editor of the Hokulod for the
advice he gives to the voters. The fact, if it be
a fact, that okolehao is manufactured, sold and
drank in Koolau, when the laws forbid it,
proves, either the inability of the Government to
execute those laws, or a disposition to allow the
mischief to spread among the people to their in
jury, if not their determination. If the latter
is true, then those in authority, whose duty it
is to see the laws executed, are utterly unfit for
the trust reposed in them, and the public good
demands a change. The Hokuzoa tells the natives
kill the people both body and soul, and the Gov
eminent tells us in its official organ that it cam
not stop it, but expects to regulate distillation
by I" excise laws" This of course they never
intend to do. On the contrary, we are to
ave liquor tNeupeT Dy increasing lie quantity
manufactured. Oh shame on a Ministry that
promulgates such doctrines !!
The natives of these Islands are as fond of
intoxicating liquors as are the Indians of North
America, and when the present attempt to re-
move the prohibitions, which have given them
the character of a temperate and quiet people,
shall be removed, it will indeed he a great shame
on us, or rather on those who are the instru-
ments of opening these foodgates of ruin. Ka-
l. tried it. He distilled and allowed
distilleries for a time, but when, idolator as he
was, he saw the mischief that was caused by
this fiery element among his people, he issued
his mandate, put forth his strong arm, and
crushed the monster in its infancy. Kameha-
meha III. tried it, for a short season, until the
palace became a Papdemonium, and the high
ways dangerous ; and he too, or rather the chiefs,
who were his councillors, (not foreigners) once
more destroyed the stills and tabooed the bust
ness. The French authorities at Tahiti tried it.
That people are identical with the natives of the
Islands, and they had stringent laws
which the Frenchmen abrogated. They liked
to be popular. to see the people happy, to dance
the hula, and take a social glass, all same Farani.
But the consequence was such horrid debauch-
cry, brutal fights, ~idleness, famine and death,
that they were glad to renew the prohibitions,
which they, like the Potynesian, had before
supposed mere pitched mOnstrously high. and
ought to be done away with. Things are bad
enough now in the andwich Islands, but the
people as a mass are not yet drunkards, but they
will be as soon as the opinions and examples of
those who are in authority shall prevail uncheck-
ed by such influences as the Hokuloa is ~exerting.
1t is to be hoped that the men who are now
chosen to represent the people in the Legislature
will prove to be men of more sense than the man
chosen by the Government to represent them to
the world and that, following the example OF
enlightened and good rulers, our noble hearted
King will sanction only such laws as tend to
benefit the mass of his people.