The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-08-15
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
THURSDAY. AUGUST Is.

For years, and at times, when every fall sea-
son brought to our harbOrs Il large fleet OF
whalers, We have advocated and urged the neces-
sity Of developing our home resources to meet u
time when the whaling fleet might decrease,
and tine stream cease To flow from which we drew
our sustenance as IL people, and as Il government.
Our warnings fell on listIess ears. Hope, and
hope in vain, made us look forward from season
to season for .. better times coming although
every year brought us the unmistakablc proofs of
a not sLOi0, but rapid decline Of the whaling
business. \ weak and incapacitated ministry,
to whom it seems the country WAS nothing, and
TO whom their own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT was every
thing, in spite of our Oft-repcated warnings,
and in spite of the voice of an oppressed people.
persisted in bringing poverty on the people, ruin
ON the country, and a lasting disgrace on their
own names.
Not content with driving from our harbors
the few whalcrs that sought to make these
islands their recruiting place, 10y onerous and
unreasonable e~xactiOns, thus Gripping our com
mercial relations, but they nave also put 4 suici-
DIAL duty of 10 per cent. ON imports, not as Il re-
ciprocll tariff, but to cramp every effort at in
dustry and enterprise. Instead Of developing,
by all means in his power, the resources Of the
country, the Minister of Finance has resorted to
the most potent means to cripple every cndeayOr
at home industry. Let US survey the position ut
which we have arrived in this month of August,
1861. The number of whalers recruiting at our
ports during the next season, will, as every one
is aware, be below Onc-fifth of what it was in
former years. The recruits wanted by them
will, for the most part, he sent from home. The
arrivals of whalers and their crews have been the
main, if not perhaps the only, impetus to our
commercial relations with the world, with the
exception of the few transactions in sugar, molaS-
ses, pulu and fungus.
The decline of the whaling fleet will create 4
corresponding decline in our imports and our
general mercantile transactions. The stream has
ceased to How from which the people, the re
taller, the importer, the government itself, rev
their support. We stand on the verge OF ruin,
business staSnant, home resources undeyeloPed. -
crippled and empty treasury fast losing credit
ut home, none abroad. with a ministry staggered
ut the result of their laborS, and whose sole aim
seems to be the qualification Of puerile whims.
We have indeed come 10 4 pass where II bchoOyes
every well-wisher of the King and country to
cry pause for pause we must.
We must look around us t. find means 20 re-
deem our former fair promise Of respect and
prosperity. Pause we must in the career into
which Z reckless ministry has led the affairs Of
the government. If we do not pause. ruin T.
the people. ruin to the government. ruin to =
royal family, which l. cherished in the hearts
of a loyal people. must b. the consequence.
Walk around our deserted town. and you may
read care and anxiety on the brow IF our most
citizens. Walk around our business
places, and you find economy and retrenchment
the watchwords of one and all. Every family,
the wealthier Is well as the poorer, have retrench-
ment painted in large letters on the brow of their
lares. Retrenchment, refrcHohmcnf. Is needed,
is demanded, not only from the individual. but
it is called for by the people, from 4 government
impoverished and nearly ruined.
The sum Of more than $40 600 is appropriated
for 4 Department of War, for IN institution that
never has been and never will be of any essential
to the country. or people; merely to
crafty the ambition of q Minister who delights
IN the glory of a martial array. The treasury
5 drained of a vast sum-, wrunG from an i'm
Doverished people. The times are passed when
the country could afford to squander its money
IN puerile efforts at show and eclat. If guards
IRE 10 be employed for some purposes, they
,ught To be kept ut less expense. The king
not require 4 guard to screen him from 4
awle-s population. lie i guarded, and more
lonorably -, by a loyal people. 1t is a shame
III waste, n very squandering of the peoples
money, 10 pay extravagant salaries to COlOnelS,
.IajOrs, Adjutants and Generals, 70 strut the
assing hour in martial finery. Where the gov
expends its funds. it should receive IN
Is it IN equivalent to have = mill
lry instructor appointed at a high salary 10 drill .
f1w inefficient s1lIiers2 j. II an equivalent. !