The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1863-07-09
The G~renrest Good of the Greatest
Number.'

The above is the caption of an unusually inter
esting communication in the Polynesian of the
4th inst, written in plain, matter-of-fact style,
and signed "PATRIA,' SO different from most OF
the senseless trash that appears in that paper
that we make special allusion To it. The cor
respondent, whoever he may be, appears TO have
correct notions respecting the real wants OF this
people, namely, incentives TO industry. Its ply
steal health, its moral, social. religious and
political well-being. all hinge'on this one virtue,
iRdustrY,-as we have often sought to impress
on our readers-and not on health commissions,
sanitary regulations. educational reforms, and
metaphysical ~humbugs as set forth in the wishy-
washy. unintelligible, unread and unreliable
leaders of the PoIynesian.
Different minds will have different ideas re-
garding the best mode of melting industry
among the natives, and all may not be willing
to concede every proposition of "Patrla,
though the general tenor of his plan may be
approved. To show the drift of his remarks,
we extract a few paragraphs taken at random
from the communication, and would insert the
whole had we space
For a nation to be prosperous. it must be industrious and
blessed with a liberal government, enabling the individual to
acquire wealth, and feel secure in the possession of it.
The multitude of small farmers constitute the very backbone
of the nation yet our Statute book, and the Legislature who
made it, is disgraced by an enactment causing the poor farmer
to pay a tax IN the shape of a duty upon his farming imple-
mentS, while the rich planter imports his duty free.
The internal Improvements OF the Kingdom can easily he
summed up, for they are all here in Honolulu the Esplsnade,
the Water Works. and the Steamer, for which, together with
other Honolulu improvements, the nation has incurred a debt of
Kingdom have been developed by these improvements requires
no argument to show. Still our Esplanade is a good one, well
built. 1t will accommodate all the produce that We must have
to pay our debts and make US rich. Oar new Custom House
stands upon it alone in i;s glory, with its fine proportions and
businesS-lke exterior inviting our merchantst to become its neigh
bOrs. They will do it when il will pdg-but not before. We
have our steamer,t too, to bring that produce to market. Now,
we want the produce.
The educational. interest. which should have gone on hand in
hand with the development OF our agricultural, has greatly out
all read and write, bu. who. nevertheless, are not able to sup
port 4 paper independently That fact, however, much praise
Is due to the American Missionaries. who, in s short a time
have done so much, and to whom all credit is due, is not, poiti-
caly and practically speaking, a healthy development of the
body polite. Still it is no drawback. On the contrary. no man
man, even in blowing a field.
II the people are industrious, they will acquire regular habits
and better houses to live in. With regular habits and good
houses, our doctors will all say, half the chances against the
life OF the nation are disposed of. But how can they be indus
trlous when they have no inducements SO to be, when there are
no roads TO carry their produce to market, and no market hut a
foreign one, for which, without assistance, they cannot and know
not how to produce.
Let us give our school educated people a chance to benefit
themselves. the nation, and the world generally, by providing
for them an occupa ion, by which they will place this kingdom
firmly in the station that it has so honorably acquired among
the nations of the world.
Let not history say fifty years hence. that a nation has arisen
from the depths of tarbarism. and died from the face of the
earth Tor want OF occupation to provide itself with the neces-
of life its civilization demanded.