The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1866-07-28
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY, july IS
The Legislative Assembly.

This notable body, which has now been in
session over three months, will close its ar
duous % labors to-day, at 10 O'Clock. at which
hour His Majesty the King will prorogue it.
Its final adjournment will be good news to all,
for never has there been n legislative body in
whose acts, or rather debates, more anxiety and
solicitude have been centred, or which has ere
ated more unclsiness than this. Nor have we
ever had one which has done less real good than
this. We shall review the acts of the Legisla-
ture next week, when this will be more appa-
rent.
The reports on the first and last pages embody
the proceedings up to Monday afternoon, and
give the debates on the bill to abolish the taJu
on the sale of liquor to the natives. This is only
a repetition of the attempt at each session to do
away with the tain, and it has met the result
which has befallen former ones-that is, the
tain was sustained by a vote Of % to l3, which
probably represents very nearly what would be
the result of a popular vote on the question,
could it be laid before the people.
The remarks of Minister Hutchinson on this
subject will be read with all the more interest,
as they were entirely unexpected. Minister Har-
ris, though he did not speak in this debate, CO.
incides with his colleague, and both express the
views of the King, who, when asked if he would
sign the bill if passed, is said to have replied, he
was not 50 demented as to do such an act.
The arguments brought up by DR.. II. are sound
and incontrovertible, while those of Messrs. Ka-
lakaua and Rhodes are pucrile.
Mr.. Kalakaua is reported to have said that
: the law was Il missionary one-that it is a
onc-sided one, and was made by certain dcnomi-
,,r;nnS. sc rIr;,ti,,S -, ,biS ,np+- - &c If
it is not a sufficient relutation of his statements
to say that King Kamehameha Ill signed the
bill, Kamehameha " approved it, and Kane
hameha V and his Ministers endorse it, we will
add that no acting missionary ever had anything
to do with its enactment, and that any statement
to the contrary is false. The Chiefs and natives
themselves enacted it, after witnessing how rum
slew its thousands and tens of thousands, and
they themselves have defended it against the BIZ
enuial appeals of rum-sellers in the House and
out of it. If ever a majority is found in the
Legislature ready to remove the restriction, and
allow the natives to drink rum Gd Hbitum, we
shall hold them personality responsible for the de-
s~truction of our present labor system and every
form of industry, for the destruction of the abb
original race and all social and political security,
should these consequences follow.
During the interim of the Legislature, we
would advise our young legislators to read up
Hawaiian history. They will there find that
rum, ioiftout a f0bu, reduced the population
from I40, 900 to 10, 900 during fifteen or twenty
years and that during the last ten years, oith
the tain, the decrease has been nearly If not
wholly checked. Ii is reasonable to infer that
the removal of the to5U for ten or fifteen years
would again reduce the population from 10000
to 80 1000, and seal the fate of Hawaii the
teachings of certain g rrformers'' to the contrary
Notwithstanding.
But. as we said at the opening of this article,
the Legislature adjourns to-day, at II NJ, sine
die, and, like good Moslcms, all will exclaim,
=. ALLAH MIsHALLAHi'