The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-07-02
WOODEN and cotton Mills.

drug store. At the latter place they should b.
left prior 10 u O'Clock.
/ WOODEN and Cotton Mills.
There is a bill now before the Assembly de
signed to encourage the erection of a wooden and
also a cotton mill. Its principal features are
these All machinery and building materials
imported expressly for such mills shall be entered
free of duty. A bonus of six thousand dollars,
in addition, is offered by the Government to be
paid on the completion of each mill. The Min
lister of the Interior is authorized to lease for a
term of years, free of charge, any sites or water
privileges not occupied, suitable for such enter
prises. These offers not to extend beyond a term
of three years from the passage of the law.
The inducements offered may not be sufficient
to draw capital and wooden machinists from the
old country, to establish factories here but should
they succeed in doing SO, new branches of in
dustry now unknown here will be opened up.
We produce about 100000 pounds of wool
annually and a mill which will consume it, and
turn it into blankets, f1annels and other clothing
suitable for the native population, will save to
the country and its industry not less than $780,
900 a year. 1t will do this in two ways first,
our wool growers will receive more for their wool,
perhaps double what they now do. Secondly,
wooden goods can be produced here as cheaply as
abroad, and sold at half the price now paid.
So with cotton. There are now growing wild
on Molokai, Hawaii and Kauai, sufficient short
staple cotton trees to produce, if cared for and
gathered, at least 100 900 pounds a ~year-suf6-
cient to ensure the starting of the manufacture
of cotton fabrics, as soon as a factory may be
oomDlofod And This coffon oOuId ha ohtoioad
by the factory for one half the cost in England
or Germany. There are sites and water-power
privileges in Hamakua, on Hawaii, not to be
surpassed in any country for these purposes, and
they are located in the very midst of the cotton
and wool districts.
1t seems, therefore, that with those staple
products at our very doors, and with every
advantage in favor of the enterprise, a little
encouragement as proposed in the bill before the
Assembly, may result in establishing both wooden
and cotton factories, and thus rendering US, in
some degree, independent of foreign supplies.
The proposal to give away six thousand dollars as
a bonus for erecting a mill may be objected to !;
but when the obstacles-not to say failures-en-
countered by every pioneer enterprise are taken
into consideration, is it too much that the Gov
eminent lend a helping hand to what, should it
succeed, will be a permanent blessing to the
natives, and result in furnishing them their
clothing at a low cost? We should rather see
the amount raised to ten thousand dollars, if the
sum named in the bill is insufficient to induce
capitalists to come here and establish a factory.
AS foreign capitalists are already beginning to
inquire about these islands, with the view of
locating here, now is the time to encourage their
coming. We hope there will he no serious oppo-
sition to the passage of a law of such manifest
public benefit as this, which will add q hundred
thousand dollars to our manufacturing capital,
furnish hundreds of laborers with steady employ
peent, and stimulate agriculture and wool grow
ing more than any other measure can do.
Failufe ofthe Reciprocity Treaty
All who are interested in the agricultural pros
perity of this kingdom will regret to learn of the
rejection of this treaty. The Senate spent five
hours in executive session on the LIST of June in
discussing it, and finally rejected it by 20 yeas to
l9 nays, a previous vote to table having been de-
feated by only two majority. A Washington
correspondent writes " Mr.. Sumner, on behalf of
the Foreign Relations Committee. was the prin-
cipal supporter of the measure, while MIR. Sher-
man for the Finance Committee, opposed it on the
grounds ola reduction of the revenues. Among
the speakers for it were Messrs. Buckingham,
Corbett, Spencer and Nye, and against it, Chan
dler and Morrill, of Vermont. Those who opposed
the treaty also argued that to grant reciprocity
would delay annexation, and that the proposition
that it would draw the inhabitants into closer re-
lations was unsound, since the only ones to be
greatly benefited were sugar planters, and they
were mostly American. The Importance Of these
islands to our Pacific commerce was presented at
and admitted by all but the greater part
Of those present were agreed that the best means
10 secure ultimate control would not be found in
reciprocity, and though the treaty had
The majority, it could not get the necessary
two-thirds."
Some or our exchanges spoke kindly of the
reaty and urged it's ratification. Among them,
clip the following from the P~ittsburg Despatch.
The grounds on which it favored the treaty, were
be true ones on which to support it. Financially, /:
here was no true reciprocity but in the light !
# national obligation, sympathy and fraternity,
think Congress has made a mistake in reject A
ne our petition:
Our relations with the Sandwich Islands are
ocular. The people of that far away land hold
g in the highest esteem. With the first glim-
1erings of their nationality they looked to us for
clip, and we gave it to them, not only in the way :
f sympathy, but even more substantially. And .
ow they ask for reciprocity in trade land we
that it will not be withheld from them. In
,any ways they are the wards of this people, and 7
re must respect the obligations we are under.
seeipfoeityy with them is a very small matter pc CT
uniarily to us. and it is to be hoped that Congress