The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-11-05
(Communicated.l
Paying OF Prices Of Oil and bone'

Mn EpIroR-SIR In last weeks issue OF your
journal, the rates for paying off at the U. S. Consul
ate in Honolulu, for the seasons catch were published
ma also the prices ruling for oil and bone, at last
advices. scarcely a month sgo, at New Bedford, L
noticed a considerable discrepancy between the
former and the latter, and as it has been matter OF
some comment amongst some Of our citizens along
shore. l will, at the risk of being deemed Impairment
intrude my ideas on the subject, oeilevlng WIN .e
old Roman cynic, that nothing concerning humanity
il foreign to me. That prices fixed by the american
Consul should form the basis OF settlement with sea-
men. both foreign and native, shipped, as they say,
for the season, from this port, has been the custom
for several wears, is not to be denied but | hold,
that If there be anything wrong ABOUT me system, the
sooner such q custom is discarded the better. Every
one knows that the mode of equipplng Whalers Ior
the annual Arctic cruise is different from Whatt was
in old times. Crews, shipped mt home, were engaged
for the whole voyage, and L was once q passenger IN
a whale ship to the United States which, after a voy-
age of f~orty-four months, sperm whaling, returned 10
New Bedford full, with the loss of only one man, killed
by a whale the whole crew returned to a man, with
that exception. Nowadays, seamen are shipped and
discharged here, and we doubt not that the arrange
ment works well in many respects.
The whaling business from this port, whether
ships be owned here or not, is q very important
interest to all our community, and by the money set
ahoat all classes are directly or indirectly benefited
almost as good as a first rate sugar plantation
with two or three hundred coolies on it the latter
being luscious and the former oleaginous. When
the ship makes a good catch, the business pdys,-the
owners, of course, Captain and oficers,-but how Is
it with poor Jack Especially the kanaka Jack. We
ask, in all fairness, if his remuneration is just, when
We regard the wide gap between 80 cents per gallon
Consular rate) and Ga cents New Bedford, for Cali
fornia coast oil, the Arctic being worth several cents
more. l know that a margin is contended for, to
cover leakage, freight home, other charges, &C., but
it strikes me the margin takes up about half of the
page. Added to this injustice, | know that ships
settle generally with seamen at a less quantity than
they actually have on board,-to say nothing OF
prices charged for slops. Although l know of no
law of the United States empowering the Consul to
fix these rates, yet the principle is good enough, and
convenient to the seasOners here, if equitably carried
out. But then it is said, these men ship to be paid
off at Consular rates. However right this may
appear in the forum of conscience, to take advantage
of the ignorance and improvidence of seamen,
yet / opine in a Court of Admiralty, which
partakes largely of the nature of a Court of
Equity, and where seamen, ever since such a
Court was known, are treated as wards or as reck-
less children, the Court taking especial care to guard
them against their own improvident bargains, the
view taken might be different. Again, / heard q
party say that five dollars was just as good to a ka-
naka as double the sum. | don't see it. What sort of
logic would that be to one of our merchant princes,
to tell him, in settling q bill, that you would pay him
half of it as he might foClshly spend the balance. /
opine that he wouldn't see it,-just so, but, you see,
one is a gentleman and the other only a common
sailor. That makes the difference. l can recollect a
case tried here some years ago. where a boat-steerer
refused TO be paid off at The rate and at the quantity
hailed by the ship. The order was for the oil to be
gagged, and if it turned out about the same or less
than the ship declared, the man was to pay the ex-
penses, and that if it turned out more, then the
ship was to pay expenses. The man, under advice,
went in, but no oil was broken out. Like Davy
Crockett's coon, they (the captain or agent) came
down, and advanced several pegs in favor of the
man.
1 have been informed by an official that the Har-
Dor Master, before whom, by law, voyages of Ha-
waians must be settled, has declined to settle at the
consular rate. If that be true, 1 am glad of it, for
the statute was passed to protect Hawaiians, and as
sist them in obt lining something near their Just
dues. l write mainly in the interest of the Ha-
waiians, and am of opinion that they should be
fairly dealt with, getting all they earn. Every one
knows that going before the mast TO the northern
seas Is by no means a pleasure trip, life is often i'm
perilled in these voyages.
1t is proverbial that Hawaiians make good seamen,
being dOcile, active, obedient and tractable on board
shlp,-ln fact, some masters prefer them to the long
shore white beach combers. Their very docility of
character sometimes subjects them to ill usage, when
the masters and officers are of an arbitrary and
bullying disposition but | I'm happy to know that
such instances are exceptional ; yet such cases have
been proved before the courts But however they
may be treated on board, when the Hawaiian gets on
his native strand, his utmost rights should be pro-
tected. L have often regretted that our young men
could not be employed at home-yet their tastes lead
them to the sea, and it would be all right enough,
perhaps. if they had the fair share of what goes to
swell the fortunes of the foreign magnates, who live
in comfort and reap the advantage of their perilous
labors. 1t is always for the interest of employers,
no matter what the business is, to deal about midiling
honest, If no more. with the empIoved MoNoS