The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-01-08
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
JANUARY 8.
History Repeating itself.


The management of coolies, and the systems
peculiar to such labOrers best known to the
statesmen and writers of England, France and
America, are undoubtedly those which prevail in
the British and French West Indies, and which
have been so ably described and explained by the
French writer, NJ. Cochin, and an American, we
believe, Vim. G.. Scwell.
The Jamaican immigration law was strongly
opposed by the Anti-slavery Society of England,
and the sanction OF the Government was very re-
luctantly given. The present immigration scheme
Is said TO be a victory of the Anti-slavery party
of Jamaica. 1t is not considered a triumph of
the planting interest, but rather a fair expression
of the liberal public sentiment Of the island.
The objections raised are in some points much
the same az have Leen raised here, and were press
ed by the liberal party there because of a very
strong distrust of all measures emanating, or
supposed to emanate, from the planting interest.
And this distrust is not difficult to account for.
While the planters Of other days were making
representations of n great dearth of labor, they
were driving Creole labor from the estates by a
mistaken policy and oppressive legislation For
1" Creole" substitute native labor and the same
cause will apply here We have urged that the
Z" Masters and Servants law is the most potent
cause of the refusal Of natives to work upon our
plantations.
In the British West Indies it has been found
that the coolies obtained at Madras and Calcutta
are by far the best laborers their docility and
gentieness amounting to Il fault. Of the Chinese
the writer says 1.-The Chinaman Is not liked
he is close, cunning, ayaricious, unprogrcssive,
quarrelsome, and seldom becomes IL permanent
colonist. HIS habits Of life are repulsive both to
Creole and European The East Indian coolie
is only referred to, and it is claimed in defense Of
their immigration that they are British subjects
changing their place of residence.
Why immigration became a necessity in the Brit
ism Colonies is partly explained thus |. because
the planters pursued IL policy Of coercion that
compelled the negroes, in simple self-defense, to
abandon cstatc-service and the confidence be-
tween the proprietary and laboring interests then
destroyed has never been restored Tie term
coercion is the explanation of our = Masters and
Servants " law as rendered by the Hon. G. Rhodes,
at the recent meetings ut Eaumakapili.
2. " Because land in Jamaica is very cheap and
plentiful. and the negro has discovered that Guilt
waiting for himself is more to his advantage
pecuniarily, socially. and morally than Guilt
waiting for Others" Our planters at their meet
ings said that the native had his kuleana and
couldssupport himself so easily that he did not
care to labor on n plantation. Natives have
always had their kuIeanas, and until of late
years were always willing to work upon planta-
tions, and we do not believe that they have Just
discovered that they can live easier upon their
patch Of land. The canse of refusal to work
upon plantations must be sought for and will be
found to rest upon the treatment under the
81 Masters and Servants = law.
3. " Because in the management of his estate he
(the planter} insists, as a sine qua non, that his
tenant shall be his labOrer, and that his relations
with the latter shall be strictly those of master
and servant" 1t will be remembered that a
speaker in the planting interest, at the Planters
Meeting, said THAT tie situation was such
that in order to secure labor some plan was
necessary by which it might be forced The
same speaker sat in tie so-called constitutional
Convention, and in a burst of virtuous indigna-
ton declared our plantations to be 8 despotislns.'
4. " Because the governing classes have shame
fully neglected the welfare of the masses. They
have not made the annual decline of population
a subject of earnest consideration, nor have they
essayed to check il by the adoption of the most
ordinary precautions" We ask the Government
what practical efforts have you made to arrest
the * annual decline?" BY legalizing the sale
of opium and ava are you not adding fuel to the
flame? Do you make your private interests or
the public good your first study? Other reasons
are given, applicable here. such rs ,iaL epidemics
have swept off ttO4oands from the laboring class;
taat the labor commanded was transient. IT on-
ce-;einty, -5 ceraa ~ seasons. wa sleh chat eagi-
toi;sis NTo dete@ua d9-i g@aE 5oJo new -
e.ossgT e. and ih0sl slro eetablished
or~aicel
a a- to % me pegr7 ~(na5l
q Ea-A on plauirH = niS preference to
No.% upon his own land, the writer says: 81
him though he earned no more-though
he earned less-upon hi own plat than lac did on
an estate. He has selected of his own free will,
n life of Independence to one OF servitude, and
the choice ought never to he urged to his detri-
- ,o,-aaartaI -. -. aIn.a bo-o ,o..oI d