The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-10-22
THE PACIFIC
Commercial A0btttlser.
SATURDAY. OCTOBER %.
Planters Meeting and MIR. s.. c.
WiIder'S Report.
TConcluded |

you u pldCAACt4 IN
the American built ship F. A. Palmer, Capt. Thos.
King, was chartered by WOhang. for the sum OF
$50, 600 to take S25 passengers to San Francisco.
Capt. King had paid the house of Augustine, Heard
& Co. the sum Of 81 900 to effect a charter. Wo-
hang paid the same house $1,000 for the charter,
a very fair transaction for one day. Wohang, was
the 50 Hong who did DIR. Hillebrand's business in
1865, but who refused, under the present state of
no contracts, to supply me. They own the gambling
farm, also the opium license, and are rich beyond all
computation. About the 9Th Of May, the vessel was
ready for sea, with her full complement of men,
That night, a vessel coming to anchor, ran into the
Palmer, damaging her considerably. 1t created an
excitement among the passengers, and for all the
efforts of those concerned to prevent, a great portion
left the ship, saying it was q bad joss pidgeon. Wo-
hang was q number of days in getting back his
complement, when another excitement occurred-a
report circulated that the ship was going to CallaO
425 more left although chartered by the most in
Auential " Hong - in Hongkong. 1t was the 10th of
May before the Palmer had again her complement,
and sailed. Three days out, the men mutinied, six
men were put in irons. The Captain tried to reach
Annoy, but failed, and made the best of , fair
wind. One thousand miles to the eastward Of Japan
a typhOon struck him, which made a wreck of his
vessel. During the storm the Chinese doctors ap-
priced him that some piece man have die, and me
thinkee he have got small POKE What a situation.
His vessel q wreck, S25 passengers, and the small pOx
among them. Capt. King was trying his best to
reach Yokohama. He was IL days in doing 50,
being picked up by a steamer and tOwed in. He had
3 days water when he arrived. Anchoring outside
the feet, he hoisted the yellow flag, when a japanese
steamer came along side, ordering him to leave the
harbor-that they had no treaty with China, or with
I 4ha lGoIyaI,rN yb,oL la- H. D.J~o-
was under. Capt. King refused, and taking his
wife and sister, went on shore. claiming for himself
American protection. The result was a quarantine
of the vessel Men dying daily fights of every day
occurrence, and deaths caused by blows in these
quarrels. The japanese Government refusing to allow
the men on shore, and the night of the day l left
Yokohama, z men died, and the medical officer of the
port reported that 147 would die within As hours.
These men died from a disease peculiar to Chinese,
after being a number of days on board ship. They
begin to swell as the first symptom, and hardly ever
recover, dieing within a few days. This ship was
insured as.inst total loss, and although it would
result in a loss of not less than $4,000, nothing
could be recovered. These men were California pas
sengers, freemen, but bound by a Chinese contract,
more binding than any contract ever made under the
Master and Servants law. 1 believe almost every
common Chinaman going to California, goes under
contract, agreeing to pay a certain sum in return for
his passage, giving his living relatives and his an
%cestors' bones that he will keep his word; it is hard to
find one that breaks his contract. Yet, you ask one
Of the rich Hongs if they make any agreement, and
they will tell you no.
Now, gentlemen, the r. ". Wood and her free
passengers. L state that certain of the r. ".
Woods passengers made a Chinese contract to work
in these islands a certain length of time. for certain
-. --As- L.
amount to as much as do the wages presents and
payments allowed the men by the Solo. The making
of those contracts places the r. ". Wood liable, I'M
der British law, to a heavy penalty for carrying as
passengers men who had made a contract to work.
And who of you think any the better or any the
worse of the men who did not or the man who did?
1 honestly believe that the only ship that ever left
Hongkong without some contract passengers was the
ship Solo.
My instructions were to obtain a certain portion of
women. 1t is almost impossible to get men to take
their wives with them to a foreign country, it is not
Chinese custom. Women in China hold no position
whatever, when compared with our view of their
rights and duties. A man marries just as many as
he can support and desire. Among the poorer classes
they have but one, unless that one does not bring
them children, when Chinese custom compels them
to try again, and keep marrying until they have an
heir. No respect is shown a woman, only by her
children, by whom she is almost worshiped. 1t is
very proper to say how is your mother, but say
nothing about a mans wife or wives. One merchant
told me that he had four that his friend had three
that their houses stood side by side that he had
never seen one of his friends wives, or his friend
one Of his You can buy, in China, all the women
you want from $25 to 81 900. L saw one bought at
the latter figure, and 1 bought one, for which 1 paid
rs Mexican dollars, and she is now a servant in my
household. The Chinese live better than we give
them credit for. 1 have often counted thirteen
different dishes on a poor mans sampan. When
they can get money, they live well, say four cents a
day. The richest only take ten cents, but when OBJ
liged to, they can iiUe on one cent. This gives them
a moiety of rice that sustains life. All of a house
hold eat at the same table-mastera and servant
that is the men of the rich classes. With them you
never see any women. The poor classes eat together
man and wife, or wives.
Mr.. Whitney states that plenty of labor can be OBJ
tanned by the planters advancing SO to $50 per
man. Let us have such labor at once, and, as the
gentleman is now out of business. perhaps he will
engage in the matter at once, and thereby do for
SO or $50 what costs all others from $50 to $500.
1 sincerely hope he will prove his words.
Leaving Hongkong, 1 went to S~hanghae. OF this
city I know nothing, being unable, from sick
ness, to go out. From Shanghae to Yokohama it
takes one week of time. 1 called upon the
Governor, asking him if 1 would be allowed to take
labOrers. His answer was, only the educated classes
are allowed to leave. saw % of the 80 japanese
who left here in the r. ". Wood; they were living
in an old wood house, fed by the japanese Govern
ment, a small portion of rice daily, covered with
rags and filth no two tell the same story, and 1 was
unable To find ont the real intention of the authori-
ties. 1 visited Yeddo and its temples, and saw
hundreds Of thousands of people. All together they
are the most lazy filthy class L ever beheld. In Chinese
cities, the exception is to see an idle man or woman
in Japan, the exception is to see them at work, while
they willingly battle twice a day. They wear the
same clothes until they drop in tatters from their
body. OF course the upper classes are different. 1