The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-02-18

iNu WIN EI fOO ASSS u euBaN ahu wv o"iN
molasses. Campbell & Turton of Labaina don't lei
p the grass grow under their feet.
ANNUAL REvIEw.-In our next Saturdays edition,
We shall present our Annual Review of the CONNER
cial and Agricultural Statistics of the islands, COM
piled from official and other sources. We intend
that this shall be the fullest and most correct COM
pendulum of valuable facts relative to the progress
and resources of the islands ever published. The
COMMERCIAL of Saturday next will be issued as a
steamer edition. -
a Bold THIEF.-On opening Court the other
morning, His Honor the Police Magistrate observed
that somebody had stolen his gold pen from off the
desk. Certainly he must be a bold thief who would
select the very temple of justice itself, surrounded
by its supposed-to-be y~igilant guardians. as the
theatre of his ~pilfering operations. 1t may be, how
ever, that the nearer the trap the further from being
caught was his motto.
FAMINE PRICEs.-Irishp potatoes are not to be had
in the market just now. That is to say they cost so
much that they have got into the list of luxuries.
A small lot was received by the Grace Roberts from
Humboldt, this week. and brought 81 cts. at auction,
retailing readily at 8 cts. What would an Irishman
say were you to charge him t~hirty-two shillings a
hundred for his staff of lfer This condition of the
PSNNO ASAAS % hO AattAO haAiSA VI "a PiiSO w
strangers when they are told that on Maui and
Hawaii potatoes of excellent quality yield abundant
ly with half cultivation. But don't let any one go
into the business extensively on this showing, for
nine times out of ten when the crop is ready for the
market and the farmer is anticipating handsome
returns, down comes half a cargo from the coast,
sells ut auction for ] to I of a cent, and gluts the
market. -
A NARpOv Eccapr oct T,ocJov ,;obt N M
tive, coming over from Koolau on foot, when near
the railing going up the pail, encountered a sudden
blast of wind so powerful that it threw him off his
feet, and before he could recover, he fell over the
~precipice, which at that point is several hundred feet
deep. AT a distance of some twenty or thirty Feet
down, he fortunately caught on a small tree growing
out of a cleft in the rock. While in this perilous
situation, suspended between heaven and earth, he
was discovered by some passers-by, and a rope hav-
ing been procured and lowered to him, he was safely
hauled up to the pathway. In falling. his head was
badly cut by striking against the side of the pail,
and the wonder is that he was not killed outright.
1t makes one shudder to contemplate such q fall, and
so, gentle reader, don't think of it at night just be-
fore you go to sleep. Some years ago, a horse fell
off near the same spot, and all that was ever found
of him afterwards was a hoof and some bits Of hide
in the ravine below.
JAPANESE PoLITICs.-The Japan Gazette of Dec.
22d, has the following: "Rumors are current that
the political affairs of Japan are a little unsettled.
That the Mikado is desired by some of the great
princes of the empire, to return to his old capital,
Kioto ; and that there is q probability of his compli-
ance. Some declare that it is only for a short sojourn
that he will go, if he leaves Yedo at all but others
assert that it is part of Prince Satsuma's scheme to
Oto Tho J1oI f,-, 80 - -: -
himself the appointment of Viceroy in Yedo. We do
not attach any credence to the latter report although
had Satsuma adopted this course at the close of the
revolution, we should have seen in it a fulfllment Of
our suspicious. We even believe that he would then
have done SO if he could. But he was unable from
several circumstances and he, or those who act in
his name, so strongly supported the government that
has been established, that it is not likely his clan
would be the first to upset it. Cabinet secrets are
difficult enough to fathom at home it is not to be
wondered at therefore, if neither Japanese or foreign
es can penetrate the depths of Japanese ~intrigues.
All that we see of the doings of the government con-
firms our confidence in it and if Satsuma or any
other of the old chieftains sought to aggrandize them
selves to any untoward extent, the oppositions he
would encounter would ~overwhelm him. y
THE NOTORIOUS CAPT. HAYEs.-Some of oHrfead-
es will not fail to remember the notorious Captain
Hayes, who has been fitting about from port to port
of the Pacific during the past ten or fifteen years.
He twice did our Islands the honor of a call, on
both of which occasions he victimized some one, and
on the last disturbed not a little the equilibrium of
an official to whom he gave the option Of quietly
going on shore or going on a voyage " down South"
Since then, numerous stories have been told of his
exploits in the Colonies and among the Islands, and
his various escapades and adventures as the wander
ing sc confidence man." His death has been several
times reported, but he still lives, and invariably :
turns up in his old character of a frst-class Sc blk" I
The last story of Capt. Hayes comes from FIJI via !
Sydney, and is to the following effect, which we con-
dense from the Morning Herald. 1t is said that he
kidnapped a number of natives from one of the un- I
Islands of the South Pacific, and took 7
them to FIJI. where he expected he would be able to
dispose of the cargo at a good figure without being Q
to the indignity of having to answer swk- :
ward questions. The natives. however, contrived to /
a complaint to the American Consul, who i
seized the vessel. admitting Capt. Fl. to parole pend .
ing inquiry. But a new complication now arose. A K
firm with whom II. in bygone times had contracted "
some liability, took the opportunity to step in and n
demand payment of their little bill. To appease p
these Unsuitable creditors, H. was compelled to hand o
his chronometers as security. Days passed on, p
and at length an American bark anchored of the
place. 1hereupon he went to the creditors, and in J
hat genial of-hand manner for which he is 30 distin- o
,uished, requested that he might be allowed to take +,
the c-hronometers on board the bark in order to regu- I"
ate, and, if possible, sell them. In a moment of
the too ~con6ding creditors consented, and
,ur informant states that they have been ever since L
looking for the return of II. or the chro-
Scarcely had be reached the vessel than /
he spread her sails and left the creditors Iamentinp. d
t was not long, however, before he was heard of in "
new quarter. 1t was found that he had visited the :.
lantation Of the very firm whom he had relieved Of r.
he custody of his chrononeters and, by represent l.
ng himself as authorized by that firm, had induced