The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-06-17
Kawaihae PotatOes-A Letter
from SpudS.
KAwAIHAE-UKA, May 1871.

KAwAIHAE-UKA, May 1871.
Mr.. EDITOR Il reside in the spud-growing dis
trict of Hawaii, and owing to the unfortunate acct
dent to the KIlauea, we have had recently very
little communication with Honolulu and are several
weeks behind in the newspapers. In the issue of the
lCoMMERcIAL ADVERTISER of the 10Th of April a
writer who signs himself Z" One of the Sufferers"
gives a scattering and pointless account of his grieV-
ances relative to the potato market at Kawaihae.
Had he confined himself to truth and not drawn so
largely on his Imagination, [ should not have noticed
his puerile production but when he states that
- new found friends g spectators of the oppOsi-
tion,'' had 8 reduced > the price of potatoes from
SO 80 per barrel to "a so, he simply lies-under a
mistake. The truth of the matter is that the firm
at Kawaihae fixed the price at 81 80 per barrel and
not the opposition. The writer of the article referred
to knows more of g lie " and bone than the laws of
trade. The tendency of all competition is to lower
prices and prevent a monopoly, and One OF the
Sufferers - must have seen q vision of " small pota-
toes > and " hash without onions," through the
smoke of a seething caldron of whale blubber. to
have arrived at a different conclusion. The object
of the 's opposition - as he has been pleased to style
it, is to supply the market at Honolulu and the
whalers with potatoes at reasonable prices, and to
keep a constant supply onhand to meet the demand
to furnish a better article than can he procured from
California, and if they receive proper encouragement
they can always meet the home demand.
Kawaihae-uka is admirably adapted to the growth
of the potato. There is a large district of country
which can be proftably cultivated and which is
capable of not only supplying the home demand, but
produce a surplus for export. The great draw back
heretofore has been the want of regular communica-
ion with Honolulu, and encouragement on part of
grocers and provision dealers. The cause of the fuct-
uation in the prices of potatoes in Honolulu, does not
proceed from Kawaihae but from Honolulu. The i'm
p~Ortations from California, and a neglect of home in
dustry and productions, are the chief causes. If the
Honolulu grocers, would keep up regular communi-
cation with Kawaihae and make arrangements with
the producers of potatoes, they would always have a
supply, prices would be regulated by the constant
supply to meet the demand ard fluctuations would
be avoided. This spring, during the time of the
high price of potatoes at Honolulu, there were hun
dreds of barrels of the very best potatoes at Hawai-
haze, but there was no means of transportation. No
steamer-not q schooner entered the harbor for sew
eral weeks. Whose fault is it? Instead of sending
TO California, why did not our grocers dispatch a
vessel to Kawaihae, where they would have found an
abundance of potatoes to supply all the demands of
Honolulu. If proper encouragement was held out,
and facilities of transportation afforded, there would
be a constant supply of potatoes in Honolulu, and no
fuctuation in prices. SPUDs.