The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-11-09
A Few Plain Thoughts.

MK- EDIroR Like yourself, and doubtless every
other thoughtful Eell-wisher Of Hawaiian indepen-
denee, l have. from my retreat Of obscuriiy and
unimportanee, been a close and anxious observer OF
the discussions that have been going on IN the COM
munity in regard TO the subjects Of labor and popu-
iation. Not particularly the first; for If the planters
want 4 few hundred more lsborers, and have the
means TO pay for their Importation. l know Of no
obstacle in the way Of their getting them. legiti-
mately. But as u population On that point, | as
a Hawaiian by adoption, by personal interest, and
by the ties that last ones lifetime, feel a paramount
interest see that our own aboriginal population
Is annually, and 50 far as / can see TO the contrary,
hopelessiy d~Sindling in numbers, and nothing at all
commensurate coming in to replace those who dis
appear We are now a nation OF between fifty and
sixty thousand-at all events, not over the latter
hgure,-and we are decreasing at the rate of say q
thousand n year. The problem for the proposed
Hawaiian Immigration Company TO solve is, TO re
people our country and to bring in to cur islands
from the teeming millions" Of other lands,-uot
only a few labOrers, to make more sugar for as to
export,-but permanent settlers aud producers, who
shall strengthen and build up the state.
Now it may be too soon To find fault; but really I
fail TO see or hear, so far, how il is proposed TO do
this. All the talk as yet, reminds me Of the soilo-
guy of the farmers girl l read about in the primer
in my early days, who was carrying a bucket Of
milk to market it is made up Of '. ifs" If, said
she, L sell my milk, for so much a quart, and if
[ invest the proceeds in eggs, which viii if, they
hatch chickens, that, after they are raised will sell
for so much, then, &C. Suppose our immigration
Society 10 be duly formed with a basis of a working
capital-and 1 am sure, for my part, l wish it God
speed, very heartly-and after due trial it is found
that a sufficient supply of suitable emigrants, men
with wives and families, can be got to come here's
how, let me ask, are We to dispose Of them after
they arrive' Government, of course, is very favor
ably disposed to any scheme, honest and fair, that
will bring in population but has no land on which
to place new Corners. Where then, l ask, are you
going to locate these men with families, who, if
placed on small farms, after the lapse of a year or so
would become producers and enrich the body polite ?
They must be fed, clothed and lodged, and that will
not be accomplished by our simply saying-''be ye
fed, clothed and lodged" Some of the planters
might be disposed to take a few families, to raise
cane on shares, and that seems to me to be the only
solution of the difficulty, but nobody has yet preached
that idea, in any of the published discussions on the
subject.
There is good land enough in the islands lying
waste and unproductive, on which TO settle an immi-
grafton of farmers with families, but it is unavaila-
bic, being either in private hands or Crown lands;
and secondly, it would be useless if it could be got,
for the want of irrigation. Government (the late
one) preferred to expend SIG. 900 of he public
funds in providing the luxury of a hotel, instead of
devoting it to the furtherance of the real, apparent
needs OF the country, 10y bringing the fertiizing
water that now runs to waste, down to enrich and
render productive our now barren solitudes.
But 1 await further developments of plan by the
yet inchoate Immigration Association.
ISLANDER.