The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-03-08

Questions Answered.
We not infrequently receive through the mail re-
quests for information about these islands by per-
sons in the United States. In the last number of
the Friend, q list of no less than t~hirty-fve ques-
tons appears, propounded TO the editor by some one
in Illinois, the task of answering which our contem-
poraTy however does not undertake. Nor can he be
blamed, when it is considered that to correctly and
fully answer all the interrOgatories of his CORE
spondent would require the making Of a pretty good
sized book. Under date of January Both, a gentle
man who writes from Harrison, Ham. Co Ohio -
is more reasonable than the Illinois man, and sends
the ADVERTISER a few interrogatories, which we will
endeavor to answer He says he is induced to write
to US on the advice of Mark Twain. Doubtless that
incorrigible jokist coald have answered the questions
himself in a much more entertaining manner than
we, if not perhaps rs truthfully. Here they are:
"1.-What is the cost of a cabin passage from
San Francisco TO Honolulu ?"
regular sailing packets, $50. The preference is
usually given to the former, principally on account
of dispatch the steamer making the passage in
from nine to eleven days, while the sailing vessels
are from twelve to twenty, averaging perhaps fifteen.
"2-What is the price of labor, male and female,
in the Sandwich Islands?"
a very general question. Plantation hands, hired
by the year under written contracts, are paid from
six to ten dollars n month, with food and lodging /;
house servants, men, from ten to twenty dollars
women, from eight to fifteen. Good mechanics (when
there is anything for them to do,) command four
to FIVE dollars per diem.
"3.-Are the natives reliable, obedient servants?"
Yes, when properly treated, none better.
"4-Can a person invest 10000 to advantage
in the islandsH"
Undoubtedly you could. But you must come and
look for yourself as TO the best way to invest. Just
at the present j~uncture, when business of all kinds
is depressed. some might answer no, to your interro-
gatory, but we have an abiding faith in the rich
future Of these islands, when present commercial OBJ
staclee to our progress shall have been removed.
"5.-What interest does money command there?"
The legal rate of interest is nine per cent, when
not otherwise stipulated, but twelve is oftener paid
than nine.
"6.-Could a person have U. S. bonds or other U.
5. securities in San Francisco and have the interest
forwarded to him at Honolulu -"
As a Scotchman might say, in answer to this ques-
ton, "Why for MOI" The business relations be-
tween Honolulu and San Francisco are intims tie and
easy, and although We sometimes are compelled to
pay pretty roundly for exchange when We have to
remit, there is no trouble on the other hand in get
ting our funds from there-when there happens to
be anything due US.
Ar there any manufactures there, and
what are the principal crops?"
No manufactures, except the sugar mills. We
export our entire clip of wool, which amounted last
year TO 2SS, 526 pounds. There is q statute extant,
passed in 1870, "To encourage the establishment of
wooden and cotton factories,'' wherein it is provided
that all machinery or building materials of any
description, imported by any person or persons,
solely for the purpose of erecting and finishing a
WOODEN or cotton factory, and not for sale, shall be
permitted to enter, free of duty or other charges
As further inducements for The establishment here of
a wooden or cotton factory, the Government offers a
bonus of $4,000 for the first one hundred pairs of
wooden blankets manufactured here Of native wool,
and an additional bonus of sc, 900 for the first one
hundred pieces of cotton cloth, of not less than forty
yards each. manufactured here of native cotton.
The export of raw cotton has never exceeded 5000
pounds in one year, sea-island. The woods produced
here could be purchased on the spot for say I24
cents per pound on the average for fair qualities.
The provisions of the act above referred to for the
of factories, expire in July, 1876. 1t
should be stated also, that by the terms of this Act.
:" the Minister of the Interior is authorized to lease
for a term of ten years or more, free of rent or
other charges, any land or water privileges belong
ing to the Government that may be required for such
wooden or cotton factory"
The principal crops are sugar and rice. OF the
iormer, it is estimated that we shall produce fully
.weDty million pounds the present year, and of the
after, CLEANED and as paddy about a million and a
Coffee, for the production Of which some por-
ions of the group are eculiarly adapted. we have
-aised in former years as high as 100000 pounds,
,ut the blight has been destructive since 1859. This 4
5 however fortunately disappearing, and the coffee .
Of Kona,-justly regarded as equal to the l
AIMED Moeha,-it is reasonable to expect will event.
be counted by the million pounds. =
In conclusion, it may be that our correspondent,
living in a country where the thermometer during
he past winter has registered over thirty degrees
Glow zero, would be interested to know Something
s to the climate. Of the islands. This is Justly