Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-05-21

devious for all the whalers of the Pacific.
Once year they came here to the number
of one hundred and fifty to two hundred .
to dispose of their oil, refit and purchase
supplies. This gave rise to an active trade.
and the merchants of Honolulu were prog.
porous and made money But now the |
few remaining whalers, not more than
thirty, 60 to San Francisco and the only |
trade is the limtedinternal traffic between |
the islands So it is dull times with the !
merchants
The sugar planters, upon whose success |
the commercial prosperity Of the islands |
depends, are embarrassed in this manner. !
The natural, and in fact, the only avail !
able market for their sugar, is San Fran
CISCO and this is practically closed AGAINST
them in two ways first, the duty on gu-
ar, and second, the influence of two large
sugar refineries at San Francisco. Much
of the sugar that is made here is of so rood
q quality and of so light color that it sells
readily without refining, consequently the
refiners who have q monopoly on the
! Pacific coast flood the market with sugar
! thus bringing down the price in order to
| force the planters to sell them their sugar
| upon their own terms. The result is, that
the price of sugar is so low that it does not
pay to produce it.
TREATY WITH THE UNITED sTATEs-AN-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
For these reasons the business portions of
| the community are clamorous for some ar
Management to be made with the United
States, which will lift the burden from
their trade but they are not at all united
as to the best place for accomplishing this
end. Some are in favor of negotiating
reciprocity treaty Others advocate annex
alton, and still others wish to remain as
they are, and to let things take their
course
AS simple reciprocity has been repeated
ly refused by the United States, its advo-
Gates propose to offer, as an inducement, to
cede the harbor of Pearl river, with so
much land adjoining as may he necessary
for a naval station. The advantages of
such a treaty to the foreign population are
quite evident, but to the United States and
the natives, they are more doubtful. The
harbor of Pearl river is very good one,
with q trifing drawback, that it can be
entered only by small craft. The channel
through the reef is narrow and shallow so
it would be necessary, to renderit available,
to blast it out at an expense of thousands
of dollars. Wharves, docks and buildings
would have to be constructed from materi-
ais, except stone, brought from the United
States, and all naval stores and material,
; iron, wood and coal would have, also, to be
! brought here. And after all this is accom-
: plished, at an expense which you can read
/ lily conceive, the question arises lcl6 bono
The naval station at san Francisco, al
ready established, with others in Puget
| Sound and at San Diego, which could be
: more easily and cheaply created than this
5 would be more convenient for repairing
2 and reftting; so that this would be main
I ly valuable as coaling station. We al
ready have piece Of land and coal-shet
here at Honolulu, which is all that is re-
quired for the purpose, with the exception
! of, perhaps, another wooden shed or tive
for q larger supply of coal.
The annexation scheme is bitterly Op
: posed by many, who, | fancy think tn
larger the puddle to which they belong
= likely they are to be the biggest. As ia
i as the United States is concerned the adj
u Vantages of place seem to me ever
> more doubtful tllan tbs Pearl Riverp project
; And besides, it is very uncertain whethe
Z the natives would agree it, at present, a
{ any rate.
a NTAILS-NIR. WEEB-sEA WEED-CONCLU
SION.
April I'd. ] have written the foregoing
\ from time to time, as | have had an oppOl
# tunity, and as there is barque, tn
>. "Kale,n Kanaka for "Charlie," going t
y sail for San Francisco, either to-day or j
a the morning, 1 will send it by her. Whel
4 we shall get all the mail from the Eas
a seems rather uncertain, as Mr.. Webb ha
y. sold his steamers to the Pacific Mail, an
:, they talk of breaking up the line.
Knoxville Iron Go.