The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-03-21

IL 4 BRIEF reference last week to the question
of the advisability of this Government grantinga
small subsidy to the Australian and American
Steamship Company, we concluded with the re-
mark that it was ga fair subject for reflection"
And SO to-day we shall endeayor, in a practical
common-sense way, to make such reflections on
the subject as suggest themselves after a careful
consideration Of the premises, with a view to a
just conclusion thereon.
Leaving for the present the after question OF as
to how the Legislature will view the proposition,
in the present financial condition of the country
and the spirit of retrenchment that prevails, of a
subsidy to a foreign commercial enterprise, let us
first inquire whether we would be justified in ask
ing for one. 1t has been suggested that so small
a sum as 81 900 per month would suffice to inl
duce the company to enter into n contract binding
themselves to stop at Honolulu. This may rea-
sonably be doubted. However considerable the
sum named may seem to us,-and in fact it really
is considerable in proportion to our means,-it
could hardly form an actual indueement, in the
absence Of any stronger one, to an immensely
wealthy corporation like the 4. IL a. Company,
which is already in the receipt of an annual sub
sidy of S400, 600 from the Colonies of New South
Wales and New Zealand. Our poor Sl2, 900 a
year will seem but 4 drop in the bucket, and if
the Company had no other inducemcnt to make
this a port of call our claim upon them would be
but a slight one. But are there no other consid-
e~rations besides any possible subsidy we may
give? As we observed last week, {" Business men
generally do what it is for their interest to do"
1t may be safely assumed, that if it is for the in
terest of the Company that their ships shall stop
here, they will do so, whether or not we strain
our capacity to rvto thvm an Insignificant sum,
and call it a subsidy. In the matter of freight
and passengers between this port and San Fran
CISCO, CwTcuOut tcki"6 rnto s-a1L-
we shall be able to build up with the ColOnies)
the steamers may fairly count on about $4,000 a
month, both going and returning, say $4,000
per annum Of earnings from the Honolulu trade.
This may certainly be regarded as something of
an inducement to continue this as a port of call.
even if nothing is to be allowed for the comfort or
pleasure to travellers afforded by a short rest and
break in the monotony and tedium of a three or
four weeks sea voyage, or the probable utility of
the port as Il coaling station.
The steamers of this line arc allowed by the
Hawaiian Government the same free facilities as
were accorded to those of the Webb line; that Is
to say, we remit in their favor the regular legal
charges for wharfage, storage, water-works, lights
and buoys, as also the same charges on ships
bringing eargoes Of Goals for the steamers. The
amount thus RENTED is about S. 900 per annum.
The entire population of the group is not far from
$4,000, SO that already the visits of the steamers
cost us ten cents for every man., woman and child
in the country. New Zealand, with a population
of say 5000 900, and an annual revenue of $l3,-
600 900, (ours was about $3.50 900 in 1872, and
has since been decreasing) can afford to pay, as
she does, a subsidy of SOC, 900, or about Is cents
per capita of her active, thrifty population.
Granting the advantage to our agricultural inter
ests of early and frequent mail communication
with the Colonies, and of facilities for forwarding
our produce, it must be admitted on the other
hand that the condition of the sugar market there
last Summer and Fall was quite exceptional, and
was due to q failure of the usual crop of Mauri-
thus, and also that our shipments southwark have
been and must continue to be mainly by sailing
vessels and not by the steamers.
In brief, the questions for us to ask ourselves in
considering this subject seem to be-Is it necessary
that we should provide a subsidy for this great
Australian line in order to secure the visits of it's
steamers; and, can we afford to pay one? To
both. we are constrained to answer in the negative.