The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-04-25

some time ago when We sent for a schooner load
Of South Sea Islanders. The Manahiki people
were physically and mentally the interiors Of the
Hawaiians. That experiment must have satisfied
every one Of its i%nutility. Nor do We wish to
see 4 considerable immigration of so advanced q
civilization that it shall speedily overshadow and
displace the Hawaiian. Our object Is to preserve
and reinYigora,e him on the plane of that civil
zation on which he is capable of standing And
we must look for immigrants that will assimilate
with our aboriginals among a people who, while
they are Of a eognate race with the HaEalians,
are IN the ordinary phases of civilization at least
their equals. We need most of all, az recruits
to our population and helpers in the work of
developing the riches Of our islands, men and
women who have been bred and born to the ne
cessity and the desirableness Of labor-not fish
and cocoanut eating islanders, to whom a life OF
case and absence from labor is the normal con-
dition, and the ne phls ultra of existence.
And where shall we look for the kind of immi-
grants we reed to supply US with both a homoge-
neous population and labor? We answer, to the
East Indies. From the teeming millions Of Ben
gal and other provinces of Hindostan, since the
year 1915, have been drawn the supplies of i'm
migrants VIII AAAf oANADAINNCAHg oN-fN1 ~ I-01
lem Of labor for the British Colonies Of Guiana,
Trinidad and Mauritius. With us, they would
solve at once the twin problems of labor and pop
u~lation. During the present year, a dreadful
famine that has devastated the land has doubtless
opened wider than ever the door Of immigration.
a correspondence entered into by our government
with that Of British India would supply the re-
quired information.
The history Of the immigration from the East
Indies to the Colonies above mentioned-begun
some twenty-five years ago, improved from time
to time and admirably conducted-shows that it
has been 4 great success. Certain drawbacks may
occasionally have occurred, as was but natural,
but these when pointed out and known are easily
corrected. Ample testimony can be adduced to
prove our statements in this particular. The
Rev. Mr.. Underhill, an English Baptist Mission
airy, who went to the West Indies on purpose to
inform himself correctly on the condition of the
East Indian immigrants, reported as follows in
The Freedman
You may ask how does this system work. 1t is approved
of by every class of persons in the island CTrinidadJ,t / con-
versed with government officials, planters, managers, mission
aries, store-keepers, and with the Coolies themselves, and l
DID not hear a single complaint Men Of the most opposite
% The government, as wen as men who very naturally view
the planting Interest with suspicion all concurred in this, that
success"
In published reports of resolutions passed at a
meeting of planters of the Island of Jamaica,
some two years since, we read that
"The creation of wealth by the Intervention Of Cody labor
on estates is Of considerable advantage to all classes Of the
contributors to the general revenue, while very many Of them
sr aIi ~ of 0e yI Iab5r I ISos eI5iT n5osnc u re q ItssS Se aahcai INN; n p
general public, as well as to the planters, by the increased
circulation Of money in the country. That ali classes Of this
island derive manifest advantages from the immigration into it
Of East Indian Iaborers," &c.
Such being the results of coolie immigration
to the West Indies, we would ask, if there is any
reason why a system so beneficial and so admira-
bly, managed cannot be applied to these islands?
The Hindoo cannot but thrive in our climate,
when, as has been shown, he does SO well in Brit
ish Guiana,-a level, marshy country, lying be-
tween Sc N. and 80 80 s., and where there
are about GO 900 of them to-day. The Hindoo
is accustomed in his native country to the c%ultiva-
ton of sugar and rice, and lives principally on
the latter. He is patient, temperate, industrious
and saving, and domestic in his habits, and in
every respect a preferable immigrant to the China
man.
We shall not attempt in the present article to
discuss the questions or as 10 tire mUue III WHICH
the immigrants may be attained, how many of
both sexes we should need to begin with, or what
will be the probable cost of bringing them hither.
These are after considerations, that can be ex-
amined into and settled without difficulty when
we shall have decided in favor of the project.
But the foregoing suggestions are made now,
previous to the meeting of the Legislature, with
the sincere hope that members of the government
and all others interested in the improvement of
the country may be induced to give them q candid
on1 fbOp1bfc,1 aopci1aro tiOp Our Oh,aof os ,ro
stated in the outset, is to endeavor to arouse
public opinion upon the importance-nay, the
absolute neeessity-of speedy action on the part
of those at the head of affairs for the recuperati,n
of the nation and the development of our resources.
Vast tracts of rich land lie idle and unprodtc-
tive on every island that, in energetic hands and
by the aid Of the imported labor which we sdyo-
cate, might soon be made to yield q harvest of
wealth and support a numerous and thriving pop
~ulation. Look for instance at the regionof Ma
kawao on East Maui, and the "Commns" or
plains stretching away from Maalaea AMI Kahu-
lui upwards and on either hand for mils-a dis
trict capable of sustaining a dense population and
of producing perhaps as much sugar o the entire
present crop of the islands-now a barren waste.
All that this region of deep and fertile soil needs
to bring it into market and to speedily dot it with
plantations, is that the water whin now runs to
waste into the sea from the neigtboring mount
aims, be brought to it in a dita,-a species of
work with which the mining regions of California
are covered, and a work which sc have not hith-
erto had the enterprise to seriNsly contemplate.
The expenditure of the natioiI funds that would
be necessary to import the labr and to construct
the requisite works to brin the Halehaku and
other streams down on the plains of East Maui,
would be an investment tht would produce a ten
fold return, and add immasurably to the perma-
nent wealth of the Who'll country. The intelli-
gent people of East Mui entertain no doubts
whatever of the perfect feasibility of this enter
prise, and they recently procured a preliminary