The Hawaiian gazette., 1874-05-27
ADDRESS
or THE
PLANTERS TO THE LEGISLATURE.

y
country is struggling for existence, and prepared
TO offer you proof. and 10 answer every question
that you may see fit TO place to and substauti-
ate our answer il you desire IL by our books and
accounts These last two years, the proprieturs
alone. OF all persons in This country, have realized
no profit for their intense labor There have
been no nine hours or ten hours for them or their
Chief Managers, Incessant toll. care and watch
iulness 10y day and 10y night, on the Estates, have
been their lot; and not only no profit, but har-
assinC losses and anxious socilnde.
The Legislation now leveled aganst our enter
prise cmunates from the Representative OF La
haina, as VIC are told. We think il is our duty
10 ask where would Lahaina have been to-day If
il had not been FOR the Sugar Mills? Not only
no whistle would have disturbed them in the early
morning, but no other sound whatever The
dust OF their roads would not have uunoyed them
for they would have been grass-rrown lanes
There would have been no shop-keepers TO be
the object OF envy Tor Their apparent wealth /;
there would have been no money 20 pay for
goods; and it seems TO US desirable to cast
glance al the enterprises in that town. The
Lahaina COmpany's Mall, now In the possession
OF Messrs. Campbell a Turton, sacrificed every
dollar for It's original proprietors and passed into
the hands OF its present proprietors, who, though
prosperous now, were so through the disasters OF
Others in California and OF some now before you.
which enabled them to arrange for their debts AZ
a very large loss 20 those who furnished the
meaus. The Second Mil was put up At the So
hcitaton and for the benefit Of the people Of
Lahalna. The propuetors OF Ii not only have
not made anything but have sacrificed much
money, and some OF them, all that they have been
able TO acquire by q lifelong toll Does il not
seem a lilIle strange that they, by their Repre-
sentatiyes should be the first 10 bring the force
oi Legislation 10 bear against Us.
All these sums, together with the whole pro-
duct OF the soil IN addition TO II, have been dis
trlbuted among their mechanics and their labor
ers and the same remark Will apply TO The
whole SUN OF 81 100000 nearly, which each year
OF late, has been brought into this country as a
product OF the sugar crop. All this has gone TO
mechanics and laborers.
To return to Lahaina for moment: the first
proprietors Of the Lahaiua Mil Company sacri-
feed over S25.0OO, ana got out Of the business;
Messrs Walker a Allen lost by this Company,
$4,000 before Campbell a Turton bought this
Mil their debt TO Walker a Allen was $4,000
which was entirely lost to Messrs. Walker a Al
lens creditors, 20 one thinking the security worth
anything over the mortgage. And the second
mill would be gladly sold out II a loss Of only
$50 600 should occur.
At hohala during the eleven years that the
plantation has been IN operation, the proprietorS
have not received cent. The laborers have been
paid regularly, mechanics employed aud duly SET
tied withi but the owners have not reaped where
they have sown, and now are the people to be
told that they have been working too hard, or Is
it TO be enacted that a fair days wages Is not to
procure a fair days work. Ten hours has been
The custom for days labor SO long that il has
become the law OF the country, and we would
respectfully say that such an umoust Of labor Is
not oppressive. 10 the Summer months from 6
O'Clock to y noon, and from one TO five, certainly
does not need the repressing hand OF legislation.
There are very few OF the best hands that do not
make their overtime and get regularly paid
for it, Hence TO reduce the hours Of labor to
nine hours, is either only TO legisaie Tor the
lazy, or 10 exact extra pay from those already
over burdened. 1t viii be to put the employer
al a disadvantage in the matter Of his existing
contracts, where no time is mentioned, by taking
from him one-ienth ui his whole labor, which is
the same thing as making every one hundred
men count for ninety only.
Let Us proceed from hohala TO Hio. You
have seen at kohala that il is not the laborers
that have suffered, and it will be found the same
at Hilo. haupakuea lost the whole OF Its origin
al capital before IL was transferred to its present
proprietors SO that their original proprietors got
nothing for their ten years work, aud the capital
that Was put there.
Paukaa sunk its whole capital and consigned
It's owner in his old age, TO bankruptcy and pow
erty.
Kaiwiki lest for its first owners Sl2O,OOO, ana
owes its present owners a very large sun. The
other two Plantations have returned nothing TO
their proprietors, nor 10 those who have advanced
the meaus TO carry them on, except exhaustive
labor and over burdeDigg liabilities. All this in
addition to The money derived from the product,
has been expended among the people of the dis
trict. Surely the laborers have no reason TO CON-
plain.
Haualei bankrupted Mr.. Nylhes' estate, and
his heirs never GOT cent.
Il cannot be that any man is worked over
tme) IN Lahaina, or any ether parts OF the coun-
try. aud is not paid for II, or does not know that
he is entitled 10 pay for Is. 1t Is necessary to I
start the mill early 10 get juice Tor the boilers
and II your Committee thnk 1t worth while, we
offer TO show that every man who goes TO this /
work does so by agreement, and il be works on
during the day, has his extra pay for his extra
work.
Is nine hours reasonable? II it was constant /
work. not eye service, pr0pretors might be better
satfed with it. But as il is. Is It reasonable TO I
say that men shall begin work at 6oclock in the
morning and leave of for the day at o'clock in
the afternoon, taking out so hour at noon Bear
in mind that large crops are waiting in tho field
and expensive machinery Is to be idle. Please
remember that in the winter time we caa only
get nine hours. But it Is said you can cure it by
coniractg What when the Legislature in its
wisdom, says that nine hours is enough, make a
man believe, by persuasion, that ten hours is not
too much
Again, many Of our people are not under con-
tracts. but come from day TO day. Again, we
want men-and fancy the annoyance Of endeav-
orinr to compel one set Of men to work TIL i've
p. NJ. for days work, when those by their side
leave of al P NJ, and receive ine same wages.
How soon would they say that they had misun-
derstood or been deceived about the contract or
still more probable fatty refuse.
By subsiracting one hour from Us each cay, 1t
is equivalent, as We have said before, to adding an
expense of twenty men in every two hundred
now who OF you that have been on an estate and
helped work il, have not experienced satisiao-
ton 10 seeing twenty men added TO your torce,
who has moi been sorry when he saw five even de-
part, and yet you purpose by this bill TO do this
injury to the planters without adding to the ad-
vantage or happiness Of a single man in the CON-
munity. Surely the people do not needto be
dissuaded from habits Of labor and industry.
Il is necessary that We should call your atten-
ton 10 the importance of our enterprise TO tins