The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-06-19

IA LETTER from one of the windward islands
contains the remark at would be a very
serious loss and inconvenience were we to be de-
prived of the Kildued; and this truth is forcibly
impressed upon us whenever her regular trips are
temporarily suspended from any cause" This
expresses the feeling and represents the true state
of the case all over the islands. Communication
by steam between the islands is a necessity.
This is owing to the boisterous channels that
divide them, which render a passage by a sailing
vessel, however well-found and skillfully man
aged, uncertain in duration and generally very
uncomfortable to anybody but a seasoned sailor,
or that cOnceited character the experienced
traveller" Individuals of this class even we have
seen captivating to the miseries Of a protracted
trip on a Hawaiian coaster. We speak of these
miseries thus feelingly without in the least desir-
ing to derognte from the sea-going qualities of
our coasting vessels in general, or the skill Of
their captains and crews. But let a personals
has been the case with the present writer in past
years-be 81 cabin'd, cribb'd, confn'd, " in a so
ton schooner for FIVE days and nights on the
passage from Honolulu TO Lahaina, or nine days
to Hawaii, and he will ever after dread embark
ing on q coaster. 1t is true that such long
passages are the exceptions.
We have often wondered why a schooner could
not be provided with q wooden portable screw, to
be shipped to the stern on occasion and worked
By hand to push hsr along through the calm
streaks " so often met with in sailing among
these islands. Such n Continuance, if practicable,
would wonderfully shorten passages from port to
Fort, during the season when Gains prevail, and
u il could be made available on short notice,
might become extremely valuable at other times.
Speaking OF cOasters-it is not a matter for
surprise that those who have invested their means
in this species Of prOpeFty,-which at best is
attended with so many risks,-should be inclined
to regard as an injustice to themselves the fact Of
the government running a steamer And were
it true that government did this as q speculation,
for the purpose of making money, there would
be more weight to the argument that it is main
tanning tn opposition to private enterprise. The
fact is however that not only does the government
realize nothing from the steamer, bur that in the
aggregate she has cost the Treasury a very con-
siderable sum over and above her receipts. But
her usefulness as a means Of quick and certain
communication between the remote parts of the
kingdom and the capital, both 10 the general
public and the government, has been SO apparent,
that no Legislature has ever hesitated about
voting the money for her repairs or other expenses.
She has been termed by the natives, kO kakOa
GIanui-our highway-and acknowledged BY COM
mon consent as a public necessity, end indeed as
quite indispensable.
There can be DO question however that, on all
accounts, it would be better if our inter-island
steamer were owned and run by private individu-
ais rather than by gOvsrument'-if the private