The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-12-02

"
TwENTY-oSE thousand dollars was the amount,
in hard cash, which the last session Of the Legis-
lature cost the country and in return for this
very respectable outlay we have a number of
amendments to existing lava and new statutes,
wise and otherwise, among which it is difficult
to find anything like the moneys worth. But
among such a mass Of law-making as the session
produced it would be strange indeed if, even
without Ministerial guidance, something valuable
should not be evolved. And SO we find that
among the laws enacted is one entitled ssAu Act
to aid in the development Of the resources Of the
Kingdom approved by the King on the 10Th
of September, which, if properly carried out by
the Ministry, would prove of immense value to
the country. In fact, it may be considered as
the one redeeming feature of the session, as it is
the only instance afforded of legislation looking
to the material progress of the country. 1t did
not originate with the Ministry; which fact may
possibly constitute the reason why, during the
more than two months which have elapsed since
it received the executive sanction, it has not been
acted upon. AT the time of its passage it gave
universal satisfaction, as holding out the hope of
substantial results. Its whole tenor breathes
a spirit of enterprise, public improvement and
advance words of which Hawaiian Ministers
appear to have a dread, inasmuch as they are the
last to recognize the possible good to result from
any innovation upon the old established order of
things. The spirit of their course is in sympathy
with the language of Tennyson's Northern
Farmer
"But summun 'uI come alter mea mayhap, wiz is kittIe o
steam
Huzzin' an maxim the blessed fealds wp the divirs Dan
Gin 1 nun doy, 1 nun doy, an loife they says is sweet,
But gin ] mum dOy, I nun dOy, for l cOuldn abear to see it,"
Section l of the Act provides that the King in
Privy Council shall appoint a commission, con-
sisting of three suitable persons, &c. Are Minis
tiers unable to find three suitable persons whom
they could recommend to His Majesty as COM
missioners for the purpose indicated? Are We so
very poor in intellectual material? Meantime
most the country wait, and improvements be
deferred until somebody from abroad shall do us
the honor of accepting the Office? There are
plenty of suitable men at hand, who are iden-
tilted with Hawaii nei, and interested in the
progress of the country, and whose past expert
ence would under them just the persons to per-.
form the required duty. The value cannot be
over-estimated which would attach to their
thorough and carefully prepared reports of the
quantity Of arabic land in each district the
aVallaDlllIy OF water TOT irrigation or Tor running
machinery; roads, landings, etc. At present,
any one coming from abroad with an intention of
investing their capital in agriculture and making
a home here, can get no information on the SUBJ
jects we have enumerated at the Government
House, the very place of all places where one
would expect to be enlightened. The Ministers
should be prepared to put their finger at once
upon a record of all the needed particulars of
any one district, as to area, soil, water, wood,
roads and harbors. But of all these, the occu-
pants of Aliiolani House are, and are likely to
remain, in blisSful ignorance, simply because
they will not put into operation the law which
provides for obtaining the requisite information.
Was there ever a people so patient as the people
of Hawaii? And we suppose they must continue
to wait, while the Ministry are bordering, and
tying and untying red tape all day and a part of
the night, getting wide de Varigny) only FIVE
hours sleep out of the twenty-four, owing to
their arduous labors and deep deliberations-on
what?