The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-09-14

The last steamer from San Francisco brought
}oyer one hundred and thirty male Chinese planta-
ton laborers, nearly all of whom will remain
with US when their term of service expires, as
those have done who came before them. They
7 will in time inevitably absorb all the retail bust
ness of the country, and gradually monopolize
all the small trades and handicrafts that now
afford q means of living to many of the natives,
as well as foreigners settled in the Kingdom. We
are not wise to turn our eyes aside from this pros,
pect, or to ignore it while it c~onfronss us SO
closely in the near future. We cannot be
ignorant of what is transporting among our near
est neighbors, and what better warning of our
fate do we need than that which their experience
affords?
I'VE have striven, in the past, to solve this
question of immigration. 1t is a difficult one
difficult of easy solution. At least, this has been
our experience thus far. 1t appears now that we
can obtain all the labor we need, but, unfortun-
ately for us, it is of a race of people the most
undesirable, because it is of q race that will not
50 assimilate" with our own. This point is sufi-
GENTLY understood by everybody.
The bark Priscilla, which left Madeira June
l, with Portuguese emigrants for these Islands,
is now about due. In our opinion, no better
class of people can be desired for supplying our
wants. They arc temperate, peaceful and indus
trious. This is what one of the leading papers
of San Francisco says of these people: "Agri-
culture, d~airying, stOck-raising and gardening
are the principal occupations engaged in by
them. "In whatever trade, occupa-
ton or business they are engaged, industry and
ploying them prefer them to any other laborers,
because they never get drunk, are always on
hand to attend to their work. and most faithful
to the interests of their employees. Those who
know them best say that the Portuguese are the
most temperate class of people in California,
drunkenness among them being a great rarity.
They are seldom or never inside of a law court"
Are not these exactly the qualities we need in
the emigrants that may come to our shores?
We desire very much to see immigration from
this source encouraged, for it will help to prevent
these Islands being quite absorbed by the Chi
nese, as now seems likely in consequence of the
reckless introduction now going on of SO many
male Cinnamon to supply the demand for planta-
ton labor.
If Chinese were the only people that could be
procured, there would be some excuse; but this
is not SO. An old resident of these Islands has
just returned from a visit of several months to
his native land-Switzerland-and declares, con-
fdentIy, that hundreds of Swiss and Italian men
and women, strong and healthy people, sober,
moral and Industrious, would gladly come to
these Islands to settle permanently, first engaging
for a term of years as plantation or other labor
- o-oooI;pr go NJ
cost of bringing them from Europe would not ex-
coed $3.50 for each adult. Is not this far
preferable on every account to the present plan
of filling up the country with MOngoliaus? We
take the liberty to suggest that the Board of I'm
confer with this gentleman on the