The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-04-12

Mr.. EDITOR Mr.. Rhodes and others writing
lately in your columns and elsewhere, allude to
the prospects of u labor supply from Madeira in
very vague and misleading terms. Mr.. Rhodes
says in one OF his first letters. that e perhaps LOCO
Portuguese will be brought - and a subsequent
writer in the Gazette. volunteering information,
mentions o vessel as being chartered to bring out
600, etc, which is correct enough but the latter
permits, while the former impresses the idea that
the thing is to go no farther.
1t is as well that the public should be made
aware OF what is really going on as to Portuguese
immigration. Ever since DR.. Hillebrand, in 1877
rs, reported favorably of the Madeira Islands as a
field for procuring immigrants, the enterprise has
been vigorously pushed forward, serious obstacles
having to be surmounted In getting off the 6rst
lot. These pioneers, however. arriving here last
September, sent home such good reports that n
large order sent from here has been rapidly filed.
and about / 600 are ut the present moment await
ing shipment or on the way out, and have not
started sooner solely owing to delay in chartering
a vessel.
And far from this 1000 being the last that we
may expect, we have every reas on to believe that
they will continue TO flock over in large numbers,
as the emigration fever is spreading to the ada
cent islands of the Azores, whence encouraging
letters have already been received here.
Possibly Mr.. Carter, who has spoken in the
Chamber of On in favor of the Portuguese.
may have already given the Information but if
so. the papers omitted to report it.
The project of introducing South Sea islanders.
who would propagate the Hawaiian race. as advo-
Gated by Hon. W.. r. Castle, would undoubtedly be
the best for the interests of the Kingdom, could
they be brought in sufficient numbers, and. as it is.
should be persevered in, especially as the proper
ton of women they bring is large.
OF the East India bubble. the less said the
better. Hon. w. N. Gibson's conception of bring
ing colored laborers frsm the Southern States is
open to few if any of the objections under which
the coolie scheme groans but other and no less
serious obstacles present themselves, some of
which have already been pointed out and feel
confident that such an immigration will never be
encouraged by this Government.
A couple OF years ago, when the country was
really at a loss where to look for labor, il was a
duty for one and all to tax their ingenuity for the
public good. Now it is idle TO talk, unless some
thing more suitable than coolies or negroes can be
suggested. The idea which is now being followed
up by the Board is the only feasible one yet pro-
posed but some people. impatient that the enter
prise does not bear fruit in a day. wish to uproot
the budding sprig, to plant a new seed and in a
strange soil.
Does Mr.. Rhodes think that were his project
carried tomorrow, and himself dis
patched to India, a single coolie would be landed
here within two or three years? If be does, he Is
mistaken.
Mr.. Rhodes, in drawing a parallel between the
Portuguese and the cOolie. says that the former
will be brought in at a much higher rate of WAGES
than the coolie. and at u heavy cost for passage
etc. The latter item is probably much less than
what ii would be in the case of the East Indian.
As for wages. Mr.. r. calculates that after the first
year we should save SIS per annum on each
coolie. Here Mr.. Il. brings all his arguments to a
locus The entire and only advantage of the In
dian over the Portuguese is. that the former is IN
cost S15 a year less than the latter. Now. even
supposing the basis OF this reckoning to be Just. il
may venture to express an opinion in the matter.
the Portuguese would be worth more than this
difference.
But Mr.. Rhodes forgets that in two or three
years time, when the urgent demand has some
what slaekened, the rate OF wages must take a
tendency and in the case of Portn-
guese laborers a. least, We may reckon on paving
three or four years hence half the price we are
paying now.
Cheap labor is a great desideratum indeed. bnt
1t can be arrived at only by diminishing the de-
mand. 1t will be evident TO any one acquainted
with the principles of cork and lcdges. that. as Mr..
remarks, the introduction of labcrprs at |
wages much lower than are paid to those already
here wOnld never do.