The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-04-19
immigration of Chinese from Hongkong,


immigration of Chinese from Hongkong.
From the {" China Mail " of Nov. 20, 1851
a portion of the remarks made at the LeRis-
lative Council meeting on Monday by His Excel
lency the Governor, in defending the Tung Wah
Hospital from the attack made upon Il by Mr..
keswick. caused us. il must be confessed unmiii-
gated establishment. Ii will be remembered that
in the early part of the present year considerable
attention was directed to the subject oi emigra-
ton to Honolulu by the Government refusing 10
grant a license To the Charter Odk to carry pas.
seugers to that place. This step on The part Mr..
Hennessy was, il subsequently appeared. taken Ia
consequence OF representations made by the Com
mittee of the Tnng Wah Hospital. On the fore
going facts becoming public we received from the
Rev. X. Lechler, the head OF the Basel Missionary
Society in China, several communication he bad
just previously received from Honalulu--onc from
the Rev. Mr.. Damon. Il missionary In the Sandwich
Islands, and six or seven others from Chinese con-
verts who had emigrated from Hongkong to Homo
lula. These letters We published In the China
Mail, and noted at the time that the whole OF them
spoke favourable OF the Chinese prospects In the
Island. Not one word was said in them that could
be regarded as indicating that the Chinese immi-
grants were ill-used. or had to suffer any grsaier
h%ardships than commonly fall to the lot OF Chinese
laborers.
There also appeared to be no doubt whatever
about the genuineness OF these letters. They were
not written with any idea that they would be
made public, nor that attention was being directed
here just then to the position OF Chinese emlgrants
in Honolulu. At the time they were penned
'ithN tHc uuh'l VI lhO Nth ~ VI the
PerttsiG had yet been added TO the great history OF
facts. We may also add that the native letters all
plainly indicated that the engagements Of the
writers were free, and obtained In The majority Of
cases after landing indeed the only complaint Of
these native correspondents. or Of tho majority OF
them. appeared TO be that they bad some difficulty
in obtaining employment.
Under these circumstances We were astonished
to lind His Excellency delivering himself as fol-
lows on Monday last -
Il sent n letter to the Consul General al Homo
| lulu asking him uhOnt II ip IL n Urpat advoQafa
for the emigration, because be says the Chinese
are the most industrious people they have there,
and it is very important they should get Cbinese.
But he told me this. When a vessel c0mce in the
Cinnamon are not allowed 90 land. There goes
on board an agent of the landowner OF the Sand
"ieh IslasSs and accompanying him Is u Govern
meDt officer, and no Chiaamhn is allowed 70 land
unless he there and then signs a contract of ser
vice Tor two or sometimes three years, but never
less than that. got II copy from the Consul
General III the contract Of service. IL contained a
clause to which reference bad also been made by
The Tung Wah Committee, that ibe men who sign
ed that contract would be compelled, at the option
of the landed proprietor. to work by night instead
Of day when necessary. In other words. tho
Cinnamon would be on board the ship prisoners.
rot allowed TO land until they put their names to
q contract Of service. And what was the mean
ing of it2 The Harbour Master publishes every
year the emigration rules. and one Of the rules IL
this-passed by the Governor in Council ut tho
instigation Of the Secretary OF State-that there 10
TO be no emigration whatever where there is q
contract OF service except to British Colonies.
That was known to the gentlemen at Honolulu,
and to all the officials concerned, and by that
which j now publicly state 10 be a false, fraudu-
lent. and Illegal act. these gentlemen endeayoured
to evade that regulation. The Sandwich Islands
do not constitute a British Colony. No contract
service labourers could leave HOngkong for that
place but by signing a false paper here-because
it is said they were free and under no contract Of
service-and then having got them into the waters
OF the Sandwich Islands they would have been
able to convert Them into contract service labour-
ers, with no British magistrate TO protect them.
To whom am 1 indebted for the expose of that
fraud? To the Tung Wah Hospital Committed
Now the impression conveyed by these remarks
is that Chinese emigrants 10 Honolulu are unfairly
and improperly treated there that the gentlemen
OF Honolulu arc not above 50 false, fraudulent, and
illegal acts IN dealing with the newly-arrived
Chinese that this much has been ascertained from
the dispatches of the Consul General at Honolulu
received by His Excellency and that to the
Tung Wah Hospital is due the kudoS of the expose
OF the whole of this reprehensible system OF emil
grafton, and the collapse OF the Charter oak con-
spiracy. 1t would seem that we were not the only
persons astonisbed by His Excellency's remarks.
for shortly after their appearance ia the public
journals, we received the following official doom
ment from a highly respectable and Leading firm
IN this Colony -
The undersigned residents Of Honolulu, Hawai-
ian Islands, hereby declare as follows -
l.--There is no system OF slavery. or anything
approaching it, practised upon these Islands,
either as regards the natives. or Chinese or any
other immigrants.
ALI Chinese immigrants are as free upon
their arrival here as any Englisbmen or other
foreigners. aud select their occupations without
c0mpulsion. either in town or in country, either 10
domestic service, on plantations. or as mechanics.
3-We believe that in no country 10 the world
is there a more humane treatment of Cinnamon
than in these Islands, and the labourers are under
the fullest protection OF the laws which utterly for
bid oppression, kidnapping, or slavery OF any
kind.
In testimony Of the truth of the above declsra-
ton we hereto afix our signatures at Honolulu,
this eighteenth day of February. 1873.
BISHOP & Co.
H.. HAokFELD & Co.
&. BREWER * Co.
CASTLE x COOKE.
WV. G. IRWIN & Co.
], Thro. IL. Davis, Acting British Consul Gener-
al for the Hawaiian Kingdom, hereby certify that
the foregoing signatures of Bishop & Co.. ii. Hack
field Il Co.. G. Brewer d. Co. Castle & Cooke. and
Wm. q Irwin 4 Co. are the proper signatures Of
The said Firms. that they are Firms Of highest
standing and rrspectnbiliiy and that all decisra-
lions made by them are worthy Of full faith and
credit.
further declare that thu sta;emrnis contained
in the foregoing declaration as true and we'll
known Ia me.
la testimony whereof / hereto afHx nv signature
and seal of office at Honolulu ibis nine tenth day
OF February. IN the year Of Our Lord One Thou.
sand Eight Hundred and Seventy Eight.
THEo. ii. DAVIES,
Acting British Consul General.
The document forwarded to us is the original
declaration, and is stamped with the seal of Her
Majesty's Consulate General at Honolulu. Any
one desiring to inspect it can do so at our Office.
Her Majesty's Acting Consul General, Il will he
observed. endorses the assertions OF the Honolnla
firms in a full and complete manner. IL is greatly
to be regretted that Chinese emigrants have been
prevented from proceeding to Honolulu, and COM
PEELED to remain in their country to starve, or
forced to emigrate to countries where they are not
wanted but whether the kudos of this prevention
belongs TO Mr.. Hennessy or 10 the Ting Wah He's
pital Committee, or should be equally divided be-
tween the two, is a point His Excellency and the