Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-07-10

Dane Cultivation Now that Duties on Ha
vaiien Sugar are Removed-A Oaliforni,
Conpeny's Great Undertaking and Pros
psctivs Enormous Profits.
IN. Y. SUM-
HONOLULU, June IA project
Tor establishing a trans-Pacific line
OF steamships, owned by the China
Merchants' Steam Navigation
Company of Shanghai, and sailing
under the Chinese flag, was SUBJ
mitted to the Government of the
Hawaiian Kingdom, with an APP
plication for subsidy of $4,000 a
year, in February last. The
scheme was for monthly line
from Canton to this port, thence to
San Francisco. and thence back to
Hong Kong andi Canton. The APP.
plication for a subsidy was prompt.
~ negatived by the Hawaiian
Cibinet, and the project was sup
posed to be at an end SO far as this
Government was concerned, when,
to the surprise of the Ministy, the
Legislature, which Is now
In session, and the public,
it was unexpectedly revived
last week by royal message com.
mending It to the favorable atten-
tion of the Legislature. The
white members of that. body know
that any official announcement to
q line of steamships sailing under
the Chinese flag from here to San
Eranclsco would create q very I'M
favorable feeling against the
Hawaiian Government in that
city, and that by interfering with
the American sailing vessels that
now carry on the freighting bust
mess between here and San Fran
cisco, 1t would offend and ALLEVIATE
many Of the best friends of the
Hawaiian kingdom in the United
5 States. The native members are
opposed to all measures which helr
to encourage the further immigra-
: tion of the Chinese. The royal
message was therefore coldly re.
ceived by all parties in the House,
and the petition from an agent oil
the company which accompanied
1t was referred to special commit.
tee, who have wisely reported
against giving any subsidy to the
proposed line.
The sugar interest of the king
dom is in a highly flourishlng con
dition. The extraordinary liberal
tty Of the United States Govern
ment In agreeing to release Hawaii
an sugars from the payment o
duties in the United States ha.
raised the sugar industry of the
islands from condition of EXTERN,
depression to one of prosperity
which has no parallel in othe
sugar.prOducing countries. Planter
who were bankrupt and over
whelmed with debt in 1875 are fas
becoming millionaires. New plan
tati0Ds are being opened up on al
the islands, many of them upon o
scale hitherto unknown here. Irri-
cation works are being constructed,
costing in some cases hundreds OF
thousands. New and improved
mills and machinery, supplanting
the old mills and labor-saving APP.
pliaDces of all kinds are coming
into use in the cultivation of the
cane fields. II Is expected that
quite 10000 tons of sugar will be
exported to San Francisco this
year, against IL 500 tons in 1877;
(the year before the reciprocity
treaty went into operation.) Thi:
increase shows more forcibly thar
: any observations of mine the ben
eficial effect of the treaty to the
sugar planters Of the Hawaiian Is.
lands. This increased export has
not lowered the price of sugars to
the consumers in the United States
The remission Of duties has there.
fore Injured solely to the benefit OF
the Hawaiian planter, and as the
average duty charged in the United
States on sugars, of the grade of Ha.
waiian sugars, imported from othel
countries, amounts to $56 ton oil
1000 pounds, the planters here are
receiving q magnificent bounty
from the United States Treasury
amounting to the large sum o.
81, 240, 900 on this years export tc
California. AS the export OF
Hawaiian sugars to California in
1888 will reach 10000 tons, the
United States Treasury will be the
loser by $4,000 year. All the
sugars shipped this year go to the
California sugar refiueries. The
price is fixed at the cost of Manila
sugars of equal grades laid down in
San Francisco. duty paid. The
duty on the Marietta sugar goes
into the United States Treasury;
the duty, or rather its equivalent,
comes to the Hawaiian planter to
the loss of the Treasury. AS the
cost of cultivating the cane and
making sugar on well-organized
plantation Is less than the
amount of the remitted duty,
1t Is obvious that the profits
of the planter are simply enormous,
and 1t us to be regretted that 80 few
of our American citizens have come
here to take advantage of the profit
able field that Is open to them.
With the exception of a few parties
IN California who are Interested in
q very large enterprise known as
the "Hawaiian Commercial Com
paDy," l do not hear of single
American citizen who has come to
the Islands to invest capital in su.
gar plantations since the passage
OF the reciprocity treaty, while
more than a score of Englishmen
and Scotchmen have arrived, and
are now reaping handsome share
Of the large profits Of the business.
The soil Of the Hawaiian Islands,
when sufficiently irrigated, pro.
duces the largest and richest crops
Of cane that are known in the sta
tistics of sugar.producing couu-
tries. Four, five, and even six
tons Of sugar to the acre of cane re-
ward the labor of the careful cult
vator. In Louisiana the yield sell
dom reaches two tons to the acre.
Here the quality of the soil, the
abundance of water for irrigation