The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1881-07-16
KAUAI CORRESPONDENTS.
A LouS0EE's NoTEs-HASALEI As II WAS ASD A.
II Il.

"A change We have found there. snd many : change.
Faces and footsteps and all things strange.
Gone are the heads with the silvery hair
And the place is hashed where the children played.
Nothing looks the same save the nest We made"
Those who were wont to visit Hanalei some
eight or ten years ago to enjoy its quiet beauty
and breath its sweet air, would now be surprised
to see the changes which have taken place there.
Formerly there was u nice little sugar plantation
at Waipaa with quite a number Of foreigners and
natives employed thereon and all looking
healthy happy and contented on the estate now
all Is transformed into a rice plantation with all
the former buildings crumbling to ruin and
decay.
ike change has also come over the Hanalei
valley. We were accustomed to see only sugar
canes waving in the breeze,-now nearly the
whole Of this beautiful valley Is in the posses
sion Of Chinese, who are raising heavy crops of
rice, and instead Of here u fine field Of cane, and
there L large pasturage with hundreds Of fine
cattle, horses and mules feeding thereon, we see
only a vast area Of rice IN all stages Of growth
from the little green sprout to the ripe yellow
grain and instead of hearing the plowbOy's
whistle and the ranchero's song, nothing Is
heard save the bowling, yelling and firing Of
the Chinese rice planters, weekdays and sun
days-frOm misty morn uIl dewy eve.
IL Is somewhat strange that q place with so
many natural advantages for tie successful
cultivation of sugar cane should have been
abandoned, and handed over TO Chinese, who
are sure 10 make themselves rich on such fine
lands but the fact Is that twO-thiTds Of the
sugar plantations on these islands fall into the
hands of men who assume their management,
without any previous experience or education in
the science Of agriculture and having no
natural or acquired capacity for management,
consequently conduct affairs IN such an un-
business ike manner, and are SO headstrong in
their bunglug course, that their lsbOrs bear no
frnTf and grUWEhnN1arz CIV NJ nTvT1nmdz
/ have travelled over muny lands and have
seen much OF business IN ali branches and 1 do
sOlemnly declare that many of the plantations
on the Hawaiian Islands are conducted in a
manner which would strain the resources Of q
go0d-going gold mine.
There are only a very few white men to be
seen around Hanalei nOw-a-days, and none of
its former foreign families.
Tine Johnson, Wilcox. and Titcomb families
have all moved away and their houses arc vacant;
and the once pretty lawns and gardens are
neglected and ii ruin.
The natives too are not 80 numerous, many
have died while yet young, and some have also
gone away to other parts. Those who remain
appear OutwErdly moral, but the churches are
very poorly attended. The native Protestant
church and Catholic mission chapel used to have
4 good attendance on all the occasions Of wOr-
ship as also the Sunday-schOois, but now there
Is only a mere sPrinklIng, and 1 learn that on
some occasions not even one listener comes
forward 10 hear the preachers. There IS what
- - CHIT III gAk ~ &A L@BEAAoA
school, but Of course il cannot be expected that
q properly qualified teacher would take hold of
such u poor held, as this III present IS and I
consider that u real good native school would
be much greater benefit to the scholars than the
present medley. There are three or four Chinese
stores doing n kind of hand-to-mouth business.
but strange to state. there Is one of those shrewd,
unassuming ScOtchmen doing business on the
plantation premises who by perseverance,, atten-
tIOn and fair-dealing appears TO have the lions
share Of the business OF the district. Natives
ride miles past the Chinese stores to do their
trading with hmm, believing that they get better
value for their money there
1t IS my impression that IN g few years Hama
lei will be almost entirely peopied by Chinese
with a few natives who have hOmesteads there
and no white men for where Chinese can get a
fOOt-hOld, white men rarely can make a living.
1 regret that / cannot paint dear old Hanalei
IN brighter colOrs but though n lounger l am not
untruthiul, aud / must show things up IN their
true light, not In a spirit Of fauit-finding and
growing. but IN order that remedies may be
applied and Improvements attempted and carried
out
of July incident.
DuEng my stay at Hanalei the wheels Of time
brought round the Glorious Fourth and from
somsthing which had appeared in one of the
native newspapers. the contract laborers on the
plantations were under the impression that the
day was "A legal holiday for them and when the
hour for starting work arrived very few Of the
natives put IN AN appearance. OF course the only
way 20 convince them of their error was to sue
them for not going to work, but when the mes
senger arrived at the dwelling of the district
judge His Honor had Just left ON a visit to a part
of the island called kalalau which can be
reached only b. sea and only during fine weather,
consequently summOnses could not be obtained
and the labOrers had a holiday much against the
wishes of the manager Of the plantation.
Those men must be very much demOralized
for when 1 told some OF their number that all
would be sent to prison who did not 90 70 work,
they did not appe T to care whether they passed
away their time in prison or on the plantation.
Poor Hawaiians-)
1 am shortly going over to the now go-a-head
districts Of Kilauea and KOloa, when ] hope to
furnish some notes of that progressing section
of the garden island.