The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1881-01-22
CIRCULAR.
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
Honolulu, Jan. 18th, 1881.

Honolulu, Jan. lIth, 1851.
SIR Il have already informed you
under date of 18th inst, that His
Majesty proposes to make Il tour
around the world, visiting first some
of the principal countries of the East,
en- route for Europe.
/ have now the honor to inform you
that His Majesty will be accompanied
on this Journey by His Excellency
VIM. Nevins Armstrong, who has been
appointed Royal Commissioner of
immigration.
One of the main objects of this APP
pointmemt is to enable this Govern
ment t o obtain the best possible III
formation, In the differept countries
through which the Royal Commits
sioner may pass, regarding the
different races which inhabit them,
in the hope that some one OF more
may be found, that may prove In all
respects a suitable people to introduce
into this kingdom, to assist in reple-
nishing the population, and | have to
beg that you will kindly lend this Gov
ernment your valuable assistance in
obtaining the information they desire.
In order to enable you to form some
idea of the kind of information this
Government desires, it may be well if
l state In as few words as possible,
some of our special needs or L may
perhaps say some of the special diff
culties with which this subject is sur
rounded.
This group of islands contains a COM
p~aratively large area of productive
land still unbroken by the plough, and
it will perhaps give a better idea of
its undeveloped capacities if L say,
what / believe IS within due limits,
that If the group were peopled as
thickly as say the volcanic Island of
Mauritius, estimating on the basis of
arabic land in each only, it could sup
port a population of nearly a million
souls, whilst the actual population of
the group to-day is about so, 900 only,
of which the pure native population
is not over "A, 900, and has been so far
steadily decreasing.
The main and most profitable pro-
ductions of the country are sugar and
rice, and the demand for labor for cul-
tivating these articles is large. This
demand has been met to a large eX-
tent by the importation of the inhabi-
.tants of Madeira and the Azores,
Polynesians from various islands in
the South Pacific and by Chinese.
Unfortunately none of these quite
meet all the requirements. The peo-
pie from Madeira and the Azores are
perhaps a little above the requirements
in some respects, that is as simple
laborers, or at all events, they seem
more adapted for working small cattle
ranches or other enterprises on their
own account, than for working as
labOrers on plantations, still they are
an excellent addition to our popula-
ton and bring their families with
them.
With regard to the P~olynesians, we
be said to be in the stage of ex-
pertinent. Some of those who have
taken most interest in them and have
had the most experience, doubt
whether we can count upon this ace
to form a permanent and fruitful addi-
ton to our population. The circum-
which would to present
itself as so desirable, viz: that they
are the same race as our own people,
may perhaps be the one which will
prevent them from staying the hereto
ore excessive death rate of this race
n the Hawaiian Islands.
The Cinnamon of which we had