The Hawaiian gazette., 1882-05-17

EVERY scrap OF information relative 70
tho procuring Of lshorers Is interesting 10
our planters and others connected with the
planting interest From recent accounts
frum FIJI, il appears as IL the planters on
those islands have the danger Of bcing left
in the lurch without an adequate supply
Of men. staring them as surely in the face
aS our people hSvc herr as Far as the Solo
mon Islands and New Hehridcs arc con
| ccrncd
Tho r'cruihng scNson commenced at the
end Of March. and Is vessels VEN on the
point Of sailing. These vessels receive a
hccnSc nom the government Of Fiji, hut
/ thcv arr not government venture ~ our
I S.ara,iri, H1l,fii and PsHrrr wcre Each
ono i under special charter 20 somc private
! firm Complaint Is made that the licenses
get into the hands ~ the larger planters,
who haye also snapped mp the coolies who
aro expected from India, and, m conse
1uencc, the smaller planters seem likely to
I hc left ont in the cold. Herc Hre two
points for consideration, Our system has
! heen tetter IN one sense, IN that. as Tar a.
W. have been able 20 find ont. the lHborers
who have been imported at government
\ expense have been assigned pc RITA to the
various plantations, according 90 the de
mand Tor men. without reference 20 the
fact whether their plantations were large
on small The second point Is that FliSn
planter. though depending somewhat upon
government aid. helps himself, as our labor
and supply company are proposing TO DO.
Ii appears that the supply Of labOrers 10
~ obtained from the New Hebrides and
solomon group gets less and less every
year A gentleman who has apparently
lived Tor many years among them. writes
at considerable length 10 a Fiji paper
He states that the whole Of the labor has
been obtained from the coast tribes, and
that these people have now become satu
rated with trade" There is no longer any
inducement for them TO leave their homes
In the interior OF the islands there is
very numerous population which would
only be too ready 10 come II communica-
tion could be opened up with them
The coast tribes are at mortal enmity with
the interior tribes, and are able 10 keep
them hemmed in among their mountain
Businesses on account Of having better
arms. II Is well known that when New
turns home his great desire Is TO take a
musket or a shot gun along with him.
Not only do the coast natives keep the
mountaineers hemmed in. but they pre-
vent as much as possible any trade passing
through their Gordon and opening up com
munication: they tell long tales OF the
herceness Of those in the interior, and If a
foreigner Is seen trying to bend his steps
in that direction, they Will always try TO
stop him
The question Is, how to open up com
munication The writer alluded to states
that the coast natives at few points in
San Christovsl and Gusdalsn It can be
done; but in the New Hebrides it viii be
very difficult
Having proposed a plan for getting at
the island tribes. the subject next to con
slider Is transport. We all know here wbst |
a farce it was sending little cock boats
south to return with 50 or 60 souls as the |
result Of four to five months work The
same thing Is felt by the Fijian employers. |
Large vessels are no use, they run too |
much risk and are more difficult to man
age in the intricate navigation of those |
seas. To overcome this difficulty. the |
writer proposes to establish depot on |
one or more Of the islands Tracts of land |
are owned in sCme parts by Europeans, |
and these. he thinks. would be readily |
parted with Attached to these depOts. |
would be several small vessels whose duty |
it would be to cruise among the islands, |
pick mp what men they could. and rendez |
vous at the depots. To these central spots, |
d steamer might be sent at stated intervals, |
say every month or six weeks. She would |
have 70 make but short stay. and would |
bring up large number of laborers at a |
time. There would be expense in carrying |
a plan such as has been sketched ont. but |
1t could hardly be more expensive than our |
experiments in that direction. Our meas |
ure Of getting a sufficient nucleus Of men |
has not been eminently satisfactory. We |
could hardly have expected to get more |
than was obtained. when We consider how |
our vessels were handicapped. The Ha |
wailan Islands were a new place to come |
TO, and there was a large number OF YES |
sels recruiting against Us. From what we |
can gather from the accounts before Us, 1t |
appears that We cannot hope TO get any |
large supply of labor from the New Heb |
rides. unless some system. such as that |
suggested is adopted And further, that |
until those laborers, who are here, have re
turned to their homes, and carried back |
good account Of our plantations, and es-
pecislly carry in their hands desirable ar
ticles OF trade" such as hatchets. knives, |
muskets. and such like pretty toys Those !
Of ON plantation managers and owners |
who have a liking for this class Of labor, |
should consider this. and when their New
Hebridss men return, should see that they |
are supplied with such articles After all, |
1t viii only be advertising on a not very