The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1884-11-12

ono of them, nor the whole put |
together, constitutes the main diff |
Guilty. The great barrier to begin
ming and subsequent progress is the I.
high price Of ldRd. Talk of immi- F.
grafton for populating and settling
the country Talk of peasant fami-
lies, with small capital, coming here
and making permanent homes 1t
is all nonsense, and betrays super
lativc ignorance. What chances of
advancement, or even of making n
livelihood, have such people here?
Let those shallow theorists who talk
such bosh answer. A delightful
climate, enchanting scenery, lovely
moonshine, and perennial spring are
all very nice things in their way,
and add wonderfully to the bright
ness of existence, but serve poorly
for food and clothing. The prime
need of peasant families is cheap
land. This is what attracts that
class of people from Europe to
America, Australia. and other new
countries. How can they be eX-
pectcd to come here where no such
attraction exists? There is unoccu-
pied and untitled land enough in the
Kingdom to maintain in comfort our
present population many times
doubled But what practical farmer
is going to pay the price demanded
for purchase or rent, with the
expectation of making living by
cultivation? Just think of fifteen,
twenty, thirty, forty and even sixty
dollars an acre for years rent!
No one but Chinaman can pay it.
and pay the cost of living too. |
doubt if even Cinnamon can con-
tinue to pay such rents. In the past
they have been in the habit of taking
up lands at n high rental, putting in
Il crop of rice, and then selling out
the lease to their countrymcn, at an
advance. The second holders re-
peat the operation the third like
wise. This is how the Cinnamon
have made money out of high-priced
land, and not from the actual pro-
ducts of the soil. The mot trans
ferrablc" clause is no impeachment
to Il Chnaman he simply makes it
appear that he has placed his brother,
or uncle, or cousin, or some very
intimate " fen in charge, while he
himself takes short sojourn in
China, for the sake of an aged
father who is near the point of death ;
but in nine cases out of ten you
never see him back on that land
again he has made his pile by sell
ing out. But even this kind of
thing has about reached its limit,
and unsophisticatcd buyers are be-
coming scarce Notwithstanding the
high price of rice there is mighty
little profit in its cultivation to those
who pay such enormous rents for
their land. Already many once san
guine cultivators have become bank
rupt and many others are now on
the verge of bankruptcy. How,
then, can white man, whose habits
Of life were formed by Western civil
lization, be expected to succeed
under the same conditions! The
uncultivated lands are in the hands
of the Government and few other
individuals, all of whom conspire &c
keep them beyond the reach of decent
peasants of small means, and thereby
interpose barrier to the country's
progress and their own welfare. The
Government perform their part OF
! the compact by submitting Govern
ment lands to auction and knocking
them down to the highest bidder
thus placing them in the hands Of
wealthy spectators, instead of al
lowing them to be taken up by in
dustrious peasants, at nomina
rental, on the conditions of occu
pancy and improvement. This cours'
: is made compulsory by an insane
Act of an idiotic Legislature. Th'
. land owners, by their eXtortionat'
= rents, give their tenants every in
ducement to crop the land to it
', fullest capacity, take as much a
Il