The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-05-06
ABOUT FREE PORTS.

The subject of free port cannot be
-60Az fEAqu j. 0Eu-toaz foEeiblEy .aElal
upon the attention of the Govern
ment and the com nlereTal and trading
Glasses Every charge upon shipping
is, moreover, a tax upon consumers
therefme1 the iwarhmg .alassest who
are least able to bear any additional
I,bYrfe4 r9n their limited Eesoueees,
are as directly interested i'm the ques-
ton asa are1 ewhers Of Shipping, i'm
pOrters Of merchandise, and owners OF
prOpertyntthervalue of which is neces-
sarily affected by the causes that re-
.tap1 bcIad1amce trade. If Honolulu
were made a free port, and if Motif
cation. of the fact were made in all
the leading maritime newspapers ol
the world, we should soon see ou1
harbor crowded with shipping com
ing for overhaul and supplies. The
outlay of these ships in the ordinary
course of events, would be a very
great aid to the business of. the city,
and help to build up the rural dis
tricts, as already pointed out by the
ADVERTISER.
To show what may be accomplished
in this direction, we may again refer
to Mr.. Consul Zohrab's report to the
British Foreign Office, on the effect
Of low shipping charges upon the
trade of ST. Thomas and Barbados.
Some years ago st. Thomas was the
most active shipping point in the
West Indies, being on the track OF
the Colon and South American trade.
Barbados, which had once been eX-
ceedingly prosperous, fell into the
background. It's sugar industry Ian
guished, trade became depressed, the
faint-hearted realized as best they
could and "silently stole away" or
''put an anchor out to windWard," as
some of our old Hawaiian residents
have done. Those who remained,
however, determined to help them
selves, and their method of self-h clip
is a lesson to us. Consul ZOhrab
describes it. He saws:
Some years ago the Windward Islands so
reduced the charges on vessels entering and
leaving Barbados in ballast that they
became merely nominal, and as owners
found that the lower charges of Barbados
more than cOun terbalanced the facilities Of
fered by st. Thomas, the result has been
that, while the falling off in British ship
he 81, ;sIo 10, ,
and regular since 1875, the en- tries of Bar
BADGES has been yearly augmenting. What
is cons family being lost by Denmark is
being appropriated by British possession,
and is gain to US. The authorities at St.
Thomas now see that if the charges are not
materially reduced there is every probability
of the port losing its entire traffic. A re-
duced tariff of scale of charges is being for
mulated, but fear it is too late it seems
to be very like locking the stable door after
the horse has been stolen.
Honolulu is not similarly depressed
as st. Thomas, but it is not as flour
ishing as it might be; and we submit
that when any measure of public
policy is calculated to effect q change
for the better in the conditions of
trade, it should be adopted. The re-
mission of all charges upon shipping
at our port would accomplish that
end. OF this there cannot be any
doubt. During the present season
the evil of our short-sighted policy in
imposing heavy dues upon shipping
was made manifest by the action of
the whaling fleet, which rendezvoused
here early in the season. None
of these vessels came into port for
the simple reason that they would
have been subject to heavy charges,
which they escaped by cruising off
harbor, and communicating with the
shore by boats. If the whalers had
come inside great deal of money
would have been expended, which
did not pass into circulation among