Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-01-17
NOrEs

NorES
ON the FIRST page is given the second
instalmcnt of Hon $ " Castles val
uablc paper on the wages question,
which will be concluded next week
On the FIRST page Also is an amusing
local item a true one. On the Ath
page are communications of interest,
on foreign and local topics including
a long article in criticism of kooh's
theory OF the germ origin of cholera,
reprinted, after an introduction by
Doctor Rodgers, from the Pail Mall
Budget
Those gentlemen who are interested
in Hawaiian forestry will be interested
in the following rather discouraging bit
OF intelligence, which come TO us from
the roundabout source OF the Queens
land Planter and Farmer "There are
a good many hints which we might take
from the Japanese Here is one on
the veyed question OF dciorestisation.
1t appears that until recently it was the
law in Japan that any one cutting down
a tree must plant two others A more
admirable law could hardly be imagined
and we only wish such an one could
be placed on our statue books OF late
however, and apparently with view of
assimilating their laws to those OF Euro
pcan countries, this excellent law has
been abolished Already the i'll effects
are being seen. The native papers are
crying out at the extinction Of the lac
quer industry Of the country. The tree
from which the varnish is obtained is
disappearing. Formerly, like the null
~berY.tree on which the silkworm feeds,
it was pfotected by law. Each family
of the upper clssses was obliged to rear
one hundred traes, the middle classes
seventy, and the lower classes forty.
Since this law fell into desuetude, the
cultivation of the lacquer-trce has rap
idly declined The trees we're cut
down without care, and none were
planted to replace them, so that
they have become exceedingly rare
while the price of lacquer has enor
mously increased Similar complaints,
too, are heard of the process Of defor
cstisation going on in reference to other
valuable trees since the abolition OF the
law We have referred to-"
To realize how easy it is to write
about something one does not under
stand, read the following from the
New York Hour "Whcn one read,
books like Mr., St. Johnston's Camp
ing among Cannibals (Messrs. Mac
milan are the publishers), one gets !
touch of home sickness for those ye
unspoiled shores, where missionarie'
have no, quite destroyed all the free
warm life OF = nice and natural pcopl,
of the South Sea Islands They arr
all beautiful, all good-natured, gener
GUS, hospitable. They are not indus
uious, for what is there to be gainet
by industry in country and under ;
sky that offer all desirable things freely
They have their own poor law, whicl
consists in each set of kinsfolk keepin
all its members on one level OF com
fort They wear shell crowns ant
wreaths of flowers f; their existence is
perpetual and graceful ballet. they ar
not particular about some points @
morality necessarily considered cardinu
with us. The sand and sea are S
warm, the bushes SO fragrant, the fruit
so splendid and delicious, that tn
islands can afford morality of thei
own After all, morality depends o
the sum of our relations to each othe
and to the world The sum of
Tongans relations is quite dilierer
from the sum of ours All the virtue
associated with tall hat, a great Goa
an umbrella, property tax, water tai
free and independent voting, par,
politics, and the like, do not exist f
him. He is, indeed, as SO many roy;
races have claimed to be, the child ,
the Sun. Surely among these hapI
tribes, the modern lotus eaters, civi
ized people, who dread the winte
might be happy enough" The writ,
OF the above would probably be som
what enlightened if he could |
suddenly transported to the midst
the free warm life OF some mi,
and natural people in the South S,
Islands "unspoiled by missionari
and morality, Theft and murder al
the barbecue OF "long pig would pr
badly open his eyes to few Of the a
yanlages OF Christian civilization.