The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-08-31

mindful of its obligations, or neglectful OF
the demands of common humanity which
appeared to have been outraged by the
events at Paia. Accordingly Mr.. Jonothan
Austin, weIl-known lawyer and President
of the Planters Labor and Supply Com
pany, was commissioned to proceed to Pais
and make full investigation into all matters
of complaint by the Japanese laborers, with
discretionary power to remedy and pressing
abuse on the spot.
Mr.. Jono. Austin took an interpreter with
him. He reported to the President of the
Board of immigration on July 4th, having
left Honolulu for Paia on the 30th of June,
and his report in the main bears out the
foregoing statement by the Japanese. Touch
ing the three men in question he reports
that the manager of the plantation, in add
ton to DIR. Bulls certificate that they were
fit to work, instructed the white man who
acted as sick nurse and administered the
medicine, to carefully observe these
|. men. After several days he confirmed the
opinion of the physician, Whereupon the
manager ordered them to go to work. Mr..
Walsh also stated to Mr.. Austin that he told
them, through the interpreter, that if they
made trial of work and were really unable
to do so, he would not insist further until
they were well, but that the physician told
him that they were only pretending to be
sick. They refused to make the trial, and
were then taken to Makawao, where, on the
testimony of DIR. Bull, and proof of refusal
to work, they were each fined SIS. They were
kept at Makawao until June 18th, and then
sent in charge of two native policemen to
Wailuku on foot, a distance of about thir-
teen miles. Upon arrival there they seemed
to be sick, and the Sheriff caused them to be
examined by DR.. Sutlif, Government physi-
nounced them seriously i'll and in need of
care and medical treatment.
They were sent to Wailuku Hospital,
where Mr.. Jono. Austin saw them, in com
pany with DIR. Sutliff. They were then quite
sick and unable to work. They all COM
planned that on the way from Makawao to
Wailuku they were struck by the policemen
with whips and kicked. The interpreter
seemed to think that if force had not been
used to make them go they would have died
on the road. They said that the whipping
them. The policemen denied committing
these assaults. After an investigation or
dered by the Attorney General, they were
dismissed.
Pursuing the investigation, Mr.. Jono.
Austin further reports that the plantation
books and the reports of the manager and
physician show that there had been a great
deal of sickness among the Japanese at
Paia and from the statement of the book
keeper and the overscer at HamakuapOko
the manager being ABSENT, the same had
been the case at that plantation. The
Japanese at both planta tons seemed to be
discouraged and depressed. Mr.. Austin
talked with many of them at Paia. They said
that their treatment by the manager and
lunas had improved since the visit of the
Japanese Consul, but in every instance there
was an expression of want of confidence in
their medical attendance. Complaints were
also made of the working hours. The man
ager, however, denied that they were kept
moro th0r. ton IIUurs except IN the mill and
at watering, where they were willing to
work more. They also complained of their
quarters, too many in a room, etc. The
manager met this by the statement that he
had offered them increased accommodation
but they preferred crowding. Other COM
plants were made, and investigated by Mr..
Austin.
Summing up his report, Mr.. JOnO. Austin
writes: "There seems to have been gen.
sral feeling that it was of no use to appeal
to the manager, but the principal matter
of dissatisfaction is the medical attendance,
and if there were no complaint upon that
score, the rest would be such comparatively
trivial matters as are constantly arising
where large numbers of men are employed
in manual labor.
"Nakagawa Nisaku a head mani, sub
sequently said to me I'VE don't believe
that the men who have died here died of
disease, but that they were killed by Paia
plantation, and all the rest will be killed in
three years at this plantation
81 visited Wailuku plantation and found
that an entirely different state of things
exists there. The Japanese there are very !
healthy, and the percentage of absentees is
very small. They are happy and cheerful,
and the manager and overseer report them !
as faithful, efficient and willing and nearly |
all continually on duty. At the two first
named plantations great numbers are con-
stantly absent from duty, and as whole
they are said to be unfaithful, inefficient and
unwilling"
The Special Japanese Commissioner, Mr..
Inouye, to whom all these facts and COM
plants had been communicated, resolved
that he would make personal investigation
of the general condition of Japanese laborers
in this country, and with this in view he
took the Yamashiro Maru around so that
he might be perfectly free and un trammelled.
Their Excellencies the Foreign Minister and
the Attorney General accompanied him by
invitation, but did not in any sense inter
fere with Mr.. Inouye's programme. The
general result was satisfactory; not so in the
case of the two plantations named.
Resuming our narrative, however; The
following petition, signed by forty-one
Japanese laborers on Paia plantation, adj
dressed to the Board of immigration, dated