The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-12
PLANTERS LABOR AND SUPPLY COM
PANY.

PANY
We publish a report of Saturdays
proceedings at the annual meeting of
the Planters Labor and Supply Com
pany. 1t is interesting in various
ways, but chiefly as giving the ex-
perience of practical men engaged in
the prosecution of a great industry.
We regret, however, that the annual
report of the Company, read by the
Secretary, should show marked politi-
cal bias, combined with unfairness of
statement. We refer to that section
of the Secretary's report on the issu-
ance of spirit licenses. The report
states
1t was not considered that protest
against issuing licenses would be of any
avail, as the Government is not in the habit
of shaping its action by the wishes of the
governed but it was thought best to place
the Company on record as wholly opposed
to the traffic, and in accordance Herewith a
protest was addressed to the Minister of the
Interior, requesting that no further licenses
be issued, for reasons given therein.
It Is here assumed that 1.-THE gov
erned,u that is the Hawaiian Com
monwealth, is composed of the Plant
ers' Labor and Supply Company, and
that outside that charmed circle all
other interests in the Kingdom, and
all other persons except its stock
holders, are mere cyphers. There is
q complacent consciousness of inn
portance about this paragraph in the
report which is calculated to beget
admiration. But the Government, it
appears, preferred to obey The law
rather than the mandate of the p. L.
& S. Co. This is just where the shoe
pinches. The license law left the
granting of liquor licenses in outlying
districts to the Privy Council, which
was empowered to make regulations !;
and the Privy Council simply author
lied the Minister of the Interior to
grant certain licenses, which it speci-
fed, at his discretion. This did not
imply that he had discretion to oppose
the policy Of the law and nullify the
order of the Privy Council by refus-
ing to grant any license, but rather
hl xx,ns tn nriun n4faot to the nnliou
of the law, using due discretion in the
issuance of licenses to guard against
abuse. If that were not so, then the
Privy Council was at fault, because
the law leaves it to that body to de-
termine whether licenses should be
granted or not and to frame regula-
tions. It ordered that they be granted
in the discretion of the Minister of
the Interior; in other words, it fixes
the responsibility upon the Minister
Of issuing licenses only to responsible
and reputable persons. And we have
not heard any imputation against
him on that head.
1t is evident, therefore, that the
Government is not responsible for the
issuance of these liquor licenses. It
was the joint act of the Legislature
and Privy Council, the act of the
Government being purely ministerial.
All this was well known to the
trainers of the report, yet they en-
bodied in an official document state
ment misleading as to the fact, for
the purpose apparently of injuring
the Government on the eve of a gem
eral election. If the Planters Labor
and Supply Company would keep
close to the lines of usefulness which
its organization suggests, it would
receive the cordial approval of the
great body of "the governed who
sustain the Government; but while it
combines politics with ratOons it will
weaken its influence for good. We
say this in no captious spirit, but as a
friend of the Company. Moreover,
we may add that the community at
large is not by any means unit on
this question. The ADVERTISER, at
the time the Privy Council passed the
order referred to, made a very COM
plete report of the opinions of leading
citizens and business men on the sub
ject, and the balance of opinion did
not sustain the protest of the Planters
Labor and Supply Company. The
majority were willing that the expert
nlent should be tried.