The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-03-04
THE GOVERNMENT ENDORSED BY THE
HILO PLANTERS SOCIETY.

II Will NC III Tic ICCOllcCllOu Vi ulOSt
people that the Government was taken
very severely to task last Autumn for
circular letter on Japanese and Portu-
guese immigration issued by the Presi-
dent of the Board of immigration, August
10, 1885. The legal luminaries of the
Opposition discovered that it was I'M
constitutional, extra judicial, a subversion
OF Hawaiian independence, and so forth.
And the Planters Labor and Supply
Company followed in the same strain by
its Committee on Labor, the appointment
of special inspectors of Japanese and
Portuguese immigrants, and resident in
terpreters, being treated as equivalent to
the establishment of Consular Courts,
and an interference with the integrity
and jurisdiction of the Hawaiian Courts.
The ADVERTISER, it will be remembered,
pointed out the absurdity of this posi-
ton, and was dragged into personal
controversy arising out of it with prom
inent member of the P. L. and S. Com
pany.
A deputation from the latter Company
waited upon His Excellency Mr.. Gulick,
President of the Board of immigration,
and talked the matter over with him,
afterwards submitting to him long
string of queries, covering all the afore-
said points affirmatively, and demanding
categorical reply. 1t is noteworthy,
however, that although the Minister'S
reply was published in the official organ
of the Labor and Supply Company, the
queries in question were carefully sup
pressed. Mr.. Gulick's explanation APP
pears to have satisfied the more rational
members of the organization; but there
are members belonging to it who would
not approve of any act done by any
member of the present Administration
however proper or commendable, and
therefore the Committee on Labor gave
the circular of August 10th ''black
eye," as it were.
But the Hilo Planters Society seemed
to be exclusively constituted of total-de-
pravity men; that is, they would not
give the Government credit for any
worthy motive, or any public spirit, or
the possession of even average intelli-
gence in its management of immigration,
and accordingly resolutions were unani-
mously adopted at the regular quarterly
meeting of the H. P. s., held at Onomea,
September Is, 1885, ten plantations
being represented, and officially trans
mitted to the President of the Board of
immigration by Mr.. G. G. Kennedy,
Secretary. And here, parenthentieall'.;S
we may also remark that altb5dgh MIR.
Kennedy made haste to send copies OF
the resolutions to the Honolulu news
papers, theF reply of His Excellency MIR.
GuliclSSas carefully pigeon-holed. Any
s,lss:5w, it has not yet been published, and
with the light of subsequent events we
venture to say it never will be by the
Hilo Planters Society. The resolutions
were:
1st.-That the planters of Hilo District
do hereby declare that we regard the late
circular of August 10th, as issued by the
President of the Board of Immigration IN
the matter of Japanese and Portuguese
Commissioners, as entirely uncaIIed Ior,
extra judicial and unconsttutlonaI.
2d.@That we regard the carrying OUT OF
the provisions as set forth in said circular
as the first step in annulling the indie
pendence of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
3d.-That said circular, If carried out, Will
entirely subvert all proper and useful dis
cipline on plantations and tend to aggra-
Vate rather than diminish the present evils
attendant on all labor enterprises now
existing on these isles. And we do there
fore enter our earnest protest against the
said circular in toto, and declare our in
tention to abide by the labor laws as now
existing in this country, and hereby utter
" refuse to acknowledge any interven-
ton of Japanese or Portuguese Commits
sioners.
(Signed) @. c. KENNEDY,
Secretary Hilo Planters Society.
These resolutions were formulated on
September Is, 1885, and the annual
meeting of the Hilo Planters Society
was HELD February %, 1886, five months
and one week having elapsed. And this
is the testimony of experience from un-
friendly and most unwilling witnesses,
Judging their feeling by the resolutions
quoted above, as appears in letter from
Hilo, signed ~. A. NJ" which was
printed in the morning organ of the OPP
position, March LIST
The annual meeting of Hilo District
planters was held at Hakalau on February