The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-03-22
THE OCEANIC COMPANY AND ITS ENE-
MES.

Our evening contemporary need not
distress itself about the Oceanic Steam
ship Company or its timetable. Now that
Messrs. Steele & Co.'s Santa Maria has
arrived the public are able to Judge
what kind OF steamer connection the
thew deal7 is prepared to give them in
the face of strong opposition, and can
draw their own conclusion as to what
accommodation they might reasonably
expect from the Santa Maria steam
packet people in Francisco if they had
exclusive right of way between Homo
lulu and the Coast. Shippers and pas
sengers would soon find out that they
had no rights these gentlemen would
feel themselves bound to respect.
Nor should it be forgotten that the
Bulletin" in common with the other
Opposition papers, crowed loudly over
what appeared to them to be the prox-
innate withdrawal of the Oceanic Com
panys steamers, when the Planters
agents sold the sugar crop for three years
to the charterers of the Santa Maria
The withdrawal of the Oceanic boats and
substitution OF sailing packets that was
to follow was to bring back the golden
era of the Hawaiian Islands, and so long
as Mr.. Pearce ran his boats this hope
was cherished and expressed in print f."
The tune is changed, however, and the
Bulletin" coolly demands from the
Oceanic Company fortnightly service
with the Coast, or in default its friends
viii run an intermediate steamer with
out asking by your leave" In reply,
and in the same spirit of candor, we say
fire away" The ocean is free to all.
There is no monopoly on the trackless
deep. Enterprise and capital alone tell
in ocean competition.
But is must occur to our evening con-
temporary, if it refers to its own files
and to those of the Freedom League as it
were, that it is not in a position to die
tate to the Oceanic Company what it
should or should not do. No matter
what this Company has done in the past,
no matter how well the public have been
served by it, our Opposition contempor-
aries, living and dead, never missed an
opportunity of attacking it as "crush-
ing monopoly" and endeavoring to in
lure its business interests. Doubtless
this was done at the bidding OF men who
envied the success of their business
rivals, but who had not the courage to
strike on their own account. They are
now pursuing the same covert policy,
and we are told by the Bulletin they
are talking about putting on a steamer
of their own unless the Oceanic Com
pany manages its business as they wish.
Well, as we said before, let them ''fire
away" If the Santa Maria will not do
the ''Great Eastern" may be had "dirt
cheap" as this ''leviathan of the Deep
has just been sold for coal hulk at
Gibraltar, and may serve their purpose.
Seriously, does anyone suppose for a
moment that the Oceanic Steamship
Company has any other object in view
than to provide the utmost possible con-
venience and accommodation for the
trade and travel of Honolulu? It's inter
ests are bound up in the Islands, and if
the regular bi-monthly steamer service
he's been interrupted for time, it was
through the opposition, encouraged, ii
not organized, by the very men who are
complaining of the result of their own
plans and combinations. Their schemes
proved abortive, SO far as injury to the
Oceanic Company was concerned, and
being now powerless to strike blow
even in the dark at the only business en-
terprise that has popularized travel to
these Islands and contributed to the well
fare of all classes, they are endeavoring
to create popular prejudice against it by
suggesting that the timetable OF the
Oceanic steamers is not arranged to suit
public convenience. This charge is I'M
founded. The Oceanic Company, by its
original arrangement with the Union
Company of New Zealand, which in
cluded the services of the Zealandia and
Australia, made ample provision for the
public convenience, and in fact perfected
an arrangement which would have
poured wealth into this CITY. but It's
efforts to serve Honolulu and the inter
island steamship companies We're neu-
tralized, as we have said, through the in
fuence OF the very men who are now
complaining of the result OF their own
deliberate action.
The public, therefore, know who to
blame for the disturbance of the original
timetable, and for any inconvenience
that may have ensued. They will like
wise rest content with the assurance that
their interests have neither been over
looked nor forgotten; and that as soon
as possible, having regard to general
business interests, the Oceanic Company
will afford in the future, as it has done in
the past, every possible facility for the
transportation of freight and passengers.