The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-10-12

not believe that the members OF the Legs
lature Tor any amount OF money would
vote 10 take off the tabu from opium. He
hoped and believed that they loved the
people TOO well 10 be guilty Of any such
action. lie believed the bin would DE
killed.
Mr.. Brown said he was in favor Of in
definitely postponing the section They
had a Law against the importation
/ OF opium or having it in possession The
title OF this bill regulates the importation
and sale. The title of the bin is one
thing and the provisions another, and
! therefore ii Is Unconstitutional, according
to article - OF the Constitution. which
says: To avoid improper influences
/ which may result from intermixing in one
/ and the same Act such things as have no
( proper relations to each other, every law
( shall embrace but one object, and that
/ shall be expressed in the title" 1t did not
make provisions for bringing opium into
the Kingdom but only for Honolulu If
it passed it would repeal the Act in force
in toto. They would have q license for the
sale in Honolulu. while the other islands
OF the group could have all the opium they
wanted, and there was nothing to restrict
. them. The cry of those who support the
bill was that it would increase the revenue,
but it will not 1t only applies to Homo
lulu, and cannot be interpreted to mean
outside. The bill as framed looked as if a
Chinaman with a tin of opium had gotten
in himself. He hoped it would be indef-
nitely postponed.
DR.. Wight said he intended to speak on
the moral and physical degradation of
this bill, by which man would be made
more beastly than the beasts OF the field,
and by which these beautiful islands would
be converted into the vilest pandemonium.
In the train of this one vice comes every
vice. Man never gives up anything after
once becoming a victim to opium. The
Attorney General had spoken so largely on
degradation that anything he could say
would not have any force He was sorry
to see the members looking at this matter
from a financial point Of view, and over
looking the moral vice. They consider /
that if this bill passed it would put a stop
to smuggling and increase the finances of /
the Government. He would ask them |
whether they could carry water in sieve. /
They might just as well do that as try to /
prevent smuggling. The Attorney General |
had spoken of the detriment to planting |
interests. From what interests would rev.
enue be derived, if not from planting? The .
plantations are already handicapped by !
the expense of labor and small prices from
sugar. He was aware OF the fact that two |
or three agents had thrown up their plan
tations, owing to the depressed state of the !
sugar market. One great difficulty on the |
plantations was this opium smoking II
it was difficult to suppress it now, where
would the planters be if it was licensed /
Which is master of these islands, capital
or labor? Why, labor To put anything t
in the way of the planter getting the full |
benefit of his labor means ruin. II they |
were to receive thousands from this bill /
it would never compensate the Govern !
ment for its loss of revenue.
Mr.. Aholo said some of the arguments |
against the bill were true, but some he
could not see through. DR.. Wight had |
said something about sieve. He (the
speaker) would undertake to take up sutfi-
cient water in a sieve to wet the honorable
member pretty well through. Some man
ayers allow their Chinese Iaborers to use
opium.
DR. Wight asked Mr. Aholo to mention
one.
Mr.. Aholo said he did not interrupt the
honorable member when he was speaking,
and asked him not to interrupt him He
did not think opium the cause OF planta-
tons closing up. Many plantations fail
because of the high rate of interest they
have - pay, and also from bad manage
ment. 1t has been said there will be
an increase of opium. Perhaps it
may be so. They had heard the
Attorney General talk about bad ef-
fects, but he would like to have him
give some way to check them. 1t has been
said opium is deadly; this bill will not
make it more deadly. They had heard
great many people talk about opium, and
yet they were engaged in smuggling them
selves. They all know that they are
flooded with opium, and why does not
someone provide remedy. They had
been told that England forced opium into
China, and yet they are having England
upheld to them all the time and told to
follow it. For twelve years they had been
trying to keep opium out but it was of no
use Here was this bill to try and regulate
it. 1t had been said that this bill was
bad one; well, the go to work like a doc
tor and treat it section by section. Mr..
Brown said the title was one thing and the
bill another. He was glad he had called
attention to it, and they would remedy
that. After hearing all the remarks, he felt
the bill would be amended and passed some
time during the afternoon. He knew
opium was bad thing, and they had got .
the evil, but no remedy was proposed. 1t
has been said that we should offend the
Emperor of Japan. The Minister of the
Interior has power TO put in some restric-
ton so that the japanese could not get
opium. With regard to deaths If they
looked at the hospital books they would
find that opium has very small proper
ton An old man at Lahaina had been
kept alive for several years by using opium.
They hear of people dying, but not from
opium 1t was the Honolulu fevers that
we're killing them. If, as the Attorney
General says, it was demoralizing for the
Young the Government should take some
steps to prevent it. 1t was stopped in
Japan because the Government took hold I
Of it. Opium was not the cause of the
3traitened condition of plantations He
lid not claim this was a good law, but it