The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-17
"That NIoIokai Excursion."


in to-day's ADVERTISER the reason
why certain persons were allowed to
60 to Molokai about a week ago, to |
which inquiry you reply that upon |
enquiry at headquarters we are in
formed that the motives OF having a
steamer excursion was to have friends
of lepers visit them at enc specified
time, instead Of having such vista
tons distributed right along by
means of individual permits for
which there has always been an i'm
Fortunate demand. It is held to be
out of the question to altogether pre-
vent friends of the unfortunate peo-
pie from occasionally seeing and
talking with them"
| For the information of the public
L think it proper to state the reasons
for the action taken by the Board, as
without such explanation it may be
considered a departure from the
principle Of segregation.
For the past sixteen months por-
ton of the native press has devoted
itself day after day and week after
week, column after column and page
after page, to vilification of the
Board of Health, and the most in
cendiary appeals to the native Ha-
waiians to resist the segregation of
lepers. The stock designation of the
Board of Health is the BOARD of
! Death" The settlement at MOlOkai
Is constantly referred to as the
Grave" Qua kupapau). The most
malicious falsehoOds concerning the
management, the accommodations
and the treatment of lepers at the
settlement and elsewhere are system
atically displayed under sensational
headlines, interlarded with more or
less open innuendoes and editorial
suggestions that the death of the
members of the Board is the proper
remedy.
A lie we'll stuck to will frequently
make more of an impression than the
truth.
The number of lepers sent to Molo-
kai during the last few months has
been very large, owing to the thor
ough work which has been done by
the police and district physicians.
All are forwarded from Honolulu
after final examination here. The
result has been that an unusually
large number of the friends and re-
latives Of lepers have come to town
to bid them a final farewell.
Hawaiians have as warm love of
kindred as their white brethren. If
any one doubts it, and wishes to wit
ness a heart-rending scene, let him
visit steamer about to leave with
lepers for Molokai; let him go to the
Office of the Board and see how some
poor kanaka will hang round for
months at time begging for per-
NIT to visit a friend, pleading with
members of the Board at their
houses, at their offices, on the street.
It is useless to refer them to reports
of legislative committees, showing
that their friends are we'll taken care
of; the answer is" If we could only
see with our own eyes-just once
we would be satisfied; we hear so
much said that we do not know what
the truth is; if we could but know of
our own knowledge we could rest"
The average Hawaiian does not
fear leprosy and is opposed to segre-
cation. With very few exceptions,
they have never seen the settlement
; and have but little knowledge of
what there is there, nor how it is
conducted. On such as these, with
) the agony of freshly parting forever
from friends and relatives, to go to a
place which they have' never seen,
and concerning which they have
3 heard SO much that is evil, the effect
of detailed, systematic misrepresen-
tation of the horrors of the settle
ment, accompanied with frenzied ap-
) peals for vengeance on the Oppresso1
and resistance unto death, can better
be imagined than described.
; The effect of all this has been tc
, double the opposition to segregation
8 It caused the shooting afrays at
: Waimea and Eva, and now prevents
2 the completion of the segregation Oh
: all Iepers known to be at large, which
? the Board had hoped to have accom-
plished ere this time.
0 Where definite, correct knowledge
. Of the settlement has been obtained
by the lepers or their friends, the
2 fierce opposition has been removed
and others from the same vicinity
s have come forward voluntarily, OF
have offered no opposition to re
moval to the settlement. A notable
example of this has been at Waimea
Kauai. Since the first lepers were
sent there, and the visit of their
Legislative representative to the set
Element, there has been but little
opposition to segregation in that
district.
The object of the excursion was
< therefore to allow the immediate
!. friends and relatives of the lepers to
see the locality and how the inmates
i were cared for, in order, by this OBJ
ject lesson, to let those most inter
ested see and report upon the actual
9 condition of the settlement and It's
! inmates, and so far as possible re-
move the friction and opposition to
segregation.
After careful consideration and
consultation with Mr.. r. w Meyers,
who has had charge Of the settle
ment since its foundation, the Board
felt that under the circumstances
r and in the interests of segregation
! tho yI,o,.y.onto1 XNbo+