Daily Kennebec journal., 1890-12-05

dsnce Ia themselves. la the body which
has just adjourned. there were eighteen
members os the native Hawaiian race
r and half whites. The remainder were
!. of Amerlean aad English parentage,
T. born on the Islands, or natives Of the
Usited States and Europe. OF the last
FAMED three we're from Germany, three
from England. aad one born in Nice.
Of the pare white members, the Asneri-
cans outaumber all the others Of foreign
origin. As The Legislature meets only
once 10 two years, and as there are no
regular town, city, nor county govern
raents. the amount Of business 70
be done by the Legislature ia
necessarily quite extensive. The
methods Of procedure are very similar TO
what they are in either branch Of the
Maine Legislature. The flfty two mem-
bers elect their own officers, and the
Speaker appoints the committees. Smok-
ing ia not allowed IN the Legislative
ball \ most excellent rule and well
enforced. Though most of the Hawaii
ans are smokers, they have sufficient
regard for good manners and the rights
of others TO do their smoking outside Of
the Legislative rooms. Some American
Legislatures would do we'll TO copy this
example Of good manners and respect
for common decency. | am sure that
the state that gave such a splendid
Republican majority In September and
stand. a. the most reliable for temper
anee in the Union, which has a newly
enlarged State House, will do wisely not
to forget that cleanliness and patriotism
20 hand In hand aud that It's Lawmakers
viii not allow its beauiifed walls to be
| polluted BIZ unsavory odors.
The most exciting question before the
IIa@a allan Legislature has been relative
to some change in the present Con-tifu-
| ton, hich j. the produet OF popular
uprising in 1857, supported by force.
/ yet concluded without bloodshed. The
I presrut Con-titutlon Is modelled largely
according to those Of the United States
I and England and r. more like the former
than the hitter BY it most of the for
mer power of the King was taken away
and given 10 the Legislature and to a
Ministry responsible to the Legislature
The principal agitation of the tirsI weeks
OF the recent session grew out of an or
ganized effort to change this COnstitn
tion by calling q Convention, n method
which the present Constitution ex-
cip-t = but which provides that it,
,ameudnsut must be made through |
succc> siye votes of two Legislatures. 1t |
was supposed that Constitutional Con
yentiou would come largely under the
control of the native llawaiians and
result in unfortunate collision between
The various race elements In the Islands |
But after some weeks of agitation In and |
ont Of the Legislature, il became obvious
that majority Of that body and the
/ hest public opinion were in favor of
making some amendment. but only in
the ~ag provided by the Constitution
Itself. This conclusion was finally
reached NEARLY unanimously. and thu,
what threatened at one time to be a dan
gerous crisis, passed of paciflcally,
much to the credit of the Legislature
and % the welfare of the Islands
The ncxt most exciting question
pa sed upon was that relating to labor
The principal Industries of the country
are the production of sugar and rice. For
/ thi Chinese and japanese laborcrs are
mainly employed though there are here
Portuguese population of nearly twelve
thousand, who came some years since.
/ largely for plantation work Prior to
! the passage of the Mckinley bill, extern
! sive and costly preparations were made
| for the increase of sugar culture, and
/ now seven or eight thousand additions
llborers are required for the new plan.
tatious. The feeling among all classes
of the Hawaiian population is against
the Introduction Of any more Asiatics
! This feeling dominated the Legislature.
and various expedicuts were proposed
to avoid receiving more Chinese or
/ Japane.e. but without success. Finally
Il very stringent bill was passed with
general unanimity, for the admission of
more Chinese. who shall come under "A
specific contract with adequate bonds,
requiring them to coutiuc their labor
exclusively to the sugar and rice planta
/ ions. and that AZ the termination of
their wears of service they shall return
10 China This law does not apply to
those already in the country, large
number OF whom have become mer
chints. mechanics, hack drivers, gar
deners, and house servants, pressing
strongly upon the occupations of othrr
.atoaalitics
considering that the total population
of the l-,lands l. about the same "a that
of the counties # X unebec and Audro.
-eoggtn, the amount ef appropriations
wil, soein very large to the readers of
/ the JOURNAL. 1t is made to cover two
! years, aud toots up si4.ll7l. OF thi
amount s200,000 is for the harbor OF
Honolulu and the Improvement of it,
euirance: SG3 Geo for new Nharves and
seA-wails Mt Honolulu; S275 900 for
addition to and improvement OF the Hon
olulu water works; s2ii5o0 for the care
OF lepers S270,000 for educational pur-
poses ard schOolhouses. which will be
Increased by local taxation and contri-
buttons; SOB COO for subsidies for steam
ers 90 the "a nited States. and SIS 900 for
4 steamer to Tahiti; SIS 600 to the Inter
island cable; $4,000 for the encourage
ment Of coffee culture; $40 coo for tAe
Kings salary and $4,000 for his house
hold expenses, in addition to the income
of the Crown lands. which Weld him
about S90,000 per annum. As there are
no town city. and county governments
In the Kingdom, the expenses for police.
roads, bridges and various other local
expenses are paid from the National
Treasury. For the completion of the
road to the Volcano. so that tourists and
others can have good carriage way to
the very brink OF the great crater. s55.-
Geo are appropriated Since the adoption
Of the liberal Constitution Of 1887 pub
lie improvements have marched with
rapid strides Though the Government
and the people have perplexibg prob