The Hawaiian gazette., 1891-01-20

ment of the pearl fisheries in Torres
Straits. At Normanton, distant some
few hundred miles and situate at the
head of the Gulf OF Carpentaria, one of
these meek and docile Malays "ran
amuck" and in his paroxysm cruelty aud
without any other motive but his insane
thirst for blood murdered two white men
and fatally stabbed third while asleep
in their tents and, on being holly pur-
sued, plunged the ''kris'' through his own
heart. The entire white population Of
the town, enraged beyond endurance,
turned out to revenge the inofending
victims. They fired and burned down
all the houses belonging to the Malays
and chased every mothers son OF them,
some hundred and odd in number, into
the Norman River, where they took re-
fuge on board of an old hulk. The most
prominent citizens took part in this high
handed business, in country that never
had single case OF lynching, nor did
they rest until the coolies had all been
shipped away to Thursday Island. The
local authorities were unable to put any
restraint upon the people. AS may be
easily imagined, the fugitives did not re-
ceive a very cordial welcome by the
Thursday islanders, who had quite
enough with their own labor troubles.
They were allowed to land unmolested,
however, and maintained at public ex-
pense. But the affair raised such storm
of Indignation throughout the colony,
that the Queensland Government, in de-
ference to public opinion, were obliged
to ship the whole lot back to Batavia at
its own cost Every one of these Ma
lays had been a contract laborer, at sea
or on land, but had either deserted from
his employ or escaped the vigilance of
the proper authorities, and yet venture
to say that the laws are enforced in the
Colonies quite as strictly as in the Ha-
waiian Kingdom. Arriving mostly in
destitute condition and liable to become
burden upon them, the Gulf people
had nevertheless good-naturedly allowed
them to settle down among themselves
and behold the consequences! Will
"Lyndhurst" or any other honest man
dare to assert that there are not in this
country hundreds, if not actually thous
ands of Chinese, who have no business
to be here and have nevertheless been
suffered to remain in our midst?
"Lyndhurst" has taken up the cud-
gels for the Javanese and poses as their
champion. Very we'll. object to them
because l have lived amongst them and
believe that l know what am talking
about. In reply to paragraph 3, there
fore, l beg to say that my only purpose
is, in the interest of this community at
large and to the utmost extent of my
feeble power, to oppose their importa-
ton to this country, tooth and nail. |
did not undertake to devise means OF
meeting the scarcity of labor and sin
cerelv hope that the Hon. Paul Neu-
mann will succeed in his mission to
that OF several evils it is always best to
choose the least.
l can heartily join issue with ''Lynd-
hurst" in that part of his sixth and final
paragraph in which he says: 'Let the
Hawaiian planter look further into the
matter" Aye, let him do this, and as a
conscientious man, who has more than
his sef-aggrandizement and monetary
interest in view, he will perhaps pause
and reflect little upon the possible con-
sequences of his actions. By all means,
let the planters look into the matter for
themselves. But let them also bear the
responsibility if evil results accrue.
Before bringing this long communlca-
ton to a close, Mr.. Editor, l cannot re-
frain from complimenting my opponent
upon the moderate and gentlemanly tone
of his reply to my first letter. 1 would
fain have him believe that in having
taken this matter up with some appar-
ent warmth. l have been actuated sim
ply by q strong conviction, born OF
personal observation, Of the unsuitability
of Javanese coolies for this country, and
it is for the impartial reader to form his
own judgment as to the relative merits
of the argument. II my "experto
crede" should fail to change the opinion
of 'Lyndhurst," then let US, metaphor
ically speaking, smoke the calumet of
peace, agree to differ and bury the
Ratchet. Thanking you for the inser-
ton of the above,
VIGGo JACOBSEN.
Honolulu, January s, 1891.