The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-06-23

DlducDdFu, the orig Nlu, sold TO
Liholiho in August, 1919, for SOL $50;
the brig Thaddeus, purchased in 1920
for $4,000; the brig Kamehameha,
purchased by Thomas Meek in 1923
for 3400 piculs; besides several vessels,
including the Beckett, the Kamaha-
Iolan1, etc, sold to Kaumualii, King
OF kauai-on several of which unpaid
balances remained due for q long
time.
Commodore Jones' orders from the
Secretary of the Navy directed him,
among other things. "to secure GER
tain debts due American citizens by
the native government" Wa7ie
A. BY Kanaina. One schooner,
about 200 tons, sold by a captain tRey-
n0lds was his mate) for 40, 900 paunas.
(?) The brass gun was paid for in
sandalwood, he does not remember
how much; q piece of silk was valued
at $40 and paid for in sandalwood at
$40 the picul. Few of the chiefs had
dollars; the goods were paid for in
sandslwood.
A. By John Meek. Goods were
sold cheap for sandalwood; there was
then no cash to pay for them. One
pauna consisted of two piculs. Kama
ina means the brig Waverly; does not
know the price paid for her, but thinks
it could not have exceeded SIS, 900 or
$4,000; Reynolds must know.
@. Had the American missionaries
or any of them anything to do with
the arrangements made by Captain
Jones? If so, state what missionaries
by name?
A. By Kekuanaoa and John Iii.
Do not think they had anything to do
with it.
BY Kanaina. The missionaries were
employed simply to interpret for the
chiefs.
A. By John Meek. Thinks all the
missionaries had to do with the settle
ment was, TO interpret between the
chiefs and Captain Jones'
Q. Did the missionaries or any of
them tell the King and chiefs, before
the arrival of Captain Jones, that the
claims of the American traders were
just, and that the chiefs ought to pay
them?
A. By Kekuanaoa and John III.
No, do not recollect that they ever did.
A. BY Kanaina. Does not remem-
Der that the missionaries did, but
knows that Kaahumanu ordered the
chiefs, Boki, Kuakini AID Hoapili,
also Na1he, always to pay at the time
for whatever they got.
A. By John Meek: Thinks call the
missionaries had to do with the settle
ment was to interpret between the
chiefs and Captain jones'"
Stephen Reynolds diary, kept at
the time contains the following refer
enceS:
1926, December IL. "Signed q re-
quest to Captain Jones to speak of old
debts. December IA. Cap
tain Jones and Consul Jones went to
the chiefs to talk of old debts and
other important matters"
1927, January 2 eat 10 O'Clock the
chiefs assembled under the grove of
cocoanut trees below the fort, where
they assembled all the people of the
village to hear their orders, viz: That
every man should go to the noun
tains and get half a picul of sandal
wood for the Government, and half
they got over Ohis) should De their
own; the women to produce tapas or
choose can pay four dollars as an
equivalent for their half picul; a good
regulation If put in practice. Some
came to buy axes before night"
Mr.. Reynolds was then bookkeeper
for w. French & Co.
Commodore Jones himself, in his
letter of December 90, 1855, states in
regard to the sandal wood edict, "The
tariff schedule, the gTound-work of
Mr.. Wyllie's bitterness against me,
was the inception of that gifted noble,
KaIaimoku lalias William Pitt, and
was never seen by me until officially
promulgated on the 9th of Decembe
1926"
The sandal wood collected under
this edict was mostly squandered by
Governor Boki, and on the arrival of
the U. S. ). Vincennes, Captain
Finch, another conference was held
before Captain Finch, at which the
king and chiefs signed a note dated
November ,, 1929, promising to pay
4, 700 piculs OF sandal wood.
These claims were again brought
before Commodore Downes, of the u.
s. 5. Potomac, in July, 1882. without
any settlement being arrived at
AT the second visit of the u. S. s.
Peacock, Commodore Kennedy. in.
September, 1886, the claims of the
traders were once more discussed, and
"an old claim for $50, 900 was acknow-
was acknowledged, besides another
much smuller one."
These claims were finally settled
October 4th, l843, by the payment of
$14, loco by DR.. @. p. judd, for the
Hawaiian Government, to John c..
Jones, representing the claimants.
The correspondence and the firal re-
ceipt in full has been preserved.
l need hardly add that the Anaeri-
can Board has always forbidden its
missionaries to engage in trade.
Ihe traders, who We're the actual
were for the most part Bit
ter enemies of the American mission.
1t is to be regretted that no list or
schedule of their claims has ever been
published. Most of the documents
filed with Commodore Jones' report
We're consumed in the great fire that
destroyed the offices of the NAVY De-
paTtment some twenty years ago.
In the testimony above cited Con-
tain Meek said: "He does NOT know
how long time Captain Jones took
TO examine the accounts, and does not
believe the chiefs know: it wouId he
impossible to overhaul so manv old
and long accounts in a period so short
a stated -