Evening star., 1896-03-31
GOOD TIMES AGAIN
Honolulu Rej0ioes in the Upward
Prices Of Sugar.
her GOVERNMENT BoRROVs EASILY
The Queen Practically as Free as
Anybody.
I r r IG ATTN q S U G A R
recial Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

1
| Over three weeks ago the legislature
convened for it's regular biennial session.
| A special session was held last summer,
| which disposed Of various matters
! which were pressing for attention, and
| which the government had been un-
| willing to settle by their provisional
| authority. At the same time appropria-
| tions were settled for the time being. The
| present is more strictly a business ses-
sion for careful consideration of resources
| and expenditures of the republic for 1896
and '97. Some questions are also to be
considered which at the last session were
| referred to committees to investigate and
| report upon.
While the lower house is occupied with
| matters divers and sundry, the senate
has settled down to diligent work upon the
appropriation DILL. According to our con-
stitution, this originates In the senate, or
| rather. the executive brings its budget
first into that upper house. Our little state
| Of 100000 people makes a .tolerable showing
| Of figures for it's budget. Estimated re-
ce!pts to the treasury for the two years are
given at $3645,OOO, and proposed expendi-
| lures figure up to $3,G04,00O. These figures
| are exclusive Of proposed loans for the
purpose of executing variety of public
| works
AS to raisirg money for public works by
| loans, it pays well If judiciously expended.
| Wharves, waite. works and many other
improvements yield the government large
and many other public works multiply the
assessable value of adjacent property. The
| system Is good one IL carefully man
aged. and 1t is proposed by the government
| to proceed on this system in a liberal man.
ner during the coming biennial period. The
public credit Is excellent. Finance Minister
Damon felicitates himself and the legisla-
| ture upon having sold government per
! n nj 61,r psv
| the past three years to the amount of over
| $'4o,OOO. There appears to be no doubt of
| facility in raising $250,0U a year in the
| same way, at probably lower rate of in
terest. Honolulu capitalists likely to
be flush vita present high prices of sugar
and an abuffdant crop.
Good Credit.
! Certainly the credit of this government is
| likely to be far better, now that things
have settled down. than it could be in the
| PAST years of commotion and unrest, when
| so formidable a maeace against the very
! existence of the government appeared from
| Washington two years ago, and when "A
year ago 1t was again threatened from
| within by an illsurrectfo1 which seemed to
have the sympathy of the administration
1t is truly remarkable that during none of
| those times of peril was the confidence of
| our local capitalists shaken in the perma-
| neace OF the government unless it were
| n.omentarily in December, 1893, when Min
lister Willis began his hostile operations
| All the time the finance minister has found
| a steady local demand for new bonds of
| the government, and has issued them quite
| regularly at the rate OF $4,000 a month
| partly to cover current authorized ex-
| penditures for public works, and partly to
| cover previous expenditures near the close
OF the monarchy, when the public credit
| mad suffered, and the bonds could not be
negotiated. Public credit was very bad dur
ing the last six months of the monarchy.
| ~ Is was particularly shown by the large
withdrawals Of deposits from the Postal
Savings Bank. by which the treasury be-
| came severely embarrassed. Soon after the
queen was overthrown, confidence returned.
and deposits flowed in afrcsh to the public
savings bank.
The general financial condition of these
Islands Is exceptionally prosperous this
year. In the first place, there is now COM
| ing In much larger crop of sugar than
ever before-not less than 10000 TONS Sec
ondiy that sugar brings higher price a
cents and more) than 1t has done for many
previous years. in consequence of shortage
| In the Cuba crop. Our planters are now
reaping golden harvest. The large fleet of
coasting steamers is working to its utmost
| force IN handling the average Of 1000 tons
| OF sugar which the mills are now pouring
| out every week. Wharves are burdened
with sacks Of the yellow crystals, while the
nigh black hulls Of clippers lie alongside,
rapidly sinking low in the water with their
| heavy freights. Several of these ships have
taken their carg1es to New York around
| the Horn, the old stormy route which we
| nope the Nicaragua canal will in a few
| years make obsolete.
Sugar Looking Up,
Already a rumber of the sugar corpora
| tions have announced dividends which had
paid none for one or two years past. One is
the large Eva plantation. within seventy
minutes by rail from this city. 1t turns
| out nearly 10000 tons this year. 1t was un-
fOTtnn4faIv aurod Of fret md 1oe%
| ~ It's flrst two years, but is now yielding
Its first dividends, and large Ones On this
! plantation was lately made the unprece-
dented product of fourteen tons of sugar
| from q single acre. Its average yield of
plant cane last year was five tons. This
| was cane of eighteen to twenty months
| growth. Ratoons." or second growth cane
| was about two tons per acre. A general
average yield of plant cane throughout the
| Islands Is about three tons per acre. The
| larger yield at Eva is due to superior SOIL
Dut especially to copious irrigation the wa
ter being lifted by pumps from artesian
| wells to an average height of eighty feet
Cost OF irrigation per annum is about $40
per acre for lifting the water, or 81 per ton
Of sugar. Although the cane grows for
eighteen Months, 1t requires irrigation not
l. over twelve.
The amount Of rain varies so much in diff
ferent districts that methods Of culture of
cane crops greatly differ throughout the
| islands. Perhaps rot more than one-third
of the whole is irrigated, and this yields the
| largest crops to the'acre. AS a rule the arid
lands are of richer soil than those which
have been perpetually leached by rains. 1t
is bonanza to the planter when he can
find water which can possibly be applied,
even at heavy expense, to some large tract
of arid country on the lee side of an island.
| Not long ago H. P. Baldwin and partners
| expended half a million in bitches and for
ty-inch iron piping to conduct the Hanapepe
stream upon the dry levels of Makaweli,
| Kauai. That barren expanse now Is YER
| dant with 5000 acres of sugar cane, yield
Ing 1900 tons Of sugar year.
To Illustrate the differences in moisture in
| different sections, take the records Of rain
| fall for 1885, Here in Honolulu, under one
hundred feet elevation, there were about
forty inches of rainf Five miles inland, at
height Of 800 feet, where the trade winds
drive through Nutanu valley, there were
145 inches during, the year, and at Eva
| plantation, down to leeward, only twenty
| inches. -. I
Eject Of Trade Winds.
Throughout the Hila plantations along
twenty-five miles Of coast, where the trades
| pile up against the giant Maunakea, there
was an average Of 1870 inches. In the olaa
! woods. on the Volcano road, where the new