The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-07-22
ARE MADE PUBLIC
Extracts From Correspondence Be-
tween Japan and Hawaii.
MINISTER COOPER'S EFFORTS
Letters From Count Oku.
ma and the Replies.
No Claim Made BY Japan-ASkS Re.
: nification-Offer to Arbitrate.

For several weeks past items of news
bearing on the Japan-Hawaii difficulty
have appeared in San Francisco papers
and purporting to come from officials at
Washington. The fact that the press of
Honolulu has been denied information by
the Foreign Office here has made the APP
pearance of these items in the foreign
press the more aggravating to the public
generally and the reporters particularly.
1t has been mooted for some time that
it has been the intention of Minister
Cooper to make public all matters con-
nected with the case, and that he has
been waiting for communication from
Washington before doing This COM
munication was expected by the Aus
tralia, but it failed to arrive, and the
Minister concluded to wait the arrival of
the Moana. His plans were evidently
changed again on reading the newspa-
per item concerning this Governments
offer to arbitrate, for yesterday morning
he notified the press to meet him in his
office at IL o'clock. AS a preface Minis
ter Cooper said:
1.-The correspondence opened with a
protest from H. I. J. Ms Minister Resi-
dent Shimamura at the action of the Ha-
waiian Government in rejecting certain
immigrants who came by the Shinshiu
Maru. In fact, almost the entire corre-
spondence," continued the Minister, has
been carried on with reference to this
particular ship, although the other
steamers have been mentioned incident
ally, as the facts are the same in the
three cases.
Minister Shimamura's official protest
came to me on March 10Th, and occurred
through the captain of the Shinshiu
Maru notifying him that the immigrants
were to be taken back on his ship. The
Minister based his protest upon the sti-
pulation in the treaty between the two
countries. After preliminary corre-
spondence L replied to his protest by
letter dated April I'd.
I'm this announced the position OF the
Government and gave him the reasons
why the immigrants by the Shlnshlu
Maru and Sakura Maru were not allowed
to land. If you will remember, these i'm
migrants were of three classes: First,
those who had contracts in writing, with
the immigration companies, for labor in
this country and who had no 1undS IN
their possession.
Second: Those who had memorandum
of agreement with the Kobe immigration
Company, the Hiroshima Immigration
Company, or the Morloka Immigration
Company.
Third: Those who came indepenent of
any immigration company.
''As to the first class" said Minister
Cooper, previous to the arrival OF the
Shinshiu Maru, w. j. Gallagher who
represented himself as being associated
with the Kobe immigration Company,
called here and stated that the usual
procedure had not been compiled with,
and asked that the immigrants might
land This request was denied, because
they were not coming under the rule
provided for in Section 1 of Act 90,
of the laws of the Provisional Govern
ment When the steamer arrived, it was
found impossible to make proper inves-
tigation on the steamer. so the lmml-
grants were landed at Quarantine Sta
ton.
TT was then found that 146 immigrants
had contracts, to perform labor in this
country, which had been executed pre-
vious to their leaving Japan. 1t also ap-
peared that the passage OF these 1mml-
grants had been prepaid by the company
and that they were entirely without
funds.
All of these were refused landing, be-
cause their contracts had not been ap-
proved by the Board of Immigration. OF
the entire number of immigrants but 81
were permitted to land for the reason
of their having approved contracts:
LAS to those of the second class, there
were 3T7 immigrants on board who were
in possession of so each, but denied the
right to land for the reason that they
had been recruited by the immi grafton
companies Will WiiOiiI thSy IldO uldQe d
memora ndum of agreement which,
among other matters, contained a COW
enant on behalf of the immigration COM
panies, through their managers, that
they would secure employment for the
emigrants on their arrival in this coun-
try. The ruling this point was to the
effect that it was unlawful undertak-
ing on behalf of the immigration com
panieS, and also the immigrants, as be-
ing contrary to the provisions of Section
/ of Act H. Laws of 1895. Exceptions,
were, of course, made to those who had
been here before and to females having
relatives here.
LAS to the third class, those who came