The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-10-16
Canada and Australia In.
tereSted in Hawaii.
Present Condition of Industrial
Problem Has Some
Difficulties.

Engineering, London, is studying
the Hawaiian annexation question,
and fears that the interests of Great
Britain have not been properly dis
cussed. In recent issue it has the
following article on the subject:
The proposal to annex Hawaii to the
United States of America has not re-
ceived the attention in this country
which it deserves. When we compare
the amount of discussion which has
taken place on the subject in the Jap
anese journals, and the action taken
by the Japanese Government, we
might also come to the conclusion that
Japan was a more important factor in
the politics of the Pacific Ocean than
Britain. Probably it will be said that
in this particular question the inter-
ests of Japan are greater than those
of Britain, but this will be disputed
by those who have carefully examined
the subject When we remember that
the Sandwich Islands afford the only
available landing-place in the North
Pacific for the all-British cable across
the Atlantic via Canada and the Pa
cific to the colonies, and are also the
only place of call in mid-Pacific on
the highway of trade and travel with
Australia, China, and the Far East;
ol, Nioo roc No q
ever be completed, these Islands would
be on the direct route to Japan and
China, and would form the only avail
able coaling and supply stations with
the Far East
With regard to the British Pacific
cable, it will become an impossibility
if Hawaii is annexed to the United
States, as it is quite impossible to
stretch a cable from Vancouver to any
island south of the equator that may
be controlled by Britain without an in
termediate resting-place, and the only
one provided by nature is in some part
of the Hawaiian Islands. Canada and
Australia have deep interest in these
Islands, in fact, they occupy quite a
unique position, which has been, to a
large extent, overlooked by British
statesmen, although those of America
seem to be well aware of it. There is
no wish On the part Of the Japanese
to annex the Islands or even to obtain
any political control over them, but
they feel that they have interests which
must be safeguarded. Probably they
have magnified their Importance in or
der to insure that they may receive
due attention.
The threat of establishing closer re-
lations with Great Britain, or of con-
Guiding reciprocity treaties with Can
ada and Australia, probably Influenced
the United States far more than the
japanese bogey, as the Executive must
be perfectly we'll Informed regarding
the actual facts of the case. There
can be no doubt that the industrial po-
sition in Hawaii at the present time is
a most difficult one, and some Of those
who write on the subject say that
there is no choice between annexation
to the United States and industrial
DEATH Some time ago the United
States sent special commissioner to
investigate the conditions of labor, and
his figures show that the natives are
rapidly disappearing, and their places
are being taken by Chinese and Jap
anese. Chinese fill the positions OF
storekeepers, clerks in the hotels. mill
men, steamsters, ETC. On the sugar
plantations the number and nationality
of labor is by the last report 1,615
Hawaiians, 2,26S Portuguese, II, 1873
Japanese, $3.50 Chinese, and about 71o
of other nationalities. total of 23,7S0.
The Hawaiians are the best workmen;
the Portuguese today are considered
the bone and sinew" of the Islands,
as the most Industrious, quiet and
peaceable; Chinese next, and the Jap
anese last.
The Commissioner does not seem to
have formed a good opinion of the
Japanese, who, he thought, were am
bilious to become the owners of the
plantations. He concludes his report