The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1897-03-09

and after landing all my passengers,
went TO Monterey, where l met
John Coffin Jones, a former Consul at
this port, and took him to Acapulco.
after which l came back to Honolulu.
Afterwards l settled on Kauai and
commenced the cultivation of coffee.
While there the gold excitement in
California began, and we had to sup
ply the miners with produce for a
time. My coffee was doing well. and in
the early SOS | shipped a large cargo
of it to San Francisco, believing there
would be a big sale for it, but unfOrtu-
nately the miners had secured all the
produce they wanted from all over the
world, so | got comparatively nothing
out of my shipment. l abandoned the
plantation in 1855. on account of the
heavy rains and damage to my trees.
planted too close to Ine sea. and did
not get as good results as l should
while a resident of Kauai | was
made a member of the lower house in
the Legislature. and served for a great
many terms, for three of which I was
president of the House. Politics in
those days were different from those
of today. l was active in the affairs
ested and enjoyed the excitement. The
natives were more influential in the
old days than now, and 1 am sorry
they do not recognize the fact that
the present Government is working
more for their welfare than the Mon
archy did
L have always been a friend of the
natives. 7 could not be otherwise to-
d1 fnr 10
been spent with them. AS a member
of the Legislature / had to go against
two of my dearest friends because they
were not, in my opinion, doing the
correct thing for the Government.
When the riotipg was going on over
the election of Kalaukaua, | begged
Queen Emma to speak to the natives
and stop it, but she declined. The
cause for the overthrow of the Mon
archy. | am satisfied. was the result Of
bad advice given to Liliuokalani and
acted upon by her l knew her brother
we'll, and was with him when he died.
Afterwards Liliuokalani made me
member Of her Privy Council
MY presence at the death-bed of
Kalaukaua was something of a coinci-
dence. for / was one of a number of in
ueha iii the night he died 1t was not
q ball. but a private party. and after
we had assembled Queen Emma came
into the room and told us that the
King was not well enough to see u.s.
so we retired. An hour later he was
dead.
4 retired from politics in 1886, hav-
ing been advised by my physician to
!. III, 81
permission from the Legislature. as l
was a member of that body. The res
olution was introduced by w. O.
and approved by the late John
S. Walker. who was president e A.
Pearce, who was then clerk counter
signed the engrossed copy, which | still
have in my possession. Since leaving
Hawaii, and until l returned last year,
I have lived in California. Now we are
settled back in my own home, and [
guess l will remain. When man
reaches my age he looks for change,
and l will stop here until it comes
Mr.. Rhodes is one of the few early
residents of Hawaii nei who did not
invest his capital in sugar. He was in
Lerested in coffee, had faith in it and
started plantations. but he got out be- I
fore the boom. To see him today, with |
his faculties as clear as those of man
Of so, speaks we'll for the life he lead |
rs a young man. AS the selections |
we're rendered by the band, he spoke |
highly of the execution and compared |
The airs with those he was familiar
with years ago. Once, when the rain |
fell on the musicians, and they con-
inued playing, he was much exercised /
for fear the boys would get wet and /
suffer from the exposure. He is in /
crested in public affairs of today as
much as when 80 years ago his voice |
was heard in the Legislature.