The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-11-05
HAW'N COM. NOW
Election Of 1. ?. Baldwin as The
New President.
new MEN IN DIRECTORATE
Statement Made BY w. r. Castle.
Owners of Stock Past and
Future of Property
new MEN IN DIRECTORATE

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29.-An eN-
yesterday in the directorate of the Ha-
waiian Commercial and Sugar Com
pany. At a meeting held during the
morning in the company's Offices the
members of the temporary board. Ed
ward POLITE (president), L.. VI. Walsh,
Albert Meyer, r. G.. Brown and Char.e s
Sutro, Jr.. organized three weeks ago,
after the CUSting of the Sprechels,
handed in their designations. and a
permanent board was elected, as fol-
lows: Henry =. Baldwin, pres dent,
Albert Meyer, James b. Castle, Wallace
Alexander, +. NJ. Walsh. The resigna-
ton of Joseph II. Sanford as secre-
tary was accepted and George Rolph
was elected in his stead.
OF the new directors Messrs. Bald
win and Castle will continue to reside
in Honolulu to exercise personal super
vision of the plantation. The o,her
members of the board will reside in
San Francisco. w. ]. Lowrie, who is
also d stakeholder, will be the manager
of the plantation.
William r. Castle, OF Honolulu, a
brother of Director James b. Castle, in
an interview yesterday, gave a history
of the deal whereby the Spreckels di-
rectorate was overthrown and the con-
troll of the stock came into the hands
Of the island planters. He also gave
an outline of the plans Of the company.
1.-The majority interest of all the
stock he said, sis now held in the
Islands by the Castles, Henry Baldwin,
8. T. Alexander and w. j. Uowrie.
Castle & Cooke have nothing to do
with it whatever That is an entirely
distinct affair.
1.-The stock of the company, as may
be observed, has been steadily adyanc-
ing, until now it is over SAC; and it is
partly through fear that there may be
some misunderstanding about it that
l desire to make a statement. The idea
of the present directorate is to put that
property on a sound and substantial
basis for the benefit Of the stockhold-
ers. Whatever the effect may be upon
the stock market is entirely incidental.
The property is going to be managed
now, just as all Hawaiian plantations
are, for the benefit Of holders of stock
in order that they may receive divi-
dends.
while it is true that the Spreckels
have done exceedingly well by the con-
Germ, and have brought it up from
very low to a substantial value in the
markets of the world, at the same time
there is much left to be done. They
had very comprehensive plans, we
find. for the future developments Of the
plantation, and their plans were intel
ligent and directed to the real i'm
provement of the property. They un-
doubtedly would have brought it up TO
q oh standard Of va1np For instance.
they increased the output of the pan
tation from about 1000 tons, when they
got it. to about 1000 tons for the pres
ent year; and next years crop, planted
by them, will not be far from 1000 TO
$4,000 tons. w. j. Lowrie, who is a
stakeholder and is recognized as hav-
ing no peer now in the Islands in plan
tation management, intends TO plant
the coming year from 1000 to 3,UOO
acres of new land, and the crop from
that, with what is already growing,
will probably be not far from 10000
tons in 1901.
ct is the plan of the company to-
bring the yield up to 10000 tons, and,
on that basis, there is no doubt that, II
sugar strikes to a very low figure, 1t
will still be a dividend-paying concern,
because the improvements and meth
cd OF management will be such as TO
bring the cost of production down to
a very low figure. The Spreckels them
selves brought the expenses Of the
plantation down fully a third.
The improvements that are going to
be put into the plantation will be paid
for out of the crops. There are also
some bonds to pay up, and the plan at
the Islands is to pay as you GO if pos
Sible. The consequence, in the case OF
Hawaiian Commercial, will be that next
year dividends will probably be very
Iowa dollar or two a share, probably
not even THAT"