Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1899-02-24
UNCLE sam GETS PEARLS
Extensive Fisheries With The Group Of
Sulu Islands.
Fishers Nearly All Americans Many Dark
Tales Told Of ManipulatonS Of tho Bust.
ness-Bis Money In II.

and so fortn, handed over to the
United States in the far Pacific as
one result Of the late Spanish war,
are the important pearl fisheries
attached to the group Of Sulu isl-
auds-pearl fisheries that since
The decline of those of Ceylon and
the Persian gulf, divide with the
north coast of Australia the repu-
tation of being the most valuable
in the world. These pearl fish
cries promise to furnish great
opportunities for the investment
Of American capital
Like many other fields of enter
prise in that part Of the world,
the Sulu pearling grounds have,
for some time, been controlled by
men or companies with large
capital, Of which the chief is the
great London jewelry firm of
Streeter. These capitalists equip
and send out fleets Of from twenty
to Thirty moderate-sized schooners
upon annual cruises, and employ
10 the pursuit besides numerous
European officers and super
careoes, many hundreds, if not
thousands, of native divers.
As regards the latter, a con-
troversy has ragged 10 the western
Pacific for many years. Several
individuals whose Information
was apparently founded upon the
best OF grounds-personal obser-
walton, affirmed that many of the
pearl fleet owners were nothing
but pirates of the worst type, who,
while shielding themselves be-
hind contracts with the native
cbiefs, in reality kidnapped thou.
sands of the Pacific islanders and
compelled them to dive on the
banks, whether the latter we're
willing or not.
AS the matter 80 nearly affected
the Aus ralian government, they
made such urgent representations
to the British authorities on be.
half of the native divers that, at
length. a veritable martinez was
dis atched as high commissioner
to the Pacific, who in turn vowed
that he would hang without mer.
cy any British subject convicted
of the offense before his court.
PEARL FISHERS NOW NEARLY ALL
AMERICANS.
Then the pearl fleet owners did
a very simple thing. They chose
the territory in the American uni
on where naturalization could be
the most quickly effected, and
thither dispatched their principal
officers to learn the science of fruit
farming. When they had become
full hedged American citizens.
they smilingly returned to their
old vocations, being then subject,
OF cou rse to the jurisdiction of the
American consular agents in those
la'itudes- men who, as the pearl
fl ct owners declared, were 80
much more amenable to reason"
This, for the time, coiled up the
swinging rope Of the British offici.
al, but the trouble has since re-
manned more or less on the sim
mer, until now that the United
States has acquired one of the
principal fisheries, it will probab-
ly breath out afresh, thus afford
ing sundry prospective interna-
tiona' CON missioners a pleasant
winter tour among the islands of
the Pacific, before it il finally set
tied with justice to all concerned.
AMOUNT OF REVENUE FROM PEARL
FISHERIES.
IL may he informant to many
that the chief revenue of the pearl
fishing industry is derived not
from the fnd of pearls-a very
uncertain contingency, but from
the pearl shells, or mother-of-
pearl, which brings in the market
800 a ton and upwards. As an
illustration Of this, while the
West Australian pearl fisheries
netted in one year 100000 from
The shells, the returns from the
ind OF pearls was valued at little
over $4,000, or about one-third.
In this respect, while the pearls
'ound in the Sulus are of the finest
quality, the meteorological is
sometimes characterized by a
,ellowish tint, which renders it
ess valuable from a commercial
point o. view, as being unsuitable
or many ornamental purposes,
md consequently makes the in
lustry more of a speculative ma