The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-04-24
LUNAS.

The question of lunas, or overseers,
upon a plantation is a subject which
requires some consideration. There are
lunas and lunas, just as there are first
mates and first mates on board ship.
Much of the friction upon plantations
comes from the luna. 1t is not every
man who has the gift of commanding
men. The difficulty is to inculcate into
your overseers that mere hectoring will
not reach what the plantation aims at,
/. e., to get the greatest amount of
work with the least amount of friction.
A plantation ought to be more easily
governed than a ship. On the latter it
is impossible to get rid of an unpopular,
and therefore Improbable officer until
the end of the voyage On a plantation
such changes as seem advisable can be
made in an instant should it be deemed
wise or necessary. Much of the severe
criticism that comes upon our labor
system may be traced to the actions
of some of the lunas.
But the majority of lunas are by no
means unwise in their treatment of the
hands they employ. From among their
ranks have comes the very best of our
managers. A great number do realize
the ideal of getting the greatest amount
of work with the least amount of fric-
ton, and thoroughly understand that
a hectoring, bullying manner is not one
which calls forth the best efforts of
those who are laboring under them.
a great question with plantation own
ers must be the personnel of their
lunas. To many men it is not attractive
work. though to others it is, in as much
as it is open-air work, and a man who
will give his mind to it can gain interest
out of the methods of cultivation and
the success or failure of certain plans.
Then there are high prizes. A planta-
ton managership is no poorly paid pos
ition. 1t means fortune when it is
attained.
If the plantations would pay a higher
price for their lunas, they would at
tract a higher class of men to this
work and it is certainly to their inter-
est to do so. The advantage to the
plantations would be great if thor
oughly cultivated men from the agri-
cultural colleges could be attracted. The
higher the standard of the subordi-
mates, the higher the general standard
of cultivation will be.
We have seen what can be done by the
scientific cultivation of Professor Max
well. Our yield of sugar per acre in
the year 1S94-95 was 6,472 pounds. Our
yield for the season of 1S9S-99 was 9,37S
pounds. This was in very large meas
ure due to scientific cultivation, though
it was in part due to improved methods
in manufacture. But how much better
it would be to have capable and agri-
culturally trained men to carry on the
scientific cultivation, instead Of having
men do a certain thing simply because
they are told to.
And this brings the subject to a wider
scope. Although a luna has to have
charge of a gang of men, he should be
man of wider scope than a mere
ganger to get so much labor out of so
many men. In order to obtain the very
best material for our lunas, we ought
to establish an agricultural college of
Jul o"Hi WHICH, pSSiuSS 6lNlhB the SUI
entific training which is given in such
| institutions elsewhere, viii also give
/ special training in matters appertain-
! ing to our great industry. 1t would pay
our plantations a handsome return in
the improvement of the personnel of
their own STATS, if such an institution
We're started, and the men to occupy the
minor positions on the plantations were
passed through a regular course of
training. In point of fact, we should
raise our own lunas, instead of picking
them up haphazard