The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-09-20
LIQUOR TRADE Of SHIPS
ARMY TRANSPORTS SELLING GIN
IN HONOLULU.
Buy it in Hong Kong, Escape DUTY and
Dispose of it Here-$2.5O Bottles for
10 and 30 Cents.

one Of these fine days i'm the very
near future there will be an incident on
the waterfront i'm which will figure the
custom house people on the one hand
and employees on Government trans
ports on the other. The affair Will like
ly end i'm arrests and cases in Judge
Estee's court.
1t is not generally known but is
nevertheless a fact, that employees of
the transports have built up a hand
some liquor trade both here and at San
Francisco. Gallons upon gallons of gin
and other liquors are sOlu here by every
one of them. The stuff does not come
from captains nor pursers nor army
officers but from employes-petty Off
GERS, stewards. cooks and the like.
Enough liquor to supply half the DRINKS
of the town for week was sold by the
two transports here last week, it is
said.
The business has been going on for
sometime, but has been steadily increa-
| sing and has now reached such proper
lions that there will certainly be inter-
! ference. Soon after Judge Estee's court
| was opened an arrest was made. The
| man was taken before the district court
but was merely reprimanded. At the
time of his arrest he had in possession
liquors that he was bringing ashore
from an army transport
working: The men on the transports
buy European gins in the Orient Cpre-
| ferably at Hong Kong for mere song.
! No duties of any kind have been paid
upon the goods and no internal revenue
of any sort has been collected. Coming
| back from the Orient the men on the
ships sell bottles for IS cents that
cost $3.50 in the local market. For a
| while the business was done only with
stevedOres and wharf employees. After
| a time, however, information of the
| cheapness of the liquors got up town
and others began to buy. 1t is now not
an uncommon thing for an uptown man
to give a stevedore the money and have
him bring un a big bottle of gin OF
something else after work hours.
! That is not the end of it, On the way
! back to the Orient the employees of the
| transports close out their stocks of the
same gin referred to at 40 cents a bot
tie. This is because that after leaving
Honolulu, there is no further sale for
it and they run off their surplus supply
at a small profit The transports for
Manila, therefore, are met by numerous
buyers. There is no doubt but that a
very large amount is Struggled ashore
| and no notice of it ever taken, as trans.
ports are not carefully watched.
The secret of the low price is that the
| liquors have not paid the high United
| DldltS import uulys by httDlIB IL
aboard the transports the owners avoid
this, and when they sell, on board, theiI
personal responsibility ceases. After
| losing the first case, upon arresting q
man with a bottle, the custom house
people have contented themselves will
Selling the stuff when there was more
than one bottle and confiscating the
same. The thing has now reached such
| dimensions, however, that Uncle Sans
| officials want some money out of the
transports liquor traffic. 1t is under
stood that the precise course to be
pursued has not yet been determined
but Will be before the next transport
arrives here from the coast.
AT San Francisco liquor men on the
transports sell their stuff to wharfingers
AS a careful watch is kept on the boats
| none of ii ever leaves the wharveS. II
it did it would be "all off" with the mar
attempting to take it ashore. Conse-
quently, the big business of the trans.
| port men is here in Honolulu.
When the Logan was here a gentle
man was told by native stevedore that
a $3.50 bottle of gin could be obtained
or board ard brought ashore for 4C
cents. The money was given the native
and in few minutes he returned with
| the bottle.