The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-01-18
WHERE WAS THE TROUBLE?

The row on the he Au Hou about
which there is so much talk is worthy
of some consideration. Whether the
captain was right or wrong in anchor
ing is altogether beside the mark, and
should not be considered The police
may be in the right in their view, the
steamship company in their view. The
question is why any row" occurred.
As far as one can learn these Porto
Ricans came from their native Island
to New Orleans without trouble. They
traversed the continent without trou-
BILE, and they gave no trouble coming
down on the City of Picking. The first
trouble arises on a small Island steam
er which is chartered to take 12S of
these people to their final destination.
The difficulty occurred through the
matter of food. The City of Picking
having reached the wharf at Honolulu
had no more responsibility about food.
The Porto Ricans got nothing from
that vessel, and naturally got hungry
as the day went on. When they went
on board the Ke Au Hou, they did not
find any accommodation for being fed.
There was some hard tack, salt SAL
mon, and other stuff" dumped on the
forward deck, land the immigrants
were told to help themselves" That is
the story as told. That these people
in a strange land, and put into a dimi-
nutive steamer should become alarmed
when they found no proper provisions
for feeding them, is not to be Won
dered at. They had no idea how long
they would be at sea. All the elements
of the row which occurred were ready
long before the he Au Hou left the
side of the City of Picking.
Whatever blame is to be given should
be upon those who neglected their ma
nifest duty between the time of the
Pekings reaching the wharf, and the
shipping of the Porto Ricans on the
Ke Au Hou. Whoever was in charge
OF these people should have seen that
they We're fed. Any one who knows
anything about passenger traffic knows
perfectly well that once the destina-
ton is reached no further meals are
served. This is as true of first class
passengers as it is of steerage. If there
was to be a wait in Honolulu before
the Porto Ricans could be shipped to
their ultimate destination it was the
undoubted duty of those in charge to
take care of them during the transition
period, and it was further their duty
to see that when they reached the Ke
Au Hou there should be a proper and
adequate food supply and that it was
properly and impartially distributed,
not dumped on the forward deck" for
any one to help him or herself.
There should be a thorough inquiry
into this matter 1t is the duty of the
Territorial Government to look into it
from the official standpoint, and it is
the duty of Sugar Planters Associa-
ton to consider it from the standpoint
of obtaining further labor supply from
the mainland The blame in this mat
ter should be put clearly on the Shout
ders that ought to bear it, for Just as
surely as it is not apportioned pro-
perly and any attempt is made to gloss
over the affair, just so surely will we
hear of it again to the manifest disad-
vantage of the Territory
There is another thing that attention
should be called to, and that is the TAX
ing to sea of considerable numbers of
people upon vessels which, in case of
accident have no boat accommodation
Tor one-fourth of the people that they
carry. Such inattention to what is a
manifest law has been common here for
years. There has been no accident up
10 the present, but immunity from acct
dent in the past is not immunity from
accident in the future. Hawaii as a
monarchy and an independent Repub-
lie had no law upon this subject, any
more than it had upon the qualifica-
tions of coasting shippers, or the in
spection Of the boilers of steamers. The
United States, however, has a consid-
cradle quantity of law upon these and
kindred subject, and one day the peo-
pie engaged in these businesses, will
wake up and find out that they have
come up against a big snag. A thorough
study of the United States statutes up
on shipping and navigation would be
WISE