The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-19
THE COMING
PORTO RlCANS
Eight Hundred and Thirty-Nine
in the Caiifornian's
Storage.
Correspondence Associated Press

correspondence Associated -Press1
PONCE, Porto Rico, March 2S-Anoth-
er expedition of Hawaiian bound emf
grants sailed for New Orleans on the
steamer Californian yesterday. There
We're $50 in the party The expedition
was composed Of the fnest-appearin
lot OF people yet to leave for Hawaii.
Nearly all the travellers comprised entire
families
The number of persons to a family ay
eraged about six. and there was one
family of eleven persons.
or the 200 Porto Ricans who have
gone to Hawaii. over 90 per cent have
peen women. The party which left on
lhe Calnornlan were fair specimens of
Porto Rico's labor class and were as
sturdy as the general run of Porto Ri
cans.
Before the first boatload of emigrants
was sent out to the ship, about 1,2OO peo-
PIE congregated on the beach and two
priests celebrated mass in the open air.
Two weddings and two christenings
were also performed.
While on their way to New Orleans. the
emlgrants, most of whom were in rags
when embarking, will be cheaply but
substantially clothed at the expense of
the Hawaiian Planters Association and
the entire party will be vaccinated.
Rations of Goldfish, beef, potatoes, rice,
! beans, bread and coffee viii be served
twice daily
The only reasonable objection advanc-
ed so far to their emigration from Porto
Rico is that the islands best Iaborers
are leaving. The recruiting agents have
orders to enlist no Spaniards and no
pure black people are taken, the idea
being, presumably, to have the men mar
ry Hawaiian women and thus lose their
identity with Porto Rico. In all events
after being transported so far it is not
likely that they VIII ever return It is
considered that Porto Rico Is over-popu-
lated and that the sooner this popula-
ton is thinned down the better of Porto
Rico will be.
The number of Porto Ricans who have
lately SO willingly emigrated to Hawaii.
there to seek a livelihood under I'M
known conditions. is regarded as conclu-
sIve proof that want and even starvation
do exist here.
The agents who have been endeavoring
to secure laborers to work on McDon-
AIDS railroad in Ecuador are having but
little success. They say they can en-
ploy 5000 men. Judging from the reports
of the treatment of Jamaican Iaborers
there, Ecuador is not a desirable country
for emigrants and the Jamaican govern
ment has prohibited further emigration.
1t is expected that the Ecuador agents
win send a small shipload of emigrants
to Ecuador some time in April
Over $50 men are now being embarked
on the steamer Porto Rico for the iron
mines near Santiago, Cuba. These labor
ers are contracted to work for three
months at a dollar day.
Indications in this part of the island
point to an exceedingly large coffee and
sugar crop. The De Ford estate, near
Guaymas, probably the largest on the
island, will grind it's first crop this year,
and If this comes up to expectations they
will ship nearly $1,000, 900 worth of sugar
this spring. a native planter near Qua
MICA will soon ship $4,000 worth of sugar
and other planters have good crops in
view. Alphabetically, Porto Rico has al
most entirely recovered from the effects
of the cyclone of nearly two years ago.
The fruit outlook is good but owing to
the time required for maturing fruits
will produce no returns for two or three
years.
A year ago there was hardly an acre
of fruit under cultivation in Porto Rico.
Several Floridians came here and set
tied, and are now waiting for their fruit
trees to blossom In fruit production,
questions of transportation must be
carefully considered, and fruit property
must be near port or on one of the
short railroads. Good fruit land is worth
from IS to $40 an acre, according to loca-
ton. The shippers OF New Orleans find
Porto Rico a good market for rice. The
Californian, which arrived here last
week from New Orleans, brought 5000
packages of rice, which were disposed OF
very readily.
Rice and Goldfish. from Nova Scotia,
brought here on schooners, are the chief
diet of the Porto Rican.
The number of reDOrted SMALLPOX cases
in Ponce remains at fifty. The disease
is of such a mild form that there have
been but few deaths. ana the health Off
GERS report no cause for alarm, as the
epidemic is well unuer control.