The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-04-23

limited was the cause of the strike Tho
substance of the remainder of the 8r-
tioIo is that OBJ, Japanese demanded the
immediate payment of back wages
thHuk advances 90 should hpJ. amount
ing To- SlS UUO and that at length Doyle
got them "to listen to reason. and to
understand that Scott was merely am
appointoo OF the court and could not
fOr the present, command the large sum
OF money demanded
AS ! ann the district court attorney
referred To- / wish TO make clear my
connection with the matter
First of AN / cannot see how they can
be termed strikers The Eona Sugar
co. had parceled out land to certain
Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and one
or two Americans, i'm areas ranging
from to $50 acres i'm extent The
term for which they hold is ten years,
and they sell their cane at so much per
ton to the plantation Under Article
VII Of their agreement with the COM
pany they are to receive, monthly $l.OO
worth Of supplies and $500 i'm cash for
each acre of cane planted These adj
vances are for the purpose of paying
the labor hired to assist i'm cultivating
the cane. Since August including Au-
gust 1901, to date, the company has
been unable to make these advances.
About the end of February last, just
at the time it was feared the planta-
ton would go under the hammer the
Chinese, japanese and Portuguese
planters came to me TO find out how
they would stand if it did go under the
hammer; that is, would they be Ousted
from their lands, and would they be
unable to collect the back advances? l
couldn't answer their questions with
certainty and at a meeting I was ask
ed to get other advice. 1 went to Ho-
nolulu and brought back the written
opinion of Wade Warren Thayer on the
points raised. His opinion was that
they would not be ousted and that the
company or any one else could cut no
cane until back advances were paid. A
silimar opinion has been given by Carl
Smith,
The planters would not allow their
cane to be cut and Mr.. Saito appeared.
He broke up the alliance between the
three natiOnalities Of planters and from
then on negotiations were with the Jap
anese alone. They demanded security
for the payment of the back advances
from August LIST, 1901, to March LIST,
1902 months in all. They did not de-
mand the immediate payment of these
advances as a preliminary to cutting
cane, they were satisfied with the
terms proposed by Mr.. Scott, viz: one
half in 45 days, other other half in 80
days. They were aware that Mr., Scott
was subject to the court; but they
wished the payment of that due them
free from all uncertainty; in other
words they wished a good guaranty
that Mr. Scott would do all he prom
ised He, Scott, offered II. Hackfeld &
CO., Ltd. Mr.. SaitO took the guaranty
to them and they refused to sign, so
that the payment of the advances de
pend on the assurance given by Mr.,
Saito that they shall be paid. on this
assurance they are cutting their cane.
The agreement spoken of as having
been signed by the Japanese, and which
was drafted by Mr.. SCOTS attorney
was as first submitted, vague; its
terms meant anything you like. The
long drawn out nights and days of
conference mentioned i'm the article
were spent in my fighting for the add
mission of amendments, in unambigu-
Gus, language, to this agreement.
l would say that on one point the
Japanese followed the advice of Mr.
SaitO, and that l then retired from the
case But to him is due the credit of
getting the Japanese to sign the agree
ment to cut their cane.
In conclusion l would say that l have
done what l thought my duty.
JOHN GREIG.
TCnh11a Hawaii 4 Dril u