The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-05

~ FACE will spread over the Chinese
colony today, like the smile which
u is now extending over the coun-
tenance of the Celestial when he con-
templates the recurrence of the great
est feast of his race-New Years Day.
OF course there is a possibility of a
failure to connect in the plans, just as
there is the constant danger of miss
ing the feast, which hangs over the
head of every one of the thousands Of
Orientals who are making ready for it.
After three days hard work the COM
mission which has been laboring for
peace, last evening arrived within
sight of a settlement. The negotia-
tions were first taken up on the basis
of a court, with ten members on each
! side and one non-p partisan Judge, but
this did not last long and finally the
work was undertaken by a smaller
committee which went at the difficult
ties with a will, meeting in the office
of .Yee Wo Chan Company for long ses-
sions, the one which closed last even
ing at ten o'clock being the most i'm
portant one.
When the task of closing up the
breach between the two factions was
undertaken there were discovered
something more than a score of mat
ters which needed adjustment. These
included the fixing of the lists of Off
GERS, which is the only point on which
agreement has not been reached, a new
provision for the taking care of the
money which remains on hand, and
minor matters, which while they affect
the inside workings of the society, are
without any great significance in gen.
eral.
Happily the discussion was led along
the minor lines, and in these the chorus
was only slightly discordant, and very
soon reached chord which was pleas
ing TO. all, and brought peaceful re-
suits. The most discussion arose over
the proposal that the fund OF $4,000.
which, was remaining after the carry
ing through of the plague scare, be
given into the hands of a committee
of fifteen for administration. This COM
mittee which was named in the con-
sultation, comprises many of the very
best of the business men of the Chi
nese quarter and as there is about an
equal division as 10 affiliation in this
fight, there was nothing on which OBJ
lection could hang.
Concessions were made all along the
line by the parties to the discussion.
and the desire to have peace was man
ifested in many ways. Between the
sessions of the committees there were
several calls paid, these including one
upon the consul by a couple of the Bow
Wong leaders, and call by that Off
cial upon some of the reformers in the
United Society. This had the result of
bringing the people closer together, so
that there was a very great chance
that there should be no failure of the
negotiations. When the final session
so far was held there was only the one
point to be settled, as to what was to
be done in the way of dividing the Of
fees and the honors between the two
sets of officials which are the represent
atiyes of the two factions. There are
thirty of these officials in each body, so
that it is a case of one-half OF that
number losing all Official title and one
also losing emolument, for the one pay
ing office, that Of assistant secretary,
has it's two claimants as well.
The reformers had held meeting
yesterday afternoon and reached what
might be called an ultimatum, declar-
ing that they would not give way De-
yond the granting Of a small represen-
tation on each Of the ofhclai pOarus,
and that all the offices should be hIled
bv the men elected by their faction.
This was not what had been expected
bv the men from the consul slde' as
tbav thought there would be given TO
them a full representation on each
board. and they in fact claimed two
thirds of each body when the first DIs-
cussions were had. The wide margin
between the representatives, Of the par
ties made it impossible that there
could be any speedy adjustment. but
the consul was active. and under the
OF sound reasoning, that there