The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-11-04
HAWAII
At THE
CAPITAL
ReportandRequest
of Governor
Dole.
Special to the Advertiser.


at the Interior Department but thus
far none of its provisions have been
made public. The word there is that
the proof sheets may be available with
IN a week or ten days. The Interior De-
partment not long ago received from
Governor Dole "a request for an official
Interpretation of the organic law as
TO the right of the Territorial legisla
ture to enact laws imposing upon coun-
ties and towns municipal and county
taxes. The matter has been referred to
Attorney-General Knox. 1t Is regarded
as Of too great Importance to be passed
upon by any of the subordinate attor-
neys of the Department of Justice.
One cannot say definitely how long it
will be before ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Knox
reaches a decision.
ANOTHER COMMISSIONER
Secretary of the Treasury Shaw has
gone west on a stumping tour and be-
fore he returns he may telegraph east
the name of a commissioner to visit
Hawaii and investigate the situation as
to postoffices and public buildings in
fiilo and Honolulu. Assistant Secre-
tary Taylor, who has the matter in d.
rect charge, so as to carry out the pro-
visions of the recent public building
law of Congress, said today that he
had not yet heard from Secretary Shaw
as to who the commissioner would be.
DE KNIGHT TALKS.
Mr.. Clarence w. De Knight arrived
in Washington yesterday, and is at the
New Willard. Mr. DE Knight is an at
torney, now residing in New York, but
formerly of this city, where he still has
int. 10 tlxs rnttI frnr
the Hawaiian Islands, where he travel
ed extensively and made a study of
the commercial conditions existing
there
business is practically at stand
still in Hawaii and the other islands"
he said The farmers do not know
how 10 grow anything but sugar and
the price of crude sugar is so low and
labor so scarce that it is impossible to
grow cane with any profit Coffee
raising has been a failure, and condi-
tons in the islands are deplorabe
The islands are capable of produc-
ing great crops of hemp and other prod
ucts which can be sold at a profit If
Chinese labor can be had. Under exist
ing labor laws the Chinese are exclu-
ded. White men will not work in the
fields The Hawaiians refuse to do
that sort of work Japanese have been
imported in large numbers, but they
are FAR less satisfactory than the Chi
nese laborers The Chinese who We're
in the islands before the enactment of
the new laws are returning to China,
as the natives of that country usually
do, and the islands are face to face with
labor famine.
Politics in the islands are very in
teresting. There We're formerly three
parties-the Republican, Democratic,
and Home Rule parties. The Demo-
cratic party was so weak that it fused
with the Home Rule crowd. Mr.. Will
cox is the Home Rule candidate for
Delegate to Congress, and Prince Gu
pid is the Republican candidate. The
Hawaiians pay little attention to the
national Issues which divide the two
great parties in the United States. AL
though the Democratic and Republican
parties in Hawaii are supposed to be
organized along the same lines as those
parties in the United States, the voters
in the islands are concerned chiefly
with local issues"
WRIGHTS DEFALCATION.
The defalcation Of Auditor Wright
was brought to the attention of the
Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Hitch
cock, by Chief w. b. Acker of the Mis-
Cellaneous division where the Hawaiian
matters are handled. Mr. Hitchcock
gave no instruction, as it is recognized
here, as well as in Hawaii, that the
defalcation is largely territorial mat
ter.
PRODUCTS OF HAWAII.
The Geological survey has just print
ed an exhaustive report on the min
Cral resources of the United States for
the calendar year 1901. The figures as
10 clay products for Hawaii are OF
little significance as they are combined
with those for the state of Oregon.
The brick and tile made in Oregon and
Hawaii for the calendar year 1901 were
valued at 1858, S91, whereas the previous
year they We're valued at $685., 095, be-
sides a pottery product of sl7,29O.
There is a table of figures showing the
exports of salt from this country the
chief significance of which is that dur
ing the year ending June 80. 1901. these
exports ceased altogether, where back
in 1899 Hawaii took 634.970 pounds of
salt from the mainland, In 1900 there
was a great increase In the amount OF
petroleum which the Hawaiian Islands
took from the United States, l2l7, $50
gallons.
BY the time this reaches Honolulu the
states viii be at the eve of a Congress
sional election, which promises TO be
far-reaching in its effects. The cam
paign has been very marked for its
apathy, more so in that respect than
any Congressional campaign for a dec
ade The great coal strike has
eclipsed what little interest in politics
Their. nigh. have been,