The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-06-14
LOOKS LIKE
BUSINESS
Portland Wants Steam
ship Line to the
Islands.

! The Portland Oregonian gives ex
tended space to the proposed Portland
| Honolulu line of steamships which i.
| being projected by Captain Matson
who controls the steamers Enterprise
and Hilonian. The article is as fol
| lows:
Portland is to have steamship line
to Honolulu and it will be put into
operation next month. This announce
| ment was made yesterday by Captain
William Matson, of San Francisco
president of the Matson Navigation
steamer Hilonian, which has capacity
of $500 tons of freight, will leave Port
land for Hawaii and will make monthly
trips thereafter. If the volume of bust
ness justifes, and Captain Matson is
inclined to believe it will, the steamer
Enterprise, which now plies between
San Francisco and Honolulu, viii also
be put on the line.
Yesterday morning at the office of
W. A. Mears, secretary of the trans
portation committee OF the Chamber
of Commerce, Captain Matson met
about 20 representative business men
of Portland, to whom he stated that
the company of which he is the head
would establish a line between this
city and Honolulu with the understands
ing that it is to be permanent He
also said that while the line would
start with but one steamer another
would probably be added within a
short time. Later Captain Matson made
the same statement to an Oregonian
representative.
STEAMER IS NEW AND FAST.
The steamer Hilonian was recently
purchased by the Matson Navigation
Company at an Atlantic coast port and
started on its initial trip on the Pa
cifc when it left Seattle for Honolulu
Tuesday. 1t will not return to Seattle,
but will come to Portland. The yes
sci is practically new, and fast. It
has accommodations for 30 first-class
passengers. Ihe steamer Enterprise is
about the same size and has about the
same capacity and accommodations as
has the Hilonian. The vessel will make
the trip to Honolulu from Portland,
then to San Francisco and return to
this city.
Business men who attended the meet
ing with Captain Matson yesterday
afternoon are enthusiastic over the es-
tablishment of the new line. Much
enthusiasm was shown at the meeting,
when it was stated that the line would
be put in operation, and all those pres
ent assured Captain Matson that his
company would receive their heartiest
support. He mas much gratified over
the encouragement he received, and
stated that he was greatly pleased
with the outlook.
Captain Matson, did not arrive in
Portland until late Tuesday night, and
Mr.. Mears did not have much time in
which to call meeting of the bush
ness men of Portland. But he did ex
ceedingly well considering the circum-
stances. and the assemblage was thor
oughly representative of the business
interests of the city. Yesterday being
holiday it was impossible to commu-
nicate with all or the meeting would
have been much larger.
CREDIT DUE MR.. MEARS.
Mr.. Mears was largely instrumental
in securing for Portland the line. Last
week he was in San Francisco and
called upon Captain Matson for the
express purpose of interesting him IN
such an enterprise. He explained IN
detail the advantage of a line running
from Portland instead of the Sound, as
Captain Matson had first contemplated.
CAPTAIN Matson then stated that he
had long been considering the advis-
ability of establishing line from this
port and that he would visit Portland
this week and make known his plans.
Business men have long contended
that Portland should reach out and
secure part of the trade of the Ha-
waiian Islands, which they regard as
legitimate but neglected field for
this city. the same as is Alaska Cap
tain Matson is of a similar opinion.
1t is believed that extensive and re-
munerative trade relations can be es-
tablished with the Hawaiian Islands.
LARGE INTERESTS IN HAWAII.
CAPTAIN Matson is representative of
and is heavily interested in the Homo
lulu Plantation Company which Will
do much of it's trading in Portland as
soon as the new line is established. Ii
is understood that the steamship COM
panv and it's affiliated concerns in the
Hawaiian Islands will purchase large
consignments of goods. Thus the bur-
den of furnishing all the cargo for YES
sells of the line will not devolve upon
the merchants of Portland.
I'VE come to Portland with the IN
tention of making the line permanent,
but of course it is not a certainty that
we will do So said Captain Matson
at the Hotel Portland yesterday after
noon. I'VE believe that the Portland
merchants can work up enough bust
ness to justify one and probably two
steamers, and besides we ourselves Will
purchase many goods in Portland for
our plantations
Our company has for some time
considered the proposition of starting
q line from some port on the North
Pacific Coast. You can sell goods
cheaper in Portland than in Seattle
and that is one of the reasons why we
decided to come here. Much of the