The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-01-30


rihces bat they welcomed the white
man and quickly embraced Christian.
ny. American infuence IN the isiauds
reaches back some sevsnty-nve years.
beginning with New England mission
aries. many of whose descendants have
made permanent homes there. Some OF
these, mingling their blood with the
blood o. the natives. form connect.
ing link between the old and the new
civilization. Foreign ways aud customs
soon began To manifest themselves. and
long before annexation the native rul.
ers built public buildings. after the
style OF our own architecture The
Capitol building. erected twenty years
ago for the Kings palace. Is an i'm
posing structure, and the Judiciary
building Is almost equal to a. The
parks and public grounds are beautiful
and well kept, and the business blocks
commodlous and substantial. In short.
Honolulu presents the appearance OF a
well built, cleanly and prosperous
American city, with it's residences nes-
Ting among palm trees and tropical
plants. Good hotels are abundant. The
Alexander Young Hotel is built Of
stone imported from the States. and
would do credit t. city OF 500,00O
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel. even more
picturesque though not SO large. and
the Moana Hotel. at the beach, vie
with the Young in popularity.
AT FAMOUS PAIL PASS.
The program tor our days stay be-
gan with seven-mlle automobile ride
to the Pail, the pass over which the
natives crossed to the farther side OF
the island. The road is OF macadam,
and winding along a picturesque val
ley, rises to q height OF about 1900
feet. At this point the eye falls upon
a picture of bewitching beauty. Just
below is precipitous cliff, over which
conquering King, Kamehameha 1.
about ITO years ago, drove an opposing
army when he established himself as
ruler of the islands To the east from
the foot of the cliff, about 1000 feet
down, stretches beautiful valley with
an endless variety of verdure, and be-
yond. coast line broken by a rocky
pi omontory around whose base the
waters reflect from their varying depths
myriad hues Of blue and green. There
are ocean views of greater expanse,
mountain views more sublime and ag-
ricultural landscapes more interesting
to dweller upon the prairies, but It
is doubtful whether there is anywhere
upon earth combination of mountain,
valley and ocean-a commingling OF the
colors of sky and sea and rock and
foliage more enhancing. Twice on the
way to the Pail we passed through
mountain showers, and were almost
ready to turn back, but the members
of the committee, knowing of the rare
treat ahead. assured US that Hawaiian
showers were of short duration and
extra dry" When we at last be-
held the view we felt that a drenching
might gladly have been endured, so
great was the reward.
The committee next took US by spe-
cial train on the Oahu Railroad to one
Of the great sugar plantations OF the
islands. a plantation outside of the
trust, owned and operated by a San
Francisco company. This company has
built an immense refinery upon the
plantation and the manager showed US
the process of sugar-making from the
crushing of the cane to the refined
product, sacked ready for shipment.
The stalks, after passing through the
mill, are dried and carried to the fur
mace, thus saving some 65 per cent OF
the cost of fuel-an important economy
when 1t Is remembered that all the
fuel for manufacturing is brought
from abroad. Until recently several hun
dred thousand dollars worth of coal was
brought from Australia, but California
oil Is now being substituted for coal. The
refuse which remains when the sugar
making process is completed is re-
turned to the land as fertilizer. The
economies effected in fuel and in fer.
tilizer, together with the freight saved
on Impurities carried in the raw SUI
gar, amount to a considerable sum, and
to this extent increase the profit OF
the business. While at the sugar plan
tation we were shown an immense
pumping plant used In the irrigation
of the land. The water is drawn from
artesian wells and forced to height
of almost 600 feet, in some places, and
from the submits of the hills is car
ried to all parts of the plantation
Some idea of the size of the plants
can be gathered from the fact that the
pumps used on this plantation have q
combined capacity Of 6O000,0OO gallons
per day.
Speaking of irrigation, I am remind
ed that the rainfall varies greatly in
different parts of the island. At Ho-
nolulu, for instance, 1t is something
like 80 inches per year, while at one
point within five miles of the city the
annual rainfall sometimes reaches 14t
inches. The sugar plantation visited
while one of the largest, is only one
OF number of plantations, the totaI
sugar product of the islands reaching
above 100000 tons annually.
Next to the sugar crop comes the
rice crop many of the rice fields lying
close to the city. Pineapples, bananas
coffee and cocoanuts are also raised
Attention is being given now to the
development of crops which can be
grown by small planters, those in au-
thority recognizing the advantage to
the country OF small holdings.
LABOR PROBLEM is SERIOUS.
The labor problem is the most serious
one which the people of Hawaii have
to meet, At present the manual labor
is largely done by japanese, Chinese