The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-02-11
TOURIST
QUESTION
Mr.. Wilmington Writes
From a Cambridge
Standpoint.
Especial to the Advertiser


Without doubt Boston is one of the
great tourist centers of the United
States and it is 10 Hawaii's advantage
10 keep the charms of the Paradise OF
the Pacific before, the eyes of New
Englanders. Nowhere has your cor
respondent found such widespread and
genuine interest in the subject of Ha-
| wall, but nowhere is there a more pro-
found ignorance of the history and
present status of the islands. Some
examples of this may be interesting.
| a Harvard freshman, hearing that
your correspondent was from Honolu-
lu, remarked with evident pity in his
| tone, Il suppose your parents are mis-
| sionaries. On being informed that
| there were a few white residents Of
Honolulu who were not missionaries,
| he asked again, How many white peo>
pie are there in Honolulu dozen or
| fifteen, L SUPPOSE" In order to show
that this is not merely the ignorance
OF a freshman, the bland query of a
Methodist eX-missionary to India, who
stated that he had Travelled $4,000
miles, including a trip to Australia
(via India), may be quoted This gen.
tleman after lecture on India asked
me whether Honolulu were not in the
neighborhood of Singapore Later, to
do him justice, he recollected that it
was in the Sandwich Islands, some
where in the Pacific" A graduate stu
dent at Johns Hopkins recently asked
q charming young lady if her home
were not on an island just off the
coast of China.
And SO it goes. Instance after in
stance of this ignorance among people
of culture might be related. A story
is told of Rev. Dr. Kincaid, who is
well-known for his careful attention
to details of dress A gentleman who
DIR. Kincaid remarked, DO the people !
out in Honolulu wear cIothes?'' Il
do was the answer of the astonished |
divine. Another subject which is the |
course of a great deal of misapprehen- |
sion is the leper settlement, which in |
the minds of some people is the main |
thing in the islands. After a public |
address on Hawaii last month your
correspondent was introduced to a lady
who thanked him for his description of
the Molokai settlement. She said that |
she had been afraid to go to the is
lands because of the supposed danger
Of leprosy The complete isolation of
the Kalaupapa and Kalawao settle
ments is not at all understood here,
where people do not know whether the
settlement is one or five hundred miles |
rom Honolulu
Hawaii can largely blame herself for
many of the erroneous impressions of
he islands that prevail here In a
treat deal of the promotion advertis-
ng the modern improvements of the
stands are not given emphasis enough
This is not true of Mr.. Logan's book,
Hawaii or the folder of the same {
title. But it is nevertheless true that ]
most of the pictures on Hawaiian
subjects which circulate through the
Cast are of the hula girl, waving |
'alm, and spouting volcano order.
A HINT TO PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Before coming to New England the c
writer vainly searched the stores of S
honolulu for any photograph or book Q
# views of Honolulu that should do |
Justice to her business streets. Cons
rary to the custom in California
titles, where views are taken when the
treats are crowded, Honolulu photog- t
aphers seem to have waited until | +
vely street car had vanished and only
ne Or two native loafers We're on the
idewalks before swapping their cam
ras. The promotion books of the A
Western states always present views
which show buildings in their best q
spect. If the Honolulu street pic
ures can possibly include some tum-
ledown shack they usually do it. II
What are needed are some good pic
ures of busy streets with up-to-date
rolley cars, of imposing buildings, fine Z
esidences, parks and good harbor.
few tourists may be attracted by | "
cantily-dressed hula girls and prehis- "
oric grass huts, and a few of these N
ictures are desirable, but if Homo
Flu wants white citizens to come and
We within her borders or even "a large | "
lumber of tourists, she must assure -
1em that oX-carts are not the COM -
ION means of suburban rapid tran
t, that one-story shacks are not the
My business blocks. that grass houses
re not the only residences and that
honolulu harbor is open TO the COM |
erce of the world-in short, that
lsy, wide-awake American city has
zen transported to the center of an
trthly PARADISE sort of Garden of
den with all modern conveniences.
a PROMOTION AGENT.
Your correspondent called at the
oston office of the Hawaii Promotion M
)mmittee recently and, without re- m
Ealing his identity. made some in TIC
liries about Hawaii. The office is &C