The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-07-15
NEW INDUSTRY
WELL ON FOOT
CONTINUED from Page onel.

TO work for the same owners. Ordi
I nariIy the men do not take back mucl
Of their earnings. for the tempting rec
calicoes of the traders store are TOT
much for them and they part witt
their coin with the same ease as
sailor in front of slop chest. The
entire output of Washington Island il
about three hundred tons per annum
the amount being gathered from the
many thousand trees growing there
The task of the copra gatherer is one
thousand green nuts for the week. Be-
fore he is entitled to his pay for that
time he is expected to turn over that
| number of nuts TO the boss. Saturday
afternoon. provided he has performed
| his task, he is allowed to himself for
| the purpose of gathering his personal
allowance of thirty green cocoanuts
and TO fish for his household supplies.
AS the nuts are taken from the tree
they are split open with a peculiar
shaped tool similar to an axe. Then
with a knife in deft hands three days
later the meat is removed almost
whole Within a few days it is ready
for shipment, but vessels to that out
itors. They come along once in a sea-
son and gather the crop on the differ
ent islands and carry it to the Coast.
The longer it remains on the ground
the greater the deterioration, for in
time copra will become infested with
weeviIs, and then it can be used only
for soaps. while if in first-class condi
ton it will bring a higher price from
grocers or the manufacturers of shred
ded cocoanut.
When the Philippines were brought
nearer the new world by force of arms,
their possibilities and their industries
became known to the people of the
United States, including Hawaii.
Copra, it seems, is one of the industries
there, and the natives reap good re-
suits from gathering the wild-groWn
nuts and rafting them down the river
to Manila. where they are marketed.
This information stirred the breasts of
the Kners of land on Hawaii. Some
one reminded someone else that some
years ago, more than a dozen, a man
by the name of Moore, of Apia, had
sent to Hawaii a lot of Samoan nuts,
which were put on sale in the grocery
site of the present Mcintyre building.
Inquiry brought the information that
most of the nuts were sold to man
by the name of Lindermann, cattle
grower on Kauai. Some of them were
given by Lindermann to Charlie Rice,
and ne had planted them on good soil
in the Garden Island. 1t Is about the
only record of anything like an indus
try, aside from sugar, breaking
through the barriers on that island.
The Lindermanns, it seems, decided TO
go into cOpra and bought the nuts,
Mrs. Lindermann made a trip to the
Coast to learn the prospects, but on
her return her husband made some
real estate deals for a big portion OF
his property, so they went to Germany
and have been living on the income
from the property ever since.
When the reports of the money made
in the business in Manila reached here,
Charlie Rice and other owners of land
suited to the cultivation of the trees
sat up and took notice. The people of
other copra producing sections receive
about two cents a pound for their crop
and wax rich. The shipping facilities,
generally. are bad and as long delays
mean poor quality, the price varies ac-
With the product of the
Malay Peninsula the London market is
but sparsely supplied: much of that
grown in the Philippines is from trees
owned by the Colgates and the crop
goes to the soap makers of the same
name for use in the toilet soaps. san
Francisco can use a great deal, but it
has only Tahiti, Washington and Fan
ming Islands to draw from, except on
occasions when a schooner load arrives
from one of the islands further south.
Samples of copra from the Under
mann trees have been Sent to San
Francisco for examination and the re-
suit is most satisfactory. The manu-
facturers there offer ninety-fve dollars
a ton for all that the Kauai people
will send. A further statement was
made to the effect that, though from
the "farthest north cocoanut belt, the
copra is of better quality than any re-
ceived in that market.
This report looked pretty good to the
owners of land in this Territory, for
there are thousands of acres here that
lie idle and which might be bringing
revenue. Fred Waterhouse of the Wa
terhouse Co. went to Kauai for point
ers and returned with a fund of infor
nation and the pictures which accom-
pany this story. He took them with
his own little camera and is pleased
with the result. He says everything
connected with the industry looked
good to him, so good, in fact, that he
went over the Pail to some of the land
recently acquired by James B. Castle.
At a place between the Kawainui
Pond and the sea there was a tract of
two hundred acres that seemed suita-
BILE, and, after comforting with other
gentlemen with whom he would asso-
ciate in the enterprise, leased the land.
Then came the inevitable stock COM
pany, and before the Waterhouse Co.
knew it. the shares were, practically,
all spoken for, and the holders have
only ta xE-ai+ tn IA II