The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-03-20
POLICE CONFRONT
CRAVE SITUATION

A serious police problem confronts
the community. There have been left
here within the past. few weeks by
transports and deep sea vessels some
thing like forty or fifty men ION the
beach, These men are unable to get
work. They are being driven to des-
peration. Crime attributable to them is
beginning to increase.
Already there have been two or three
holdups which the police are satisfied
are the work of some of these strand
ed on the beach. and there are actual
ly in the cells at the police station now
two men left here by transports or
from deep sea vessels, who are being
held while their supposed connection
with these holdups is being investi-
gated.
Every transport either way leaves
some stowaways. The attitude of the
quartermaster captains of these yes
sells is that this is an American port,
and hence that they have right to
leave stowaways here. In addition,
some of these officials make it a point
to leave them here. One of them re-
Gently told Chief Taylor that every
stowaway on his transport from San
Francisco or from Manila would be
left here and that any stowaways from
here for San Francisco would get all
that was coming to them in the way
of hard work and brig fare.
The Moana on her last trip brought
back FIVE who had slowed away on
one of the vessels of her line in this
port, and after getting as far as Suva
and serving ten days in jail there,
were brought back here. The Thomas,
which left here last Saturday, left
eight stowaways here.
In addition to this a number of deeh
sea vessels have discharged their
crews here, ard an equal number of
vessels have not gone out, so that
there is quite an accumulation of sail
ors and others in town. AS the police
put it, there are between forty and
fifty men on the beach. Petty thiev-
ing, which is clearly not the work of
Hawaiians, is beginning to develop.
The Standard Oil ship Astral dis
charged about twenty-eight men here.
The Edward SewaI discharged about
as many. The Astral is now getting
ready to sail within two or three days,
and Captain Durham is preparing to
ship a crew of Japanese, so that the
opportunity that her sailing would be
expected to make for, say, twenty
of these men on the beach, will not
materialize, and that number of white
sailors will have to look elsewhere.
Captain Durham sent about thirty
japanese, who had applied to him, to
the immigrant station day before yes
terday to be examined as to their
status, as the regulations of the De-
partment of Commerce and Labor re-
quire r. c. Brown, who is in charge
of immigration matters here, and
United States Shipping Commissioner
Amy spent nearly all day Monday eX-
aiming these Japs. Several of them
presented fraudulent discharges and
certificates of one kind and another,
mostly discharges as sailors, which
they had purchased from other Jap
anese sailors. These were rejected al
together. the two officials refusing IL
have anything to do with them what
SOeNeT. Gut OIL the DuHCll tueIe NSlO
eight who produced some sort of be-
lievable evidence that they are sail
ors. Some of them proved that they
were sailors by evidence that they had
deserted from vessels in this port. The
others were of various occupations.
Captain Durham had the bunch of
about twenty working on the vessel
yesterday. If he wishes it, they will
all be signed on the vessel, the Ship
ping Commissioner being required to
sign them on, but he is also required
to certify whether they are sailors or
not. Whether those who are not sail
ors will be permitted to land in New
York or not, or what view the au-
thorities there will take of Captain |
Dunham's action, depends on them. |
There is a penalty of fine and impris-
onment for aiding to illegally bring /
aliens into the country.
The rate of wages for white men for
voyages around Cape Horn is S25 a
month What the wages for these
Japanese men will be will not he
known until they are signed on before