The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-03-06
A CONCESSION
MADE BY SCHWER|N

: The Pacific Mail Steamship Compan,
will reserve staterooms on its Amer
ican-bound steamships, to the exten
of ten staterooms, for passengers from
Honolulu who have bought round triI
tickets from San Francisco to the Is
lands and back, and for lay-over pas
sengers from other steamers of tha
line.
A concession to that extent has beer
secured from General Manager Schwer-
in to the demand on the part of the
travelling public that If they come tC
Honolulu. or if they lay-over here they
shall have some assurance of being
able to get accommodations from Ho-
nolulu on to San Francisco on a steam
ship of that line.
This announcement was made by l.
A. Thurston and r. W. Shingle to a
meeting of the trustees of the Cham
Der of Commerce yesterday afternoon.
Mr.. Pfotenhauer of H. Hackfeld & Co..
the agents of the Pacific Mail, stated
that they had received Instructions
from the company to the same effect.
The meeting of the trustees was call
ed to hear this report from Mr.. Thurs
ton and Mr.. Shingle, it having been
secured as a result of their efforts
while in San Francisco, and they had
promised Mr.. Schwerin to refer it to
the commercial bodies of Honolulu.
Mr.. Shingle, speaking first, read the
following statement he had prepared
as to the results of their representa-
tons to Mr.. Schwerin, leaving it to
Mr.. Thurston to make a detailed state
ment of the representations and efforts
made of which this was the result:
'On the morning of February 18th,
Mr.. Schwerin notified me that acting
upon representations made to him by
Mr.. Thurston and myself, he had de-
cided to put into immediate effect a
policy whereby round-trip passengers
originating at San Francisco, would be
entitled to specific quarters on Pacific
Mail boats returning from Honolulu
homeward bound.
Mr.. Schwerin stated that a limited
number of accommodations would be
held in reserve for the benefit of hold
ers of round-trip tickets, and while he
did not inform me of the exact num-
Der, 1 am inclined to believe as many
as ten desirable staterooms VIII be the
extent. for the reason that this was
the number suggested by Mr.. Thurston
and myself at our previous interview.
'At the time Of making this an
nouncement to me, Mr. Schwerin called |
in Mr.. Kerrell, General Passenger and |
Ticket Agent of the Pacific Mail. and |
gave orders to issue round-trlp tickets |
to several tourists who were booked |
for the Siberia March 10, provided they |
would be assured comfortable accom- |
modations on the Mongolia due to |
leave Honolulu on March 2Sth, bound |
for San Francisco.
"Mr. Schwerin then informed me that |
under the proposed arrangement the
so reserved would never be |
sold to passengers originating in the |
Orient beyond Honolulu, as long as |
there were holders of round-trip |
tickets in Honolulu to fill them; also
that these staterooms would be held to
the exclusion of Honolulu passengers,
of early bookings. He fur
ther stated that should there be any
from Honolulu people
against this discrimination, he would
refer all such complaints to L. A.
Thurston and R. W. Shingle. I imme-
1iately notified Mr.. Schwerin that
neither Mr.. Thurston nor myself would
assume any responsibility in the prem
ses, but would report the matter to
he Honolulu commercial bodies"
MR.. THURSTONS TALK.
Mr.. Thurston, relating the events
hat had led up to this, stated that
asst November he and Mr.. Shingle
lad gone to the Coast on be-
lalf of the Hawaiian Mahogany Lum-
Ter company, commissioned by the
'oard of directors to make a contract
or the transportation of the ties sold
o the Santa Fe road, and authorized
o use that contract as the basis for
ecuring a steamship on the local run g
etween the Islands and the Coast,
tied for passenger and fresh fruit I
raffic. To further this they were au- q
horized by the lumber company to f
ield to the extent of a cent a tie in a
he freight contract, which would ag- t
regate $4,000, showing how far the
lmber company was willing to go. r
I'VE had conferences" said Mr.. ?
with representatives of the t
)ur companies engaged in carrying on a
traffic with these Islands v
he Oceanic company after the first p
January said that what they would il
e able and willing to do would de- s
end on whether the proposed subsidy h
III, which extended to vessels of six b
zen knots speed the mail contract D
Ibsidies now limited to twenty knot s.
essels, passed Congress or not. If it
ID the company intended to convert IL
S three large steamships into oil il
Irners and put them on the Austria II
an run again. In the meantime, if n
lough freight were guaranteed them o
ley would put one or two of these is
essels on the local run. lr
"Dearbogn and Latham, the princi-
II owners of the Observation-Disclosures ~
'mpany, said that the passenger traf- h,
, between the Coast and Honolulu -
as one that they had been looking -
rward to, and they had expected to -.
ansform the Virginian into a pas :,
niger boat. But after expert advice
Id been taken it had been decided 4,
lat she was not capable of being :
ansformed into a passenger boat that :,
ould meet the requirements of the =.
rvice. They had looked the Amer u