The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-05-23
MR. WESTERVELT IS INTERVIEWED
BY NEW ZEALAND NEWSPAPERS

Wanganui had been absolutely salts
factory''--as far at Piprih. The two
days trip had appeared too long. New
Plymouth had been visited, and the
lonely majesty of Mount Egmont had
reminded him, on lesser scale, Of Full
yama, of Japan, and Popocatapetl ris
ing in the plain of Mexico. In this
island the southern lakes had pleased
them, but their greatest Joy had been
the motor journey to Mount Cook
The service was admirable and the
whole Of the three hundred miles tray
ersed was worth while.
Asked as to the work of the Histori.
cal Society Mr.. Westervelt said that
interested persons all over the Pacific
we're gathering together folk song and
story. Mr. Airport Barker, Of the Suva
Herald, was doing great work, get
ting together results Of study. In New
Zealand he had seen several men en-
gagged in the work, and he hoped be-
fore he departed to see several 9TH
ers.
In Hawaii, when he left, all was
quiet and peaceful and prosperous.
Since he had been in the Dominion
he had read several paragraphs, not
ably in the Auckland journals, setting
out troubles alleged to have bsen
caused by the Japanese. He had
pleasure in denying these reports to
him it seemed that they were being
circulated only for purposes of the
labor movement. The only trouble
the Japanese had caused was three
years ago, when they had formed
themselves into trades unions and
had struck work on the plantations
Their demands for more pay, shorter
hours, and better accommodation, had
mostly been met, and none of the
anticipated trouble had occurred. That
this crisis had passed so quietly was
due largely to the restraining inau.
ence of the religious teachers and the
Japanese, journals published in Homo
lulu. The Chinese, of whom there
were fewer were of a good type also,
and included many earnest young
men of education, practically Ameri-
cans, yet loyal, devoted, and self-sac-
Iificing to China. DR.. Sun Vat Sen,
the first president of China, was Oft
Ell spoken of as having been born in !
Honolulu, but he had been born in
Canton. 1t was believed, however,
that he had been naturalized in Ha-
vail, and was therefore an American
citizen. Certainly his son had been
naturalized. There was much inter
marrying between Chinese and Japan
csc and native Hawaiians, but the
white men did not marry out of their
color. The Chinese Hawaiian was a
fine product superior to each parent
race.
Missionary work had gone ahead
steadily since it's institution in 1920,
by the Missionary Board of the Con
gregational Church of America. De.
spite the fall in population (from
an estimate of between 100000 and
100000, at the time of Cooks visit, to
about 60,OOO) the lists of membership
of the churches kept up, The Congre-
gational Church had a communion
roll of over 5000, the Anglican Church
had great following, and the Roman
Catholics had almost as large a mem
bership as the Congregationalists To
show how the islands had progressed,
he would state that education was
compulsory in Government schools,
there were high schools in the large
towns, and two big technical schools.
In Honolulu there are three daily
journals published in English, two in
Japanese, one in Chinese, and two very
fino English monthly journals.