The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-03-15
KORALA MIDGET is
AFTER INTER ISLAND
Smallest Newspaper in Hawaii
Is Ready to Tackle a Big
Fighting lob.


sunken flagship, the Inter.Island com
pany directors are being vigorously as
sailed by the youngest and the smallest
newspaper of the Territory, the Kohala
Midget. The Midget goes after the
steamship company in its last issue, un-
der the heading, "0ur Inter-Island In |
cubus,' saying:
'Governor Frear, in his capital re-
port to the secretary of the interior, on
the affairs of Hawaii, speaks, under the
head of Understand Traffic of the
$72l, 800 spent for better harbors and
wharves, and the $1,270,000 to be ex-
pended for roads. He pays his respects
TO the Inter-Island S. S. g. Navigation
Co., by telling of its sixteen steamers, !
carrying nearly half million tons of
freight and $4,000 passengers, an in
crease of almost 1000 passengers over
the preceding year. He speaks of the
new steamer, the Kilauea, and there
he stops short.
"We wish he might have gone on and
told something of the crying needs of
these Islands as expressed in such cases
as the following, needs that are utter
ly ignored while the monopoly that has
all the interisland traffic in its grip
makes immense stock and plethoric
cash dividends.
GA few weeks ago on trip to Maui,
we saw some ladies who had neglected
to book for staterooms soaked $3.50 ex-
ira for rooms that are few feet larger
than the ordinary stateroom. One of
these passengers used her room only
until ten O'Clock or eleven at night,
when we reached Maui. We heard more
than one passenger express his opinion
of such a charge in the terms, out
rage!' robbery If we had another
line, as San Francisco and Los Angeles,
such greedy grabs would not occur.
Recently Japanese evangelist,
with his wife and two small children
was transferred from Maui to Hawaii
The run is FIVE or six hours long. He
brought with him trunk, bed, a
chair or two. The trip from McGregors
to Kohala, including r. r. charges on
his little furniture, and hack fare bled
him $40, one fourth of which would
have been enough.
''What makes the smart worse is that
the S. s. Company lost his trunk, and
though the local agent did all that a
man could do to find it, it was two or
three weeks before the trunk was de-
livered. This company's lack of sys
TEN in handling luggage and small
freight, is continually losing things
Not long since doctor was landed
and all his instruments and drugs
taken somewhere else He was a weel
or more getting them.
In the meantime the poor Japanes
whose only changes of clothing were il
the trunk, had to have new clothe
made. When the trunk was found,
was notified that he must come to tn
wharf and identify it, which mean
hack-fare to the amount of SO or 81
notwithstanding he held the receipt o
the company for his trunk, whic
ought to be the equivalent of R. R
baggage check. The system is wrong
''We wish that the long suffering peo
pie of HamalSua might have written
section of the Governor s report on 'In
terisland Traffic. The refusal of tn
company to take passengers on tIfei
smaller steamers landing at Hamakui
ports for freight, compels these peopl
to stage it fifty miles to Kawaihae o
Laupahoehoe or Hilo, over the wors
bonebreaking roads.
Suppose man wanted to ship good
from Kohala to Hamakua, he mus
either send it to Honolulu or Hilo an
have it brought back, or ship it to Ka
waihae and stage it to Hamakua. Las
summer when we were travelling on
Hamakua stage, we saw n man put
barrel of cabbage on board. They wer
going only a comparatively short dis
lance, and our windpipe nearly wen
out of action when the driver said
two dollars please. Imagine wha
I. I.T
steader. We could tell of promising
small industry in this district that wa
busted to flinders because of these in
tolerable conditions. Last summer w
saw Japanese hauling watermelons from
Kona to Hamakua, one hundred mile
over abominable roads, with sixteen in
terisland steamers in our waters but NJ
water transportation for those melons
"a Hilo business man told me Hill
could do little business on the islam,
this side of Hakalua, because freight
from Honolulu are cheaper.
fWe are not knocking the lnter-Is
and with both eyes shut. We recogniz
that il has been a great factor in wha
developments have been made here. BIZ
however good the men at its head, n
monopoly ever voluntarily accepts rel
sonable profits for the sake of givin
the public better accommodations. M,
nopolies never give the public MOI
than they are compelled to. They don
look at traffic problems through tn
same spectacles with which the sma
shipper, in life-or-death struggle I
exist, does.
"Monopolies don't infuse blood
they such it.
FThe Island of Jamaica has sever,
lines of steamers sailing around the is
and in both directions. Small grove
can get their produce to market
reasonable rates. Jamaica has a 90
ernmentsubsidized line of fruit stear