The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-04-19
MANY kept AWAY
BY BIG FLOODS
HARPAIIoN LOST HUNDRED FAM.
lilies BECAUSE OF THEM,
SAYS A. j. CAMPBELL.
(FrOm Wednesdays Advortiser.)

NEiOlu . AuNtIblStIsJ
Returning from long stay in Europe
as an agent of the local department. of
immigration, A, j. Campbell arrived
yesterday morning ON the s. s. Will
helmina. He has not yet made any
report to the department, but will prob.
ably do so in the near future, and in
the meanwhile is very much surprised
that the officials have expected the Har.
palion since Saturday last.
"This is her forty-seventh day out"
he said, at his residence on Beretqnia
avenue, last night, "and she can hard
ly do it under ffty-two days, or be-
tween that and ffty-fve. he will prob
ably be in within the week."
One hundred and seventy,seven FAM
lilies who were booked for passage on
the Harpalion as immigrants to Hawaii
failed to reach the port of embarkation,
he said, in discussing the work in Por-
tugal and Spain, and this was largely
due to the great floods in these portions
Of the country through which the inn
migrants had to travel
In many cases the railroads could
not carry them,'' said Mr.. Campbell.
Some of them started for the port,
but their provisions became exhausted,
and they were compelled to stop and 20
to work to earn enough money to bring
them down the next season.
People Plentiful.
"People are plentiful and the chief
difficulty is the high price of steamers,
am not exactly informed as to this
as l have been out of touch for five
or six weeks, but when / left Mr.. Brown
was in London looking up steamers and
found conditions unsatisfactory. Yes.
sells are in great demand.
So much immigration work has been
done now that recruiting work is be.
coming easier. The people here are
writing letters back home and they are
the best advertisement we have There
is not much opposition to the work ex-
cept in local instances. 1t is natural
that employers of labor would look with
disfavor on their labor leaving. There
are, however, thousands of Portuguese
and Spaniards immigrating to Brazil
and other parts of the world every
month. Hawaii s drain is but a small
percentage.
"The weather conditions along the
coast were unfavorable at the time that
the Harpalion sailed. and she was de.
layed month over her regular sched-
ule.'
Mr.. Campbell was much interested in
reports of the laborers' conditions as
made by Doctor Clark, after his recent
tour of the Islands and particularly in
the statement that the Spaniards are
taking to contract work.
Contract Work.
"They are trained to that and are
used to it," he said, "and / e,1pect
to see the Spaniards do great deal of
contract work. The Portuguese live un.
der different conditions and are not
familiar with such systems.'
There were an unusually large mum.
Der OF reflections for the Harpalion, - he
continued. "To the 1884 people ac.
cepted there were, in round figures, $50
rejected on physical examination, for
various causes, but chiefly for ira
choma. If one member of family had
this none could come. Examinations
were made by local physicians at re.
quest, but most of them by DIR. Dana
Il. Robinson, U, S. P. II. & NJ. III. S..
who was detailed for that purpose. His
station is at Naples.
About two-ffths of those ON the
Harpalion are Portuguese and the rest
are Spaniards. None of the Portuguese
are from the islands,"