Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-02-02
FATHER REGINALD
TELLS OF FIRST
SECULAR PRESS
George r. Carter Elected Pres
ident of the Hawaiian His
toriCaI Society
By FIR. REGINALD YzENoooRN.

BY FIR. REGINALD YZENDooRN.
After the first two Catholic mis-
sionariCs to the Hawaiian Islands had
been sent into exile, Bro. Melchior
Bondu, laybrother and mechanic
who was legally the owner of the mis-
sion premises and property remained
at Honolulu. Daily he jotted down
such events as might interest the eX-
lied priests, and occasionally he sent
copies Of his journal to Father Bache-
lot in California. The original jour
nal is now kept in the archives OF
the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts at
Braine-lc-Comte. 1t covers the peri
cd which extends from the departure
OF the missionaries on the eve of
Christmas, 1881, till the beginning Of
the year 1887, and throws interesting
sidelights on Honolulu life of that
time.
From this diary we see that the
first secular printing press was estab-
Hshed on the premises of the Catholic
Mission, the actual spot being the
place which is now occupied by the
sanctuary of the cathedral. The his
tory of its establishment is contained
in the following entries which we
translate as faithfully as possible
from the imperfect French in which
the journal is written:
1886, May 80. The printer, Mr..
Hall, has arrived at Oahu. He is an
American. He has rented the upper
room of the house in the center for
$40 a month, for one year. The con-
tract has been made in writing"
This was Nelson Hall, who must not
be COMPOUNDED with Mr.. Edward O..
Hall, the missionary printer.
June Is. Kekuanaoa has sum-
moned me to the fort. There he
asked me how many foreigners there
were in my house. / told him that
we had one newcomer. He further in
quired what he did. l answered that
he was a printer. Again he asked to
what nationality he belonged. / said
he was an American. He had already
sent several natives to watch the
printer. After ] had answered all his
questions, he said: This stranger
has taken up residence here without
making himself and his profession
known to me. Neither the king nor
Kinau know him. We don't want two
printers here, You furnished him
with q house against our will; you
will have to send him away Then
he added: You have no house any
longer; J. take your place from YOU
answered him at once: If the man
is here against your will l am going
to dismiss him. l, did not know that
you did not approve of him. Now
that ! know / will talk with Mr.. Mac.
kintosh about 1t; he is the one who
has rented the printers room Il
went to see Mr.. Macintosh and told
him of the order ! had received. Go
ing to his house met the British con.
sui whom informed, of what was go
ing on. He said he was going to take
a hand in the matter. Then told
Mr.. Macintosh that If we left the
press any longer in the house we
were exposed to losing our establish
ment, which would be considerable
loss to u.s.. He answered: Don't be
afraid; I'll speak to our consul, Mr..
Reynolds, about it. We>shall go to
the fort and have a talk with the
chief and il there is no means of
staying at your place We shall take
our belongings away He added:
The chiefs here think they are gods;
they would like to see us at their feet,
but nothing doing; l won't submit to
their wiles.' Then he said: The
chiefs think perhaps that the press
belongs to you and that you want to
print Jesuit matter :. The mission.
aries here he continued, meaning
the Protestant missionaries, have no
charity; they are devils. They have
no printing paper any more and want
ed to buy from US but we did not want
to sell them any They do what they
can to bother the foreign residents
Il went to see Mr.. Reynolds.
found there Mr.. Macintosh, Mr.. Hall,
the printer, and several other gentle
men. They asked me what was the
matter and l told them what Kekua-
naoa had said about the press and
Mr.. Hall. Then they started to talk
English. They resolved to make pc.
tition, to have it translated by Mr..
Bingham and send it to the king"
July 16. The king has answered
Mr.. Mackintosh's petition. He allows
him to remain and to print He has
also sent a letter to Kinau to tell her
to leave us alone. He said he was
glad to have another printing press"
July 80. The printers who live at
our house have printed today their
first newspaper They are to issue
one paper a week at six dollars a
year"
This paper was entitled the Sand
witch Islands Gazette.
The foregoing paper was read by
FIR. Reginald Yzendoorn at the an
nual meeting of the Hawaiian His
toriCal Society Friday evening, being
one of several that were heard dur
ing the session.
A high tribute was paid the late
Prof William D. Alexander when,
Bishop Henry B. Restarick and Rev.
w. D. Westervelt were appointed a
to draft memorial in COM
of the life work Of Mr..
to be spread on the min
utes of the meeting. The meeting
was held in the library Of Hawaii and
was we'll attended, and the following
officers were elected for the ensuing