Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-01-19
MAUI IS ALIVE
WITH Optimism
FOR THE FUTURE
Continued rom page one1

the members, who in turn bid for
the purpose of securing the use OF
the fund thus collected. AS it is usual.
~ operated in this island, ten men
will get together and agree to pay
into a common fund each month, say
SO each. The $100 thus immediate
ly raised is thereupon auctioned of
TO the members, and the one willing
to pay the highest takes the pot
If money is scarce in the crowd. or If
there is an element Of suspicion as
to the integrity OF some of the mem.
bers, bidding is keen, and the man
who takes the fund sometimes pays
from 25 to 80 per cent for the priv
lege. To all intents the money thus
secured is a loan, for the borrower
is bound to continue to pay his month.
ly dues of ten thereafter without hay-
ing further privilege of borrowing,
until he has paid in the sum of 500.
Each month is bid for, and the last
man of course, gets the entire 800.
plus, of course, all he may have re-
ceived during the progress of the
game, through his share of the in.
terest payments-thati is provided the
tanamoshi survives so long. And hero
is where the recent trouble has come.
When business generally was good,
many of these tanamosllis are said to
have been carried through without
trouble. but when hard times began
to pinch the various plantation camps,
the tanamoshis .devolved into gen.
eral financial orgy. Men earning from
$40 to $50 per month would be involv-
ed in from half a dozen to a dozen
tanamoshis, using their borrowings
from one to. pay their dues in the
others. Z number of instances are
related in which common laborers at
present time have tanamoshi debts
amounting to from $500 to $1,000.
With the slackening OF business
and the completion of construction
work, considerable number of labor.
ers involved in these games became
idle and unable to pay their assess
ments. Others seeing storms ahead
grabbed what they could and struck
out for pastures new. And thus was
a smali.sized money panic started
In the Paia district, which, seems to
have been one of the worst hot beds
for this form of gambling, it is diff
cult to learn how many of these ton
tines have gone to smash in the past
six months. And the consequences
have been a good deal more far-reaeh-
ing than might at first be imagined.
A number OF Japanese general stores
in Paia were forced to the wall large
ly, it is said, through the private
bankruptcies of their customers occa.
stoned by tanamoshi collapses. Two
of these stores have been able to re-
sumo business, owing to the fact, it
is reported, of their creditors being
willing to accept some so cents on the
dollar for their claims. The planta-
ton stores have also felt the effects
Of the pernicious tanamoshi, directly
and indirectly, and the bed of the
plantation store manager is not bed
of roses these days.
And then, as before mentioned, the
county has gone broke" 1t is stated
that the county supervisors are right
up against the proposition Of keeping
the county machinery running for
some four months or more without a
cent. 1t is estimated that some
$4,000 will be required during this
period. Of course it is expected that
the local banks will come to the res
cue and cash registered warrants as
they are presentation a considera-
ton. But here again the way isn't
any too easy, for the banks are hold
ing onto their money pretty close
these days, and besides it is more
than likely that they are little curl
Gus to know just what the result of
the Maui Chamber of Commences
audit of the county's books will re-
veal.
1t is quite an open secret here that
the fate of the proposed bond issue
for the construction of a big reservoir
at Olinda for the Kula water system,
some more road construction in the
kula district, and other work, will de-
pend a good deal upon the Chamber
of Commerce investigation The pro-
posal is to submit the matter to a
plebiscite vote, but as prominent
Piti2pn mt II. EIEo RI