Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-02-03

mentioned it the other day when i in
formed him | was getting up some
data for this occasion. 1t was desired
to be known by the people in the
states what the possibilities in Hawaii
were? How far was it possible for
the treaty protection to expand the SUI
gar Industry? What was the possible
maximum output? | don't recall all
Of the men that went into conference
m this ,o5pesson, but they were the
sugar men Of. that dd}y day and were IRE Just G
as keen as any that are on Ine rHno Nv
today-in fact, think they were h -
keen than the sugar men of today, H.
a way, because they were the pioneers,
and were carrying on the pioneering
process" under all the burdens incl
dental to pioneering generally; every
plantation was next year" affair.
and the money to keep them going
was hard to get and had to be got
on II per cent basis, plus promise
Of big returns Dividends were rare
occurrences. These men got together
for the purpose of sizing up the pos
sibilities of the sugar business in Ha-
waii and made a conscientious esti-
mate, based on past experience and
the areas apparently yet available for
cane culture; the result of their de-
liberations was that 100000 tons was
the limit, the extreme limit. Thus
is measured, gentlemen, the power Of
the human to look into the future
~ ~ hnr
Captain Matson was looking for lit
tie ballast, handled about 5000 tons
Of sugar, and our Planters line Of
ships to carry it off were the barken-
tine Ella of about 400 tons, the w. II.
Meyer Of about $50 tons, and the
English bark Lady Lampson of about
$50 tons capacity. | recall distinctly
that when the Lampson was reported
as off Koko Head. there was a lot of
rusting, as we'll as growing because
she was so big that it took a long time
to load her and the cargo came in
small Jumps; the island schOoners
brought in from 800 to 1000 bags at
time
In 1883 the Oceanic line put on the
first local steam service of conse-
Quence and for year or two Operat-
ed the "MarpOsa" and ALAMEDA"
semi-monthly. but they were ahead Of
their time and were finally put in
the "Australian service" under sub
sidy. From that on, We have had a
monthly service by the Oceanic line,
which has been maintained ever since
with cOmmendable regularity and de-
pendabiIty.
THE MatsOn Company was incor-
pOrated in the year 1901 but as a
speaker, better informed than |. is to
follow ME on the operations of this
company, | will not take the chance
Of detraCting anything from his talk
on that subject.
In the late COS, our domestic ex-
ports expanded to a point where the
Pacific coast could not eat up what
Hawaii sent them and this necessitat-
ed our employing the markets of the
east coast, and for a number of years
the Cape Horn clippers of the Dear
born and Sewall ownership particu-
larly, were employed to carry sugars
around Cape Horn, and from $4,000
to 100000 tons Of sugar went over
this long run to market.
Meanwhile the traffic between the
coast and Hawaii employed a large
sailing feet that was very prosperous,
in which Captain Matson was prom
inently identified, but an evolution
was taking place in the direction Of
steam craft that for the moment did
not foredoom the "sailer." but you
know today what has happened.
I'm the year 1913 the total value
of our domestic exports receded, both
in volume and value-the value fig.
ures having been cut down about $10,-
600, 900 by the low prevailing world s
price OF sugar. ..~
The position of our guest of honor,
Captain Matson, in relation to Hawai-.
ian Commerce and its development,
has been one of mutual advantage, as
he has always stood by to provide
what the islands have needed on the
transportation end of their develop
ment; moreover. we include Captain
Matson in that class which we desig-
nate as .kamaaina, for the reason
that his aloha for the islands has been
and Is still of the sort that enfiflcS