The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-09-07
Attempt to Break Up Combina-
ton Between Auctioneers
And Stall Men Fails
OUTSIDERS BoYc0TTED
BY BY. BIG INNER H,l /. eI,' Y If;
Supply and Demand Do Not Fig
ure In Prices Set BY -.
j Trust ~

An attempt has been made to break
up the ring Of Japanese auctioneerS
and fish statesmen who every day do
business at the Ash market, to their
own considerable enrichment and the
corresponding impoyer .shment Of the
catchers Of fish. AL. q. ..''
For long time past it has been
understood that q limit should be placed
on the price bid for fish brought into
the market. This price was fixed by
the stall holders, principally japanese
and Chinese, and was communicated to
the Japanese auctioneers. Sometimes,
regulated by the supply of fish, the
price varies, but as a general rule,
it remains around the same figure.
Not only do the stall keepers and
auctioneers combine to keep up the
price Of sea food, but they have an
agreement whereby no one win bid
for the catch of newcomer. This is
what keeps the Hawaiians out of the
fishing business and what drove three
Italian fishermen who came to Hawaii
from San Francisco back to the main
land. 20.
Outsiders Are Boycotted
The Hawaiians, as q rule, cannot af.
ford to maintain q stand at the market.
II they could they could dispose of
their catch. The Italians came here to
fish and not to sell their catch direct
ly. They were excellent fishermen and
brought in some notable catches. When
their fish came to be Ructioned, how.
ever, no one would bid for them and
the Italians had, perforce, to suspend
operations.
The anctiOneers, who are in on the
deal, fulfill their end of the contract
by applying the closure when an out
side bidder joins the charmed circle.
II someone outside the ring shows
tendency to outbid one of the stall
holders; = the auetioheer n promptly
squelches him by being seized with Il
sudden attack OF deafness or by ignor
ing him altogetL r.
Last Wednesday George Lucas, the
well fnown customs house employee,
while wandering through the fish mar
ket, looking for something nice for
dinner, had his attention attracted by
huge one which was being carried
to the auctioneer and which took Lucas ,
eye on account of its size and sym
metry. The fish was about six feet
long and weighed in the neighborhOOd
Of seventy pounds.
Hsoles Are Barred -.
The Japanese auctiOneer called for
bids and some started the bidding at
four dollars. Little by little the bids
were raised to four dollars and half
and just when the fish was about to
be knocked down for this absurd sum
Lucas created a sensation by bidding
four dollars and seventy five.
Such bid was unprecedented in
local fshmarket circles as far as an
ono is concerned and the man who had
the temeTity to make it was regarded
with ul.cOncealed looks of ill.favor.
One Japanese held up his hand to
signify that he would boost the price
a quarter, but his arm was pulled down
by half dozen indignant hands, and
the fish was knocked down to Lucas.
"No sellem, no sellPm haOle, - cried
the assembled Japanese. Lucas, how
ever, insisted that the fish was his and
had il removed to a spot where it would
be safe until he ordered an express
wagon to take it to the ice house.
Even then the japanese showed a
disposition to be ugly, and for a time
1t looked as if move were go ng to
be made TO take the ono from Lucas
It reached the ice house safely, how
ever, and the next day was cut up and
distributed among Lucas large cirrl'
of friends.
The flesh of the ono, as n rule, sells
in the market at about thirty cents
a pound. A fish. weighing seventy
pounds sold for ~ so, would stand the
buyer In about 6 IL cents pound Plus
4 the auetioneer s commission, allowing
a very comfortable margin of profit.
Combine Keeps Prices Up
! III is dealings similar to this which
keeps the price of fish in Honolulu NJ
70 the present eKtortonate figure
Mallet yesterday cost thirty cents q
4 pound and any other fish worth eating
!, nearly as much.
! The law of supply and demand ha,
nothing to do with regulating prices
in the local ishmarket. Even though
the market be flooded with fish the
price is always the same, and when
the aku are running and SAMOAN after
sampan comes to port, each bearing
thousands of pounds of fish, the price
never drops.
What becomes of the surplus fNh ha'
never been definitely ascertained, tut
is said that rather than food the mar
ket and by so doing reduce the price
of fish, the stuff is shipped to the loca
plantations and sold for whatever il
will fetch for fertilizer.