Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-08-17
NINETY men HEARC. X. HIELl
OF CHINESE ACHIElEME HERE
an-Pacific Luncheon at Y. M.
Ca Gymnasium Marked by
important Announcements

VI. Y. a. gymndSium 10 HEte3 10 Tue
chief speaker, C. K. Al. tell OF the
work that the Chinese have done In
the upbuIlding OF Hawaii
Owing To the need OF more room,
through the constantly increasing at.
tendance at the 1uncheons. the gym.
nzsfum will hereafter be nsed instead
l'of Cooke Hall, which has been round
t0o small to accommodate all those
who come
Alexander Hume Ford presided as
chairman and in his usual pleasant
and clever way introduced the speak
ers.
Mr.. Al said, in part:
1T may not be bad idea for me
to take you back to the early historical
days when the islands were barely
known to the outside world. While
the American war of Independence
was going on there we're some very
Interesting dramas enacted right here
In the isles OF the Pacific. Vancouver,
in his Book OF Voyages, related that
in the year 1889, Captain Metcalf
had sailed frcm Macao. China, with
a crew of 10 Americans and IS Chi
nese on the schooner Eleanor This.
vessel was said to have called at the
islands of Hawaii and Maui Although
no records can be found TO substah-
tiate the claim It was commonly be-
lieyed that good number Of these 40
Chinese, If not all, had taken up their
residence In the islands. What help
ed to strengthen This belief was that
the schooner Eleanor would not have
enough jobs to go around even to one
third of the IS Chinese Further,
when Vancouver himself returned to
the islands in 1896. or thereabouts,
he found Chinese settlers already here
and that commercial relations had
been established between these islands
and China.
Rice introduced.
The Hawaiian products in those
days we're very few. but chief among
them was sarldalwood, which was very
highly prized by the Chinese, so that
even today. the islands are still known
as sandalwo0d ISLANDS. Later on, the
Chinese realized that the opportunities
for development we're unlimited, and
so the rice culture was introduced,
thriving In the great tracts of swannpy
and neglected lands and growing al
most side by side with tafo The fice
industry was at one time the leading
one in Hawaii, fiourishing until the
annexation of these Islands to the
United States. The operation OF the.
exclusion act has practically ruined
shis industry. as IL deprives Chinese
rice growers of the supply Of Chinese
laborers.
If you ask any school boy what is
the leaaing industry IN Hawaii today
he WIN without hesitation say that SUI
gar Is But If you ask him who in
troduced sugar here he may md it
difficult to answer In digging up the
records one will find that in 1902 a
sugar mn was sent from China. as
the Chinese mad already discovered
that these islands would be suitable
for sugar cultivation.
The next Important Industry that |
the Chinese had taken up was the |
cultivation Of pineapples. This was
long before the days OF the Wahiawa
pine growers, although ! don't want to !
take away any of the credit belonging
to the latter, who were the ones TO de- T
peIcp II. TO such a large scale.
Apt Pupil. u
The Chinese taught Kamehameha I
The Great Mis- sflrst lessons in the econ i
,mics OF government and gave Linn the
Idea Of port charges, import and ex-
port duties. TO his credit, the ring I