The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-06-23
.HONOk'AlA! TROUBLES
WORST IN HONOLULU
=. .-- "'s {
Plantation Management Could
Not Have Avoided Disputes
In Any Way "..a'.
Bonus Due Each Man wiz Be
Paid When Situation Is
" Advocated

Honokaa and Kukuihaele labor trou
bles exist only in the heated imagina
.tion of certain Japanese editors and
merchants in Honolulu, according u
advices from Hawaii received by T. A
schnefcr & Company yesterday. The
row was all news to the plantation
manager.
/ There ,hnve been differences but
they we're something that could not
have been anticipated. The root OF
the, whole matter is simply this-prac,
tically oil Of the work at HonOkaa
and Pacific plantations is performed
by the laborers on contract basis
There are planting contracts, wedding
hoeing, cultivation and cutting con!
tracts!
When the Hawaiian Sugar Planters
Association voted to increase the bonus
and change its system of distribution
May they also made it retroactive, I'd
cover April as well as May. The plan.
tatiOns had not dealt directly with
the individual laborers employed but
with the contractors. All that the
manager knew was that John Jones
gang had turned out twenty men on
April |, 'twenty.four men on April 2,
eighteen on April 3, and 80 on. Who
the men were who had worked each
day on each contract the management
did not know and there was no way
OF finding out except by taking the
word of the contractors and of the
men composing the different gangs.
Almost Impossible
This the management has endeavor,
ed to do and the alleged troubles have
been merely those incident to fitting
in the claims of a thousand individual
workmen not on the plantation time.
books as individuals, with the work
recCtds of he different contractors
which did show on the plantation books.
Injustice may have resulted in in
diEidnal cases. 1t would have been
n miracle had this not been so. On the
other hand INSCRIPTIONS or dishonest
laborers, of which there are always a
few in any camp, gang or community,
saw here an opportunity to get paid
when they had done no work and these
have made the fullest use of their
opportunities.
+. A. Schaefer & Company yesterday
gave out the following statement:
"W. p. Naquin, manager Of Homo
kaa Sugar Company and Pacific Sugar
Mill states that the bonus will be paid
on HonOkaa and Kukuihaele planta,
tons Just as soon as he knows who is
entitled to the same. He has not
refused to pay the bonus and knew Of
no contemplated strike or trouble until
getting our mail on Sunday. He writes:
What Naquin Says
up to LIST June no time was taken
of any of the contractors by planta-
tion time-keepers, i.e., number of men
only being taken, not individuals; and,
on that account, il il very hard to de-
termine just who is entitled to the
bonus.
1.-THE distribution Of this bonus to
the individual men who worked twenty
(20) days during the period proceed
ing June J. is absolutely under the
control Of the contractors. This fact,
understand, has been the cause of q
considerable amount Of trouble on other
plantations. The trouble comes by max
king the bonus apply to months that had
already passed; this especially applies
to April, as the time was not then
kept in a manner to determine who
was entitled to the bonus.