The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-08-01
TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
SERIOUS SIXTY YEARS AGO

r. q. Wyllie, minister Of foreign az.
fairs for the Kingdom Of Hawaii, pre-.
scented report at the annual meeting
Of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural So
| ciety, July 30, 1856, sixty years ago yes.
terday, in which he strongly advocated
a concerted effort on the part of Homo.
lulu business men to obtain a steamer
for inter.island trade. IS
There had been one experiment with
steam navigation. q The steamer Akamai,
OF lbs tons register, which arrived here
in the fall of 1853, was the pioneer boat
sent TO fulfil the terms Of a charter
granted by the King to @. w. Ryckman
and associates, for the exclusive privi-
lege of inter-island steam navigation
for a term of years. A clause In the
, charter provided that another steumer
Of not less than $50 tons sho,lld also he
placed on the route.
Akamai Belied Name
ct is to be regretted" Henry Prem.
dcrgast wrote in 1855, "that such a
boat as the Akamai should have been
the pioneer, ms she was IN no way calcu-
lrt"' for the place she was made to fiji,
having neither capacity, strength nor
pow, 70 contend with the rough and
h"avv seas which are constantly met
with in inter-island channels.
LIT had been represented 60 the par
ties who sent her that the passage from
ono '0lrnd 10 another was as smooth as
a millpond. The failure of this boat
preIuu ,rcu public opinion against steam
communication, and men thought the
country too young and not yet ripe for
steam
Two steamers, the Sea Bird and the
West Point, were brought here in Dc.
tober, 1854, by the newly organized In
ter Island Steam Navigation Company.
The Sea Bird 3 furnace would not burn
wood, and coal cost $50 a ton, so she
wrs sent back to San Francisco. The
West Point made seven trips between
Honolulu and Maui and Kauai, being
wrecked on Kauai her seventh trip,
January 5, 1856.
What They Earned
Her gross receipts for the seven trips
were $4259.94; operation expenses,
$4,000, and net profits, $2259.94. Mr..
PrcndPrgast recommended getting a
boat to replace her, built according to
the following specifications:
"a side-wheel boat. 100 feet long, %
do. beam, depth of hold 10 do, tonnage
about 400 tons; size of engine, "a inch,
feet stroke; diameter. of wheel, "a
feet, So feet face; walking beam en-
CINE, with boiler adapted to burn
w'"d or coal; draft, s feet
1t was no unusual occurrence for
schooners to be out eight or ten days
between Honolulu and Kauai, and as
long as twenty days between here and
Hawaii. Hence, better inter-island
communication was a subject of vital
importance to this community sixty
years ago. Mr.. Wyllie s plea for one
more attempt to establish steam navi.
cation follows:
Small Farmers Needed It
"Vessels propelled by steam or other
equivalent locomotive power are the
only ones fit to carry on the trade be.
tween our islands so as to develop their
resources. Cattle cannot tbe transport
ed with economy and safety except by
steam vessels, combining the advan-
tages Of spacious deck, small draft of
water and quick transit.
Fruits and other useful vegetables,
from remote islands and places, cannot
reach Honolulu, the chief market for
consumption, in 4 state fit for use I'M
less conveyed in steam vessels; nor can
any other vessel safely anchor and en-
bark produce at those many places
where anchorage exists, and where land
ing is practicable, along the coasts of
all the Islands. Mr.. Metcalf has stated
that there are scarcely ten continuous
miles of coast anywhere along the
shores of the Islands where such facili-
ties of anchoring and landing are not
to be found.
Great Possibilities
"If we possessed steam vessels pass.
ing through the Islands and calling at
the chief of those places all along their
coast, it Is impossible to say how much
traffic might be created and how much
the industry and wealth of the Islands
would be promoted.
1.-THE report of Mr.. Prendergast, as
that of a practical man speaking from
actual experience, although under
most adverse circumstances, is of great
value. If the results from steam navi-
cation with such steamers as we have
had have been such as he represents
them (and we have no reason to doubt
his statements), what will the results
be of steam navigation when we have
suitable vessels.
This Is Stin True
AT the first introduction of steam
vessels and railroads they have every
where been opposed by men welded to
the existing state Of things and skepti-
cal as to the results of all improve
ments. Everywhere there are men
good and conscientious men, too--who
are of that timid, doubling tempera.
ment. We have them here; they oppose
the introduction of steam navigation
upon the ground that all the traffic of
the islands will not pay their expenses.
"Preeisely such were the arguments
used against the first proposals to in
troduce steam vessels into the British
Australian Colonies; yet by their intro
ductiOn, not many years ago, traffic so
much increased, and SO rapidly, that in
1858 many steamers we're employed be.
tween the port of Sydney and others in
that country.
Cites Australian Experience
1.-THE experiment in British Austria.
liza has been so very successful that
while in 1883 there were registered
twenty.four steamers, in 1854 there
were registered forty.three. Nor has
this increase been found sensibly to
diminish the number of sailing vessels
engaged in the coasting trade. In