The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-06-01
F|E[DSOF TARO
ROT ON HAWAII
Yet Honolulu Market For This
Commodity Demands An
"Absurdly High Price

WIN lhro teinnB IN the Honolulu
market at price that is "absurdlv
hight'' great quantities Of the valuable
product are rotting in the fields Of
Kona and the Waipio Valley, Island Of
Hawaii, became the price paid the
growers Is less than IT would cost to
harvest and market the CROP
Such are the findings OF tao special
marketing committee appointed by the.
territorial food commission with in.
strnctions 70 investigate and report on
the taro situation. The committees. by
rs chairman, Alfred l.. Castle, made
it, report yesterday TO James b. Dole,
ehairman Of the territorial food com.
mission.
the committee has arranged, how
ever, for . trial shipment Of taro from
Kona, and hopes to have another shin.
ment brought from Waipio Valley.
with the idea of placing IL ON the
market here and trying to dispose Of
IL at a price that will make Il worth
while for the growers to market their
crop.
lhe report Of the committee is as
Ccmmftto6,s Report
= We enclose herewith report on taro
situation In Kona, submitted by Mr..
a. N. Gere Of the Bishop Estate.
, We submit herewith the following
report on conditions in waipio Valley.
which win BE- supplemented later when
Fe know more about the independent
growers.
1.-THE ownership and amount Of
arabic land IN WaipiO Valley is as fol-
lows; Ri
Acres
Bishop Museum ......... 1855
Bishop Musenirtl6 kulianas. =. 4. %
Governments Kapbia and Mu1iwai 10
III private knlinnasl ........ 1868
""fhe land Of the Bishop Museum is
now under lease to the Hawaiian Irri-
cation Company, the lease expiring in
about eight years. Some of the good
land was,wnshbd away during the
stprniAg9f lasttDear' and unless some
.hing Is done by the Bishop Museum
towards building dame and 4diverting
hhe water t0l DUN streamDs in 4 few years
bbhc amonntp Of arabia land viii be ma.
|serially reduced iffH
IUompany Helped. Groworsaa ADJ =
1.-THE Hawaiian Irrigation Company
has apparently done all In its power to
aid the planters in Waipio Valley.
When taro planted BY the sub
lessees Of the ipbigation company, tafo
vas selling Mt from one dollar and sew
8Hty-hye cents to two dollart o bag. In
order t0,1help out these smalluplanters,
the company adyancel up 70 APP
lproximatola S2pOGyaHrahubly all Of
(which will be q dead loss. ralusi
eg ,fs The price of tarq began ito Call un-
Itil TX would only bring SOME fifty
cents TO sixty cePts a bag on the mark,
st. As il costs over sixty cents a bag
70 pub, sack and transport, naturally
the planters left the faro in the ground
rhe Japanese planters have, almost
without exception, left the valley aud
gone to the plantations, while the Hn'
waiians and Chinese are gradually Civ
lug up their patches. The Honokaa
Sugar Company and Pacific Sugar Mil
could not even dispose Of this taro at
fifty cents bag.
lslaThis committee took up with Mr.
| \. W. Waldron, president of the Hawaii.
an Irrigation Company, the proposition
of trial shipment Of tar0 and he Is co
Operating with o. at the present time
hi viii be impossible to get, however
any taro from the company 5 lessees
the following letter from the manager
being self explanatory;
faro Is Too Old a
q aWAIPIo VALLEY---In reply tC
your letter Of the Goth, beg 10 STATE
that the matter of taro and rice land in
Waipio Valley win have our immediat'
attention and will be replied toxin de
tail by next mail.
ss'TAlRo sHIPMENTy--In regard L
the trial shipment of twenty-five bag
of taro by this week Is steamer, beg 4,
advise that all Of the taros planted tw'
years ago has, now passed the stage o.
usefulness and is at present unfit fol
consumption. During the past 81,
4 months we have made repeated uhsqc
Icessful attempts to. dispose Of this taro
even going so far as TO offer II free D
4 charge 10 laborers who would 60 an,
| gather same. These offers were NO
even accepted. The store has also trie,
TO move this Commodity at fifty cont
| u bag; but no one on the plantation
seemed willing TO hwy Il even at tina
low price. Aside from the few patche
which we have sold outright 10 peopl
in Waipio Valley, this crop has proven
a complete loss. ~
'fThe committee viii not LET the mat
ter drop but will endeavor to get il
touch with independent growers. Tn
Waipio taro is wet land taro and s.
win not keep as long as the Kona vari
II ety. f a
Retail Price High
s'It would seem, however, that
smnll market could be created for taro
\ Poi is, at ia reasonable price at tn
present time, but the retail price o
taro is absurdly high, and the qnalit.
is decidedly poor This Is. partly be
cause of tho failure Of the planters Z
let taro land lie fallow. Taro is an ex
.eellent vegetable and can be used in
great variety of ways. II has the nd
vantage Of being about the cheapes
vegetable in the market, and ought 4
be more extensively used.
"a trial shipment Of stwenty-fiv
!, bags win be here from Kona on. Jun
5, and we hope some Waipio taiI
shortly afterwards,
& G'of the Bishop Museum land in Wal
Pic, some fifty,six acreAis in rice, aver
aging nineteen and four tepths bags I
the acre With Labor Mt forty dollar