The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-06-15

oo,OUO TONS.
There was not single word of criti.
cism Of the government. An officer of
the firm most affected stated that ap-
parently the needs of the nation had
been placed before the needs of Ha-
wall. It was the only comment made.
The sugar industry is most worried
over the outlook.
owe are waiting for further inf0r.
nation" said A. NJ. NOVEL, secretary
and manager Of the Sugar Factors
Company, when asked what shippers
would do in the absence from their runs
of the Maui and the Matsonia.
"Some of the individual shippers
have cablcd to Washington for such IN.
formation. Our company has not done
so, but shippers have, and we shall, be
advised of the replies that they receive.
Meantime we are hoping that satisfac.
tory arrangements for the handling of
our sugar will be made by the govern.
ment ~ -
ut seems impossible that after the
call has gone out that there is q short.
age of sugar and planters are asked to
plant every available acre to cane,
ships should be taken off and others
not put on. We cannot believe that
after such a call sugar will be per
mitted to lie in storage here or cane to
rot in the field, We believe that pro-
vision will be made to ship our output
and meantime can only wait a few days
till we get some replies" -, , ~
ALREADY shipments are behind sched-
ule' and some warehouses are now over.
crowded. Were all to be filed up a
serious waste of cane would follow, for
with no storage room the cane would 20
to rot In the fields. While shipments
are not far behind last year the crop il
much larger, and it has been the han.
ding of such excess that has been wor
rying the Factors Company, and which
renders the situation more serious still
unless provisions for handling shin.
ments with little or no interruption are
made. - - .n<
From the passenger viewpoint the
outlook is quite serious, also, although
passenger traffic is now at its lowest.
IL rs the Matson schedule upon which
Honolulu has chiefly depended for its
passenger connections with the main.
land. The largest percentage of the
vessels coming to Honolulu at present
are foreign built and accordingly can.
not share in Coast business.
The local passenger connections are
thus cut practically in half, less the
Oceanic boats, which run on a twenty.
one day schedule only. B.. :
Instead of Mats0n boat once q,
week there will be but one every fort.
night. The two vessels remaining are, ,
as well, the smallest in the feet.
we haven't the slightest idea of
the next step" said !. II. Drew, man.
ager of the shipping department, yes,
terday. owe have just received the
cable telling of the requisition aud
await further advices."
Many prescriptions have been mnde
ns to what the next stop Is to be, in.
GLIDING the guess that the Lurline will
be returned to the schedule and that
there will thus be boat once a week,
three weeks in the month.
The possibility of putting ex-German
ships on the run to handle freight, or
the loan of a transport from the gov.
eminent, was discussed yesterday.
There is no grounds yet for the for
mer superstition, although it is admit
teddy possible.' No transport will be
put ON the service, if the opinion of the
army proves correct. Only one trans.
mort is now available, the U. s. A. IT.
sherman, which. is running steadily to
Hawaii with construction material, and
would add nothing more to available
freight space. :. ..
A canvass of the automobile firms
yesterday revealed gloom in. its dark.
est aspect. IL is believed in most quar-.
tiers that to make it possible to handle
the freight offerings at all an embargo
will be placed at once upon luxuries
either by the shipping firm or through
a government agency-more probably
the former. The first item hit by an
embargo, II was yesterday pointed out,
would be automobiles,
Automobiles have always been con.
sidered luxury when il was a ones
ton Of freight congestion" STATED s.
>. PaxsOn, of the ,Sehuman Carriage
Company, yesterday. lit has Ehap.
pened before and may happen this time.
We are already way behind in our or.
derS. owing to the difficulty of getting
freight space, and the last promised
shipment hasn Z arrived yet, although
it was due weeks ago"
Still another serious feature of the
withdrawal of the two ships is in the
refrigeratinG space taken away. The
space in these vessels for ice house
goods amounts to several thousand tons
a month, and inasmueh as Hawaii i'm,
ports a great percentage of her perish,
able supplies this loss complexities the
-
That these vessels are the LARGEST and