LIFE IN HAWAII.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13905, 2 December 1910, Page 9

LIFE IN HAWAII.

_ + I A NEW ZEALAND JOURNALIST'S EXPEDIENCES. After spending six months editing a newspaper in Hih*. Hawaii, nnd re_idin__ for a year or so in England, Mr J. Liddell Koily. who Ls well-known in journalistic circles in tho Dominion, has returned to Now Zealand. In the conn., ot a cli.it witli a representative ot ''Tin* Ph-5.7" Mr Kelly gave some intcrc*-tin . information regarding tho Hawaiian people and their ways. Honolulu is a town that owes it. beauty entirely to the improving hand of man. Mr Kelly said, tho site of the town having been, originally, a sandy waste. All the most beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers have been brought from every part of the globe, and the result is a city embowered in trees. Although situated en one of the email islands of the group, the striking contour of the bold mountain peaks and the grand sweep of the beach at Waikik. make it.s surroundings very beautiful. For a town of its size—its population is about 54,000 —there aro an astonishingly large number of motor-cars in use, due. in a-large measure, to the fact that the white population consists mostly of rich planters and merchants, nnd that the climate lends itself a good deal to a life in the open air. Tho hotels aro another feature of the town. One is quite double the sizo of Warner's, and has a great garden roof. which provides a very pleasant promenade. The Moana Hotel at Waikiki beach, built and named by the late Mr Peacock, who was at one time a resident of Christchurch, i_ another .splendidly equipjx'd house. In Honolulu tho American system of having no fences round the dwellings is the rule, and the houses have beautifully kept lawns eloping to the street. Political power is in the hands of the native Hawaiians, is generally used not wisely but corruptly, and is a lamentable exhibition of incompetence and dishonesty. As in the United States, all officials aro appointed by the popular vote, with the result that arc elected to positions requiring the exercise of probity and the possession of expert knowledge. The Hawaiian has no conception of the meaning of honesty, and as a rule has no expert knowledge. An instance: A man with an almost entire absence of qualifica - tions for the position was elected chief of police. A British resident reported that his house had been brokep into and articles of value stolen. The chiel of police visited the residence, looked under tbe beds, and assumed an air of great wisdom, and remarked: "Well, it this, happens again let mc know!" That was all the satisfaction given, for it, is rare indeed that the Hawaiian poiice get even a clue. On another occasion. a Hawaiian hoy who escaped from a policeman on a train and hid in a field of tall grass was recaptured after the policeman had set fire to the grass and encircled him with flames. Tho presence of large numbers of Asiatics is an outstanding menace in the Hawaiian groun. There are, roughiv, 70,000 Japanese and 30,000 Chinese, besides Koreans, Filipinos and tort Ricans. This polyglot population is tho source of great social disurbance, tho foremost being the Japanese, who possess greater capacity, cleverness, and virility than the others. As an instanco of their cleverness, Mr Kelly stated that in the public schools —wliich are all mixed a Jnpancs. boy or girl proves the best in English. There are four or five newspapers printed in Japanese, wliich aro sometimes in violent opposition one against the other, and on one occasion a Japanese editor was shot at by another, and was wounded." Just prior to his departure from the islands an agitation was started, the object of which was to increase the wages of the Japanese employed on the sugar plantaations. One Japanese paper, published at Hilo, urged the Japanese to unite, and if their demands were not agreed to, advisd them to make an international question of it, with the view of getting their demands conceded by the presence of Japanese warships. Other Japanese papers hinted at violence, and at burning the sugar cane of tho planters. A strike eventually took place, the military were called out, and a number of the leaders were imprisoned and charged with conspiring to overthrow the showing this to be the case having been found. Tlio authorities at Washington have been kept fairly well apprised of vie dangers of the situation, aud have established a considerable garrison and installed wireless communication between the islands and tho mainland. Apropos of wireless, Mr Kelly mentioned that Hilo was tho only place he knew of possessing a daily paper consisting solely of news received by wireless—the only means of communication between the islands and the outside world. Uncle Sam is spending millions of dollars in establishing a naval base at Pearl Harbour, and also a considerable sum of money in making a good harbour at Hilo, -which will accommodate warships. ____=__=_____=__}