JOURNEYS THROUGH PARADISE.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVI, Issue 3364, 8 March 1915, Page 3

JOURNEYS THROUGH PARADISE.

[Rights Reserved—No 7.]

(Written for the Ohinemuri Gazette by Jas. H. Stevens.)

The exports of Hawaii include over half a trillion tons of sugar, 24 million tins of delicious pineapple, such as we never taste, many cocoanuts, bananas, etc. In the sugar industry alone the inconceivable quantity of 600 million gallons of water is raised by pumps daily some 300 feet high for irrigation. The islands have inexhaustible supplies of artesian water, without which the glowing red volcanic soil- 20 feet deep would be barren. A recent Government proclamation names certain things which it is forbidden to export to the United States, with the excellent object of checking the spread of pests and diseases. This document disingenuously refers to an embargo upon " forbidden truit," which, for a legal enactment, is what the Yankee would call a tall order. Sut^ar forms 93 per cent, oi the total produce, pineapples 5 per cent., live stock, etc., 2 per cent. The post office is conducted on different lines to ours. We enjoy penny postage to America and to almost every other place in the world ; their postage to us and to most others is 2^d. Ever since 1873 the department has shown a large annual deficit, ours always a substantial surplus. They do no telegraph, telephone, insurance, lax collection, or registration work, etc., as with us. " You make me -envious," said the post office inspector, when told of the treatment accorded to our officers. To register a letter here costs Sd, or more than double ours. The name and address of the sender must be endorsed in ink. Our abandoned systems ot cumbrous entries are still used. The Post Office Savings Bank, established last year, is a: monument of antiquity. A briel study of the regulations will show that they pay only 2 per j cent, interest, provided the money remains one year ; that ,£2O is the maximum amount which maybe deposited in any one month ; and that only individual deposits are accepted. No firm or 'institution may use the P.O. Savings Bank.--£4OO per month is the average total deposited in a prosperous city of 50,000 people. In such a New Zealand, xity it would average five times as much per day. With their prohibitions and restrictions the marvel is that these folk get any deposits. . The regular printed bulletin shows that mails close for Sydney ; but New Zealand is not mentioned, though the . volume of correspondence is considerable.. In tact, U.S. stands for Us with a > capital U every time. Even the officials thmk New South Wales and New Zealand are one. X To cope with the requirements of this polyglot people, included in a staff ol 31 employees of the local post office there are six different nationalities, each man an expect in the language of his own country. .To deal with all departments as we do they would employ 150 hands here. Owing to the huge operations of the United States Post Office, it is easily understood why they are reluctant to make improvements which entail changes of procedure, though, of course, this suicidal policy must have an end. In many things they are literally 2; years behind us. One miay prepay 100 circulars in cash at any time with us ; but here a month's notice to obtain a permit from Washington is required.- There are no licensed or automatic stamp vendors, and record-ing-stamping machines may not be used by merchants. Sheets of cancelled postage stamps for use on parcels are sold to authorised firms. The recently established parcels post will interlere with the legitimate functions, and primary objects of the post office, for the reason that their maximum weight of solbs. is too high, and that the charges are by mileage. The railways, about So miies in length, are mostly used to convey sugar and tinned pineapples to the port,.sii£;ar cane and iresh pines to the mills, soldiers to and from their camp and their pleasures, and worlcmen to and from their homes. A profit of 45 per cent. 15 realised by the shareholders in the railway, and their shares cannot be bought. The cost of land is on a par with its marvellous productiveness. Asking at what price we might purchase from 10 to 50 acres, the reply was, " I guess it

can't be bought for money, Mister." The removal by the U.S. of the duty on foreign sugar is, however, a serious blow to Hawaiian planters. Asiatic labour, soil, sun, and Water combine to make the rich richer and at the same time contribute to the comfort of all. Many public companies make from io to 25 per cent profit for their stockholders. A few examples at random from to-day's Stock Exchange report : Electric Supply Co. paid up 100, selling at 240; Pineapple. Co. 2048; City Tramway Co. 100-160; Telephone Exchange Co: 1030; Sugar Co. 20-50. Pests.—The pineapple, sugar, b nana, and it fact the whole of their industries, are threatened with extinction by pests which thrive in this frostless climate. The sugar fly has now been almost exterminated by an imported parasite, to protect which, bird life is being sacrificed. The Mediterranean fruit fly, a diminutive creature, onefourth the size of our ngaro or house fly, is the terror of the Pacific. He is said to insert some potent poison .in the fruit which makes it unfit to eat by man or bird, then deposits an egg. There is great danger-ol Us introduction to us by tourists carrying seeds, dc. The U.S. Army officers, with whom we often chattered, assured us that their men and officers frequently contemplated war with European powers as difficulties appeared on the horizon; but that possibility never entered their minds when Great Britain was concerned. It was as improbable to them as would be a civil war. The jingo press does Speak of it; but no soldier even thinks it. They have, no less than 10,000 troops here, 5,000 due to arrive. Its slragetic position, as the cross roads of the Pacific, .affords the reason for this, and for the establishment of one of the greatest naval bases of the world, [ the headquarters of the U.S. Navy, a j hold off. tor Japan, which is the only country still tentatively objecting to the annexation of these islands by the U.S. The troops, purchase 200,0001b5. of beef per month in Australia at a cost,of 4fd wholesale, but they do not like our butter, owing to the lack of salt in it. Their horse purchase commissioners also obtain the mounts in Australia, the limit of cost being for the best stamp. Their gunnery practice from the fort is excellent—they say the best •in the world—r.i 6 hits* out of 20 on a moving target six miles at sea. The fortifications may not be explored; but Major Case says they are aiming at making the island a second Malta. The dry dock, too, is to hold ships of over 1000 feet in lenglh. Last year; after an expenditure of seven million dollars, and before completion, it collapsed. Pearl Harbour, their tjaval base, has a minimum of 35 feet and maximum of 120 feet in depth in a winding channel eight miles long.

This territory looks with a x glad eye on the army and navy, and well they may. Their monthly pay roll in Honolulu is neatly ,£IOO,OOO, besides a capital expenditure of, two millions ste ling per annunv Fort Ruger is situated in and bchwul the "crater of an

extinct volcano, one and a-cjiiarler miles in diameter. To this no civMian is ever admitted. ■The acquisition by America came about thus. It having'been stated that England had dealt harshly with the Hawaiians by taking their country, Admiral Thomas was sent out endowed With plenary powers to enquire, and decided that Hawaii was ofor the Hawaiians. Queen LUiuokilam was restored to the throne, but shortly caused a revolution ,by her native autocratic rule. The Americans, just in their friendly little-way, stepped in and settled up in one act of permanent possession ; but there is a greater, a more insidious, and a less expensive method oi conquering a country; one which will within 10 years prevail over all armies and navies here ; " colonization " by the Jap. There are about 85,000 working patiently, content to serve until the proper time. They concurred with apparent honesty in the desire of America to refrain from augmenting their numbers, " except by natural increase," with the result that 20,000 Japanese residents have imported 30,000 "wives" within the past six years, other than which it is Said not a Jap has arrived. The treaty is verbally kept! These Japs are the Workers, and to see hundreds of driving from one to five miles in every description of vehicle, each with a yellow umbrella of huge d inensions lastened above his seat, is suggestive ot a Gilbertian farce in every street. The Japanese will attain education, and he deserves to. Here they have their own schools, at which children attend from 7 a.m. to 830 a.m. and 7 p.m. to '8 p.m. The regular public school hours are devoted to their | English education in addition. Their born capacity for imitation enables them to assimilate knowledge rapidly.