A LAND OF MIRTH AND SONG.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1146, 6 June 1911, Page 6

A LAND OF MIRTH AND SONG.

HAWAII AND ITS PEOPLE. INTERVIEW WITH JIB. ERNEST ICAAI. Hawaii —tlio jewel of Iho North Pacific Ocean—is n group of islands formerly known more generally as Iho Sandwich Islands. In view of Iho rapid world movement that is going on at the present time, in whieli the Pacific lands arc destined to play an important part, the old name wliicli is now so seldom used has a peculiar appropriateness, us the group is sandwiched between Japan and China on the. one side—the yellow people now only in the yawning stage of a great awakening—and the west coast of the United States on the other—and, incidentally, the Panama Canal. To make the illustration complete, il a lino wcro drawn ou a map of the, Pacific from .Southern Japan to Panama, it would cross the Hawaiian group, a fact which must hammer homo the strategic importance of these islands. A? a naval time, as a source of fuod .supply, or a depot for troops, these islands would be of immeasurable value. It was recently stated that Japan had acquired coaling stations in the Celebes Islands (on the Atlantic sido of the Panama Canal), li that country were to acquire Hawaii by any means; what would the position convoy to tho thinking mind, which lias already assimilated the fact that Japan is strongly established in the Malayan Islands, Dutch East Indies, and even as far south as Noumea? England at present is more concerned with Germany than Japan, but America appears to bo alive to the peril of the East, and Australia knows that there is something more than vagrant colonisation in the marked fanning out, south and west, of the people of crowded Japan.

In Wellington at present nro a number of i Ilawaiinu natives—singers of songs, the minstrels of the Pacific -who are superintended by Mr. Ernest Kacii, an intelligent and highly-educated gentleman, who resides in Honolulu. In the course of n conversation about his native laud, Mr. Kaai said many interesting things. "The population of Hawaii is alxwt a quarter of a million," said Mr. Kaai, "and of that number there are 40,000 Japanese."

Koughly, one-fifth of your population? "Yes—about a fifth, I should say; of the adult population, a little more." And are your people not conscious of the throat behind those figures? "Our people—the Hawaiian?, no." We aro a people of song and.mirth—a people that is dying out. I haven't any figures witlr me to quote statistics, but the Hawaiians as a distinct race are dying out. We are being Americanised—absorbed, so to speak. But the Japanese ]ieril is known and is being guarded against , as far as circumstances will permit. Wo have 10,001) of them working on (he sugar plantations—many thousands, I suppose, ex-joldiers, but immigration has now been stopped by Congress—no further Japanese are now permitted to settle in the country, and there is an ordinance prohibiting them to carry arms. This is managed by a Board of Supervisors, which sees that every firearm sold or issued is registered, and to make the register complete all who owned firearms before the board was set up have had to report to that body. »

"In political circles the peaceful Japanese aggression is a very live topic, and that the movement is regarded seriously is established by the money—some millions—that the United States Government is spending on fortifying Honolulu. Not only are they fortifying the one port of supreme importance, but are connecting up all the islands by wireless telegraphy and a system of look-out stations (each of which is provided with a revenue cutter) to safeguard the coastline. Now there is a move on foot to have a battleship permanently stationed in theso waters as another barrier against possible trouble." Then the Hawaiians are not concerned in the trend of affairs? ' ,'.i- .".■'-' "No—not im mediately. They do not bother themselves mup]i with politics— m»Mc mid son"? are their forte." Fiddling while Home burns, eh? "Something like tint. Our peoplo do not work—thev are the laziest neonle in the Pncifie. All Hie field and plantation work is dene by the Japinese. Of course there ore Hawaiians wnrkiii" spnsmodicnlIy on the watoi'-fvont—longshoremen—who earn enough. to keen themselves in comparative comfort. There are, ton, rome very wealthy Hawaiians. who have looked after their land and are earning a big reward for their shrewdness."