SANDWICH ISLANDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4405, 3 May 1875, Page 3

SANDWICH ISLANDS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sm, —As considerable attention is being paid just now to the various islands in the Pacific, you may perhaps consider the following particulars regarding the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, which I gathered during the: brief stay of the steamer at Honolulu, worthy of a place in your columns on some occasion when more interesting matter may not be at hand. The group consists of eight islands, having an area of 4,000,000 acres. Hawaii is the largest, and contains 2,500,000 acres, with a population of 16,000. The island of Oahu, on which Honolulu is situated, has 350,000 acres and a population of 20,671, of which number 14,852 are in Honolulu. The total population of the whole group in 1872, according to the census taken in that year, was 56,897 ; this number comprised 49,044 natives, 2487 halfcastes, 1938 Chinamen, 889 Americans, 619 English, 849 Hawaiians born of foreign parents, and 1071 Germans, French, and other foreigners. The natives have decreased 7234 since 1866, and the foreigners have increased by H 72 since that date ; during the same period the half-castes have also increased by 847.

The chief products of the group are sugar, rice, coffee, hides, tallow, and wool. The total value of exports in 1374 amounted to.. £311,071 ; the value has remained pretty stationary at about this amount ever since 1865. , The following are the details of the principal items exported in 1874; —Sugar, .10,967 tons ; molasses, 90,060 gallons ; paddy, 192 tons ; rice, 530 tons ; coffee, 75,4961b5.; salt, 730 tons ; fnngus, 50,9551b5. ; bananas, 6494 bunches ; beef, 117 barrels ; goatskins, 71,955 in number ; hides, 22,620 in number tallow, 125,5961b5. ; *pulu, 418,3201b5.; wool, 399,926 lbs. ' The total value of imports in 1874 amounted to £237,237. The greater part were received from the -United States,Germany, Great Britain, and Australia and New Zealand, the total value from each being as under From the United States, £154,290 ; Germany, £30,013 ; Great Britain, £18,636 ; Australia and New Zealand, £8928. The merchants and planters complain of the dnlness of business at the present, time, but they expect great improvement to result from the reciprocity treaty with the United States, which is now under negotiation between the; two Governments. The draft treaty has not been made public yet, but it is generally understood that it will provide for the admission of sugar and other Hawaiian produce into the United States free of duty, in consideration of American produce and manufactures being admitted into Hawaii free of duty. The sugar now produced from the Hawaiian plantations is of superior quality, being white and crystalline, and I • therefore think that American sugar producers in the Southern States, and'especially the sugar refiners in San Francisco, will use all their influence to Oppose the treaty. Should they be successful in this opposition, it is not at all improbable that the Hawaiian Government, in their anxiety to find a profitable market for the produce of the islands, may make overtures to Australia and New Zealand for commercial reciprocity. , There are fifty-four Hawanan registered vessels,’ of 8101- tons. Sixteen of these, mostly barques and brigs, are engaged in the foreign trade, and the remainder are coasters.- 'lhe group is of volcanic formation,' the hills being high and peaked, and those in Oahu (the only ones I saw closely) are deeply furrowed from summit to base, but everywhere covered with verdure. ; The earth ,is : of,a dark chocolate. color, similar to the soil around Auckland, .and the garden and plantation fences for the most part are formed of scoria. The temperature ranges from 67! to'. 87j; the mean for the year 1874 was 67° s'. The total rainfall m 1874 was 53-78 inches. The greatest fall was ITOS inches in the month of February, and the least 0‘32, in August. These results are from the published meteorological record kept at the Haliakqla boys’school, East Main. . The form of government established in tho group is a : Constitutional Monarchy, pf which King David’ Kalakana is the head. He is assisted by a Privy . Council of State and a Cabinet,’ Comprising ' Ministers of .. Foreign Affaire-Interior, -Finance, .and. an AttorneyGeneral: JiThe>annual revenue averages about; £BO,OOO, and,is,derived from’duties onimports, and..from a tax ’of one-half of .1 pe? 'ceqfeon real and > personal property, and . from store licenses, rents, &c. The public debt is £80,000; but efforts are now being made to increase it. Kamehameha X, a powerful chief through his successes as a warrior, was the first King. He commenced his reign in 1782, and reigned thirty-seven years. Kamehameha 11. reigned, five years ; ’his successor, also a Kamehameha, reigned for’twenty-one years ; : then followed two; other. Kaniehameha' sfM V. and v .-—pne reignino- eight and the other nine years, i olio wing Kamehameha's came X/unalilo, who reigned little. over a, year. It is said .that Jie was seldom sober, so that .his weakness ;for alcoholic drinks probably accounts: for : the shortness ,of his reign. The: present Kmg.is not a lineal descendant of the late reiginng dynasty,' bnfc was elected by the. Council and Nobles against the wish—it is said—of the people at large, who were in favor of the Dowager Queen Emma. This want of unanimity among the governed must greatly weaken the influence of the new King, ,and_ will probably pave the way for; the abolition of_ the kingly office, and the advent of an entirely new state.of things, in which American influence is sure to play an important part. To a stranger arriving at Honolulu for the . brat time, the whole form of government, with its King, Court, and Nobles, for a population of less than 60,000 souls, appears very_ like a mere travestie on tho time-honored institutions of the old and powerful States of, Europe, and impresses him with a feeling that it cannot last long. There are almost always two or three men-of-war of different nationalities in the harbor of Honolulu, and the dignity, and apparent importance of the kingdom is countenanced and enhanced by the residence of nd less than three diplomatic representatives, viz., tho United States. Minister Resident, the Commissioner and Consul-General of England (Mr, J. H. Wodehouse, whom many of the old ■Wellington residents will remember as the Private Secretary of Sir George Grey, in 1851 and 1852), and the Commissioner and Consul of France. There are also resident in Honolulu no less than thirteen consuls and viceconsuls of various countries ; and; lastly, but

not least, there , is ah Anglican, and a Roman Catholic Bishop, each presiding over a, number of clergymen located throughout the group. I should add that the figures and statistics given above are taken from the Custom-house published statistics, aud from other authentic sources.—l am, &c., William Seed. Macgregor, s.s., at sea, March 16.