Jere Krischel at 10:46, 14 January 2006

2006-01-14T10:46:19Z

Jere Krischel at 03:07, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T03:07:55Z

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718 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
The CHAIRMAN. Does that include persons having Kanaka o ood?
Mr. MOORE. A great many of them.
The CHAIRMAN. Are they good people?
Mr. MOORE. Charming people. Some of my friends there were
amongst the natives and half whites. My immediate associates were
mostly among the whites; but I was entertained by both natives and
whites.
The CHAIRMAN. Was there any obvious damper thrown upon the
society of Honolulu by the accession of this Provisional Government
or authority? Did people seem to hold it in dread, or did the social
amenities among the families of Honolulu proceed as they had done
before?
Mr. MOORE. Sociability ceased for a little while after the outbreak,
but soon continued much as before. At general grtherings you would
see the families of those interested in the Provisional Government associating
freely with those who were known to be Royalists and the
Queen's adherents. So far as the social relations were concerned
the change of government did not seem to have much effect; that is,
from the outward appearance of social relations, the change of government
seemed to have little effect.
The CHAIRMAN. There was no line of demarcation drawn in society
upon the question of loyalty or disloyalty to the Queen?
Mr. MOORE. I think not.
The CHAIRMAN. HOW is commerce affected by this change?
Mr. MOORE. I know of that by hearing people talk. At first the
business seemed to be checked, but after a few days it seemed to revive
and there seemed to be more confidence. There seemed to be confidence
in their business relations after a few days. As to that, not being engaged
in any commercial pursuits myself, I only state that from hearsay—
as to the checking of business and its increase thereafter—
although I remember gentlemen stating that stocks increased in value
within a few days and stocks were going up.
The CHAIRMAN. AS to the commerce with the outside world. Was
there any restraint imposed upon it by the Provisional Government?
Mr. MOORE. I think not.
The CHAIRMAN. Things seem to be going on as before!
Mr. MOORE. Things were going on as before.
The CHAIRMAN. In charge of the same officers f
Mr. MOORE. In charge of the same officers.
The CHAIRMAN. It was an exchange of the Queen's Government into
the hands of the Provisional Government, with the same offices.
Mr. MOORE. It was.
The CHAIRMAN. Prom your observation of the effect upon this Government
called the Provisional Government during the time that you
remained in Honolulu, could you say that it was a good or bad Government.
Mr. MOORE. It is my opinion that it was a good Government.
The CHAIRMAN. One that the people had confidence in?
Mr. MOORE. Yes; that is my reason for thinking it was a good Government—
because the people had confidence in it.
The CHAIRMAN. "YOU have an acquaintance more or less special
with a number of the leading men in Honolulu?
Mr. MOORE. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. The thinking men, the business men, and the men
who controlled in political affairs?
Mr. MOORE. Yes.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 719
The CHAIRMAN. Taking the personnel of this new Government, the
committee of safety, and the councillors who have been appointed, and
the president and the cabinet, and generally the officers and attaches
and employes of this new Government, what would you say of them as
a class?
Mr. MOORE. AS a class I think they are an excellent set of men.
That is, those in the higher positions. Most of them, many of them,
would ornament any society.
The CHAIRMAN. They are men of real ability and character?
Mr. MOORE. Men of ability and character. Of those who occupy the
lower positions I know very little.
The CHAIRMAN. Will you say that the disposition of these people
of whom you have spoken as being the controlling men in the islands
there tended to deprave and degenerate the people, or that the tendency
was in the opposite direction?
Mr. MOORE. Of the Provisional Government?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.
Mr. MOORE. On the contrary, I think the tendency is to improve
the social relations. Many of them are men against whom I never
have heard a word said—men recognized there as men of means and
ability, and most of them are temperate men. I will change that.
They are temperate men, perhaps a quarter to a third of them total abstainers,
and as a rule Christians.
The CHAIRMAN. Then you would say that society of Honolula
which has the controlling influence in Hawaii is composed of men of
the Anglo Saxon extraction, with their families, and that they are
men of high grade of character?
Mr. MOORE. Decidedly so. Many of these men have been educated
in our American colleges, and are well educated, well read men.
The CHAIRMAN. Have you had occasion to examine a harbor there
called Pearl River harbor?
Mr. MOORE. I have been in Pearl Harbor.
The CHAIRMAN. IS there any river emptying into it?
Mr. MOORE. Small streams, I think; perhaps two or three small
streams.
The CHAIRMAN. Have you any knowledge of the depth of the water
inside the bar there?
Mr. MOORE. The water inside the bar is very deep for inside water,
being in some places 20 fathoms, but mostly from 5 to 7 fathoms.
The CHAIRMAN. Does that deep water extend back any distance
from the bar ?
Mr. MOORE. It extends about 5 miles.
Senator BUTLER. What is the extent of that harbor, approximately?
Mr. MOORE. It is about 4 miles long by 3 miles deep in the extreme.
But it is cut up by islands and small peninsulas running out into it, so
that it has three or more arms to it.
The CHAIRMAN. Is the shore around it and the peninsulas of which
you speak of such an elevation as to justify the opinion that it could be
easily fortified ?
Mr. MOORE. I do think it could be easily fortified; and strongly
fortified.
The CHAIRMAN. The fortification next to the ocean?
Mr. MOORE. Next to the ocean, and torpedoes in the channel. With
long-range guns of the present day, it might be reached at the distance
a vessel would have to remain at sea; but the shots would be uncertain.

Template:718-719 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 10:46, 14 January 2006

Jere Krischel at 03:07, 12 December 2005