440 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
pelled to bring their catch to the market in carts and as a result only 
bring in the higher-priced species, as it would not pay to carry the 
cheap ones. 
3. The fish ponds are principally in the hands of two Chinese firms 
of Honolulu, and these, by working in harmony and having control of 
the principal source of supply of the amaama and awa for a consid- 
erable part of the year, are enabled to keep up the prices for these 
species. 
4. The Japanese now do the greater part of the line fishing for the 
Honolulu market, and they have organized acompany, including most of 
the fishermen of that nationality, with the object, among other things, 
of securing as high prices as possible for their catch. 
5. The indiscriminate use of fine-meshed seines has undoubtediy 
caused a falling off in the catch, although to what extent is a rather 
difficult problem to solve, owing to the lack of statistical data for pre- 
vious years. 
6. Shortly after the fall of the monarchy a boom began in tne 
islands, especially in Honolulu, and this caused the prices of every- 
thing to go up, fish among the others. The price of sugar has largely 
controlled everything on the islands, and as this has been quite high 
for some years it has largely affected the prices of other commodities. 
This boom is on the wane now, and it is probable that matters will 
settle down to a more normal basis in the course of a few years. 
HILO. 
The market house at Hilo, which is owned by private parties, was 
opened for business on April L, 1899. During 1900 the number of 
stalls occupied was 27, the rents of which varied from $5 to $15 per 
month. These were not occupied continuously, as frequently a dealer 
would give up the business after a week or a month’s trial, and some- 
one else would start in. There are 32 stalls in all. The number of 
persons employed around the market were 22 Chinese, 18 Japanese, 
and 14 natives. During the summer of 1901 a syndicate of Chinese 
and Japanese bought up the stalls and began to take advantage of their 
position by shutting out the other dealers and compelling the fisher- 
men to sell to them at a low price, while there was no limit to what 
they could charge the townspeople, as fish could not be sold on the 
streets. Asa result, a number of the fishermen carried their catch 
by carts to Olaa, about 11 miles away, and established a temporary 
market there. 
The Territorial government leased the market in August, 1901, 
which broke up the combination. An inspector was also appointed, 
who will have complete charge of everything about the market. Pre- 
viously there was no inspection, and large quantities of tainted fish 
were foisted upon the people. 
