COMMEKCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



473 



THE WHOLESALE TRADE. 



But two cities — Honolulu and Hilo — are engag^ed in the sale of fish- 

 ery products by wholesale. The greater part of this trade is in canned 

 goods and pickled salmon, large quantities of which are sold to the 

 sugar plantations scattered over the islands. In 1903 none of the firms 

 engaged exclusively in the sale of fishery products, but sold such in 

 connection with other goods. A few of the sugar plantations pur- 

 chased their supplies direct and are not included in the table below. 

 A small quantity of fresh fish, brought from San Francisco in the cold- 

 storage rooms of the regular steamers, is also sold in Honolulu. 



Honolulu leads in this trade in every particular. The total invest- 

 ment in the business in 1903 was $520,350, a gain of $10,225 over 1900, 

 when the investment amounted to $510,125. No effort was made to 

 gather data on the quantity of products handled. 



Table shoiring the wholesale Jishery trade of the Hawaiian Islands in 1903. 



Number of firms 



Number of employees 



Propertj' 



Wages 



Cash capital 



Total 



Hono- 

 lulu. 



S219, 860 

 32, 300 

 112, 600 



864, 650 



Hilo. 



Total. 



8106, 000 

 15, 000 

 34, 700 



8325, 850 

 47, 300 

 147, 200 



620, 360 



FISH PONDS. 



The manner of construction and method of operation of fish ponds 

 has been extensively discussed in the previous report. But little 

 authentic data regarding their history have come to light since that 

 time, although earnest efforts have been made to secure information 

 from oral traditions and early printed chronicles. David Malo in his 

 Hawaiian Antiquities" states that — 



On the death of Kahoukapu the Kingdom [Hawaii] passed into tlie hands of 

 Kauholanuimahu. After reigning for a few years Kauholaniumahu sailed over to ^lani 

 and made his residence at Honua-ula. He it was that constructed tliat fisli ])OMd at 

 Keoneoio. 



Dr. N. B. Emerson, the translator, in a note. on page 267 of the 

 work just quoted, ascribes the building of several fish ponds on 

 the western side of Hawaii, at the coast of Hilea, at Honuapo, and 

 Ninole, in the district of Kau, to Kiohala, who was King or Chief 

 of Kau during the early years of the nineteenth century. He (the 

 King) is said to have made himself exceedingly unpopular among his 

 subjects by his exactions in the building of these ponds. The ponds 

 are not in existence at present. 



^Hawaiian Antiquities, by David Malo; translated from the Hawaiian by Dr. N. B. Kmerson; p. 333. 

 8°. Honolulu, 1903. 



