974	HAWAIIAN   ISLANDS.
Q. What would become of them?
A. They would be cow pastures or something.
Q. The contract laborers that have been brought here, the great mass of them, was it done under the stimulus of 
the reciprocity treaty with the United States or not?
A. Yes, sir; it was.
Q. Up to that treaty there had been little done?
A. We had the first year the treaty was in force about 10,000 tons of sugar-that is, in 1876; maybe 18,000, but I 
think 10,000.
Q. And after that it increased to?
A. About 140,000 tons.    I think this year there was 150,000 tons.
Q. What amount did these islands get in the way of remission of duties annually up to the time of the passage of 
the McKinley law?
A. When the plantation is in full blast they got in the neighborhood of $5,000,000 per annum.
Q. What do you mean by plantation in full blast?
A. That is to say, as we find them now. It took some time to get the machinery, etc., ready. They were not ready 
the first year or so.
Q. Were profits great, then?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Banging between what figures?
A. In some plantations they never made any profit.
Q. But where they were well managed?   .
A. I should think some years they have made 50 per cent and even over. 
Q. How high would you say-as much as 80?
A. I do not think you could go 80 per cent. Some plantations have not made a cent even with that treaty.
Q. How was that?
A. I should think bad management.
Q. Well, where it was well managed 50 per cent and upward was usual ?
A. I would not say every year.    It depends on the price of sugar.
Q. Would not the duty itself make a large profit?
A. Yes, sir. A good plantation can hold its own and make money at the present price of sugar.
Q. What is generally the character of the lands in these islands?
A. They are very rich lands.
Q. Is there very much of it waste land-mountain land?
A. A great deal.
Q. Where do these fine lands generally lie?
A. In the valley-sometimes in the interior-most on the coast.
Q. The great mass of lands, are they arable?
A. No; not the great mass.   There would be more land for sugar cane if they had water; but the trouble is, 
shortness of water in places where they have good land.
Q. Are most of the cultivated lands irrigated?
A. Most of them lie on the trade-wind side where they get the rain. On the island of Hawaii there is no irrigation. 
On the island of Maui there is most irrigation.
Q. Your lands there are irrigated generally?
A. Yes, and we get some rain.
Q. Have you had to expend much money there to get water?
A. I spent a million of dollars.    I have about 40 miles of ditch.
Q. Before you irrigated it, were they useful for any purpose?
A. No; there were a few cattle running on them in winter time.
Q. When, was it done?

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