Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2008 — Kēlō Mea Kēīo Mea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kēlō Mea Kēīo Mea

Within the dozens of Hawaiianlanguage newspapers published during the 19th and early 20th centuries were often found engaging colunins entitled Kēlā Mea Kēia Mea. These features carried small tidbits of news

and interesting happenings from places throughout the islands. With that same mana'o, this modernday eolumn is pubhshed with the idea of bringing to the readers brief bits of interesting and sometimes lesser-known histories. These "news bites" have been collected during the course of research in newspaper, manuscript, correspondence and other archival collections around Hawai'i. The sources are both Hawaiian language and English. It is hoped that, like its many predecessors, this eolumn might infonn, entertain and perhaps even spark discussion. Me ka ha'aha'a no. ■ Honolulu. April 26, 1862. A letter of petition was recieved yesterday by His Majesty Alexander Liholiho from eight Hawaiian residents of the island's prison. The plea is addressed "I ka Moi Lokomaikai Nui Kamehameha." The fretful detainees humbly lay out their case for review by their benevolent King. The men have been convicted of selling rum without a license. Being unahle to pay the severe fine of $500 apieee, they have been sentenced by the court to enter prison and work at hard labor for six years. They have toiled there for eight months already and now modestly petition His Gracious Majesty to decrease the amount of time that they serve as he sees fit. ■ Honolulu.Jan.l7,1894.Her Gracious Majesty Queen Lili'uokalani recieved an exceedingly valiant letter last Thursday through her Captain of the Royal Guard, Sam Nowlein. The five-page letter details to "ka makua o ka lehulehu" how the 26 undersigned poliee officers have remained loyal to Her by refusing to serve under the

Provisional Government and are giving up their livelihoods because of "ke aloha i ka aina a ko kakou kupuna." These brave and patriotic men, led by lst Lt. William Kalakai, have assured Her Majesty that at the sound of Her voice,

they will do as She says. ■ Honolulu. Oct. 5, 1894. We noticed in yesterday's Advertiser an announcement for a new book purporting to be an account of the "Hawaiian Revolution" written by our loeal historian W.D. Alexander. The ad is framed with the words "ACCURATE" and "IMPARTIAL." Now isn't this the same Mr. Alexander who, soon after the overthrow, was appointed by the Provisional Govermnent to be an annexation commissioner to the United States? We have also found out that in his work to sell Americans on this grossly unjust idea, he has laid out some of the P.G.'s plans. In a letter to I.I. Morgan of Georgetown, Texas, Alexander writes, "The leaders of the Provisional Government desire to use the Crown lands and government lands in such a way as to provide for industrious and thrifty settlers from the United States. As soon as the Stars and Stripes are raised, a tide of inunigration will blow in from the Pacific states..." Alexander then counters questions about whether Native Hawaiians should have a say in the matter by writing the Texas resident, "Again, you know what it is to have a majority of ignorant and degraded colored voters, if not in your own state, at least in neighboring states." Ronaīd WiUiams Jr., a graduate of and teacher at the Kamakakūokaīani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa, is currently working on a Ph.D. in Pacific History at UH Mānoa. Contact him at ronaldwi@hawaii.edu. ^

— KE AU I HALA - FR0M ĪHE ARCHIVES —

By Ronald Williams Jr.