Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 198, 21 May 1891 — THE POST OFFICE. [ARTICLE]

THE POST OFFICE.

We are particularly intereated in tke improTement aad reform ef the postal department. We hope and expect tbat under the impartial and efficient management of Mr. Hill we will hereafter be able to send our papers to every post office in the Kingdom and have them delivered to our »übBcrib©rs. (Jer** tain post offices of the outside dietricts have long been imperviooB to |£a Leo. Last year during|the eleetipn campaign no paper of our pasfeed the Wailuku post «ffice for a period of nine weeks. t Our subscribers persistently inquired at the oost offic9 and sent complainta to us. No Ka Lbo or "Ka Oiaio" was | delivered at Wailuku until *fter ! the elections when the eopiea for the whole nine weeks were passed out at one time, Recently we have bee* giving a c«rtain a»ount •f noticr to the governnient repr«sentntiv6B at Hilo. This naturally increaaed the dem*nd for eopiee of

Ka Leo; bntsuddenly Mr. the n«ws-dealer at llilo, failed to receive the paper through the post office. The paper mailed in the regiilar way, but up to date no Ka Lko has run the blockade at Hilo. Complaints have eome up from Hilo to the gcneral post oHiee concerning opened and nct delivered letters and other irregularities; but notbing has been done to remedy the evil; nor any notice taken of the accusatiens against the ineumbent, and perßistence was rewarded •nly by displays of oilieial insolenee. Mr. Severence has extensive •f---ficial eonnections by blood and marriage. Through hi& owa and his wife'§ relationp he has had a <k pull" that gave him every office on tbe island of Hawaii, several of whieH he retains till the present time. It takes a certain amount of hardibood to approach thig loeal magnate on the part of a plain eitizens, who usually retires crushed and withered by olheial dignity and oAāeial <;ontempt. In ante-bel-lnm days Mr. Severence eanae out strong as a kanaka and cultivated ropal favor with the greatest su«cess. When th« reform party waa the young ®pposition he was a Btanch and mighty conservative, of course, every profeßsional holder ii anxious to conserve hi» emoluments and p«r quisites. No one spoke native so fluently, no one was so active in t«rch-light proceesions and brais-band oratory. The notorious Kaulukou, whem we still hay© with us, waa a candidate for the legislatare on the side of the King's party. He was iupported by the official 4unkies and t«ad-eaters high and low. When iie newi of th£ election eame, that Kaulukou was suoceßsful, Mr. Be▼ewmoe and Mr. John Sc«tt ek* vated that fat an<| complacent kanaka on their shoaJders and carried him through thē streets of Hilo atoid the acclamationa of the po pulaee. Thus-exhibiting their patriotiim and devotion to the side that wins. When the reform eame in ii might have looked a little dark fbr Mr. Severence if he had not had a number of blood relations %mong the successful party. It waß a hard.game. Mr. Severeneek timidity had prevented him frorn declaring for reftrm until it wae an accompliah«d fact and that rendered htrt unpopular with the bayonet league. Still he was a great reformer aftfer the reform as were the whole £s»ily uf hamaele*. At last a compramise was arrived at; he was deprived of the office of ihenA 1 , tax collector and road'aupervisor and a few othert, hat left the post master, collector of castom, port surveyor. eehool agent; and many minor appointments ameunting te about 110,000 a year. Later he lost the eoilectorehip, but with the rest of hie diminished glory he continaee till the present time, a lofty aod exalted member of Hilo's official white-kanaka aristocracy. He delivors letter afters he has seen them that they are airight, and he will not d«li#ver Ka Leo at all. So we an eomjrelled! to use our inAuenoe U secure an administration of the post office by some on« les« prejudiood and aot a respecter of persons. We believe and maiatain that «v«ry citiien hns an equal right to the benefita of the post oftioe, and to reooive anv paper he ehooeee to subecribe for.