Ka Hoku o Hawaii, Volume XXXI, Number 33, 16 December 1936 — Food Relief Held Unlikely [ARTICLE]

Food Relief Held Unlikely

Unless the federal government steps into the breach and orders a government vessel to proceed to Hawaii with a cargo of food, the islands must depend on foreign ships and foreign sources for their supply until the maritime strike ends. This alternative became definite Monday when Delegate Samuel Wilder King told James P. Winnie, chairman of the governor's food committee, by radiophone that, owing to the excessive cost of operating a lone food ship to Hawaii, no private agency would undertake the job. King was talking from San Francisco. Governor Poindexter suggested that a group of local business men get together on the proposition and see it through, but the governor had received no reply at a late hour Monday night. "The cost of a boat charter and operating expenses alone would exceed revenue by $15,000 or more, with the usual freight rate charged for a full cargo both ways and with no unexpected delays-" said King. "Under these circumstances no private agency can handle the relief ship. The Alaska railroad as a government agency will absorb the losses for its relief vessels, and these are going to be plenty. The problem appears to require a similar federal or Territorial agency to undertake the same responsibility for Hawaii. "I believe it best for me to proceed to Washington and urge federal assistance for Hawaii's relief."

The Maritinio Oomnussiun Monday asked the and Navy deparments if either wished to purchase the ]iner Leviathan, tied up at the dock since the high cost of ōperation foreed the United States' Lines to cease aetivities.