POSTAL AND TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

There is a regular postal system in the Hawaiian Islands, and on the arrival of a steamer at any main point, mail carriers at once start out to distribute the mail through the district. The Hawaiian Islands belong to the Postal Union, and money orders can be obtained to the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Hongkong, and Colony of Victoria, as well as local orders. between the Islands.

The Islands of Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii have telephones to every accessible point. The rent of the instrument is moderate, and a small charge is made for those who do not care or can not afford to possess an instrument of their own. telephone is at present established only in part.

On Maui, the

IX.

Patents, Currency, Commercial Licenses, Pass

ports, Etc.

PATENTS.

A report from United States Consul General Mills, dated Honolulu, August 20, 1894, states that foreign inventors may obtain patent protection for any new and useful invention or improvement not known or used in Hawaii. Patents may be obtained for inventions previously patented abroad, if the article on which patent is desired has not been in use in the Hawaiian Islands for more than a year prior to the application. The duration of a patent is ten years. If previously patented abroad, it expires simultaneously with the term of the foreign patent. The fees are as follows: On filing application, $25; on filing caveat, $5; on issue of patent, $5; for copies of record, every 100 words or less, 50 cents; for translation of every 100 words or less, $1; for revenue stamp on each patent, $10; for recording assignments, per 100 words, 50 cents. The petition for patent, accompanied by oath, specification, and drawings (and model or specimen when required), and $25, is presented to the Minister of the Interior. The petition, specification, and oath must be written in English or Hawaiian. The oath may be made before any person within Hawaii authorized by law to administer oaths; when the applicant resides in another country it may be made before any Minister, Chargé d'Affaires,

Consul, or Commercial Agent, or Notary Public; it must be accompanied by seal. The specification must describe the invention, the manner of making, compounding, and using the same, in such a way as to enable any one skilled in the art to understand it. It must conclude with a specific claim of the part the applicant regards as his invention. The drawings must be on white paper, and made with India ink. The copies must be tracings on muslin. The sheet on which the drawing is made must be 10 by 15 inches, with a margin of an inch. A space of 14 inches must be given to the title and number. The description must refer to the drawings by letters. A model will not be required unless it shall be found, on examination, to be necessary. All papers must be written legibly, on one side of the paper. Interlineations and erasures must be noted in the margin or at the foot. Legal cap paper, with numbered lines, is preferable, and a wide margin must be reserved on the left of each page. The specification must be signed by the inventor or his attorney, and the signature attested by two witnesses. Any person of intelligence and good character may act as the attorney or agent of the applicant, upon filing power of attorney.

FORM OF PETITION FOR PATENT.

To the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR:

at

Your petitioner,

prays that letters patent be granted him for the improvement in set forth in the annexed specification.

FORM OF PETITION FOR CAVEAT.

[Signature of Applicant.]

To the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR:

The petition of

residing at

-, represents that he has made certain improvements in

and desires further time to mature the same. He therefore prays the protection

of his right until he shall have matured his invention, and that the subjoined description thereof may be filed as a caveat in the confidential archives of the office and preserved in secrecy.

sworn, deposes and says that he verily believes himself to be the original, first, and sole inventor of the improvement in described and claimed in the foregoing specification; that the same has not been patented to himself or to others with his knowledge or consent, except in the following countries: That the same has not, to his knowledge, been introduced into public use in the Hawaiian Islands for more than one year prior to his application for a patent, and he does not know or believe that the same was ever before known or used; and that he is a citizen (or subject) of

Sworn to and subscribed before me this

day of

[Inventor's full name.] A. D. 18-.

[Signature of Notary.]

CURRENCY, EXCHANGE, WAGES, ETC.1

The Hawaiian money is paper and silver. The gold, of which

United States

The Hawaiian

a large amount is in circulation, is American. silver and paper money is also in circulation. paper money is secured by silver held in reserve. Hawaiian and United States money, there is in circulation about $3,000,000 in the Islands.

Including both

The rate of exchange is 14 per cent on Eastern cities of the United States, and 1 per cent on the Pacific Coast.

a premium of 1 per cent over silver.

Gold is at

1 From report of United States Consul General Mills, August 31, 1896.

These figures allude to the Oahu Railroad and Land Company. There are very few employees of this character in Hawaii. Plantation managers get from $3,000 per year up; overseers from $40 to $75 per month.

The pamphlet of the Hawaiian Department of Foreign Affairs, 1896, says the market for labor is overstocked and it would be unwise for persons to emigrate to Hawaii with no capital, on the mere chance of obtaining employment.

COMMERCIAL LICENSES AND CREDITS.1

A commercial traveler has to pay on the Island of Oahu a tax of $570 and on each of the other islands, $255. A passport tax of $1 is charged on each person leaving the islands-foreigners and citizens alike. This tax, however, is not charged against persons who have resided in Hawaii for a period of less than thirty days. The leading mercantile houses of Honolulu do their foreign purchasing business on a cash basis, taking advantage, of course, of the credits offered by discounts.

1 From report of United States Consul General Mills, August 31, 1896.