the Governor of Hawaii INGRAM M. STAINBACK, Governor 茶 HAWAII'S PEOPLE AND THE PACIFIC WAR EFFORT JAWAII, where the first blow of the Pacific War was struck, has devoted every resource at its command to the prosecution of that war. The cost to Hawaii in terms of expended resources, natural and human, recurring and nonrecurring, is incalculable. Its civilian population, swollen during 31⁄2 years of war to a figure in excess of onehalf million, cheerfully shared with uncounted thousands of service men and women accommodations and facilities for human subsistence which in other times would have been considered intolerably inadequate. The extent and value of the voluntary and unpaid efforts of Hawaii's citizens in direct aid of the war effort since Pearl Harbor cannot be fairly measured in terms of the limited available statistics. Thousands of men and women, representing every racial element and economic status, worked side by side for the maintenance of the security of the Islands and for the welfare of the armed forces in the Territory. Many thousands served in organizations armed and trained for guard duty and readiness for possible further attacks. Volunteer personnel of the Office of Civilian Defense totalled more than 21,000 persons who, after their regular working hours, trained and kept themselves in readiness to meet any problems which might arise in the event of enemy attacks. Businessmen contributed their time and their automobiles in regular police work. The women of the Islands, both housewives and those performing work in other full-time occupations, served unstintingly in Red Cross and similar work. Citizens talented in the musical and dramatic and other arts gave freely of their talents for the diversion and entertainment of service personnel resting from combat and convalescing in hospitals, and the community's research and art museums were utilized by the armed forces for these purposes as well as for the presentation of jungle survival courses to men training for combat. Other citizens contributed many thousands of hours of service to agencies such as the Office of Price Administration and on various boards and commissions and committees laboring in support of the over-all war effort. In the seventh war loan drive, Hawaii again exceeded its quotas and retained its record of being the only territory or state that has exceeded every such quota that has been assigned to it. Total sales during this drive represented 186 percent of the assigned quota, and Hawaii led the nation in per capita sales. POPULATION STATISTICS The Territory's civilian population reached an estimated total of 502,122 on June 30, 1945, reflecting an increase of 9,743 over the previous year and an increase of 18.6 percent over the 1940 census figures. The largest racial origin group was Caucasian, which had increased from 103,788 to 172,583, or 66 percent during the past 5 years. More than half of the Territory's total population was living in the city of Honolulu, the population of which had increased from 217,692 to 261,033 during the fiscal year. The city's population had increased by 45.5 percent since the 1940 census. LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS At the fiscal year's end, a shortage of labor of all classes, estimated at 15,000 for the island of Oahu alone, afforded evidence of the extent to which the people were being called upon to meet civilian and military needs through the expenditure of greater individual efforts. More than 40 percent of the adult women on Oahu were employed in other than volunteer work at that time. In Honolulu women were even being employed as street sweepers. The services of school children were being utilized to the maximum. Between Pearl Harbor and VE-day, students supplied over 7 million work hours to the sugar and pineapple industries alone, at a substantial sacrifice of their regular school time. A "Little Wagner Act," sponsored by labor and enacted by the legislature as the Hawaii Employment Relations Act, extended to the Territory's agricultural workers, excluded under the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, many of the benefits extended to other workers under the terms of the latter and other federal acts. At the fiscal year's end, contract negotiations between sugar producers and the representatives of these workers were in progress. Other 1945 legislation sponsored by the Territorial department of labor and industrial relations strengthened and broadened the scope of the child labor and workmen's compensation laws. Maximum benefits under the unemployment compensation laws were increased to $25 per week and higher minimum wages were established throughout the Territory. The Hawaii unemployment compensation trust fund balance at the year's end was $17,083,388.58, reflecting a net increase of 13.25 percent during the year. The government employees and pensioners wartime bonus was continued by the legislature on a slightly reduced scale but a permanent increase of $20 per month for all workers affected was written into the law and the Governor was granted executive authority to make equitable adjustments in the salaries of Territorial and county elective and appointive officers. A commission was created and provided with funds to study the existing Territorial and county pension and retirement systems and to recommend legislation designed to modernize and integrate such systems. During the past year, the National War Labor Board extended its jurisdiction to Hawaii and a tripartite board of six members representing labor, industry and the public was appointed by the Governor to administer its program: With the establishment of this board, the remaining military controls over labor were relaxed. During the first 12 months of its operations, the Board handled 1,550 applications for wage adjustments and 13 certified labor disputes. A permanent office of the United States Conciliation Service was likewise established in Honolulu during the past year. It assisted in the settlement of 27 out of the 33 labor disputes assigned to it and certified the remaining 6 to the National War Labor Board. PUBLIC HEALTH The substantially good civilian health situation indicated by a general mortality rate of 5.7 deaths per thousand, the lowest ever recorded for any State or Territory, and new all-time low infant and maternal mortality rates (30.3 and 1.5 per thousand live births, respectively) was maintained throughout the past fiscal year in spite of the continued existence of such factors as inadequate housing, difficulties in obtaining proper nutrition and the daily irritations and sacrifices of persons living in a community so intimately connected with the war, which would normally tend to encourage a break-down in community health. These records were achieved only through the unremitting vigilance of the Territory's health officers with the valuable assistance of the |