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The Scots in Hawaii

The Scots in Hawaii: Episode 2: The Scotch Coast

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The Scotch Coast

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Scotch Coast

BBC Radio Scotland - The Scots in Hawaii, The Scotch Coast

Billy Kay explores the Scottish influence on the sugar industry in Hawaii.

Billy Kay celebrates the contributions made by Scots in Hawaii. He visits the Hamakua Coast, known locally as the Scotch Coast due to the Scottish domination of its sugar industry.

The shift moves away from Oahu to the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui and Kauai and the Scottish influence on the sugar industry. When Billy Kay was in Hawaii back in 1975, he met an old gentleman man who remembered leaving Cupar Angus on a horse and trap, bound for a job as a luna or supervisor on a plantation on Hawaii. He and Billy recited Tam o' Shanter from beginning to end! He was part of a migration of people from small town in Angus and the Mearns such as Kirriemuir who worked in the Hamakua district which was known locally as The Scotch Coast. Billy will speak to the descendants of the families to find out what life was like on the sugar plantations where the Scots were mostly managers, engineers and supervisors while the field workers could be gangs of Japanese, Portuguese or Philipinos. Did the Scots live up to their ideal of "a man's a man for a' that" in this multicultural setting? 

We'll also explore the Scottish economic influence, which gave rise to the migration from Scotland. The Glasgow firm of Mirrlees Watson Co Ltd made machinery for the sugar manufacturing process and sent out engineers to Hawaii to build and maintain the machinery. Also, the remarkable wealth generated in the boom years of the jute industry in Dundee, led to the city's excess capital going abroad . One group of jute barons formed the Hawaiian Investment & Agency Company in 1880 and proceeded to lend huge amounts in the land mortgage business and contribute to the economic development of the islands. Due to such investment, Dundee for many years had a Hawaiian Consul resident in the city. The Alliance Trust is still based in Dundee and Billy will speak to them about their history in the islands.

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