Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1859-11-05
Ghe pulprresiarr.
CORRESPONDENCE.
CnOccupied Lands.

moving about On the islands OF Maui, Molokai and
Lanai, not thoroughly examining them as if he had
report to prepare, and yet keeping his eyes open The
result of his observations might be compressed into
these few words :-You land owners had better look
out There is something that looks like menace in the
exhortaon, but let there be no misunderstanding in
regard to it The landowners think themselves to be
other than they They believe themselves to be the
possessors of species of wealth that time will only
make more valuable, intrinsically and extrnscally.
That is where they make great mistake, and that is
why they told to look out Whilst they, fond men
and women, are letting their lands lie in the atering
expectation Of some day, ten years off perhaps, being
after by some impOrtunate wouldbe-purchaser or
lessee determined to lease buy any rate they for
get how their properties year by year deterOrang
and becoming less worthy of anybOdys attention. We
all remember the parable of the wheat and the tares,
but this is rather different case for there no devil
in the NATTER except the devil of ruin that may be seen
skuking down the avenue of time and not so very far
off Yet, while these good, easy, hopeful andhOlders
are asleep (and some of them are never very wide
awake if looked upon only land hOders there is an
enemy at work upon their plains and hills dsseminat
ing vari kinds of weeds and rubbish of grass and
scrubby indigo. Some lands are not under the best
circumstances capable of very much but when choked
up with hauOi, with k,au, or rendered i'm
passabe to and beast by fields of tangled indigo
or burr, they cease to have much nominal value
The true policy of the large proprietors would be to
let their for anything they would bring,
only annual pepper-corn, providing always that
those vegetable which the stray winds and the
vagrant horses are day and night distributing to
be kept under. As for immediate advantage, where is
the difference whether you get nothing for land which
day by day getting lthier and more Improbable
for land which is being kept clean and wholesome
and good in its kind and which, when an opportunity
occurred, or a term Of years had expired-by which
time of expiration lands here would either be demand
not worth calling ones oWn-coud be sold leased
advantageousy' The greater portion of the of
these islands will be cultivated least during
time, any distant time that need recognize
admit into our schemes. Under grass, however,
great deal be made to produce something, and,
economy demands that nothing shall be lost needs
argument prove that what those lands yield they
ought to be made to yield But, things going,
they many of them, appear to be becoming less and
less capable of producing anything. NOwaday, if
person wants to deprecate the value of land he says
" 1t is only fit for goats but before long he will have
change the expression into Goats would strive on
it, and the writer believes thatin many instances such
On assertion will be rendered capable of proof.
For the sake of precision it ought to be stated that
some of the lands here pointed not exactly un-
occupied All of them are occupied by the natives who
hok h.
had to definition in q foreign language imperiuns
inpsriO and makes part of the property of the
owner of the ahHpuaa, or al, al, or ku. What is
meant is that the proprietor of the tract dotted with the
small claims alluded to, often makes arrangement
with the resident population to let to them from year
to year. to lease for short terms ALL the greater
part of the rights with which he is invested. And the
consequences-What are the consequences Why, these
rentOrs essees having permanent interest in the
land, make what they out of it, without having
eye to any distant future and do not take the trouble
keep the place clear of that growth ofrubbsh which,
in the course of very few years, must begin to di-
minsh its prOductveness. More than that, the stock
they put is usually the very worst kind of stock,
horses to wit which manage in their travels to collect
the seeds of whatever there bad within thirty forty
miles on either sde to be shaken off, otherwise drop
ped upon the perhaps hitherto clean pasture, which
their occupy in common, each contributing
his share towards the landlords purse.
Nothing is farther from the present intention than
to encourage dog n-the-manger spirit the part Of
the owners of land. There is wish to induce them
to say the native applicants that seng that such and
such rent is not procurable for such and such
land and person of capital, energy and intelligence
sufficient to develope thoroughly the capabilities of the
land ready with Offer they would let it lie rather
than take for it inferior rent and rather than allow
the native applicants to make out Of it what they could
with their limited capital shrivelled-up energy and
crude intelligence. little is always better than moth
ing at ALL and for time to come. by driblet prn-
cipay, will individual and national wealth increase
with The present purpose is to advise the prOpre
tors Of vacant lands to change their tactics and to
ceive their rent in different form. Let them take
more of it in labor and watchfuness the part Of
their tenants and less of it in money. In the long
run it will pay them much better. Let their object
be to have their pasurage improved if possible at oil
events preserved from deterioration The rent should
be paid in wedding and roofing out and keeping clean
and in laying down maniana and clover, according to
the nature of the soil The policy now pursued has
the effect of making reputedlyrieh prOpretors
tuay poorer every year that passes their heads
for it is almost puerle to observe that the real standard
of the value of property the probable permanency
Of its productveness whereas great portion Of their
properties becoming less and less capable Of being
rendered profitable to the lessee and the sees thereby
rendered less capable of paying such rents they
might have done under other circumstances Ofcourse
an outlay of capital would go great way towards
doing considerable part of the damage creeping
over certain portions Of the country inch by inch, and
acre by acre, but the offering purchaser or lessee will