The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-11-18

One half Of our Southern population are 50
badly fed that a class OF starvation diseases ard
q general deterioration OF mind must result
This system destroys also the freedom Of the
ballot, as the cultiyators Of the soil are obliged
to vote as the landowners say, or give up their
holdings. Thus, for this cause we read that
= as many as 200 notices to quit had been served
in Cardiganshire alone. at Lady Day after the
election, in some cases when
the families had been 200 years upon the estates;
in others when considerable sums had been laid
ont by the farmers in improving their farms"
1t might be supposed that n large proportion
Of the taxes for support of government would be
assessed on the lands of the great Qroprietors;
but At is not 50. While in France, previous to
the Franeo-Prussian war, land bore one-sixth
Of all imperial burdens, and in India nearly one
half Of the taxation falls on land, in Great
Britain less than oue-scyentieth of the burden
falls on the land. And while multitudes Of the
poor are on the point of starvation in
Plymouth, in 1870, one out of every fifteen
Ierrons in receipt Of paupcr relief" and a larger
proportion in other parts there are moro than
eleven million acres Of land in an uncultiyatcd
state, that could be profitably cultivated.
And is not Hawaii nei tending toward the
same condition? On some of the islands a few
individuals are in possession of the largest
portion of the lands, and, naturally enough, are
constantly increasing their possessions. The
same process is gradually going on throughout
the group, and the late sapient Legislature has
lent a helping hand 10 that process. One Of the
acts passed was "TO require the sales and leases
Of government lands to he made at public
auction, , and as originally framed and intended
the measure was Il good one. But some one
struggled in n clause which nullifes the other
wise good features, in these words land no large
tract of land valued at over $500 shall be
divided into small portions previous to the sale
thereof Here is a direct legal obstruction
placed by Legislative action in the way of the
system of small farmers the very system of
all others which we need to stimulate-and an
encouragement to the mischievous policy Of large
landed proprietors. To give up large tracts of
land that is capable of cultivation for grazing
merely, diseourages and represses population, as
any one may understand by reading Froude's
History of England.
1t is the part of prudence to loresee the evil,
and to use every precaution to iorestall it. There
are : breakers ahead " for Hawaii and the
consideration of this matter is respectfully re-
ferred to His Majesty in Priyy Council. !
IN OUR last weeks issue we adverted to the
question of water supply of the city of Honolu-
lu, and deem the subject.of sufficient Importance
to press it strongly upon the attention of our
readers and of the government. Whilst there was
little prospect of having anything done, it may
have been as well to ~yentilate theories regarding
the propagation of rain, and we have done so,
perhaps advocating the right side and perhaps the
wrong but now, when the government is in pos
session Of means to use for the increase of water
supply, and, as We understand, are intending to
use those means, every one must desire that the
public shall obtain the best result for the money
expended and when speaking of the public, VIC
must mean ourselves as well as posterity, for
though it be a virtue to regard the interests of
posterity, yet it cannot be expected that we
should forego immediate advantages for some
speculative good which may come, after a lapse
of many years, to those who may succeed to the
heritage which it is our duty to cultivate and our
right to enjoy.
Though we are not inclined to abandon the
theory that the planting of forests promotes the
rain fall or at least prevents evaporation,-yet
it must be conceded that it is at present a mere
INV y : NNA OhS ~AAAOp hNo h"hJ POHN'AH ORRS
nants. Our reading has been more than usually
directed to this matter of late, and we confess
that we are somewhat surprised at the weight of
authority and the strength of argument brought
to bear against our favorite theory. Prof. j. d.
Whitney, who is certainly no mean authority, in
the American Naturalist for September, says that
" the popular notion that such wholesale destruc-
ton (of f~orests) affects the quantity of rainfall
is very much ut variance with results of European
Investigation" Undue weight says The
Nation, in commenting on Professor Whitncy's,
article, g has been attached to recent meteorolOgi-
cal statistics, which, in such q consideration, are
too narrow and too brief to be serviceable." And
again, "The hypothesis of the influence Of
forests upon evaporation and rainfall must be set
aside" These remarks occur in an article which
attempts to prove that the desiccation Of the
earth has been going on for 4 time which far an
tedates the invention of edge tools by men.
Other scientists we find, of great eminence,
doubt the theory that forests have any considera-
bic effect upon either evaporation or rainfall,
and still more doubt the theory that they have
any effect on rainfall. We do not feel inclined
at present to go into any discussion upon the
truth OF falsity of this theory, but in view of the
facts that those who are making it their study
have come to doubt whether the theory is main
tainable, even where large spreads of land are
under contemplation. may we not reasonably
doubt whether the planting Of two or three
hundred acres at the head of Nuuanu Valley will
have the effect ofspeedily altering the water supply
of our city, or of attracting the rain clouds which
are generated very far off in the Pacific Ocean?
Then the result is, to say the least of it, uncer-
tain but it is certain that if such a course is to
have any beneficial effect at all it will be deferred
far into the future, whilst we are in want Of an
immediate snnnlY.Anot for domestic nnrnoses