The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-04-01
TIL CROWN N

OF utilizing the large tracts of land that are now
lying waste and almost tenantless but as the
subject is one of such importance to the we'll
being Of each individual as well as to the nation
at large, we have no apology to offer for reitera-
ting our complaint against the narrowness of a
land policy that bears the impress of penny wis
dom and pound foolishness.
While pursuing the present policy of reserving
the ownership of its lands and at the same time
protesting to be in search of feasible schemes
whereby to induce the migration of people hithsr,
the government is presented in rather an anomal-
Gus aspect, and one certainly not calculated to
invite that class of people who, while they would
help to sustain the industries of the country,
would detract nothing from the intellectual and
moral condition of its people, with whom they
would be destined to mix.
To satisfy the immediate needs of our pIanta-
tiOns for labor, a few dollars premium per head
upon coolies, may suffice but the class of people
thus induced to come among US, though supplying
temporarily what is needed, are destined even
tually to become rather a hinderance than other
wise to the ultimate object which should be kept
well in view by our government-the augmenta-
ton OF a sparse and still dwindling people by the
introduction of respectable settlers, physically and
morally the equals of the inhabitants for whose
benefit they would be introduced.
But while other countries are Offering induce
ments in the way of land, and otherwise, to set
tiers, how are we to expect an influx of popula-
ton when not only no substantial inducement is
offered by our government, but actual barriers are
set before the would-be immigrant, in the form Of
a policy avowedly averse to the sale of lands, and
only ~limitedly in favor of leasing? As we have
said before, in regard to government and crown
lands, and especially the latter, the policy has
been to lease for short periods only, the limit
being generally understood to be, five years and
it is this question of time in the leases that in
duces the lessee to increase his exertions to ex-
haust as much as possible the resources of the
lands, so that they revert back at the end Of each
lease in a deprecated condition, the ratio of
which will necessarily increase as the years roll
by, to e~yentuate in ultimate complete sterility.
But the effect will not end with the ruin thus
being wrought upon the Individual lands, but
will be extended incidentally to adjacent lands
by the meteorological changes produced by the
denudation of forests, until the whole fertility of
the Islands will be materially impaired.
Shall we wait then until the land is unified
for the habitation of man before we offer it to the
settler, who might now be induced by liberal
offers, to come among us and lend his material
aid to avert this condition that otherwise must
soon ensue? While there are so many countries
in the market for population and labor, to utilize
their waste lands, it seems certainly unreasonable
for US to hope to engage what we need, unless we
can come into a reasonable competition with
them and certainly when a prohibition is put
even upon sale by the present policy, it seems
only folly to consider ourselves competitors at all
with those who giUe lands and money to secure
their object.
Prior to the year 1865 it was optional with the
King whether or not he should dispose of the
crown lands as occasion offered, whether to sell
or lease but, in that year on the Sd of January,
an act of Legislature was finally approved max
ing them, as part of the Royal Domain, inalen-
able, and that law has stood ~unaltered up to the
present time. The law also provides that no
leases of these lands shall be made for any period
exceeding thirty years. This Act, as is indicated
by the preamble, was made to provide against the
further ~frittering away of these estates that had
been going on through the then /" two late reigns, -
the government at the same time assuming the
existing debt of the King, and issuing exchequer
bonds for the payment of the same. |
Now, while accomplishing the desired object
to check the beggaring improyidence of certain
Kings, and to prevent it in subsequent reigns-in
our minds it is far from fulfilling the indications of
an enlightened policy. How much better would
it have been-and how much better it would be
the government, with an intention to
make use of the lands in a proper way, should
buy out the right and title of the Crown in them.
As they are now inalienable, all that the King
can secure from them is the rental and if the
government would in exchange for them, guaran-
tee the annual payment of a sum equal to the
average yearly rents, we fail to see that it would
be otherwise than a fair, legitimate, and polite
action.
The old and ridiculous notions of primitive
times in regard to the effects of alternating terri
tory, should have long since been abandoned, and
should not be entertained by a govern
ment protesting to enlightenment, especially at
this time, when it is felt as an imperative necessity
that everything should be done that will in any
way tend to induce an influx of population.
: The Crown lands comprise about one fifth of
the total area of the Islands, or about 700 900
acres, most of which are under short leas' s, and
realize to the King somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of $40, 900 annually. The exact extent of
lands, however, is not definitely known, as
they have never yet been surveyed, having (as was
the fashion in the early days of government) been
by name. We understand however that
they are now being surveyed, and that definite
information in regard to their extent will ere long
be acquired, when, it is to be hoped, that a def
mite and different policy will be adopted in regard
to their disposal. Here alone are lands sufficient
in area DO support a population many times ex-
caedinp the number of our entire people, and now