The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-06-19


passage of the item, not because he
thought trees were not good thing
but he was opposed to the way the
scheme was being carried out. He
therefore moved the committee rise,
report progress and ask leave to sit
again.
Rep. Dickey did not know how
the business had been carried out
before, but from what he had seen
he believed the money had been
well expended. The matter was
very important. Formerly our hills
were covered with sandal wood and
the beaches with koa. Those trees
were very valuable and would bring
in great revenue if they had them
now. They had not died out, but
had been allowed to be chopped down
and not permitted to grow properly.
In the forests of Hawaii and Maui
sandal wood was now growing where
cattle were not allowed to get at it..
He believed that all the money that
was spent properly now would
yield five and ten fold if conducted
intelligently. He agreed with the
motion of His Excellency to refer to
q select committee.
Rep. Dole thought the molten to
refer to committee was a good
one. He felt sure that the commit
tee would report that they were not
prepared to take up the bureau of
forestry Immediately unless they
were prepared to vote $4,000. 1t
stood to reason that they could not
employ an experienced forester out
of an appropriation of $4,000 a
year. 1t was clear that they could
not have any assistance from the
hon. member for Hilo without giving
him alagate pears for nothing. 1t
was not true, it was false, that Mr..
Jaeger made any discrimination in
the matter of trees. People often
had to wait for trees. Some kua-
ainas knew that forests were very
efficient to prevent freshets.
Noble Macfarlane said that since
the presentation of the Minister of
Interiors report he had heard good
deal of discussion on this point pro
and con. There seemed to be n
lurking suspicion in the minds of
many members and of persons in
the community that this office had
been created for some special indivi-
dual with a salary as chief of the
bureau referred to. He believed
that it was the sentiment of the
community that if this money was
expended to pay the salary of n
skillful forester it would meet with
general approval. To use u slang
phrase there seemed to be an i'm
preston that there was "a nigger in
the fence" somewhere. He for one
favored very much the establish
ment of this bureau and he should
be glad to see bill introduced for
that purpose. If the Minister of
Interior would kindly state to the
house that the item was intended
to procure an intelligent and skillful
forester-as the item came from his
department-he thought the item
would secure the votes Of majority
of this house, and after his reply, if
it was satisfactory, he should favor
reference TO a select committee.
Rep. Aholo remarked on the
diversity of opinion as to giving
trees away, and said if trees were
given away it increased the value of
property, which involved a return
to the Government in the shape of
increased revenue from taxes, so
that the appropriation would not be
loss but a gain. Although not a
member of the visiting committee,
by courtesy he had been permitted
to accompany them, and he agreed
with the hon. member for Koolauloa
in expressing astonishment at how
much those trees had grown since
he had seen them two years ago.
If they made no more appropriation
great portion of the work already
done would be lost. He was not in
favor of reducing the item, as that
would imply a reduction of the efii-
cheney of the nurseries. Whatever
was done with regard to the for
estry bureau, these nurseries would
have to be maintained in the mean
time.
Noble Kaae said that when the
item came up he made up his mind
that it should he struck out alto
gether, but after hearing the argu-
ments he was strongly in favor of it.
He approved of nurseries and for
ests. The member for Kuolauloa
told them that where there were
plenty of trees it increased the rain
fall. There was scarcity of water
at the late fire in Honolulu, which
might not have been but for the
lack of trees. "Let us have trees"
If by spending few thousand
dollars each year they could have
large forests and plenty of water,
let them have forests and water too,
and by and by they might not need
any Superintendent of Water Works.
His Excellency told them that where
there were large numbers of trees it
had tendency to increase popula-
ton. If that was so let them have
the trees and the people. Those
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