The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-07-08
THOSE KONA LAND SALES.

The Minister Explains Matters in
Satisfactory Manner-How the Sales
Came About.
A correspondent of the ADVERTISER
having charged the Minister of the In
terror with selling lands IN Kona con-
trary to law, representative OF the
ADVERTISER requested an explanation
from the Minister. The following is the
result of the interview:
Reporter-''Mr. Thurston, cores
pondent of the ADVERTISER has charged
you with selling several pieces of Gov
ernn.ent land in Kona, to one person, at
private sale, thereby failing to comply
with the law requiring lands to be sold
at auction. I should like to ask you II
the statement is true"
Mr.. Thurston-"I notice that one OF
the anonymous breed who makes con-
fdent of the newspaper first and finds
out his facts afterwards, has taken the
field. will tell you the facts, and you
can Judge for yourself whether the AID
vERTIsER correspondent is right IN his
deductions. In the first place the law
only requires land of over $500 in value
to be sold at auction. Lands of less than
| $500 in value are left to the discretion OF
! the Minister. AS matter of fact have
made it a rule to sell no lands at private
sale unless there are special reasons
therefor With the exception of the
homestead sales there have been only
two land transactions in Kona which
have not been at public auction. The
first was about eighteen months ago
when Mr. McDougall applied for a piece
on the beach at Kailua, on which to
erect a shed to store his coffee while
awaiting shipment. The Survey De-
partment reported that the Government
title to the land was doubtful and valued
what interest the Government might
have at SIS, and Mr.. McDougall was so
informed. He said that he was willing
to take the chances. / declined to grant
him patent, but quit-claimed to him
the interest which the Government
might have in piece of bare sand 30x60
feet square for the sum named
The erection of the shed in no way
interferes with the public. If any
one else owns the land or is injuriously
affected by the shed he has his remedy
which the quit-claim does not interfere
with. Mr.. McDougall is one of the most
enterprising residents of Kona, and
believe in the Governments helping
such to develop the country, when il
can be done without detriment to the
public. So much for violation number
one Violation number two is as fol
lows: The last Legislature voted ar
appropriation for court house in NORTH
| Kona. The Government owned no lane
in Kailua, the central settlement O
North Kona, suitable for court house
lot. visited the place last January anc
selected one of the best lots in the vii
lage, which happened to belong to Mr.
McDougall, and he finally agreed to sell
it to the Government for $3.50. He haC
filed previously an application for the
purchase of piece of Government lane
on the hill several miles from the sea
At my request the gentlemen forming
the commission to appraise the values
of lands offered as homesteads, appraised
this land, which they reported to bf
worth $3.50. [ thereupon wrote to Mr.
McDougall and offered to give him the
piece of land he had applied for in ex
change for the Court House lot. He a
first refused, but afterward accepted, anC
the exchange has been made.
This exchange was made under the
authority of Chapter Xiv. of the Laws
of 1876, which expressly allows the Min
lister Of the Interior to exchange Govern
ment lands in return for parcels of lane
required for roads, sites of Government
Buildings or other Government purposes.
That is the whole story. The mex
time your Kona correspondent wants :
mystery for his representative to investi
gate, refer him to me and [ will give him
some points about goings On in Kon;
that will make his hair stand on end.