The Hawaiian gazette., 1891-01-06
Crown Lands.

Mr.. EDITOR: During the last Legis-
lature bill was brought before the
House by Hon. j. E. Bush, and you,
Mr.. Editor, commented favorably on
it. The object of the bill was to have
the leases of the Grown lands sold at
auction in the same manner as the
Government lands are. A great deal
was said pro and contra in the mat
ter, and finally the bill was killed.
The opponents of the bill commended
that the Crown lands were the pri-,
vate property of His Majesty, and
that he had a right to dispose of
them as he saw fit. Mr.. Bush and
the supporters of the bill argued
that as the Kings estate virtually
was in the hands Of receivers, the
disposal of the Grown lands were a
matter touching his creditors and
not the King personally, and further
on that by an increased income from
the Grown lands the taxpayers would
be able through their representatives
to lessen the appropriations for His
Majesty and the royal household.
Several instances could be and were
mentioned at the time of leases be-
ing granted through favoritism and
corruption, but the present Govern
ment was loud in its protestations
that such acts belonged to bygone
days and former wicked ministers.
When Mr.. Thurston was member
of the Cabinet he protected without
fear the interests of the taxpayers,
even when they clashed with the
pockets of the King or the capitalists
of the country, but the last Legis-
lature-a wonderful mixture of stu
pidity and corruption-showed its
inclination to kiss the royal foot
again and undo what Thurston with
an honest intention had done.
Through Noble w. III. Cornwell the
so-called unassigned land bill was
introduced and passed through the
House, whereby certain lands were
taken from the Government and
given back to the Grown. Full of
gratitude to the noble gentleman for
his uninterested assistance in getting
these lands back, the commissioners
of the Crown lands have granted to
Mr.. Cornwell a twenty years lease
Of some of the most valuable of the
above mentioned lands for $500 a
year. The present lease of these
lands-W aiohuli and Keokea in
Kula, Maui-does not expire before
November, 1891, but nevertheless has
the new lease already been granted
on terms as above stated. The worst
feature in the case is, though, that
there were many bids for the
same lands submitted to the Crown
commissioners offering larger rents
than the one accepted from Mr..
Cernwell. A gentleman equally re-
sponsible to Mr.. Cornwell offered
$500 a year, but his offer was
ignored. This means that either
His Majesty or His Maiesty's credi-
tors who since the act to relieve the
King are the taxpayers have been
cheated out of $1,000 a year for
twenty years or $4,000. Two of the
Crown commissioners are Cabinet
Ministers, and they will find, that
the voters of this country have no
confidence in men, who have shown
themselves as unfaithful servants to
their King and the people.
If rumor has it correctly an inves
tigation of the granting of the Wal
manalo lease will give as bad a
showing as the above stated affair.
MIR. Cornwell has been well paid for
his cleverness as a legislator. In
1888 the country was justly indig-
nant, when certain members of the
Legislature were caught accepting
brides for defeating the anti Chinese
bills, in 1890 we seem to look at
such matters in different way, or
perhaps it is only new proof of the
correctness of the old proverb talk
ing about big and small rogues.
January 3, 1891 Maui.