The morning call., 1893-03-17


sors and his heirs, forever" as his private
property. Both he and his successors there
after dealt with them as private property,
selling, leasing. or mortgagng them at
pleasure. They comprised an enormous do
main Of the most valuable lands in the
country, and a royal deed of sale of any
portion Of them was as valid as a royal
grant,
After the death of Kamehameha " the
Supreme Court decided that under the in
strument by which Kamehameha III put
aside the crown lands. "the Inheritance is
limited to the successors to the throne-the
wearers of the crown which the cOnquerOr
had won" and at the same time that each
successive pOssessor may regulate and dis
pose OF the same according to his will and
pleasure as private property" But in JAN
uary, 1865, an act was passed "to relieve the
royal domain from membranes and to
render the same inalienable," which pro-
vlded for the redemption of the mortgages
on the estate and exacted that the lands
should be thenceforth ''inalienable. and
shall descend to the heirs and successors Of
the Hawaiian crown forever"
II was also made unlawful to grant more
than a thirty years lease of the crown
lands, aud q Board of Commissioners of
Crown Lands was created to be appointed
10y the king-"two from among the mem
bers of his Cabinet Council and serve with
out remuneration" and the other to "act as
land agent and shall be paid out OF the rev.
enues Of said lands"
kamehameha V was party TO this leGis-
lation. and under these restrictions the
domain passed to him. From that date the
crown lands have virtually been the prop
e1ty Of be Hawaiian Government, although
the sovereign has had the revenue theTeiTOm.
just what this has always been is hard TO
determine. Up to about year ago the
Board Of Crown Land Commissioners has
always refused 10 make public statement
of the income from the lands claiming that
was The business of no enc but the SOW
ereigp. Ii is estimated, however, that the
revenue from the lands is somewhere in
tie neighlorhood Of So COO annually.
With King Lot lhe kamehameLa dynasty
died, and as property OF The Hawaiian
crown the crown lands passed III turn to
Lunalilo, Kalakaua and Liliuokalan, and
with tie downfall of the monarchy they
necessarily lapse to whatever Government
succeeds the crown.
The disposition TO be made OF the crown
lands is an Interesting subject. and it is safe
to say that the disar pointment will be very
general If, in the event of annexation, this
agnicent domain passes from Hawaiian
control. There has been some talk of
allowing Liliuokalani to retain them, but
her ex-Majesiy has not the shadow Of a
claim to them, and any such disposition Of
them would undoubtedly meet with general
disapproyal from all save the few who may
expect to come in for a share Of the pick
ings thcTefrom should the lands fall to her
possession.
4 plan has been recently exploited here,
and seems to meet with general approval,
that has for its object the apportoning OF
certain of the lands among such OF the ma
tive, full-bloOded Hawailans as are not
already landholders as inalienable home
s,eads. Briefly. the plan is this:
l. To give each native Hawaiian head OF
family. male OF female. who is not already a
lancAolder, and 10 every voter who is not land
holder, iIsct OF from tye TO twenty acres, 10 be
designated as a homestead, or kuieana.
2. These homesteads are to be located on un-
occupied land, or on leased land, where the
lessee is willing TO have them located OF II, as
lie might be were tie applicants already living
Oh II.
3. This award TO he given to The grantee and
Ills inwful heirs on condition that il shall be
lu44lCihD4t Ul Ettis safe OF OklEIHlSe. also tldL
II shall never be incumbered by debt of any
kind.
4. Whenever the homestead shall cease to be
occurred by Ihe grantee or by his lawful heir or
agent II shall revert to the Government, and be-
come, as before, part Of the public domain.
The object Of such a scheme is to provide
a home for every remaining member of the
aboriginal race, from which they and their
posterity may not be driven by any adverse
circumstance, or even by their own folly.
The native Hawaiians are very children
The sweetest natured, kiDdest, most lovable
people in the world, il is impossible 10 know
them without becoming genuinely attached
10 them, but. as they have repeatedly shown,
they are wholly unable to conduct their own
affairs, and IL our wellsmeaning relative at
Washington becomes their Uncle Sam. as
we'll as oars, he certainly ought to make
some provision for them out of the great
domain that once was their sovereign's.
Il is not so extensive an undertaking as
may at first appears. There are something
like million acres Of the crown lands yield
ing an income of somewhere in the neigh
bOrhood of $4,000. am told by Professor
". D. Alexander of the Government Survey
OfieeI that it would scarcely take more
than the land now occupied TO give home
stead to every native Hawaiian head of a
family, OF voter not already holding land.
The effect Of such an apportinning of land
among them would be to remove the natives
from Honolulu, which is, literally, the
graveyard of their race, and put them on
land where, as they are naturally an agri-
cultural people. they thrive. 1t would be
better for them, morally and physically,
and would do more than any other feasible
among them.
The interesting experiment has been en-
tered upon within few years by the Land
Commission, that is working very well, and
gives a promise of what the result might be
Of similar experiment on a larger scale. a
number Of tracts of land in Hawaii, near
the volcano, have been leased TO natives on
thry-year leases and for an almost nom
inal rental, on the condition that each lessee
is to put every year a certain acreage in
coffee. They pay no rent for the first three
years, and can raise any other crops they
choose on the balance of their land By the
time the last acres are put into coffee those
first planted will be yielding a crop, so that
the planter will have been enjoying some
siderable number of natives have leased
resulting very satisfactorily. indeed.
The United States Government could do
nothing more effectual than this to convince
the native Hawaiians of our interest and
good intention toward themselves, or to
dispel the distrust that they naturally feel
toward the allen and unknown rulers into
whose hands their country has passed.
Such course would also be pleasing to
the white residents Of the islands, every one
Of whom would Ike to see the natives given
another chance.
II cannot be too clearly impressed upon
the people OF the outside world that there
bas never practically been any trouble
between the Americans and the natives.
and to-day the relations between these are,
to all appearances, of the utmost harmony,
but the trouble has all been fostered and
kept alive by wholly irresponsible foreign
ers, principally English and Canadians,
with a few Americans ana a number Of
fr,IF