Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-14
LAND IN HAWAII
The Homestead System Will Proba-
bly, Be Applied.
TRACTS OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT
An Extensive Irrigation Scheme for
Coffee and Sugar Plantations.
AN ALLEGED CONSPIRACY
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
HONOLULU, November 10, 1894
President Dole returned to his post of
duty last week. He looks Drowned and
robust. He has been away for nearly two
| months upon the large Island of Hawaii
not simply rusticating for health, which
was much needed. He has also devoted
| much attention to the public interests on
that island, particularly matters of public
| lands and of roads By far the larger part
| of the public lands which can be made
| available for small settlers are situated
| on the Island of Hawaii. On the other is
| lands are considerable tracts of crown
| lands, and some government lands still I'M
| sold; but being fairly accessible from the
| coast, they are all held on leases of con-
| siderable length The lessees are either
| sugar planters or stock raisers. Some OF
| these leased lands will undoubtedly be cut
| up for small settlers, upon the expiration
| of the leases. In many cases, however,
there would be serious disaster to well es-
| tablished business were the lessees not to
be continued in use Of the land.
| When by the wise lberality of the then
| king a permanent division Of lands was
made in 1850. one portion was assigned to
| the great and small chiefs, another portion
| to the government, to be leased and sold.
| and third portion was devoted to the
support Of the sovereign, and called crown
| lands. The common people all received
| small allotments of from one to twenty
| acres apiece, which were scattered around
| in the middle of the other and larger
| tracts, often in positions very inconvenient
| to the owners of the latter. AS a natural
consequence, when a foreigner bought q
| large tract, say from 500 to 5000 acres,
either from the government, or from q
private chief, he would be at much pains
| to buy up or crowd out the small owners
in the middle of his land The IMPROVE
dence of the natives facilitated this pro-
cess, making them ready to mortgage their
allotments never to be released by any in
dustry. which they wofully lacked. AS
consequence, large numbers of the natives
are now destitute of land. Yet, as they
have dwindled to one-third of their num-
bers at the time the allotments were grant
ed, quite fair amount OF land Is stlll
averaged among them.
Proposed Homestead Law.
The crown lands are now the chief OBJ
ject of public interest in the land system.
Under the monarchy the king had exclu-
sive control of them through "crown COM
missioners" of his own appointment, who
reported only to himself. The manage
ment of these lands was very unbusiness-
like Not half the income was received
from them that should have been. kala-
kaua got about $4,000 a year, all or which
he squandered. He had only life interest
in these lands, but by law could grant
leases for thirty years. BEING constantly
in want of money, through gambling haD-
it's, it was a common practice or MS, TO
give long leases of valuable tracts or crown
land for an absurdly low rent, in consdera-
ton of a large sum in hand. know or one
sugar planter who pays $1,000 a year Tor
1,5O0 acres of choice bottom land, Tor
which his neighbors would gladly give
rent Of $15 an acre. He probably paid ka-
lakaua $4,000 in hand.
Kalakaua was in one sense a good hus-
band. He very kindly provided for his
queen, Kapiolani out of the crown land.
Nearly in the heart of this city is tract
of this land, named Anwaiolinau. Much or
it lies on the slopes of the Punch BOWL
crater hill He gave to her thirty years
lease of this land for perhaps 800 year
She has cut it up into small lots and let
them to Portuguese, who must be paying
her about $500 a month. SO she and her
nephews are well provided for, and the
high slopes of Punch Bowl are thickly
dotted with the whitewashed cottages
of the Portuguese. They keep their niue
door yards very neatly, and MI them with
fig bushes ard grape vines. The govern
ment water pipes branch all through their
settlements, up to an elevation of 200
feet and keep their gardens green.
With the abolition of the monarchy, the
crown lands become government property
and the legislature at Its coming session
will undoubtedly authorize their sale, IKE
other government lands. When this is
done IT will be of very great Importance
that all suitable provision shall be made
for homestead system, by which bona
fide settlers may obtain moderate allot-
ments without expense. This Is especially
important in the case OF considerable num-
hers of natives who need to be provided
with such homes. 1t may be deemed best
to make special provisions by which their
allotments shall be inalienable, on account
of their improvidence. This whole subject
of homestead provisions is one about which
President Dole's mind has been greatly
exercised During his recent visit to Ha-
wall he has personally visited NUMBERS Oh
small homesteads, taken up of late years
under an existing homestead law They
are occupied chiefly by Portuguese and ma
tiyes Much has been learned by him from
these personal inspections, which will I'M
doubtedly bear fruit at the coming ses-
sion.
Owing to the vastly greater size of the
Island of Hawaii, there are large tracts of
fertile land so far from the coast, and so
covered with forest or jungle, rs to he
practically Inaccessible without costly
roads being built through them. On the
other islands no tillable tract is more than
six or eight miles from the shore save one
or two open plains perfectly accessible.
Generally at four miles from the sea tho
interior Is occupied by imp acticable ridges
and precipices. On Hawaii are several
gentle slopes of forest land, from 500 to
5000 feet above the sea, and distant from
the coast from five to thirty miles. The in
terVening country consists mostly OF old
lava flows, more or less clothed with jungle
and forest No access can be gained to
these valuable interior lands, except by
rough horse trails, or by roads built at
heavy expense The excellent carriage
road recently completed to the volcano,
thirty-one miles from the seaport of Eilo,
cost So, 900 a mile. No good interior roads
can be built on most parts of that island
for much less, owing to the extremely
rocky and uneven character of the ground.
Fine Coffee Districts.
Along this volcano road, for a mile in
depth, and twelve miles in length, the crown
lands have recently been leased on each
side, and most promising coffee plantations
have been started. Six hundred acres of
coffee trees have been planted during the
past year and a half and are growing
splendidly. AS many more will be set out
Immediately and the work of clearing and
planting will go at the rate of thou
sands of acres per annum. Many Japanese
are employed as laborers. 1t is the inten-
ton of the government to build side roads
into the forest from the main road as fast
as may be, so as to open the whole of that
region of, say, 10000 acres for settlement.
This tract is thoroughly protected by the
lay of the land from invasion by the lava
torrents of Mauna Loa, which occasionally