The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-12-26
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUDD, c. J.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUDD, c. j.
This is "A suit brought before Henry
Dickinson, E-q, Special Commits
si0HeT Of Water Rig . for the District
Of La'aIua, Maui, alleging co lJrJ-
FeTsy between paIntiff- and drfend-
ants in respect 10 the amount of W tter,
method and time o: it, use upon ia1ds
owned or held by both parties. The
water in question flows from its
sources at the head through a deep
valley called Kauaula, situated in the
rear Of the town of Lahaiua. The en-
tire stream Is taken up AMI u-ed upon
land in the valley Oh both sides of the
stream for irrIgarinC crops Of kalO nd
on the flats below for sugar cane.
Except on Occa-i bHs OF fTeshets none
Of the water is wasted by running into
the sea. This region was formerly
thickiy populated, and the kuleanas
granted to natives by the Land Com
mission within and outside of the
valley are numerous. The plaintiffs
own the extensive sugar plantation
which occupies u large portion of the
old town of LahaiDa. Tney have
acquired a large number of the ahu-
puaas which, though small in area are
very mum -rOus in the district of La
haiua. They have also acquired by
purchase and by lease many kuleanas.
a list OF ali the lands, ahupuaas, ills
and kuleauas under the water system
of the Kauaula stream, as awarded by
the Land Commission Is given in the
complaint, and a separate list Of the
lands owned or held by the plaintiffs
is al-o given. 1t was evident to Us
from an inspection of this territory
that large number of kalo patches
formerly in cultivation and irrigated
from the stream of Kauaula were dis
used and were grass grown, but ii was
impossible from simple inspection to
ascertain how long ayO their disuse
bad begin. Doubtless many of them are
owned 10y plaintiffs and the water to
which they We're entitled is used upon
their cane fields below From the
testimony We gather that a goOdly
number OF other kaio patches had
been abandoned 10y their native
owner, some through Discrimination
TO work them and others through in
ability TO get x sufficient quantity of
water To cultivate them prOfitably.
Doubtless the stream itself has dimiu
ished somewhat in quantity during
the last half century from reasons that
are coujectural. Mr.. James Camp
bell SAYS that the fTeshets or storm
waters which every one could use at
will TO fill all their patches are much
less frequent now than when ne was
resident OF LahaIua from 1851 to 1875.
The plaintiffs claim and We find it
established by the evidence, that the
ancient method of dividing and dis
tFibuting the water Of Kauaula stream
was by length of time of nse. Gen
orally the sEupuaaS or ills OF land OF a
certain name situated on tue level
land below or "makaTn mas laud,
mainly kalo patches, in the valley
above or f'maukaD bearing the same
name. One or two lands makai have
no Counterpart mauka, and at least
one land mauks has no counterpart
makai. These mauka kalo patches
are similar to the "leIes" or outlying
portions of an ahupuaa, well known
on other islands of this group aS
"lelesD though as rule they seem
not 10 be so called in LahaIna. In
order to irrigate these lands small
bitches or auwais were dug in very
ancient times, through which the
water was led from the main stream
on To the lands. On the kaanapali or
western side there are three main
AuwAis, the first one nearest to the
head OF the valley is "Piilani," then
below il Is "Waimana," then "Puu
huliliOle." On the Olowalu or east
eTn side are, first, "Puupapai," then
Northumberland There are numbers
Of other auwais of much lesser length
which start from the stream, irrigafe
few patches aud then turn into the
stream. The ahupuaas and ills in
this part of Lahaina Were divided into
TWO principal divisions each contain
ing eleven lands. In order to make
the division even, a few lesser ahu-
Pnsas were brackeied in pairs and
treated as one land, and have one
water day" Division one, for exam
pie, had the water during the day,
and Division two during the night,
the day being from o'clock A. NJ. to
O'Clock Pm and the night being the
remainder Of the twenty-four hours.
While during eleven consecutive days
he lands in Division one were having
iDe water in rotation according to an
arranged schedule during the day, the
lands in Division two were having it
Al night. Then, when the last land
IN each division had been watered, a