The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-11-17
HAWAIIAN PROPERTY.


In a series of articles published in
these columns, the economic condition
of the various classes of the commu-
nifty have been treated of from various
points o. view. There remains how
ever the question of ownership of
real estate, and of personal property,
which has not yet been touched upon.
The total value of the real estate of
the Islands amounts, according to the
assessors books, to S22, 1885, 43 OF
this, the Hawaiians and PartH Hawaii
ans own $6,956,597 The Americans,
British and Germans own $12,95S, 7O6,
divided as follows: individuals,
S6,964,519; corporations, $5,0S0,413;
firms, $913,774. The amount of real
estate owned by Chinese is $1,146,3Ol;
by japanese, $4,000, and by other ma
tionalities, 81 1864, 939.
Deducting the amount owned by
firms and corporations the real estate
owned by the three principal nation
alities, American, British and German.
is very nearly equal with the amount
of real estate owned by the individual
Hawaiians and t-Hawaiians, viz:
American, Brtshi and German,
$6,964 ,519, and Hawaiians and Part
Hawaiians, $6,956,597.
The land of the Hawaiians is, how
ever, more divided up, for of Hawaii
ans there are Ar individual owners,
while of the American, British and
German, there are 755 individual own
ers outside of corporations and firms.
But still in the aggregate the value of
the land owned is very nearly equal.
Moreover if we look at the value of
the land owned by Hawaians and
Part-Hawaiians as compared with the
total value of the real estate in the
Republic, it will be found that the
Hawaiians and rt-Hawaiians own
81 per cent of the whole amount, or
practically one-third. OF course this
deals with individual ownership and
not with the government lands.
From this it is plain that the cry
that the Hawaiian has been bounded
off the soil, is utterly ridiculous. 1t
is in the soil that the wealth of the
Hawaiian lies. AS trader he cuts no
figure at all, his personal property
compared with that of the rest of the
rest of The community is not large,
but he does own land, chiefly in small
pieces, suitable for his style of farm
ing. OF the total small farmers over
the group 60 per cent are Hawaiians,
and the policy of the present Govern
ment is to increase this class. The
land system adopted gives the Hawa-
ian opportunity of acquiring home
stead lots which he has not been slow
in availing himself of, and as a fact,
the individual number of owners and
the value of the real estate of Hawaii
ans at this moment of writing must
be considerably larger today than it
was when the figures used were com
piled, viz: year ago.
If we look at the personal proper
ty, however, the figures are greatly
changed.
TABLE OF PERSONAL PROPERTY.
Hawaiians and Part-Hawa-
llanS own .............. LA, lO4
Americans, British and
Germans own .......... 13,743,2 02
Chinese own .............. 1905, $3.50
Japenese own ............ 77,30T
Other nationalities own. 221, JIG
Iotal ........ Sl1, 49l DOS
Thus though in land the Hawaiian
and Part Hawaiian interests amount
ed to 81 per cent of the whole amount,
in personal property their percentage
was but .06. sen"
The whole matter is perhaps best
shown under the following arrange
9 ment of figures. The total number
of individual Hawaiians and Part
Hawaiians according to census figures
was 1904. The total number of in
dividual Americans, British and Ger
mans was, according to the same fig
: ures, 6,75s. The property interests Of
the Hawaiiahs and PART awaiians,
both real and personal, amount to
$s,101,701. The property interests OF
the Americans, British and Germans