The evening times., 1899-11-03

ming, and the laws of the republic Of Ha-
waii made possible the union of small in
vestments without great liability. 1t is
said that there was an element of special
| risk in the industry under the former re-
| public. and the investors always bore in
mind that the prosperity of the whole in
dustry depended upon the reciprocity treaty
| with the United States. With the removal
4 OF this element of uncertainty by reason of
| annexation the tendency to put every kind
! OF enterprise into the form of a corpora
| ton is said to be waning
Prior to 1916 all the lands of the Ha-
waiian Islands belonged in legal contem-
| plation to the king. The chiefs and people
! as tenants, by system closely resembling
| the feudal system Of England, held their
| respective parcels by the payment of rent
or rendering of service. In that year King
kamehameha III granted to his chiefs and
people certain portions of the land to gov
ernment purposes certain other portions,
! and reserved to himself the remainder.
BY an act passed in June, 1S4S the legis-
lature accepted this grant and confirmed
to the king, his heirs, and successors GER
tain described lands, which were thence
forth known as crown lands. In the act
organizing the executive departments Iro-
vision was made for the appointment of a
land commission to receive and pass upon
the claims of occupants of lands to their
respective holdings in the portion of lands
set apart for the chiefs and the people.
This commission heard the testimony of
claimants. caused surveys to be made and
issued to the occupants certificates called
land commission awards" These awards
established the right of the grantee to the
possession of the land, and entitled him.
upon the payment of one-fourth of the
value of the bare land to receive a royal
patent for his holding. These awards and
the patents which have issued from them
are the source of title to all the lands not
public lands in Hawaii
The lands confirmed to the chiefs and
known according to their extent as ahu-
puaas or Ills, amounted to 1,571, ,34l acres:
the lands confirmed to the common people
and known as kuleanas aggregated 2S, ,65S,
acres. The crown lands reserved to the
king under the act of 1S4S were in 1865
placed in the hands of body known as the
commission of crown lands. This body was
empowered to lease the crown lands for
periods not exceeding thirty years, but not
to ALLEVIATE the same. The net rentals be-
longed to the monarch as personal per-
quisite. The government lands were au-
thorized to be sold by the minister of the
interior. with the consent of the executive
council.
By an act passed July 9, 1850, one-twenti-
eth of all public lands was set apart for
the support of schools. Provision was made
for the selection by and the patenting to
the board of education of the land thus set
apart and the board of education was en-
powered to sell and lease lands thus re-
ceived. Part of the lands thus set OF were
used as sites for school buildings part was
leased and the remainder sold.
In 1884 an act was passed for the setting
aside of homesteads to landless applicants
on liberal terms. Under this method a per-
son was prohibited from acquiring more
than two acres OF "taro' or wet land and
more than twenty acres of dry land The
fee for each settlement was $40. In 1891
Queen Liliuokalani divided part of her
crown land holdings in Hawaii into small
tracts and provided for the leasing of them
to homestead occupants upon moderate
terms.
These were all the enactments regard. |
ing the disposition of public lands up to |
the year 1885 when the legislature met un- |
der the republic. In that year there was |
passed what was designated as "the land |
act Of 1885," which provided q comprehen- |
sive system for the care and disposition |
of the public domain. By this act, the !
crown lands are treated as having vested |
In the republic upon the abolition Of the |
monarchy. and are now embraced as public |
lands. These lands were placed under the ]
control Of board Of three commissioners, |
one OF whom was the minister Of the in
terror. The other two were appointed BY |
the President with the approval Of the |
Cabinet, and one Of them IL designated a I
agent Of public lands" The act divided |