The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-06-23

district however, if the draft upon the
water runs c-ose up to the volume OF sup
ply the wells Will show t, aad s0me viii
show ii sooner than others | return.
however, to the statement tina. where
water IS found in abu dance today il wi
always be found ia the same abunuance,
providing the rainfall continues the same
as heretofore.
10 suggest that the rainfall may not
continue as heretofore (providing we do
what we can to maintain it) is beside the
question, and | will not waste time upon
1t | am absolutely sure that the supply
OF artes!an water viii keep up in all
those localities where its abundance is
ample and before our eyes If more
land continues to be brought under irri-
cation, that does not lessen the natural
supply of water. 1t may, and it must,
lead to more scientific and economic
use OF the supply. Personally, l am
quite sure that the volume of water that
is being used in given localities today is
capable of rendering double it's present
duty-that is, it can be made to furnish
double the present equivalent CT sugar.
The crucial significance of the water
supply lin relation to our sugar crop is
apparent to everybody, ana everyone
knows what 1T would mean if the supply
gave out. 1t is also very desirable that
no such impression should become cur
rent, and merely because misfortune has
followed undertakings in certain specinc
locations. For such reasons / have thus
ventured to allude to your otherwise
very excellent editorial, and because II
Is necessary to place beyond question the
infalibility of the supply in those u,s-
tricts where it is now abundant, unless
nature herself utterly reverses her pres
ent procedure.
Remarks.-Dr. Maxwelrs communion
tiOu RELATIVE m fba of
water on Oahu will be read with inter
est his opinion being Tat it is practical
ly inexhaustible, so long as the annual
rainfall continues abundant There can
De no question that he is correct. That
these subterranean reservoirs are SUD-
piled solely by rainfall is proved by the
data of rise and fall kept by the Govern
ment. Our remarks in the Nav number
of the Planter were intended to show the
necessity of closer watch over the
waste of water, chiefly from the rice
plantations, on which a continual flow
has been kept up without regard to the
amount required for use and with little
or no restrictions. This is where more
watchfulness is called for, and should be
strictly enforced by law. mere are
about 400 artesian wells on Oahu, and
the total number continues to be aug
mented. While we admit that the rain
to keep our wells in good condl. on, the
time may not be far distant when a ha
in well boring here must be called The
annual rainfall on Oahu, and probably on
all the islands of our group is unmis-
takably decreasing, as every one who
has lived here for three, four or five
decades must be we'll aware Of Were
the full records of rainfall during the
early years of the nineteenth century
obtainable-say, from 1910 to 1S50-they
would show years when 40. so and per-
haps GO inches fell annually, while now
the average for the past four years has
fallen below Is inches, and for 1897 Mr..
w. r. Castles table in the last Monthly,
shows the years rainfall was only 1867
inches. and for 1899 1912 inches is report
ed This change has been brought about
almost wholly by the denuding of our
mountain ranges on all the islands of
our group, the Ill effects of which are
only now beginning to be felt