The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-11-15

commissioner uI lnN ttuciHl Lana VI
flee Treats the Matter In cxtcnso In
His Annual Report
Bugcr Hermann Commissioner OF
the General Land Office In his annual
report To- the Interior Department de- I
votes considerable space to the subject
of the public lands in Hawaii Among
other things he says.
prior To- the year 1896 the lIuls I'm
Hawaii belonged i'm legal conte alton,
to the King. and the chiefs and the
people as tenants, boy "a system closely
resembling the former feudal system OF
England. In that year, however the
King granted to his chiefs and peo-
pie certain other portions of the land,
To Government purposes certain other
portions and retained for himself the /
remainder and this act was ratified by /
his Legislature ON June T. lSiS. The /
lands thus passed to the King and his
heirs were thence known as Crown .
lands.
In 1850, one-twentietn Of all publ, .
lands were set apart for the support of
schools. which the School Board wac
empowered To- sell and lease. Under
the homestead act Of 1884 landlass
applicants were permitted to acquire
title to two acres of taro, or wet lands.
and not more than twenty acres OF
dry land
I'm 1891 a part of the Crown lands
was divided into small tracts, and the
method of leasing them to homestead
applicants on easy terms was msti-
uted.
an the year 1895. after the Rapul lie
of Hawaii had been established, the
Legislature passed an act, designated
as the Land Act, 1896" which now
remains i'm force and which provides
comprehensive system for the care
and disposition of the public domain.
BY this act, Crown lands are treated
as having vested in the Republic, and
they together with the public lands
before mentioned. now constitute the
public lands of the Territory.
"The absolute fee and ownership of
| all public, Government or Crown
| lands situated in Hawaii was abso-
| lutely ceded to- and became the prop
erty Of the United States upon the
annexation of the Hawaiian Islands"
He then summarizes the laws relat-
ing to the disposal of these lands be-
ginning with the section of the New
| lands Resolution relating to it, the sec
! ton of the Territorial act relating to 1t,
| and including a synopsis of the Ha-
| Waiian laws on the subject. He then
| says:
During the last session of Congress
there was introduced in the Senate, its
| Bill $3.50
d" TO extend the general land laws Of
| the United States to the Territory of
| Hawaii with rules and regulations for
| homestead entries by the Secretary
of the Interior
IN reporting on this bill this office
said:
1.-THE widely differing qualities and
| -. f-tf V,er 10
| Hawaiian Islands and their produc-
tive capacity have been 'ecognized By
the laws of the Island, but This &C.
| partment is not in possession of airy
| information which woul lead 1t to
determine, even approximate the
amount of each class of lands remain
| ing yet unappropriated, and while Il is
| believed that a less complicated system
and one which will result in permitting
| the citizens of Hawaii to acquire title
| in fee to these lands, under laws sin
| liar to those in force in the United
| States, is most desirable no intelligent
| recommendation can be made on the
subject until sufficient data has been
| collected through a commission au-
| thorized by Congress to enable this De-
| partment to determine the amount of
| the respective classes of land which
should be awarded to each entryman.
He briefly touches on the subject of
| public lands in Porto Rico and the Phil
| ippines in which he says:
This Office is not informed that any
definite or general system of land
survey existed in either Porto Rico or
| the Philippines under Spanish rule.
From the most reliable sources of in
formation at it's command, 1t appears
that no attempt was ever made to sur
vey the public domain generally, and
that surveys were not made, except
when applications were presented for
the purchase of particular tracts, when
such tracts were surveyed and plat
ted"
He then continues. "in Hawaii a bet
ter system of surveys appears to have
been followed" and then outlines the
system.
Secretary of the Territory Henry E.
Cooper in his report as Acting Governor
concludes his report on the public lands
as follows
1T is difficult to see how a more just
or adequate system of disposing of the
public lands could be enacted having in
view local conditions. To attempt to
apply the general land laws to the pub
| lie lands of the Territory would most
| certainly lead to confusion. In many of
the tracts there is such an intermingling
of private and public interests that 1t
would be impossible to apply the laws
Further, the size shape and character
of the lands would seem to be against
such action. The location and quanti-
ty of the principal lands are shown up
on the maps, but a description of the
character of the lands can only be given
in a general way.
Where the maps fail to show lands
mentioned in the schedule it is for the
reason that they are either so diminu-
tive as not to be distlngulshable on the
map or that they have not been sur
veyed."
THE ANGLICAN SYNOD.