The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-18

Board OF Agriculture and Forestry Adopts Supt.
t1osmers Recommendations for flo Forest
Reserve and Honomu Homesteads.

prepared by the station horticulturist
J. E. Higgins.
FORESTATION MATTERS.
The Hilo forestry reserve and home
stealing propositions were embodied il
several special reports and resolutions
HoMEsTEADs AND FORESTRY.
The report of Committee on Forestry
concerning forestry reserve in Hilo, and
on proposed homesteads at Honomu,
was submitted as follows:
Honolulu, August Is, 1904.
To the Board of Agriculture and For
estry.
Gentlemen: Your Committee on For
estry have had under consideration the
subject of a permanent forestry reserve
line in the Hilo district. and also the
petition of certain persons for home
stealing certain government land in
Honomu, Hilo, Hawaii, now in forest.
The members of the committee are
personally familiar with the general
conditions existing in the Hilo district
and the superintendent of Forestry has
question, in detail, and presented to
the committee full reports and recon-
mendations.
These reports accompanying this re-
port, and we recommend their adop-
ton.
In brief. the report of the Superin-
tendent of Forestry is in favor Of es-
tablishing a forest reserve line at APP
proximately the 1850 foot level above
the sea. varying to meet local condi-
tfons, as set forth in detail in his re-
port. All above this line to be made
forestry reserve under the law Of
1903. The upper boundary TO be fixed
later
AS to the Honomu homestead propo-
sition, your committee is in doubt as
to whether the establishment Of home-
steads in this locality is economically
practicable or not The land is over
three miles from the government road.
The only road to it is a dirt one con-
structed by the Honomu plantation.
In the nornal rainy weather Of Hilo
teaming is impraeticable over such
roads, and packing on animals is diff
cult and expensive. A macadamized
road only is of use. This is costly to
construct, and by reason of the steep
grades, costly to keep in repair.
The available road funds have here
tofore been scarcely sufficient to keep
the one main road through the dis
trict in repair It is questionable
whether under existing financial con-
ditions a macadamized road can be
built or kept in repair, if built. A fur
Their consideration is, that the Hilo dis
trct is cut at such frequent intervals
by ravines of such extreme depth that
it is impracticable to build an upper
road above the plantations and paral-
lei to the coast, as has been done in
Kona.
A separate road must be built ma
uka on every ridge. or approximately
every half mile or so. By reason of
this fact the area opened by each road
would be comparatively smaII-so small
as not warrant the cost of the road.
There are questions, which to some
extent. lap over into the consideration
which this board must give every pro-
poS-t3aa to take forest land for home-
stea purposes The main points up
on which the committee bases its ap-
prevail of the demonstrating of this
land, and, second, that deforestation
under the restrictions recommended by
the superintendent, will not radically
injure the purposes for which the for
est reserve is sought to be establish
ed. The board is not the responsible
to decide upon the eeono-
mical availability of the land for home
steads, or concerning roads to get to
them That rests with the land de-
partment and the legislature The sole
scope of this report is therefore, that
SO far as this board is concerned it ,
does not object to utilization of the |
land in question for homestead pur-
poses
Respectfully submitted,
L. A. ,THURSTON.
A W. CARTER.
w NJ GIFFARD