The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-04-08
IMPORTANT
LAND WORK
Chart of Public Domain
Being Prepared By
Mr.. Pratt.

j. w. Pratt, Commissioner of Public
Lands is hard at work upon an i'm
portant task set by himself. This is
the preparation of a chart of all of the
public lands of the Territory. 1t Is in
tended to show at glance the nature
of the different lands, their areas and
their locations.
At present Mr.. Pratt Is checking up
all general leases of public lands from
No. / forward. In doing so he inspects
the records and notes all salient par
ticulars. When through with the gem
eral leases, he will similarly handle the
homestead and right of purchase leases.
He finds that some of the leases do not
cover all of the land indicated by the
topical name. Remnants are discov-
cred which will aggregate considerable
of value and may meet many demands
for small holdings and specific pur-
poses.
lands classified, to show what they are
respectively good for. On the discov-
cry of an odd parcel or parcels not UNI
der the leases though in the localities
bearing the names Identifying the
leases, he will refer the matter to the
sub-agent or ranger in whose district
the land lies for a report upon the
adaptability of the land for certain
purposes such as coffee-raising, open
ing for homesteads, grazing, etc.
When the lands have been charted,
any person making specific inquiries
may receive prompt answer. AS it
is now, the department is much at a
loss to answer inquiries for coffee
lands, small farming ranching or other
uses. The chart will be open to public
inspection at the Land office and be-
sides, as Mr.. Pratt said to an Adver-
tiser reporter yesterday, any clerk in
the office will be enabled to answer
questions as readily as he can himself.
A glance at large sheets of closely
printed lists of leases, through which
Mr.. Pratt is exploring and making
references therefrom to the actual rec
ords, shows what a formidable piece of
drudgery he has undertaken. He has
not gone outside to tell about it either,
for the public would never have heard
of the work until accomplished had not
newsgatherer taken notice, through
an open window, of the department
head toiling in shirtsleeves throughout
the day over a desk in the room of the
clerks.
,,IgsS&&0
Whenever Port Arthur has been
bombarded Alexieff tries to convince
the Japanese that they had better not
waste any more ammunition on the
place, by telling the world that no
damags was done. Reports from ref
ugees, however, give quite a different
version. At Hardin trainloads of run
away civilians tell dire tales of calam-
ity and the masters of neutral vessels,
| leaving Port Arthur, confirm them.
We also hear of wounded from Port
Arthur arriving at Vladivostok AleXi-
eff has never deceived the japanese,
who know what one hundred tons of
steel shells per minute can do to n
compact little place like Port Arthur
and who propose to keep on sowing
their missiles theye. The Viceroy is
also trying to convince the Japanese
that he is raising the stone-laden hulks
which they sunk before the port and
adding them to the Russian navy. That
is his maladroit way of trying to in
duce them not to sink any more.