The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-04-04
ALExANDER's STATEMENT.
Survey Oaice Marcb o. Ions


Sir: / have the honor to acknowl-
25th inst, requesting information con.
corning a certain book, which contains
surveys of school lots and church sites,
and also concerning school lands now
under the control of the Department
of Public Instruction, and beg leave
to report as follows:
BY the act passed July 9, 1850, Sec
tons ] and 2, it was ordered for the
general purposes of education, and that
it should be "the duty of the Minister
of Public Instruction in consultation
with the Minister of the Interior. to
designate said lands, which designation,
when approved by the Privy Council,
shall be valid.
At meeting of the Privy Council
held December %, 1850, recorded in
Vol. ", PIP. 1875, the following reso-
luton was adopted:
Resolved, That in accordance with
Section first of the late School Act, to
provide for the better support and
greater efficiency of the Public Schools,
the following lands be and are hereby
appropriated for the general purpose
of education in these Islands, to be
disposed of as provided for in said act,
viz:
Here follows list of said lands,
most of which have since been sold.
In Section Z of the aforementioned
act, it was provided that "All sites
for school houses and houses for pub
lie worship, now occupied and in use
and not owned by private parties .
shall be reserved as government prop
erty, devoted to the purposes above
mentioned, the amount of land reserv-
ed for such sites, however, not to ex-
coed two acres in each case"
In Section 9 of NE same act, the
Minister of Public Instruction was. di-
rected to ''have all the sites for
schools and churches and the land con-
nected herewith, surveyed and regis
tered in book, to be deposited in his
office, for the use of the Kings gov
eminent This section was re-enacted
in the Civil Code and again in the act
of January 10, 1861
Accordingly, in 1858, Mr.. r. Arm
strong, then Minister of Public In
struction. employed Messrs. J. w. Ma
kalena, II. NJ. Lyman and j. T. Cover
to survey all the sites of churches and
schools then existing in the Islands.
Each survey was approved in writing
| by the Minister of Public Instruction
and the Minister of the Interior, and
| filed in the Office of the former. / do
not think, however, that thew were ever
registered in a book, in the manner
originally intended.
In order to perfect the title of these
lots, to facilitate exchanges, when de-
sirable etc, an act was passed August
10, 1880, providing that "Royal Pat
ents signed by the King, and counter
. signed by the Minister of the Interior,
should issue under the Great Seal Of
the Kingdom to the Board of Educa-
| tion or to such grantees as the said
Board shall name in it's acquisitions
on the Minister of the Interior for such
school lands as it shall, from time to
time, dispose of and as shall have been
set apart and designated as such by
the resolution of the Privy Council Of
December 90, 1850. or by any subse-
quent act or authority, and also for all
original school sites and school reserves
as shall have been set apart and sur
veyed as such, anu as shall have been
approved by the Minister of Public
instruction and the Minister of the
Interior, pursuant to ,ne provisions Of
the school act of July g. 1850, before
mentioned, or by any subsequent act
or authority relating thereto"
Under this act, all the government
school lots which had been surveyed
and set apart in 1853, were patented
to the Board of Education.
The sites of the churches and of the
! Catholic schools, which had been sur
veyed in 1853, being private property,
We're. of course, excepted from tine OPP
Grafton of this act. A list of the
grants issued to the Board of Educa-
| tion under this act Is contained in the
index of grants published in 1887, on
PIP. 103-117.
In August, 1897, / had all the sur
veys OF both church and school sites
made for the government in 1853 cop
led from the originals in the office of
the Board of Education, into suita-
BILE book and properly indexed. In
every case where a site had been pat
ented the number, ETC., of the grant
was recorded. This work was done
partly for convenience of reference and
partly to preserve the surveys of those
lots which had not been patented.
AS many exchanges, purchases and
leases of school lands have been made
since 1858, it is very much to be de-
| slreu, anu mas, III TACT, OFTEN Deen
proposed, that thorough examination
be made of all past and, present school
sites and of the titles by which they
are held, and that the results be re-
corded in a convenient book for refer
ence, by one specially qualified for such
a task. Unfortunately the money re.
quired for such an investigation has
never been available. remain,
Yours respectfully,
| w. ID. ALEXANDER.