The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-02-05
Gives
HIS Views
THINKS THAT THERE IS SOME
THING QUEER ABOUT THOMP-
SON SETTLEMENT SCHEME.

Land Commissioner Pratt was read
ing over his copy of the Thompson Set
Element Associations open letter when
The Star representative called on him
this morning.
IT'S a pretty long communication"
he said. land l am going over it care
fully in connection with the cores
pondenCe i'm order to frame up a COM
plete reply l hope to have the reply
ready for tomorrow's mail.
IN general though l may say that
the Thompson Settlement Association
has in my opinion, merely opened up
the question in order to do politics. The
letter l received from the Association
previous to this open one expressed sat
isfaction with arrangements and refer
red with pleasure to a prospective
meeting with me. In the meantime DR..
Thompson, the head of the Associa-
ton, has returned from the mainland
and this letter follows.
These people want 100 acres apiece
Now there are nineteen in the Asso-
citation, there were twenty but one lost
his naturalization papers, SO that 100
acres apiece would of course mean the
( there be to prevent DR.. Thompson and
the others simply turning this into an
other sugar plantation? Nothing that
1 can see unless we impose some regu-
lations. What would become of the
policy of the administration to get bona
fide citizen settlers, or settlers who are
eligible to become citizens, if we mere
ly substituted for one sugar plantation
which now holds the land, the Hutch
inson. another which would also work
with alien labor? We want men who
are farmers and who will farm the
land themselves, not those who let it
out on shares to aliens.
THE suggestion that l have dictated
the crops that shall be raised is absurd.
The Thompson Association from the
! very first stated that its members
wished to raise cane, look at these let
ters-"
The Commissioner showed the first of
the correspondence i'm which was plain
ly stated by the secretary of the As
ISOLATION that as cane would be the
most profitable of all crops and hence
that they intended to produce it.
"They spoke of the cane crops and L
have been going ahead all the time I'M
der no idea other than that was the
crop they wished to raise. AS to the
alleged assessment of the land at $50 to
800 per acre by Land Agent White
that is simply a mis-statement. His
valuation was a third of that and even
that assessment / directed reduced.
Now as to the MOlOkans who have
been brought into the discussion, there
are 1870 families of these as compared
with 10 of the Thompson Association.
THE Molokans will have practically the
, same area of land as that asked for by
the Thompsonites and they will cultl-
vate it themselves. They do not want
to hire aliens. The Molokan holdings
of 40 acres each will give each family
about sixteen acres of cane land as
only twO-fifths of the area will be
available. In the Kau lands only foul
out of the siXty-four lots have as low
: as fourteen acres and most run up as
5 high as "a and %.
$ IF the Thompson people will make
the same sort of an agreement as the
- Molokans have done they can do so
I or 50 can anyone else, but as l said
4 the government does not propose t
take away the land from one planta
, ton merely to enable another one t.
o. be formed
q There are other points in the lette
with which l will deal in my full an
= swer"