The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-03-02
GAIT GIVES
TESTIMONY
tFrom Thursdays Advertiser)

statement of j. K. Gait, treasurer Oh
the Hawaiian Trust Company. made at
Washington before the committee of
Congress hearing the request of Ha-
wall for a refund to the Territory of
rs per cent. Of the Federar revenues:
Ms Gait. Mr.. Chairman and gentle
men. l am connected with the Hawai-
ian Trust Company, of Honolulu, as
| treasurer. i just wish to touch on and
emphasize a few points that have al
| ready been brought out. and also to
answer more fully few questions
which have been asked by different
members during the sessions-princf-
pally day before yesterday.
Before touching on these points /
would like to impress upon your minds
the fact that in many of the argu-
ments and statements which have
| been made the impression may have
| been given that we are in an extremely
/ bad condition there, that We are al
most insolvent and on our last legs.
| That Is not true. At the same time
| we do feel in our hearts and in our
| judgment that our position is now such
| that we are in need of assistance. We
| feel that we are asking for what is
fair and just. At the same time II we
| do not get 1t we have no idea of throw
| ing up our hands. We are going to
stand just as straight as ever and go
back and fight just as hard to keep
| up to as high a standard as we pos
sibly can.
| In answer to a question day before
| yesterday a statement was made, /
think inadvertently, that our sugar
! corporations owned most OF the land
under sugar cultivation This is not
So 1t is far from being So The great
majority of the lands under sugar cul-
| tivation are owned in fee by the gov
eminent. by estates, and by individ-
uals.
Take for instance the plantations
right on the island of Oahu. on which
Honolulu Is located. The Eva planta-
ton. which is our banner plantation,
Produces the largest number of tons
OF sugar to the acre of any planta-
ton we have in the islands, and ow-
ing to that fact has given a wrong
impression on the outside that all our
plantations produce as much. Eva
produces between thirty and forty
thousand tons of sugar a year and
hold its lands under leasehold. Then
there is the Waialua plantation, pro-
ducing 10000 tons of sugar now, with
n strong prospect of increasing her
production to that of Eva. 1t has
under its control about $4,000 acres OF
and About 1000 acres of that land
il owns in fee. and the entire balance
Is under leasehold.
IT Is the same way with Kahuku
plantation All of it's lands are held
under leasehold.
| Another is the Waimanalo planta-
ton which is smaller. The lands be-
long entirely to the government, and
are held under leasehold by the corr
poration.
II Mr.. Cole of the committee. You
mean the Territorial government?
: Mr.. Gait. The Territorial govern
ment; yes.
Mr. Cole In that case, does the gov
eminent own It?
Mr.. Gait. Not all of it. Some of II
Is owned by individuals and estates.
: Mr.. Cole. How long do the leases
) continue, as a rule?
Mr.. Gait. / think most of them arr
long leases, running about fifty years
! to twenty-five or thirty years to run
roughly speaking.
The Chairman. The reason for thos,
long leases or one of the reasons wa!
the difficulty of breaking up the grounC
and preparing it for the growth OF
sugar, was it not? Was not that one
of the reasons?
Mr.. Gait. l was just going to toucl
on that very point. Reference was
made day before yesterday by one o
| the committee to Governor Carter.
report of 1904, in which on page Al /
' shows that out of 424 422 acres of gov
eminent lands leased the total revenu
:, | derived by the Territorial government
+, is $S005, or an everage of less than
, cents per acre.
| would like to call attention to
statement made by the Governor jus
f before those figures in his report
: which Is as follows:
=, The Crown-land leases in many case
were evidently used for political o
y other purposes. Large tracts of valu
= able land were and are today unde
il lease at mere nominal rentals, such a
V no sane person would accept as tn
;, actual rental of the land As an ex
ample, 800 acres of land in and ad
joining the city of Honolulu is unde
lease to expire in 1902. The Crown re
ceiveG and the government now re
v ceives for this land the sum of 800 pc
=, annum. The lessee subjects the land a
an annual net profit of about $500
per annum. There are $500 acres o,
Kauai for which the government re
e ceives $500 per annum that clear tn
= lessee $4,000 per annum net. This ma
r is a nonresident and suneases. Man
y other instances of like kind exist
: on the following page the Governo
: states i'm his report
The unfortunate part. to the presen
generation of this matter is that
!, large majority of these leases are sti
u In existence and have many years L
run. The Republic OF Hawaii by 1t
laws merged the Crown and Govern
ment lands under the head and title G
public lands and placed their contro
in the hands OF commission OF three.
These leases were made years ag
a by the Crown, when there existed