The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-08-01


In another case, a certain benevolent
society makes q claim that a certain
deed granting an annuity creates
charge upon all land mentioned there
in. The petitioners claim that there
is no charge against the land. This
matter is pending trial.
A case illustrative of careless alb
stracting is the following: The paper
title was clear down to a certain ma
tive woman who acquired title by
purchase of the land. The abstract
showed that she had conveyed some
years afterwards to the party from
whom the applicant had purchased the
land. Investigation showed that on
this abstract a good sized mortgage
had been accepted on the land. A
deed was on record from the native
woman to her son. There was no con-
veyance or probate of the estate of
her son. There was only one surviving
member of the family, who proved that
the son had gone away while a minor
on a whaling voyage and had never
been heard of since. There was a ira
dition that the vessel was never
accounted for. The mother would in
herit from the son under our law. The
title of the petitioner showed a suffi
cient case of adverse possession and
the title was registered.
The defects in title have been inter-
esting, but the defects in description
are exasperating. The court requires
a correct description of the starting
point as we'll as of the boundaries. Ac-
curacy is required. The result is that
the court hears of two standards of
survey set by some surveyors. One
price for survey for the land court,
and a less price for,-well, let it pass
for a survey. The client of the sur
veyor does no. know what he is get
ting until he attempts to use the survey
in the court. The newspapers publish
as court news, the criticism of the
survey and the mortified private
surveyor hastens to explain that he
did not know the survey was to be used
in the Land Court, and he did not get
enough money to make n correct sur
vey anyway. Such has been the
practice in surveying among some sur
veyors, much to the annoyance of
those high in the profession. The pub
lie criticism is enforcing a needed
check on the delinquents.
Our experience has shown the great
est laxity to have been the rule in
preparing and recording so-called
maps or plats of tracts subdivided into
city lots. In the plats neither the
starting point nor the boundaries are
marked in an accurate manner; often
no starting point is given, and the
whole location is left to the location
of small wooden pegs driven at the
corner of the lots. No permanent
marks are made, nor any reference to
any permanent marks. The result
is that new survey has to be made
before registration. The court demon
strates to the lot owner the inaccurate
character of the work A choice resi-
dence portion of Honolulu laid out
about ten years ago. has streets cut
ting through It at angles varying from
right angles. The survey and plot
show that there are no fractions of feet
i'm the dimensions of the lots, mathe-
nautical impossbility. The surveyor
who did the work says that he carried
out orders from the real estate specula-
tors not to show any fractions of feet
in any lot. The result is that every
lot in the tract is not described as It is
located on the ground by the original
stakes All boundaries are more or
less wrong.
The description of an accurate start
ing point is always a bugbear to care
less surveyors, and their work is reject
ed, when not properly done. The client
finds out that he has not received the
worth of his money, and the careless
worker is sent back to complete a work
which he has been overpaid for doing
in the first place.
The most important case of bounda-
ries which has come to our attention
is found in the petitions of five large
sugar plantations on the Island of
Maui, which came in with descriptions
made by surveyor, new to the BUSH
ness, His maps We're tested for ac-
curacy and returned. A new set of
maps was received, differing from the
first, tested and returned. A new set,
still different, was received, tested
and found inaccurate.
Investigation showed that the own
ers of these plantations intended to
bound their fields by a certain mean
derng grade line for a water ditch ON
which they were to depend for irri-
cation Of the sugar cane Title was
to run to this ditch and to include it.
The surveyor had cut the Gordian knot
and run a straight line regardless Of
the necessities of the plantations to
own and control the whole bed of the
proposed ditch II a hostile owner
had obtained control of hand over which
a portion OF the ditch line would run,
according to this erroneous survey, he
might cause the plantations great loss
and expense to avoid the necessity of
crossing his land with the irrigration
water. 1t was found that the map and
description were compiled from old sur
veys and from inaccurate field notes.
and insufficiently located with regard
to marks on the ground. One of the
chief owners in the plantations was