The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-01-10

| the Government seek to get rid of, Mr.
Charles Gay holds existing Government
| leases on 40 500 acres. or all but 100l
| acres of the entire public lands.
This land being under lease, the Gov
| eminent has no power to dispose of IL
| in any manner. They are forbidden te
sell it, for by the very terms of the
| law they can only sell public lands
| not under lease" in parcels of not over
| 1000 acres, at public auction. If the
tract of land consisted of 999 acres. and
| was under lease, no sale could be made
| of it. for there is no authority for such
| sale.
The authority for making lease OF
public lands is found in Section 278 OF
| the Revised Laws. This requires the
| lease to be sold at public auction.
Subject TO the provisions of Section
| 10 of the Organic Act, the Commission
er may at his discretion make general
leases of public lands for any number
| of years. not to exceed twenty-one, at
public auction, but no such lease shall
contain a privilege of renewal nor be
made for any land already under a
lease which has more than two years
to run. In no case shall it be lawful
to collect rents on any such lease Tor
more than one year in advance or to
receive anything in the nature Of a
bonus for executing the same" etc
Revised Laws. Sec. 25S.
Now, the law points out specifically
what may be done with such leased
land as follows:
Subsequent Disposition of Land.
Previous to the last two years OF the
term of any general lease the Commits
sioner shall, with the approval Of the
Governor, decide in regard to the prem
ises covered by s-1ch lease, whether the
same shall be demised under a new
lease or reserved to the Government for
other disposition thereof under this
chapter or for forest improvements, or
for the development of water supply,
or other public uses or otherwise, or
whether a part should be so reserved
and a part demised under a new lease,
and shall promptly notify the lessee of
such lease of the nature of such deci-
sion Revised Laws, Sec. 279.
It will be seen from the foregoing
sections that the Government must
make all leases at public auction, and
that after lease is made the Govern
ment can not collect rent for more than
one year in advance, neither can it ex-
ecute a new lease of such land while
the lease has more than two years to
run.
1t will be seen, therefore, that not
only is the Government precluded from
selling land under lease but they
can not even lease it while there is an
existing lease having more than two
years to run. The court in interpreting
the provisions of the statute must look
for the reason of it's enactment and
bear in mind the vice to be remedied,
and in SO doing the court will find that
the same reason which has prompted
denial of the right of the Government
to sell or lease public land under an
existing lease applies with equal force
to an exchange. Why, then, did the
Legislature restrict the sale Of Govern
ment land which must be made at auc-
ton to only such Government land as
was mot under lease? Those are the
very words of the statute. The Com
missioner may "sell public lands not
under lease in parcels of not over one
thousand acres for cash. and he may
s'sell public lands not under lease in
parcels of not over six hundred acres
at public auction upon part credit and
part cash"-Revised Laws, Sec. ZIG.
In both cases he is restricted to a sale
of lands mot under lease" And this
for the reason, among others, that
where land has already been leased at
public auction it occupies a different
position and is in different class from
land not under lease. 1t would be
grossly unfair and unjust to sell at
auction land under lease, for the Gov
eminent would be at the mercy of the
lease. Suppose the public lands on La
mai We're put up at auction for sale,
who would bid upon lands which were
and are leased to Charles Gay until the
year 1925, and other lands leased to the
same man until the year 1916? One of |
the leases of Mr.. Gay was made in the
year 1873, and covered 5000 acres, for
which the annual rental is but $3.50. |
lease was given Mr.. Gay in
1880 of 7400 acres, and the rental is $3.50 |
a year. No stronger example of the
reason for restricting sales of land to |
land not under lease could be shown |
than the present one. Here are 1860 |
acres of land all under lease to one |
man. Charles Gay, leases expiring IN |
1916, 1925, and so on down. Suppose the |
wanted to sell these lands
and had the power SO to do. Who could |
bid upon these lands other than Chas.
Gay? He has the leases and the right |
10 the continued possession of these
ands so long as the Government lease
s in existence. and no one could make
any immediate use of such lands with
,ut the consent of Mr.. Gay. Certainly
t must be conceded that the land
would not bring as high price with a
ease upon it for long period at low
'ental as 1t would IL 1T were unineum-
,ered. Again, it would deprive the cit
Zens of an equal advantage In bidding
or the property. The vast areas of
Government land could virtually be
acrificed If the law authorized or
the sale of land under
ease.
But the law does not authorize the
ale of land under lease, and an ex-
hange is upon a similar footing, we
If land under lease can not
,e sold for cash. nor sold for part
ash and part credit. nor even leased,
where two years leases are unexpired,
hen for the same reason 1t can not be
old or exchanged for other land. 1t
an not be successfully contended that