The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-09-29
DISCUSSIONS
ONlANDLAWS
rcontlnues trenD rAe3 ons.,

, Is, - 4.
/, LII there has been any difficult,
: with relation to the land act, yor
[ must amend the law and not expect
i the officials to be blind to the read
ing of the act itself. The commission
er and officials are under heavy bond.
of from $4,000 to 100000 to carry out
| the law as it reads. If there is any
thing disagreeable in the law, amend
the law, and not let the official take
IT upon himself to do it,
Chairman Lewis, taking up Mr..
Pratt s statement at this point, sug.
gested some things as to the admin.
istration of the land laws by the com
missioner and officials, after hearing
what the people on the various islands
said on the question of homesteadinp.
"We realize" he said, "what much
OF the work is in the experimental
stage, but l believe this: If a suffi-
cient appropriation is given to the
Land Department, that every piece of
government land which is now out.
standing, whether by lease or other
wise, should be properly surveyed,
should be visited by the commissioner
OF by people competent to Judge of the
character of the soil, and that the
lands be closely classifed-so many
acres available for agricultural or for
| pastoral purposes, or what they should
be used for-and all that data placed
! in detailed indexed shape in the office
, of the Commissioner of Public Lands,
TO be available for ready reference.
Anyone then desiring to take up
homestead upon a particular piece of
land would find the exact data. If
the land is not open, he will learn
so, and if open, he will learn that.
These pieces of land should be de-
fined more definitely, SO that the APP
plicant can put his finger on just what
he wants to know. l don t think that
system is in present vogue.
Mr.. Pratt stated that this system has
been in vogue for some time and the
surveys show this, and he instanced
Puupukea, this island, as a perfect ex-
ample. 1t was ascertained, however,
that these surveys are of more recent |
dates, during the last four years, but |
back of that the lands are not listed |
according to the suggestion of the chair
man. Mr.. Pratt agreed that there
should be an appropriation for complete |
surveys to show the natural and final |
boundaries. This should begin as soon
as possible, for many of the old Ha-
waiians who know the natural bound
aries are dying off fast. Mr.. Pratt |
also agreed that in some former time
the classification of lands was wrongly |
made, no distinction being made be-
tween pastoral and agricultural lands.
Then referring to homesteads and |
Governor Frear's proposed agreement,
the discussion became lengthy, and Mr..
Pratt referred to the morning speakers.
He said, in relation to Mr.. w. o.
Smiths argument, it got down simply
to whether the land was to be handed |
over, or the title thereof, for a consid-
Grafton, or whether the land should be |
homesteaded. Mr.. Smith, he said,
thought the residence condition should
be modified very much and the quail
fication to title be substantive, but
that was not demonstrating.
The residence condition required I'M
der any law is important, and the
length of time, if long, rather than
short, gives no chance for the specula-
tor No man is going to hire a man to
take up land for him if it is going to
take ten years to prove up. If man
actually wants home ON the land, the
length of time doesn t make any diff
ference to him. If it is for specula-
tive purposes, of course, he wants to
prove up in short time
Mr.. Smith also stated that a man
might be forced off on account of i'll
health, and in case he had long
period to prove up, he would lose. The
Jaw allows man time off for absence
caused by ill-health, services in the
army or navy, or through process of
ri la 70 l.. i L
goes on Just the same The United |
States and Canadian land laws allow
a man, if absent through ill-health, ETC.,
to make it up later on. There might
be drought, such as occasionally we
have here, and man can not get his
percentage of cultivation, and, in such
case, with the approval of the gov
eminent, time can be extended and a |
note made of it, so that in future the |
documents will explain themselves. |
Residence by proxy is dangerous
thing. That was tried on Hawaii and !
Maui in 1882, and was a source of
much trouble.'
The chair asked if more people would |
not apply for homesteads if the agree.
ment gave them an opportunity to work
ut their trades meanwhile. The chair
stated that under the present system
of bank loans here homesteader, if |
compelled to stay on his lands all the
time, would have little opportunity for
deriving means to keep up his place.
The chair asked if, under these condi-
tions, would the homesteader not face
a difficulty. Mr.. Cooke stated it would
he impossible to get mortgages on
homestead lands. The chair also asked
that, suppose a man fell down on his
agreement after having mortgaged his
homestead and had not yet proved up,
how the mortgage could prove up. 1t
was generally agreed that there would
be some difficulty.
Mr.. Pratt considered that the Frear
ten-year agreement was getting very
close to the Hawaiian land act as it
should be. The Reclamation Act was
the mother of the local act. Mr.. Pratt
said the whole object of the Reclama-
ton Act was to keep off the SPECTATOR.
The commissioner said he would cut out
the right-of-purchase lease proposition.
He believed that the Governor should
be'>put in position that the Secretary
| q al -. =.