The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-01-15

narlly tnat tnlS Is matter 10 which
/ have given a great deal of study
since l came into my present office, and
finally / appointed an advisory land
law commission consisting of seven
persons to study into the whole subject.
This commission gave public hearings
on all the larger Islands and sent out
circulars to hundreds of persons for
their views, and finally made report
This section is intended to embody in
a large measure the recommendations
of that commission. Some of the rec.
concentrations would more appropriate
| ly come within the action of the Terri
torial Legislature.
The Chairman. Is the report to
which you refer a printed report7
Governor Frear. 1t may be printed
by this time. ] left an order to print
it. II was handed to me just before i
came away.
The Chairman. Could you forward
a copy of it to the committee for our
use7
Governor Frear. Yes; / will cable
for copies to be sent to the committee.
| The first provision of section 8 is in
tended to put in operation there, so'far
as the disposition of lands is concern.
ed, very much the same system that is
in vogue on the mainland in respect of
reclaimed arid lands. The lands of
Hawaii resemble such lands on the
mainland much more than they re-
semble the general unirrigated public
lands. The lands there are, many of
them, irrigated, but all lands as rule
that are suitable for settlement pur.
poses require considerable capital for
their development. They yield heavily
, and are of great value. The same rea.
sons which require, for instance, small
holdings on the reclaimed arid lands of
this country would require small hold.
ings there. The idea is to have the
lots of no greater area than is required
for the support of family.
J 1t is intended also to increase the
/ conditions of residence and cultivation
by requiring residence, say, for five
years, and requiring by the end of five
or six years the cultivation of perhaps
as much as so per cent of the arabic
; area of the lot sold. At the same time
it is intended to make the terms of
payment easier by distributing the
payments over ten years and without
interest.
The Chairman. ] notice the provis-
ion is in the first place, that the land
shall be sold CATER public notice." 1t
does not specify how long n notice shall
be given. Do you not think there ought
to be some specification
Governor Frear. Later Oh
The Chairman. Then, if ] may in the
same connection call your attention tC
5 it, it provides that the lands may be
5 disposed of after public notice "by
, drawing or by AUCTION" What do you
, mean by drawing there-a sort of lot
terry schemel
, Governor Frear. Yes. At present
3 the lands are sold at public auction
r generally, and they are apt to be ruI
0 up and to be put beyond the means o.
great many of the persons who woult
= desire to become settlers. 1t is though
r well to authorize their disposition by
| drawing, the same as is done here il
{ disposing of public lands, especially tn,
reclaimed lands.
: The Chairman. We have a system Of
r drawings
Governor Frear. Yes.
} The Chairman. l was not aware OF
, it. What is it2
Governor Frear. When tract OF
land is opened to settlement it is ad
4 vertised thoroughly throughout the
S country and then applications are filed
7 There may be hundred thousand APP
r plications for lots in Il particular tract
The Chairman. Oh, yes, / under
stand what you mean,
Governor Frear. But of course there
are not lots enough to 90 around. II
order to be fair and not give them out
to applicants in the order of their APP
plication they have n drawing and the
applicants select their lots in the ordel
of their drawing
Senator Milton. 1t is also to pre-
vent litigation and strife, ! think
which would arise if we did not have
some system of allotment.
The Chairman Now, since you speal
of it, | recall that there is some sucl
system. l never had any occasion t.
give any attention to it. The system
of drawing which you contemplat,
would be similar to that which we have
herc9
Governor Frear. Yes, that is tn,
idea.
The Chairman. But with our system
the government fixes the price, does j
NOT!
Governor Frear. Yes, and we woul
do the same thing.
The Chairman. The price at whicl
those who are fortunate enough to b
successful drawers can take the prop
ertyf
Governor Frear. Yes.
The Chairman. Is there any provis
ion here for fixing the price of thi
| government land?
Governor Frear. The method actual
ly used in Hawaii is this: Appraiser
are appointed TO fix the actual casl
value of the land. Then about % pc
cent of that value is taken for the pur
poses Of homesteads, the other condi
tons of residence and cultivation be
ing supposed to make up for the bal
ance, the idea being to encourage tn
small settler.
The Chairman. Who would prescrib
all these additional terms and cond
tions2
Governor Frear. That would be don
by the commissioner, with the approvl
of the Governor.
The Chairman. Under local legisli
toni