Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1909-03-25

porous sugar plantation district, is tne am
bition of the men controlling the corpora.
tions combined in the Maui Agricultural
Company These men are also large owners
in the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar
Company which has lands adjoining.
The resolution of the Maui Agricultural
Company and the letter of Mr.. Baldwin are
the proofs of the determination and
thusasm behind the movement
Hon. II. p. Baldwin and his sons, Harry
A. and Frank f. managers respectively of
the Maui Agricultural and the Hawaiian
Commercial plantations, are the moving
spirits.
The whole proposition is more or less in.
voved in the land exchange by which the
Territorial Government will exchange some
eight hundred acres of what is known as the
Omaopio land for twelve hundred acres OF
land for twelve hundred acres of land now
held by the Haiku Sugar Company. one of
the corporations included in the Maui Agri
cultural partnership.
Land exchanges have not generally been
popular in Hawaii because some of the peo
pie feel that the Territory has not always
got the best of II. This case is the one that
might properly be considered in the list of
those in which the Territory gets full value
and good deal more II the program of
settlement is carried out, and Congress
takes no action in tariff matters that will in.
jure the future of the American pineapple
Industry.
omaopio is a tract of public land sur.
rounded by private holdings. In season
of drought 1t is absolutely barren, having no
water for irrigation. The soil may or may
not be good. The adjoining soils raise good
sugar cane-when irrigated 1t would be a
hopeless field for a homesteader with only
rainfall to depend upon.
This Omaopo land can be watered by the
Maui Agricultural Co., II the irrigation ditch
known as the Upper Haiku ditch were ex.
tended at an expense of $4,000 or more and
the water sent down over the land. This is
indeed what will probably happen when the
exchange is carried through.
On the other hand, the twelve hundred
acres of Haiku lands, within 10 to 20 miles
of Kahului, which 1t is proposed to exchange
for this Omaopio area, Is ready for imme-
date cultivation During the recent period
of drought the most serious the Islands
have experienced in years, the Haiku lands
had a thrifty appearance, and the adjoining
areas not included in the exchange, but ap.
parently of identical quality, raised the
greatest quantity to the acre Of any pineapple
lands in the Territory of Hawaii. The wild
grasses and shrubs were thrifty and suggest
fertile SOIL
In fact. the Haiku lands and the sur.
roundngs, taken in connection with the
transportation facilities ready on demand,
and the favorable location for homes, com.
bines in one of the most attractive home
stealing propositions that can be found on
the Island of Maui.
Added to the beauty of location and the
fertility of the land is the moral influence OF
adjoining corporations and large financial
interests that have already developed an in.
dustry other than the cultivation OF sugar
cane, and, furthermore, announce their
Willingness to turn hundreds of acres Of their
own land over to intelligent farmers who
want lands for cultivation and homes rather
than for speculation.
The average fertility Of the soil is proved
Finally, the great problem Of Transports
ton that lies at the bottom of all success Is
solved. The main round-the-island road
passed through the center of the district. On
the lower edge and nearer the sea the new
line of macadamized road is being construct
ed. Once the land Is populated 1t Will be
tapped by the Kahului Railway, which takes
the products to Kahului harbor for transpor
tation to Honolulu or direct to the Pacific
Coast
The Kahului Railway Company plans MOI
only to extend its tracks. 1t has already
ordered autotrucks to carry the product OF
the pineapple cannery and pineapple growers
row established on the lands above and ad
joining the proposed homesteading area
Should the Kahului Railway not meet al
the demands Of people of the district with
products TO send to market, they are by nc
means at the mercy of a monopoly. Tho
property will support fifty homesteaders witt
fifty acre areas, and as the autotruck carrier
has paved the way, they could easily