The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-06-17

this law for holding those lands out.
The matter Of possible visit Of the
commission to Kappa having been sug.
gested by Mr.. Thurston, Land Commits
sioner Campbell stated that although,
no provision is made in the law for
paying the expenses Of the commission,
yet they win be paid, either out Of the
funds Of the land commissioner 8 office
OF out of the Governor s contingent
fund.
Settlers, Not Money, Wanted.
Mr.. Campbell was asked the upset
prices at which the mauka Kapaa lands
were formerly offered. He replied that
the first price was $50 an acre and
this was afterward cut to $25. Kinney
and Trent both expressed surprise at
the size of the figures, the former stat
ing that equally as good land in the
Kalaheo district can be had at from
$3.50 to So an acre. Campbell said
that on one OCCASION he put Kappa
lots up at auction at as low as $12 an
acre but the Portuguese bid them up
to 5000.
"Yes,' said Kinney, "and a cruel
thing was done thereby. / say that
with the conditions imposed ON the
homesteader the cash value Of the land
is very low.''
Again Kinney came back to his orig
inal proposition. "The presumption, :"
he said, ''is that all the lands are in
the homestead class, and strong reasons
must exist for Withholding them from
that use.''
Wouldn't the public demand that
we use discretion9'' Campbell wanted
to know.
Discretion Marrow.
"Your discretion is very narrow"
replied Kinney. GA government lease
ism t worth much now. The cash mar.
ket value of the land to the home.
steader is only what the land will fetch
for demonstrating purposes. Because a
man will give only n dollar an acre is
/ no reason for refusing him the land.
If the plantation wants to give 800
an acre and the homesteader can offer
but one dollar an acre, but is otherwise
ready and willing to carry out all the
conditions imposed, the homsteader is
the one who should get the land.
fThe firt thing to do" Kinney con-
tinued, is to present palatable propo-
sition-cut up your land, lay out your
roads, offer the homesteader something.
You we got the money to do all that. 7"
County Should Handle Water.
In regard to getting water on the
Kapaa lands, Kinney was strongly of
the opinion that that should be left to
the county of Kauai. Campbell could
not see this.
Campbell again insisted that, to his
mind, the leasing of this land would be
the best move the board could make to-
ward settling the land finally with home.
steaders.
"That's long range action" OBJ,
jected Kinney, "and this act contem.
plates putting the homesteaders on the
land at once and under the most favor.
able conditions" He expressed the
opinion that it would be easy to get
the water on the land.
Campbell objected that it would not
be easy. "We have the water" he
said, "but the expense of getting il
on the land will be considerable
$4,000 to 100000. / wouldn't want
any homesteaders to feel that because
the land's there and the water there
} it IS land with water on it,
Chairman Carter couldn't see that the
expense of getting the water onto the
I land was at all to be compared to the
value of getting the land settled. "It't
a mere bagatelle,' he said, "comparet
with the value of the 1900 acres. -
Kinney once more expressed the belief
, that the water question should be LEFT
} to the Kauai supervisors. "The county
government is the one to handle that, ,
) he said, "because it is in continual SEES
t sion. The board of supervisors is re
t sponsive to the wishes of the commu
nifty, and they have the power, by THU
new act, to borrow money. If the watel
/ works are left to the counties, the re
: suits will come more quickly Turn thu
lands over to the people and the waite
) over to the counties, and they will con
e meet up all right
Delay Might Help.
Thurston expressed the opinion tina
Kinney's construction of the law, il
r regard to the discretion Of the board
was the EXTREMIST possible. He though
e that delay would be better, if by della.
] things can be done to get as many peo
e pie on the land as possible. Delay, o
: course, should not be simply subter
: fuge to lock the lands up.
Thurston thought that the commits
, sioners, or at least some of them, ough
n to 90 to Kappa and look the groun,
over for themselves. The lay of tn
!. land, he said, is not as simple as j
e looks on the map. Engineering woul,
be necessary to make the water avail
v able.
!. ga good DEAL" he said, "depend
!. upon knowledge of the local conditions
!. This matter is very considerable thin
!. to the plantation, and it means eve
q moro to the people of that district. TIL
fact that the plantation had gone dow
the past three years has reacted on tn
taxes of the district. I would like t
o see some of the commissioners get o
o the ground, so they can act in the spiri
t as well as according to the letter of tn
o law. I doubt if the discretion of thi
t commission is so narrowed down that
is necessary to go OFF half-eocked at tn
: invitation of any twenty-five persons.