The Hawaiian star., 1910-04-07

sands of acres of land previously cul-
tivated in cane and other superior
lands have been disposed of in this
way. Experience is fast demonstrat-
ing that unless the laws are amend.
ed it would be wiser FOR the govern
ment to lease or cell such lands di-
rectly than to attempt to homestead
them, for then the government would
at least get their value and, in the
case of lease, hold them until they
can be homesteaded successfully,
while if they are disposed of under
the form of homesteading under the
present laws they are liable to go
eventually to the same alien. corpora
ton, or large holder, and the go-be-
tween fake homesteader will get the
greater part of their value, and they
will be lost forever for homestead
purposes.
Under the existing laws it is i'm
possible to prevent repeating" ana
speculative taking of public lands ex-
cept by Withholding the land from
entry. Since the land laws of Ha.
waii can only be amended by Con-
gress, it is important that these
changes be made at once, so that ge-
nuine homesteading may be carried
on vigorously to upbuild the class Of
citizen landholders.
There are various methods of home
steading in Hawaii and necessarily
for this reason, as well as because Of
the great diversity of natural condi
tions and of the needs of different
races, there is and must be more or
less discretion vested in the execu-
tive officers. That is so in large mea-
sure even on the mainland, especially
in respect of reclaimed lands, which
the lands of Hawaii resemble more
than they do the prairie lands. Your
committee is strongly of the opinion
that much more intelligent discre-
tion can be exercised by the local
territorial officials in the handling
and disposal of the public lands of
Hawaii than could possibly be the
case if those lands were placed under
the Federal Department of the In
terror, as has sometimes been sug-
gested.
The first four paragraphs of this
section relate to homesteading in all
its forms. There are four forms Of
agreement under which a homestead
may be acquired, namely, Q a Ger
tificate of occupation" which leads to
homestead lease" (2), a right of
purchase lease" (3) "cash freehold
agreement" and (4) special home
stead agreement" each of which leads
to patent"
The first paragraph prescribes res
trictions as to who may take home
steads: (D Repeating" is forbidden.
A person is not permitted to take up
one homestead after another, as he
can now.
The area of public lands in Hawaii
is very limited, probably not exceed
ing 250,OOO acres of cultivable land.
Each person should be given only
one opportunity out of the public
land; if he wants more land he can
buy it of private owner. He should
not speculate in public land. (2) For
much the same reasons persons al
ready having sufficient land for a
homestead, from whatever source OBJ
tanned, are not allowed to take a
homestead from the public land. (9)
Only citizens or persons who have
declared their intention to become
such may take homesteads, and in
case of a declaration of intention the
citizeI ship must be completed before
the title can be completed.
The second paragraph contains res
trictions on what may be done with a
homestead after entry or patent. Ex-