Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-03

Interesting testimony was given
yesterday by |. A. Thurston to Score,
tsry Fisher, both in regard to the HiIo
Railroad situation and to homestead.
inq in Hawaii. Part of Mr.. Thurston's
detailed statement was published yes
terday. and it is continued today. II
beams at point where Mr.. FisGer
was asking the HiIo railroad manager
about the acquisition Of terminal and
track property at HiIo.
Thur. ton As 10 the point as to
Why 40 acres was required, would
like TO say that tl-at was a point waICh
| have lad in mind for many years-!t
so happened that was Minister Of The
Interior in lHSt-%N, when the OaHV
Railway company was Instituted, ~
application was made to me at that
time under this same statute-that
statute was in force then-fOr a grant
OF ground where the present Oaru rail.
way Station stando and also the
GIound up to Nuuanu stream on the
makai side OF King street. which is OC-
Cupied nov by stores. ! forget what
area was asked FOR. | think it was 90
acres was young at that time an
had had no experience with railroads
although ii was intimated by Mr. ASH
ford yesterday that It was a fish ponh
and <Wamps. still it is on the harbOr
OF the town and was going to become
very valuable land. They stated var
Gus statistics and areas on the main
land as to what areas were used there
nj I 10 m no
area-my recollection is that it was
finally brought down to about II or II
acres. They later asked later ad-
ministration to withdraw that piece o.
! land and put it up at auction. They
accordingly surrendered a couple OF
&C res there which was put up at auc-
/ ton and they bought it at auction.
Since then | have been pretty cloG ely
connected with Mr. Dillingham; for a
number of years and have known the
progress of the comrany-they have
rapidly exceeded the Is or IA acre.
and have been compelled to buy priv.
ate land for their station purposes, and
they now are occupying fOrty-nine and
q half acres as their terminal grounds.
They have under operation approx.
mately 100 miles of track. This Va 5
my first connection with railroad sta
tion areas, and | mentioned it simply
for laying the foundation of having
some knowledge and experience in the
matter. When We began operations n
Hilo in 1899-beginning to place our
terminal division in Waiakea, practic-
ally all the land was government land.
We did succeed in getting five and a
half acres, but required considerable
more, and applied to the government
for certain area-we attempted to
get certain land-again We bumped UP
against the kohala-Hilo Company,
which failed to take our assurances
that we in good faith were going to
t'..t So ~ Oily, a..d WEI" deSperate-
ly afraid that We were going to rival
them by building north and took a
hostile attitude and went and got a
lease of all the land that they thought
we could possibly utilize.
Got Over Acreage.
We failed to get the area of land
that We wanted that was most conve-
nient and We had to take what we
could get and got % acres over in
the vicinity where the railroad shops
now are located. Later on they be-
came convinced of our good faith and
| came to an understanding with us and
We subleased from them eleven acres
of the land they had leased from the
Waiakea Mill Company, so that we
then had and still have As acres of
government land at the Waiakea Ioca-
J ton. We have occupied about one
half of it and are now occupying about
one-half and the balance has been
more than we needed at present. The
business We have done has been sole
~ the business in the Puma district,
where there are 5000 inhabitants, and
the town of Hilo. The extension north
from HilO involves access to between
thirty and thirty-five thousand inhab-
itantS, and business which is probably
not less than five times as great as
the Puma district. Under these cir
cumstances, and upon consulting with
Mr.. George DenisOn in Honolulu, who
is the railroad expert of the town, we
came to the conclusion to ask for the
area which we did ask for and which
we got finally-somewhat less land
at Kuhio Bay. This is the origin Of
and the chronological working up to
our getting 40 ,.cres.
Fisher: Now, 81. ThurstOn, was any
showing made of @av kind other than
conversations or conferences as to this
necessity?
Showing Made Orally.
ThurStOn: There was none. From
the beginning of operations under the
railroad laws of tn" Territory, the
custom has been if they had any Oc
casion for acquiring land, for whoever
represents the railroad to come and