The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-10-04

COR only sho Time bv cea.A .,..
Of BREWER co.. aud Market supc-in
tendcnt Starrctt
The Postofnce site.
M Thurston went into the chrome.
logical history OF the Hilo railroad
Company's acquisition Of terminal
lands at Wmakca in 1899. aud later
approximately an acre at the foot of
Waianuenuc street In liilu. in 1901. and
recently forty-fivc acres, more or less,
near the approach TO the proposed gov.
eminent wharf on Kuhio Bay, Hilo.
The first efforts Of the company 10 ac.
quire the Waianucuuc street lot were
checked by the company promoted by
Messrs. Gehr and Brown. who were
gantcd one. half of it by Superni en-
dent of Public Works McCandless.
When the Gehr aud Brown Company
retired from the field, the Hilo Rail
road Company bought their half, in ad
dition to the one-half already granted
to the Hilo Railroad Company which
purchase was ratified by the govern
ment. At the time of the oririna
grant, small lot II by 81 feet wa.
retained by the government for the
office was located thereon. Later, when
the federal government selected site
for a pubic building to which the post
office IS to he trNnsferrel cveutuc w.
the Hllo Railroad Company acqu ed
this small lot from the goVemn. ent.
agreeing that the postofice should have
first call on the lot rs long ms the 20 stall
authorities required it, or, in csse a
building was con tructcd by the rlil.
road to occupy the entire site. 10 re.
serve the same amount of splco for
postoilice purposes as is now occpnicd
in the shack used for that purpose.
That is all there is involved in the
postofce ste charge. The ara n
volved is approximately onc.fourtt cath
of an acre The total lot is too small
for a depot site and the postoflice cor.
ner is necessary for the public con
venience in getting to and from trains.
1t will only come to the railroad com
pany when the postoiiice moves out.
The Kuhio Bay Terminal Grounds.
81 wish YOU would state what iustis
fcation there is for the acquisit ON Of
the terminal Tract 'A' of 10 acres near
Kuhio Bay said the Secretary.
Mr. Thurston then explained that the
building of the new wharf and eAten.
sion of the railroad thereto, would
make that the terminal location of
the company and that terminal facili-
lies would be required accordingly.
'The amount which was applied for,
as ! recall it, - said Mr.. Thurston, ''was
in the neighborhood of seventy
acres. There were negotiations extend
ing over perhaps six to nine months be.
tween myself and Mr. Campbell, occa.
sionaly consulting the Governor. For.
ty acres was the amount finally grant
ed.
"The original location which the
railroad company asked for was ad-
jacent to the waterfront. and also to
the wharf. The government refused to
grant that location, stating that it was
the policy of the govei nment to retain
all of the waterfront. and that an
open space of several hundred feet in
width q forget exactly what 1t is
somewhere between 200 and 400 feet)
was reserved by the government, the
lana granted to the railroad company
being inland from that and on the side
opposite from the town of Hilo.D
As to whether forty acres are re.
CURED for terminal facilities, Mr.
Ihurston said that he had made a
study of the question. In 1878 he
was minister of the interior under the
monarchy, when he cut down the ap.
plication of the o. R. g. L. Company in
Honolulu to about twelve acres for ter.
minal facilities. He realizes now that
he had not given the company enough
not realizing then the possible great
expansion of the road. 1t now occu
pies forty.nine acres.
When the Hilo Railroad Company be
gan operations in 1899, twenty-three
acres were secured at Waiakea from
the government direct; fifteen acres
more We're secured through the medi-
um of the Kohala- Hilo Railroad Com
pany, and it secured on lease FIVE and
half acres of private land. About
twenty acres of this were now in use
with only about sixty miles of road in
operation, extending into the district
of Puma, whose total population was
about 5000 people. The extension
north of Hilo forms an artery in a re
gion of about $4,000 people and will
probably develop five times the traffic
thht funa gives. That is the reason
why the company asked for seventy
acres for terminals near the approach
to the Kuhio Bay wharf. The forty
acres granted would, in view of in.
creasing business of the road, ulti.
mately be too small.
AS to .he public records not contain,
ing all the details leading up to the
granting of grants to the railroad, Mr.
Thurston said that the forms were
those which had been in use for the
past twenty years. The speaker
thought the suggestion made by the
Secretary that applications should con.
tain more detail was sound.
Other Legislation.
In further support of the claim that
the free grant of rights of way and sta.
tion sites was not unusual or excessive
Mr. Thurston cited the general law on
the mainland, granting right OF way
200 feet wide, with station lot of ten
acres every ten miles, in any govern
ment land, to any railroad company
filing map and description thereof.
That in Alaska, as recently as 1908,
congress had granted the same priv.
leges, except that forty acres were per
mittpd ag farrninalu