The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-10-04

homcsteadcrs or people interested m
homcsteading who have complained Of
this same thing. and II has caused n
good deal Of criticism. DO you think
they have usually got the information
they asked fort"
''I think as a rule they havc,n re.
piled the Governor. al think that in
"A few eases, possibly three or four, it
has for some reason been overlooked.
The Secretary thought there were
more than three OF -four cases, rs he re-
mem bered 1t. The Governor, however,
was certain there were not.
"Take, for instance" said the Sec.
rotary, " the people at Hakalau who
want TO buy residence lots. They werc
not given information as to whether the
land was 20 be split up for residence
lots or not.
81 might explain that right here, -
said the Governor. 81 gave general di.
rections in March, 1911, that when the
lands were cut up for homestead pur.
poses, the first tier or two should he
made smaller and sold ms residence lots
instead of homestead lots. The land
commissioner on April l, 1911, wrote to
that effect to the surveyor. The sur
field parties to carry out the instruc.
tons and sent one to the surveyor at
| lIakalau. In this particular case he
did not subdividc the reservation into
lots, and | am informed that the rea-
son was that the applicants were found
to be the applicants for the homestead
lands beyond. So the land commission.
ers thought they would not subdivide
l,p trn a al, a.
was done until written application
was filed in February of this year. That
was Immediately replied to, the CORE.
spondence covering the question of the
size of the lots into which the subdi.
vision should be divided We asked the
applicants to talk the matter over
among themselves and let us know.
They decided on 75-foot frontages and
40O-foot depths, so as to accommodate
as many people as possible along the
government road. They agreed to this
and directions were given to subdivide
the lots, and the people were complete.
ly informed about that
Press Agent Wanted.
"What happened under your system
appears to be this" said the Secro-
tary. You issued general order and
that order was known to the officers
but not known to the public except as
| they found it out incidentally. You
make reservation on the public road.
Such particular individuals as happen.
ed to be active in the matter make
inquiries and make applications and are
Informed of the facts, put the rest of
the public does not know anything
about it. AS / understand public mat
ters on the mainland. We use better
ways to announce tLese things to the
general public"
Yes, we ought to- responded the
Governor. "The point is this: Here are
a lot of lands all over the Territory.
We take up a piece of land and decide
to do something with it. We survey it.
1t is given out as news to the press.
When the lots are surveyed there is n
60-day advertisement published in diff
ferent languages concerning these lots. -
i cit is a very informal sort of
thing" said the Secretary. els there
not a neighborhood place--a postoffice
where the news could be posted and
published and everybody see that this
land has been reserved for residence
purposes.
eyes, that could be DONE
81 got the impression that there is a
feeling that the people think they are
not taken INTO the confidence of the adj
ministration as they should be. They
get in behind the game little, but
somebody else has been allowed to take
the initiative. If it was made more
public there might not be any justifi.
cation for this. But it seems to me
that feeling is natural and will be UNI
less there is more publicity
81 think there is some such feel.
! ing, assented the Governor.
Complaint Not the Reason.
"With reference to that reserva-
ton" put in Mr.. Ashford. "These
subdivisions We're not made until YOU
had seen copy of the pamphlet con.
tanning the Delegates complaintsp"
''The reservation was made with the
intention of cutting up the tract i'm.
mediately, and that was six, eight OF
nine months before the complaint was
filed. Then an application came IN and
that was what started the subdivision
of the lots. The complaint had moth.
ing to do with it. The complaint may
have had something to do with the ap.
plieants in applying for the iots.''
Il ''Can yon account for the delay of
six months from the date when the
applications of the Kohala homestead.
ers went in until the commissioner wrote
concerning the harvesting of caneG'i
inquired Ashford "The application
was received February "a, and his re.
, ply was in July, five or six months af.
terward.'
, "That was about four MONTHS" re.
nlied the GoVernor
/. Then came an argument as to the
amount of time of delay, in which the
) Governor, the Secretary and Mr.. Ash
ford figured, the Secretary finally mott
) flying Mr.. Ashford that the Governor
was the correct mathematician. al
guess the Governor has you there, Mr..
Ashford" said the Secretary smiling.
The Laws Delay.
"Then A. " Gear told me he has
been waiting for three years for the as.
|, Segment of homestead to him at Wal.
amaze, and the government has not vet
placed him in possessioni" said Mr.
Ashford.
81 cannot say about that unless that
| In 81.