The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-04-05

fooled, and, as usual, it is. over the
matter of the Kapaa homesteads and
the water they are entitled to but can
not get. 49, o.,
Yesterday delegation Of three,
homesteaders came to Honolulu TO find
ont about II. They are N. X. Hoopii,
=. u. Lucas aud T, Cunningham, bear,
Jog credentials from the Kappa Home
stead Protective Association, the own
ers of twelve hundred acres Of land
which the government homesteaied
five months ago at an upset price that
averaged about one hundred dollars an
aeTe.tg r4.gHl .'. =
- These hOmesteatlers claim that their,
land carries with it the water rights,
to the mean fow of the Kappa stream,
which Is, according to official data,
about eight million gallons day. OF
this not a. triokle is allowed to reach
the. hpmesteaders, according to their
Statements yesterday, while the Makee
Plantation, which has no legal claim
to any of the water except the over,
Ilow,. has, locked the water gates and
refuses to allow the homesteaders to
touch them.
Are Given Promise
The delegation arrived from Kauai,
yesterday morning, after being chosen
at a meeting of the homcsteaders at.
the Kapaa courthouse Sunday after,
noon. They proposed to lay their case
before the Governor. They did not
see the Governor, who they were told
was busy, but they did see the land
commissioner, b. G. Rivenburgh. They
La L..
given, they report, direct, definite
promise that he would write to Man,
ager Hermann WOlter of the plantation
today and instruct him to open the
sluice gates and permit the homestead
ers to take the water to which they
are entitled.
"He promised that he would write at
once and give Mr.. VOTERS plain in.
structiOns,' said Mr.. Cunningham, af
ter the interview.
'But he would not give us any letter
to read at the meeting of the hOmeI
stea'ers, when we report back" add
ed Mr.. Lucas, cautiously. 1--WE asked
him for ono, but he said we didn t need
it, because, everyone would believe us
when We. reported. %. -
Have Jolt Coming !
SO, the delegation is returning to the
Garden Island today satisfied that they
have the word of a government official
that they will get the water that be-
longs TO them.
Whatever Mr.. RiVenburgh told the
homesteaders, however, he failed to re-
peat to The Advertiser. In an inter.
View with this paper quite a different
phase was put on the matter =
Rivenburgh Unfretted
Mr.. RiVenburgh refused to becOmd
fretted over the difficulties of the Ka.
paa ,homesteadeTs. Indeed, he WASH y
inclined TO consider that they had any
difficulties; they On.y imagined theN
had. As to watet-why, pshaw! They
had water, lots of water. True, it was
possible, just barely possible, that the
plantation had put paddock on the
watergate, but that didn = prove that
the gate WAS locked, did it. Probably
Mr.. Cunningham had walked up that
way, seen the paddock and then just
walked right away without stopping to
see whether it was locked or not,
AS to the complaint of the home.
stealers that they don't even have
water to wash their faces, that was
ridiculous. They had lots of water.
The plantation wouldn It think Of de.
priVing them Of it.
The trouble with those hombsteaders
was that just because sugar went up
last. year, they albthpught they wanted
to. raise cane. And they ought to know
that the homesteader who rhises cane
is absolutely dependent upon the plan
tatiOn. He can't grind it himself, or
AnH IN hnnR ali al
it. II he cant sell it to the planta-
tion then he's up against il and that =
all there is to it.
.uIIH regard to that water, thought
which Mr.. RiNenburgh was sure the
plantation wasn't hOgging, just to
please the committee, he would write
mp to Mr.. WolteT .apd sask him if the
wuter gate were. loytsd. And be a |
send Mr.. Hardgt histdephty On Kauai,
up to look around. ,,, .-v ...' z =
Householder Crime
The whole trouble with the Kappa
homesteaders, Mr.. Rivenburgh felt,
was that lot of them didn't have
any money And how could they eX-
pect to be successful without that very
necessary cOmmOditNf 4
The entire row, Mr.. RiVenbuEgh was
coIEfdent, had been stirred up by Mr..
Cunningham and two or three Of the
obhors who had got financial hacking
fnoR some source In Honolulu and
bought Il tractor pillow. They had ex-
peUtod to piow not only their own land
but that of their ReighboEs, thereby
maxiRg enough money to pay for the
tractor. And now they find that their
neighbOrs are broke, so they are sore
and want to make trouble for the gov
crnmcnt.
Mr.. Rivenburgh was indeed panied,
it appeared, whenever he thought of the
seiishness of the hOmesteaders who
wanted to raise zane just because sugar
was high and they thought they could
make some money out of it. They ought
to know that they couldn't get away
with any such stunt as that. IL Col.
T. s.. Spaldng had been present and
heard Mr.. Rivenburgh express his opin
ION of those homesteaders, that re-
hOubtahle philanthropist would I'M
douhtelly have chirked up consider,
ably, perhaps even have forgotten for
the moment that some persons are
small enough to kick because he OBJ