Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 301, 14 October 1891 — Crown Lands. [ARTICLE]

Crown Lands.

'i thcmany abuses ol patiiiīd priviiege exer(;ised "by th<3 lew at the expense of the masaes. th'. ; ;<drainistratioii of the Crown L >-13 stands out in bold relief. '• Th*i land whieh belpngs to the p t; o» —the whofe pēople—is let by tho Crown Llands G6rrimissioners, . .it tany be at the,dictation or approval m' t.he sovereign for the time bt"» to certain favoritos — too oft- >rrnpt parasites. Then eomn a system of exaction and .3u bv the guilded loaferlesfi<3e, whien mightfind itf?' paralMi the Egyptian tax-coHecfor .or / $qj#ch or Msh landlōrd, cla3s some of fhe pie-j;jnd-|harks of j?raAo illustration is before us in the c»v* aCrown lease of land in the nt igliborbood of Waimea Kauai. Thid lt)ase was granted a few yearsj

a|o by the lato .T.. O. Dominis while actiag 05 Agent and Hecretary of the j Crown Land Comn3issioners, with \ oai tbe knowledgo of his feliow i «omiīiiasioners ihe transaetion tak-) ing plaee over tho bar of the Ha-1 aiia.n HoteJ, — in tneodor of what j pmhahl}' goo<i whiskey and 1 hfi.rd eaeh. To wake the matter | worse the applieation was for a rene-1 Wfil of a lease whieh was granted j in the que6tionable manner above | Btaiōd, 3ix nionthf? or a ycar before | the expirfltif>n of the terms of the j o!d leage, at the same time an fipj>3ication had been filed by other pai liea, witb ample mcaas, with the €r(Hvti Lanel Agent> offerir»g iwiee ae mueh rental as the land was Bubseqaently leased for, Thp few years that hav T e elasped siv»ee th6 Bigniug of that leaee have been markcd by exactions—yearly rncreaBing—unlil to-day they press he« vily on tho poor, $qd the lessee

who pays bnt a little over a Ihonsand dollars yearly for alargetract of country reaps where he haa< «o»vn, to the extcnt, it is said, of ub >ut twenty timcs the rent. The issae «f that leaee for a palt y yearly sum, not enough to prov"ie wine for one Royal foast. was t-he virtual transfer of several hmi<lred Hawaiia»s to an owner, who tr>-dav has the power to or. der them off the kuleahae 011 whieh thev were bom, or puy him an ex* orbitant rerit either in hard cash or a kbor equivalent at fifty cents a dav. Ls it any~"wonderJthat thetrump«tor of ro\ r al pagentry on Kauai, miw (!verv thing eamme il fant ,\vh en b:s paiaee cultared probosis hover--ed over the ban quet of Crown lesse« V ohampagne, ratlior than pry into t>je unsavory \vrongrf ofthi* eoui - i:.' 'ii peooie.