U·M·I University Microfilms International a Bell & Howell Intorrnanon Company 300 North Zeeb Road
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copysubmitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are. in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quaUt)' of this reproduction Is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adverselyaffect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sectionswith small overlaps. Each original is also photographed hi one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. U·M·I University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell intorrnanon Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. M148106-1346 USA 313 761-4700 800 521-0600 ---------- _. - .. ....•._ ..._-_._-~-~------------ _.....,._..,. ~::ro..~~l.I'_•• Order Number 9030583 Land tenure in Kahana, Hawai'i, 1846-1920 Stauffer, Robert Hammond, Ph.D. University of Hawaii, 1990 Copyright @1989 by Stauffer, Robert Hammond. All rights reserved. U-M-I 300 N. ZeebRd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 ------------------------ - ----. / Land Tenure In Kahana, Hawai'i, 1846-1920 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICAN STUDIES MAY 1990 By Robert Hammond Stauffer Dissertation Committee: David Stannard, Chair Stephen Boggs Marion Kelly Floyd Matson Haunani-Kay Trask iii Copyright (c) 1989 By Robert H. Stauffer Iv Acknowledgements FuIl acknowledgement for assistance and support from the members of my PhD Committee exists without further comment. Don Worster, who began and served as Chair ofmy committee until his appointment at the University of Texas, also needs to be acknowledged. As does Howard McKaughan, the Graduate Dean when this undertaking began. The greatest livingexpert on Hawaiian land tenure is Marion Kelly. Her personal support, extra assistance over many years of work, her skills as a teacher to me, her advice and suggested additions to this dissertation need to be singled out here, particularly as I have dropped references to her advices from the text and footnotes at her request. The subject of this dissertation is people, particularly the people of Kahana who lived and worked a century ago. I acknowledge their contribution, together with those who preserved their story, right down to the official archivists and descen dants of today. To set aside the thousands of hours necessary for this dissertation required patience on the parts of family, friends and employers.I acknowledge their forbearance. This work is dedicated to my parents Joan H. & Robert B. Stauffer, and their parents, Ruth & Robert B. Stauffer and Helen & John Hammond. v Abstract Kahana Valley, used as a case-study in this dissertation, is located about 25 miles by car from urban Honolulu. The cultivation sequence in Kahana was taro, rice, ranching and finally sugar, complete with a narrow-gauge railroad and depot. A previously unstudied, though uniquely-complete, set of native land-tenure records have recently become available. I find, first, that the Kahana Hawaiians strongly resisted the onslaught of western control of their land. Second, that land alienation and population decline played a major role in the final defeat of this resistance. Third, that lessons from this history can assist in proposals for a Hawaiian land claims settlement. The resistance included the refusal by the residents of Kahana Valley to alienate their homesteads (kuleana) for at least a generation after receiving their awards in the 1850s. Resistance also included the formation in 1875 of a native co-operative (hui) to buyout, own, and manage the substantial non-homestead lands in Kahana. With the conversion of traditional land-use rights into private property in 1850, land became a commodity, thus alienable. This and continued population decline proved disastrous for the Kahana Hawaiians. While an 1874 non-judicial mortgage system was the technical method, alienability and population decline underlay the loss of the homesteads. vi Despite residents' resistance to land alienation, Kahana shows a consolidation of landholdings among a dwindling number of Hawaiianheirs. Following this, westerners foreclosed mortgages or bought out surviving Hawaiians. A final phase witnessed a consolidation among the westerners, resulting in a single investor having near total ownership and control by 1920. Thus we see that the policypermitting land alienationwasanathema to continued Hawaiian control over land, or, by extension, other indigenous peoples in similar situations. Had alienation not been an option, ownership of the lands and resources of Kahana would have been preserved untilHawaiians' population numbers later-after 192Q--increased. This would have preserved a land base upon which to continue a cooperative social system of use-rights. Hawaiians would have remained in control and evolved their system, vis-a-vis western culture, as they saw fit. ------------------------------------- vii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................. .. iv Abstract v List of Figures ......................................... .. xi Preface .............................................. .. xv Chapter 1. Introduction ................................... .. 1 A New Story 3 Hawaiian Versus Western Culture 6 A Native View 7 Chapter 2. The Maka'dinana Land .................. .. 14 The Land Commission ............................... .. 16 Land Politics 21 Land Commission Claims In Kahana .................. .. 23 The Question of Non-Claimants 31 The Kuleana Act 34 The Land-Claim Testimony Process 37 Analysis of the Testimonies ............................ .. 47 Surveys 55 The Land Awards .................................. .. 60 Analysis of the Awards: The Number of Lots Awarded 61 Analysis of the Awards: The Claimants 65 Analysis of the Awards: Tenure ......................... .. 66 Analysis of the Awards: The Land. ...................... .. 68 Analysis of the Awards: Claim Success Rates 70 Analysis of the Awards: Land-Use. ...................... .. 77 Analysis of the Awards: An Introduction To Claim Locations 79 Analysis of the Awards: Concentrations of Claims 83 Analysis of the Awards: The 'Ili 89 Analysis of the Awards: Types of Parcels 92 Analysis of the Awards: The Konohiki And The Konohiki Agent 97 Conclusion ....................................... .. 99 viii Chapter 3. The Mahele .•.................................. 102 The Mahele 103 Cultural Conflict . .. 110 Ali'i Kuleana Testimony and Award .. ................... .. 111 The Market .... ................................. .. 113 The Mahele Claim. ................................ .. 114 Conclusion . .. 116 Chapter 4. A Second Generation And China Men 120 Maka'dinana Conveyances 120 Maka'Qinana Families 125 The Market ... .................................. .. 129 The Ahupua'a Conveyances 133 An Aside on Finances .............................. .. 135 More on the Kahana Ahupua'a ........................ .. 138 The P"iike Konohiki 140 Oral Traditions . .. 142 Conclusion . .. 143 Chapter 5. The Twilight of the Kuleana ....................... .. 145 The "Mortgage" Act of 1874 146 The Effects on Kahana 149 Major Players . .. 151 "Mortgage" Examples 153 Other Pressures and Responses . .. 156 Conclusion . .. 160 Chapter 6. True Churches, ~wa, And Excommunication 161 Early Western Religious Contacts 166 The Hui Is Formed .. .............................." 176 The Organization Of The Hui 180 The Hui As A Traditional System 183 The Hui Membership 184 The Operation Of The Hui 188 "Internal" Conveyances Of Hui Shares. .................. .. 192 "External" Conveyances of Hui Shares. .................. .. 195 Conclusion . .. 198 ------- ------._- ----------- ix Chapter 7. The Kuleana Are Lost. .......................... .. 200 Hui-Kuleana Relations .............................. .. 200 Kuleana Conveyances 202 Kuleana Mortgages 203 Kuleana Leases ................................... .. 207 Kuleana Encumbrances 210 Kuleana Sales to Haole 212 Hansen's Disease 214 Conclusion . .. 215 Chapter 8. Thra, Rice, and then Cattle: The Land is Transformed . .. 217 The Hui 219 Thomas R. Foster ................................. .. 220 The Religious Call 222 The Aiona Leases . .. 226 The Akuna Leases 227 Investors' Attention is Elsewhere, 1889-97 230 The Kiine'ohe Ranch Episode 233 Cattle Ranching 236 Final Non-Foster Conveyances, 1899-1903 . .. 240 Final Foster Acquisitions, 1899-1903 242 Conclusion . .. 249 Chapter 9. Denouement: A Landed Monopology and the Advent of Sugar. 250 The Missionaries are Bought Out, 1904-1907 251 The McCandless Episode . .. 256 Other Foster Acquisitions. ..........................