123 



bidding the burning of brush, etc., in the Ewa Basin, for a period 

 of six months, unless the written permission of the District Fire 

 Warden has been first obtained. 



LIBRARY. 



Among the accessions to the Library during the last fortnight I 

 would call attention to the first number of two important Journals 

 which we shall now receive regularly, the "Philippine Journal of 

 Science," published by the Bureau of Science of the Government 

 of the Philippine Islands, and the "Quarterly Journal of the In- 

 stitute of Commercial Research in the Tropics," published by 

 the Liverpool University, Liverpool, England. 



The Library room of the Board was used for meetings of the 

 Honolulu Improvement Committee on Friday evening, March 

 i6th, and by the Pawaa Improvement Club on March 15th. 



FOREST FIRES. 



During the last fortnight forest fires have been reported, as 

 follows : 



On Sunday, March nth, a grass fire of about five acres in 

 extent in the upper Palolo Valley, on this Island, was extinguish- 

 ed by Mr. Haughs and a gang of 17 laborers, before it had a 

 chance to get far enough mauka to do any damage. One of the 

 laborers was taken from the Nursery, five more were picked up 

 locally, and the others were Road Board men sent by iMr. Hollo- 

 way. The fire was started by children playing with matches in 

 the dry grass back of one of the homesteads. For further de- 

 tails regarding it Mr. Haughs' report should be consulted. 



On March 7th, a forest fire was reported by Mr. James Gibb, 

 to be burning on the portion of the land of Paauhau controlled 

 by the Parker Ranch. This fire started from a locality where 

 employees of the Parker Ranch were burning ivy. Brush fires 

 for this purpose had been going on for some time and the work 

 was being done under the supervision of Mr. E. E. Conant. This 

 particular fire resulted through the wind which came up sud- 

 denly at the time of the recent Kona and carried sparks into the 

 forest. Large gangs of men from both the ranch and the 

 plantation turned out to fight it and by the next day had the 

 fire under control. During the second night a heavy rain came 

 which extinguished the fire. Mr. Conant in his report estimates 



