215 



75>500 acres, of whicli all but a small percentage is government 

 land. 



OBJECT. 



Tlie object of the Kan Forest Reserve is to insure the con- 

 tinued protection of the forest on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa, 

 because of its importance in maintaining the favorable conditions 

 on which the water supply of the agricultural lands in the Kau 

 District depends. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE TRACT. 



At present the government land within the boundaries of the 

 proposed Kau Forest Reserve is for the most part under lease 

 either to the Hawaiian Agricultural Company or to the Hutchin- 

 son Sugar Plantation Company. Many of the leases are about to 

 expire and of the remainder of the government land there are 

 some forest tracts that are not now under lease. 



The important leases that have some time yet to run are for 

 the land of Waiohinu and the Puumakaa-Kiolakaa Forest Tract, 

 both leased to the Hutchinson Sugar Plantation Company, the 

 leases running respectively until April i, 1914, and Alay 24, 1923. 

 These lands adjoin one another and form the western end of the 

 proposed forest reserve. Toward the eastern end, the lease on 

 the tract known as the Kaalaala-Makakupu Forest, to the Ha- 

 waiian Agricultural Company, runs until July i, 1924. Under 

 the old classification the land of Waiohinu was a "crown land," 

 all the rest of the government tracts within the reserve were 

 "government lands." 



FENCES. 



Most of the existing leases contain clauses requiring the pro- 

 tection of the forest. That for the Puumakaa-Kiolakaa Forest 

 Tract, made in 1902, requires that a fence be built and maintained 

 around three sides of the tract and in lieu of the fourth side, 

 along the Kahuku boundary until it meets the forest fence built 

 and maintained by the Hawaiian Agricultural Company. The 

 Puumakaa-Kiolakaa fence, around the western end of the re- 

 serve, was begun about three years ago by the Hon. George C. 

 Hewitt, then manager of the Hutchinson plantation, and was 

 completed during the summer of 1905 by Mr. Carl Wolters, the 

 present manager. It is approximately ly miles in length. 



