358 

 AN IMPORTANT LEGAL OPINION. 



At the instance of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, the 

 Attorney General of the Territory of Hawaii, Honorable C. R'. 

 Hemenway, has recently handed down an opinion which, be- 

 cause of its far-reaching effects, is of the utmost importance to 

 the Board, besides being a matter of much moment in the forest 

 history of Hawaii. 



The' question at issue was whether or not the Board had the 

 right to sell products from forest reserves and to use the realiza- 

 tions so received as a special fund for other forest w^ork, it having 

 been claimed by some that the law as it stands was unconstitu- 

 tional in this section. 



Based on an exhaustive statement of the various couditions 

 entering the case, the Attorney General rules that the Board may 

 properly dispose of forest products and use the money accruing 

 therefrom for the purposes for which it is organized. 



This matter is of fundamental importance to the Territory's 

 forest work, and of such general interest that /\ttorney General 

 Hemenway's opinion is here reproduced in full, as follows : 



EXECUTIVE BUILDING. 



OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 



Honolulu, Hawaii, November 19, 1907. 



OPINION NO. 42. 



Honorable E. A. Alott-Smith, 

 Secretary of Hawaii, 



'Honolulu, T. H. 



Dear Sir: 



In response to your verbal request for the opinion of this De- 

 partment, as to whether the Board of Agriculture and Forestry 

 has power to sell wood to be cut upon forest reserves, and other 

 products of such forest reserves, and whether the realizations 

 from such sales can properly be expended for the replanting of 

 portions of such forest reserves, we would advise you as follows : 



For a proper understanding of the question involved, it seems 

 necessary to review the various statutes relating to forestry wdiich 

 have from time to time been in force in Hawaii. 



The first legislature enactment on the subject of forestry was 

 "An Act for the Protection and Preservation of Woods and For- 

 ests," Ch. 30 S. L. 1876, (Appendix, R. L. P. 1281). 



This act. bv Section i, authorized the Minister of the Interior 



