359 

 BOARD MEETING. 



A meeting of the Board of Ag-riculture and Forestry was held 

 at the board room of the Waterhouse company Thursday after- 

 noon, November 13, being constituted by President W. M. Gif- 

 fard and Commissioners H. M. von HoU, John M. Dowsett and 

 A. H. Rice. 



Reading of minutes inchided those of a special meeting" at which 

 the president was authorized to approve a license of right of way 

 through Nuuanu valley watershed for the lines of the Hawaiian 

 Electric Company. 



Reports of divisions were received and filed without discussion. 



A report from the forestry committee on various proposed for- 

 est reserves, approving them with certain recommendations, was 

 read by the president. 



Removal of sheep from Kahoolawe was a subject included in 

 the report, the decision being that Eben P. Low should be allowed 

 until December 31 next to remove the sheep. This recommenda- 

 tion was adopted by the board. 



Further time was given to the committee on the modification of 

 Kealia forest reserve on Kauai. 



Approval of the Kuliouou forest reserve on Oahu was voted. 



FOREST RIGHTS. 



Correspondence between the president and the attorney general 

 on the question of the right of the military to take firewood from 

 forest reserves as against the rights of homesteaders, was read. 

 Attorney General Thayer rendered an opinion in which he held 

 that homesteaders do not have a prescriptive right to take firewood 

 or other material in government forests, and that the soldiers have 

 no more right than civilians to such privileges, but that the whole 

 matter is under control of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, 

 which has power to grant licenses for the privileges in question in 

 its discretion. 



It was the sense of the meeting, on discussion of the question, 

 that the taking of dead wood from the public forests was not nec- 

 essarily detrimental, and that the granting of privileges should 

 be left with the executive officer. 



As, according to Mr. von Holt, firewood on the other side of 

 the island was worth $12 to $14 a cord, it was agreed that some- 

 thing should be charged for it. the fixing of price to be in the 

 power of the same officials. 



Mr. Hardy, assistant hydrographer of Kauai, was granted leave 

 of absence. 



