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supply. Any one who knows anything at all about artesian 
wells in Hawaii, knows that frightful waste of water 1s con- 
stantly going on. It has been stated that the waste alone from 
uncapped artesian wells in the Honolulu basin amounts to 
10,000,000 gallons of water per day. This water, now per- 
mitted to flow away to the ocean, might be stored for future 
usc. In other ways, too, reasonable measures of economy as 
to the use of water are not now enforced as they should be. 
At present there appears to be no legislation under which 
abuses of this kind can be checked. 
We have reached a stage of economic development in this 
Territory when we can no longer afford to allow such reckless 
and unwarranted’ carelessness. Water itself, as well as the 
forest that clothes the catchment areas, must be conserved, and 
what is more, action must be taken at once. The people of 
this island face a serious condition, one that can no longer 
brook delay. 
The Need for Hydrographic Investigations in Conjunction With 
Systematic Forest Work in Hawait. 
Since writing the main portion of this paper the author has 
received a communication from G. K. Larrison, the local dis- 
trict engineer of the Hydrographic Service of the United States 
Geological Survey, from which the following is quoted relative 
to Hawaiian forest conditions and their relation to the hydro- 
graphic work which he is at present conducting and which he 
is desirous of extending: 
“The direct and beneficial relation of forest cover to sur- 
face, stream and underground water regulation has been so 
thoroughly demonstrated and widely accepted by the world’s 
water users that it may seem superfluous to invite attention to 
this relation again. However, the writer has observed an at- 
mosphere of indifference on this subject in the Hawaiian 
Islands, which is all the more remarkable, because the supply 
and regulation of fresh water is, by far, the most important 
factor in the material life and development of Hawaii. 
“The Hawaiian Islands are primarily agricultural, and for 
the greater part dependent on irrigation. While the rainfall 
is heavy, the catchment areas are comparatively small, the 
stream gradients very high, and the run-off from deforested and 
barren regions very rapid, with resulting heavy erosion and 
