368 
CONSERVATION  IN  HAWAII. 
ITS  PRESENT  STATUS  AND  ITS  AIMS. 
An  address  delivered  before  the  Hawaii  Branch  of  the  Woman's 
National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress September  22 , 1909,  by 
Ralph  S.  Hosmer , Chairman  of  the  Territorial  Conservation  Com- 
mission of  Hawaii: 
Within  the  past  eighteen  months  Conservation  has  become  a 
household  word  in  Hawaii.  For  some  years  the  people  of  these 
islands  have  been  familiar  with  the  general  principles  underlying 
the  movement,  through  seeing  them  in  actual  operation.  But  it 
is  only  of  late  that  there  has  come  to  be  realized  in  its  true  value 
the  relation  that  exists  between  a right  use  of  the  natural  re- 
sources and  the  sustained  economic  prosperity  of  the  Territory. 
It  is  not  necessary  before  this  audience  for  me  to  define  what  is 
meant  by  the  term  Conservation,  nor  to  elaborate  upon  the  prin- 
ciples that  underlie  the  movement.  But  in  a movement  that  has 
developed  so  rapidly  and  has  so  many  ramifications  as  has  Con- 
servation, it  is  not  always  easy  to  keep  accurate  track  of  just 
what  has  taken  place.  Consequently  we  are  justified  in  stopping 
now  and  then  to  look  about  us  to  see  what  progress  is  being  made. 
One  of  the  essential  features  of  the  movement  for  the  right  use  of 
the  natural  resources  is  the  taking  of  stock — the  finding  out  of 
just  what  our  resources  are,  that  we  may  make  wise  plans  for 
their  development  and  exploitation.  The  purpose  of  this  paper 
is  to  take  stock  of  what  is  now  being  done  in  this  Territory  to 
bring  about  a wider  and  fuller  and  better  use  of  some  of  our  local 
sources  of  material  wealth  and  briefly  to  call  to  mind  what  the 
final  objects  are  toward  which  our  efforts  are  directed. 
The  most  significant  recent  step  in  the  progress  of  Conserva- 
tion in  Hawaii  was  the  enactment  last  March  by  the  Territorial 
Legislature  of  the  law  authorizing  a special  income  tax  “to  pro- 
mote the  conservation  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  Territory 
through  immigration  and  other  means.”  Primarily  an  immigra- 
tion measure,  this  law,  Act  33  of  the  Session  Laws  of  1909,  pro- 
vides that  a tax  of  two  per  cent,  in  addition  to  the  existing  in-r 
come  tax,  shall  be  levied  on  all  incomes  over  $4,000.  Three- 
fourths  of  the  money  so  derived  is  to  be  used  for  “the  encourage- 
ment of  immigration  to  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  in  aid  and  de- 
velopment of  the  agricultural  resources  and  conditions” ; one- 
fourth  for  “the  development,  conservation,  improvement  and 
utilization  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  Territory.”  A subse- 
quent act  provided  that  to  this  fund  shall  be  charged  the  expendi- 
tures made  on  account  of  the  work  carried  on  by  the  Territorial 
Board  of 'Agriculture  and  Forestry,  the  aid  to  the  Hawaii  Ex- 
periment Station,  and  the  money  set  apart  for  hydrographic  and 
topographic  surveys  of  the  islands,  to  be  undertaken  by  experts 
from  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey.  B,v  transferring  the  appro- 
priations for  these  departments  to  this  special  fund  the  ad- 
