THE  JHAWAII AN 
FORESTER  1 AGRICULTURIST 
Vol.  VI  OCTOBER,  1909  No.  10 
This  paper  is  fortunate  in  being  able  to  present  to  its  readers  an 
address  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Menhenhall,  of  the  Bureau  of  Conserva- 
tion, upon  the  application  of  the  Federal  Reclamation  laws  to  Ha- 
waii, delivered  before  the  Social  Science  Club  at  the  residence 
of  Governor  Frear  during  the  current  month.  So  great  benefit.- 
have  accrued  on  the  mainland  from  the  undertaking  of  the  govern- 
ment of  large  irrigation  projects,  that  the  suggestion  of  the  ex- 
tension of  the  system  to  this  Territory  at  once  met  with  general 
approval,  and  an  effort  was  set  on  foot  to  endeavor  to  secure  the 
end  desired.  The  promoters  of  this  plan  were  encouraged  by  the 
fact  that  since  the  passage  of  the  reclamation  act  restricting  its 
application  to  certain  states,  Texas  has  been  included  within  its 
operation.  In  order  to  bring  about  the  desired  change  the  Hawai- 
ian Delegate  introduced  a bill  in  Congress  last  January,  which 
was  referred  to  the  Committee  bn  Irrigation  of  Arid  Lands,  and 
ordered  printed.  The  Territory  was  also  represented  by  a dele- 
gation of  six  members  at  the  National  Irrigation  Congress  re- 
cently held  at  Spokane,  and  was  successful  in  obtaining  the  pass- 
age of  a resolution  recommending  to  Congress  the  extension  of 
the  Federal  reclamation  system  to  Hawaii.  In  spite  of  these  en- 
couragements, there  is  no  doubt  that  much  time  must  elapse  be- 
fore the  desired  legislation  is  obtained.  This  is  now  being  pro- 
fitably employed  in  the  taking  of  an  inventory  of  the  water  re- 
sources of  the  Territory — an  operation  which  to  be  effectual  will 
take  some  three  or  four  years,  and  necessarily  must  precede  the 
inception  of  any  irrigation  project.  In  the  meantime,  it  seems 
well  to  pause  to  consider  in  its  full,  the  effect  the  extension  of 
the  Federal  reclamation  act  would  have  upon  our  local  conditions, 
and  whether  its  operation  in  Hawaii  would  be  calculated  to  pro- 
duce the  desirable  result  which  was  at  first  believed.  A careful 
perusal  of  Mr.  Mendenhall’s  address  will  go  far  to  a clearer  un- 
derstanding of  this  subject  and  will  appreciably  help  in  bringing 
about  that  general  discussion  which  such  an  important  question 
merits. 
That  certain  difficulties  lie  in  the  way  of  securing  a favorable 
hearing  before  Congress  goes  without  saying,  but  these  difficulties 
will  be  greatly  magnified  if  an  effort  is  made  to  obtain  a modifica- 
tion of  the  Federal  laws  to  suit  our  local  conditions.  Before  un- 
