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The question at issue is whether the Territorial government 
shall grant the right to lumber the forests on these lands, which 
naturally involves the problem of the use to which the lands shall 
subsequently be put. The matter comes up at this time because 
an application for the rights to log the forest has been received 
from the Hawaiian Development Company, the successors of the 
Hawaiian iMahogany Lumber Company. 
The present report contains a statement of facts and my con- 
clusions in the premises, based thereon. My recommendations 
are made with the full understanding that the action taken in this 
case will necessarily serve as a precedent that will influence future 
action. For beyond the actual case in hand the present decision 
will serve as an expression of the policy of the Territory in re- 
gard to what is considered the wise use of one of the two main 
forest classes in Hawaii, the “commercial forest” as differentiated 
from ‘the “water-bearing forest.” The object of this report is to 
make clear the several aspects of the question. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE TRACT. 
Location and Area. 
The area covered by this report is the section of unsurveyed 
government land lying mauka and to the west of the village of 
Pahoa in Puna, Hawaii, above the main government road from 
Olaa ,kno\\in in general as “Kaohe, Government.” iMore exactly, 
it is the tract bounded on the east and southeast by the privately 
owned lands of Waiakahiula (Catholic Alission) and Keahialaka 
(Bishop Estate) and the open pahoehoe country lying mauka of 
the Kamaili and the Kaimu Homesteads and the hill known as 
Heiheiahulu ; as far as the land of Kahaualea (Campbell Estate) ; 
on the south by the land of Kahaualea ; and on the north and west 
by the land of Keaau (Mr. W. H. Shipman), altogether an area 
of approximately 23,850 acres. 
The application of the Hawaiian Development Company is for 
the stumpage rights on some 12,000 acres within this tract that 
are covered by merchantable forest, together with the right to log- 
the remaining lots in the Kaohe Homesteads that have not been 
sold and taken up, and of which the title still vests in the govern- 
ment, some 500 acres more. 
The commercially valualile forest extends in a northwesterlv 
direction from the Kaohe Homesteads in a belt approximately 7 
miles in length, by 2f4 miles in width. This area is flanked on 
either side by stretches of scrubby forest growth of no commer- 
cial value and open fields of pahoehoe lava- covered with a scant 
growth of low shrubs, grass and bracken. In the stretch of open 
lands between the commercially valuable forest and the boundary 
of Keaau are a series of islands or kepukas of varving size with 
deep soil and a good growth of forest trees. Some of these 
