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October 11, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Silk

“Kōloa is, and always has been, a delightful place, with a natural situation that has made it a most charming spot. The line of hills against the skyline is broken only by the gap on the way to Lihue.”

“These hills, while protecting the lowlands from the trade winds that blow across the island, attract enough rain clouds to insure the water supply.”

“There are several interesting volcanic cones, three of which, at least, have a close connection with Kōloa’s past. On the slopes of Puu o Hewa, the hill on the Lawai side of the road to Līhu‘e, may be seen the marks of an ancient holua slide.”

“On the other side of the road almost opposite Puu o Hewa are two companion hills known as Mauna Kilika (apparently Kahoano and Kumanumanu). The name is all that survives of an attempt to cultivate silk on this site nearly a century ago.” (Judd)

“A number of attempts have been made to establish a silk industry in Hawaii at intervals … when the first mulberry plantings were made on the Island of Kauai.”

“The silkworm is a temperate-zone insect and although it can be successfully reared in the warmer portions of the islands, the cultivation is only uniformly successful in the cooler zone above 2,000 feet where climatic conditions approach those of more northern countries.”

“The food of the silkworm, the mulberry, thrives from sea level up to 4,000 feet. The experiment station has introduced and is propagating varieties of mulberries which are considered the best for silk production.” (Philippine Agricultural Review, 1908)

In 1835, Ladd & Company, secured tenancy rights to a tract of land near Kōloa on Kauai for silk and sugar culture. (Cultural Surveys)

“The success of Ladd & Co. drew other white men with independent capital to Kōloa to try their own efforts at making a profit in agriculture. The most ambitious attempt was made by Charles Titcomb and Sherman Peck.”

“In 1836 they leased about 300 acres from Ladd & Co. and proceeded to experiment in silk culture. Later they were joined by James Jackson Jarves and JFB Marshall, two men well-known in Hawaiian history.”

“The partners were all young, energetic men determined to spare no money or effort to make the enterprise a success. They planted thousands of mulberry trees, both native and foreign varieties, to be sure of a continuous supply of leaves as food for the silk worms, which were imported from China and America.”

“The mulberry trees were planted in rows ten feet apart and two feet separate in the row. It was found that the trees after being plucked took but a short six weeks to leaf out again so completely that they could not be told from the ones that had not been stripped.” (Judd)

Sereno Bishop wrote, that at the age of eleven, in 1838, he visited the home of Rev. PJ Gulick at Kōloa, Kauai, where he saw silkworms fed and silk reeled in Mr. Gulick’s own house.”

“At the same time. Mr. Titcomb had a considerable plantation of mulberry-trees in the vicinity, and was breeding silkworms and reeling silk on considerable scale. The missionary, Gulick, certainly favored the undertaking.”

“Mr. Hooper was at the same time conducting a small sugar plantation at the same place; and much was said about the immense advantage it was to the natives to be able to earn twelve and half cents a day by their labor, as they could do nowhere else in the Islands except in the sea-ports.” (SE Bishop; The Friend, July 1903)

“Mr. Peck spent the winter of 1838-39 in New England to learn more about the silk business. He also bought machinery for reeling by steam and engaged ‘a family of three persons’ to superintend the cocooneries and to teach the natives to reel silk.”

“At this time, because of the mild climate at Kōloa and the cheapness of labor and buildings, the outlook was so favorable that Mr. Peck could have sold the business at a two hundred per cent profit.”

“The preliminary experimentation had been so promising that ultimate success seemed certain. Another company was formed in 1839, by John Stetson who had as his associates Asa Rogers and James Lindsey. These men made an agreement with Ladd & Co. for a sub-lease of 150 acres bounded on the south by Waihohonu stream.”

“The next year, 1840, was expected to be a banner year and to show profits which would fully pay for the investments made.”

“But it proved otherwise. An extreme drought followed by continued high winds killed the mulberry trees. A heavy financial loss resulted. This reverse on top of previous set-backs was too much for Peck and Company, who had over-expanded.”

“Mr. Peck left for Lahaina in 1841, to enter business there. After five years of success, he went to the United States but returned to Hawaii in 1859 as senior partner of C. Brewer & Company.”

“Mr. Titcomb stayed on at Kōloa, for a number of months and did not abandon his efforts until his entire crop of silkworms was lost by a disease aggravated by wet weather.”

“He then moved to Hanalei, where he had been conducting experiments for some time. Later, after losing several thousand dollars, in the enterprise, he turned his attention to growing coffee. Stetson and Company continued at Kōloa, until the end of 1842 when they, also, were forced to admit failure.” (Judd)

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Silkworms and their favorite food, mulberry leaves

October 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Mansion

“(I)n 1893, a placard was discovered hanging on one of the now padlocked gates of the property, the warning consisting of a skull and cross-bones, across which, written in red ink, were the words …”

“’Gold and Silver Cannot Stop Lead.’”

“This, added to the chagrin of being thwarted politically, resulted in the departure on the next Oceanic liner to leave for San Francisco of the whole Spreckels family.” (Advertiser, December 27, 1893) He vowed “not to return until Lili‘uokalani was seated upon the throne”. (Advertiser, April 3, 1904)

“Claus Spreckels, the Sugar King,… was for many years, intimately connected with the political and industrial history of Hawaii.”

“He was … connected in many important ways with the commercial and industrial life of the Islands, and he had, during the thirty-two years since he first extended his interest to the Mid-Pacific, rendered great services to the leading industry of this Territory.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 29, 1908)

The career of the “sugar king” of California, Hawaiʻi and the American West consisted of building and breaking monopolies in sugar, transport, gas, electricity, real estate, newspapers, banks and breweries.

His first business venture was beer brewing, founding the Albany Brewery, together with his brother Peter Spreckels and Claus Mangels, among others; it was the first large-scale producer of beer in San Francisco.

He sold his beer operation in 1863 and switched to sugar, starting the Bay Sugar Refining Company. After selling that, he constructed the California Sugar Refinery in 1867 to process sugar, introducing the European process of packaging granulated sugar and sugar cubes (so customers could more easily divide the portions.)

In 1878, through his friendship with King Kalākaua, Claus Spreckels secured a lease of 40,000-acres of land on Maui and by 1882 he acquired the fee simple title to the Wailuku ahupuaʻa. He then founded the Hawaiian Commercial Company, which quickly became the largest and best-equipped sugar plantation in the islands.

Needing transportation to move his Hawaiʻi sugar for refining on the continent, his sons formed JD Spreckels & Bros. shipping line in 1879, which was incorporated as the Oceanic Steamship Company in 1881. (It became a subsidiary of Matson in 1926.)

It was the first line to offer regular service between Honolulu and San Francisco, and his sons managed to reduce travel time immensely. While the sailing ship Claus Spreckels made a record run of less than ten days in 1879, by 1883 the new steam vessel Mariposa needed less than six days.

Claus Spreckels was a controversial figure. For friends, he was a man “with a fine presence, an open, pleasant countenance and a cheerful word for everybody.” Others, however, characterized him as impatient, implacable and ruthless, driven by “Dutch obstinacy.” (Spiekermann)

Hawaiʻi served as only one of the venues for the Spreckels holdings. During the 1880s and early 1890s, he bought and built up several blocks of office buildings in San Francisco.

Back in the Islands, “Claus Spreckels was advocating the restoration of the monarchy, after the formation of the Provisional Government in 1893. He was a warm Royalist, and some one suggested in a joking manner that it would help the cause if Spreckels was put out of the way.”

“The sugar magnate heard the story and became alarmed at the threat. His alarm was intensified a few days later when, coming out of the gate of his Punahou street residence, he found a warning signal staring him in the face.” (Advertiser, April 3, 1904)

“In leaving Honolulu as he did, Mr Spreckels demonstrated his own faith in the belief that the condition he named for his return might be some day met with, by simply closing up his beautiful mansion on Punahou street and refusing to either sell or lease it.”

“The house has been opened since that time, however, once on the occasion of a visit here of his son, John D Spreckels, and later, a few years ago, when the Sugar King and his wife returned to pay a visit to Honolulu.”

“The mansion, erected on a tract of Punahou property purchased from O‘ahu College (Punahou,) was for many years the finest private residence in the city, being the only second to that of the King’s palace.”

“For years, until the hundreds of palms and other trees set out by the owner grew so as to practically hide the residence, the white three-story house of the Sugar King was one of the things pointed out to, tourists as a Honolulu landmark.” (Advertiser, December 27, 1893)

This wasn’t Spreckels’ only mansion, “Claus Spreckels has just bought a large block pf property on the swell part of Van Ness avenue and intends to build a magnificent mansion there (in San Francisco.)”

“Every one who knows Mr. Spreckels knows that he has long been casting his eye on Van Ness avenue with a view to buying a fine place of residence property.”

“It has taken him a long time to make up his mind, but he has made it up now, and as a result frontage on the owns the largest avenue of any property owner from Market to Union, and where ex-Alcalde Burr has blocked the march of progress.”

“When Mr. Spreckels does a thing he does it – and that’s what has happened in this case. He has gone in for residence property on Van Ness avenue, and has gone in for it heavily.” (Hawaii Holomua, January 11, 1894)

“One of the most valuable holdings, apart from the Claus Spreckels building, at Third and Market streets, is the family mansion at Van Ness avenue and Clay street.”

The Punahou mansion, two stories with cupola, frescoed ceilings and stained glass windows, was later purchased by Jonah Kumalae (businessman, politician and ukulele manufacturer,) who dismantled the three-story structure by sections in order to move it from Punahou Street to Mōʻiliʻili, where it was reassembled on Isenberg Street. (SB)

The St. Louis Alumni Association purchased the Kumalae home in June 1937. It was named Dreier Manor, in honor of philanthropist August Dreier, who founded Oahu Ice & Cold Storage Co. (SB) It then served as the St. Louis Alumni Clubhouse until it accidentally burned in 1954. (Mitchell)

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Claus Spreckels’ mansion on Punahou Street in 1908

Claus_Spreckels

Kumalae-remodeled Spreckels mansion-Kojima-SB-1950

Drier Mansion-former Spreckels-Kumalae (modified)

Former-modified Spreckels mansion Isenberg and King

Chunky’s replaced Drier Mansion-1955

1st Hawaiian Bank at former Kumalae-Drier Mansion site

San Francisco Residence of Claus Spreckels.

October 7, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

He‘eia Combat Training Area

The ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia (as well as Kāneʻohe) includes portions of Mōkapu Peninsula. (Heʻeia runs from the mountains to the sea, but also crosses over a portion of the water in Kāneʻohe Bay and includes a portion of a Mōkapu peninsula across the Bay.) Heʻeia also includes Moku o Loʻe (Coconut Island).

The name of the land of Heʻeia is traditionally associated with Heʻeia, the handsome foster son of the goddess Haumea and grandson of the demigod ʻOlopana, who was an uncle of Kamapuaʻa.

Heʻeia was named in commemoration of a tsunami-type wave that washed Haumea and others into the sea – a great tidal wave that “washed (he‘e ‘ia) … out to sea and back” (Lit., surfed, or washed (out to sea,) or swept away.) (Devaney)

Kalo (taro) was a main staple in the diet of nearly all Hawaiians prior to European contact and was extensively cultivated. As early as 1789, Portlock described this area:

“… the bay all around has a very beautiful appearance, the low land and valleys being in high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, etc. interspersed with a great number of coconut trees ….” The region had a considerable amount of land cultivated in taro up through the early-1800s.

“Southeastward along the windward coast, beginning with Waikāne and continuing through Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe, were broad valley bottoms and flatlands between the mountains and the sea which, taken all together, represent the most extensive wet-taro area on Oʻahu.” (Handy, Devaney)

The earliest of the modern large commercial agricultural ventures started with the cultivation of sugar cane in Kualoa in the 1860s. By 1880, three more sugar companies had emerged in Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe. Heʻeia Sugar Company (also called Heʻeia Agricultural Co. Ltd) operated from 1878 to 1903.

In 1880, the region reported 7,000-acres available for cultivation; in 1883 a railroad was installed at Heʻeia, and by the summer of that year it was noted that the railroad had allowed a much greater amount of land to be harvested, even allowing cane from Kāneʻohe to be ground at Heʻeia; however, the commercial cultivation of sugar cane was short-lived. (Devaney)

The US military first established a presence on the Mōkapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation (the western portion of Mōkapu is within the Heʻeia ahupuaʻa.)

Today, Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi continues to serve as a fully functional operational and training base for US Marine Corps forces. The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) here operates a 7,800-foot runway (on the ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia) that can accommodate both fixed wing and rotor-driven aircraft.

With World War II underway, an encampment supporting as many as 4,500 enlisted personnel and officers comprising up to four infantry battalions with attached units of the 98th Regimental Combat Team was constructed in October 1943 at He‘eia Kea.

The He‘eia Combat Training Area was on leased or licensed land from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, Sing Chong Company, Ltd., and numerous other smaller private land owners.

Training facilities established at He‘eia Combat Training Area included a 12-target (1,000-inch) machine gun range; an 11-target pistol range; and a 20-target (100-200-300 yard) known distance rifle range.

In addition, there were two obstacle courses; a bayonet course; dummy hand grenade courts; a live hand grenade range; an infiltration course; a shipside platform and maneuver and impact areas for jungle and assault training with the remainder of training facilities being situated at He‘eia Kea.

The impact area purportedly was established for the firing of field artillery pieces, mortar, bazooka, and other assault weapons using live and practice rounds.

Site improvements included barracks, roads, a mess hall, an open-air theater, a motor pool, ammunition storage facilities, training areas and obstacle and bayonet courses. Nearby were maneuver and impact areas for jungle and assault training.

Following the ending of hostilities on September 2, 1945, the end of WWII, the camp was dismantled, and land leases were terminated by the Army after October 8, 1945.

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Camp Heeia 98th Infantry Division Bennett-1944

Camp Heeia Bennett-1944

October 6, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hula in Relation to Planting and Harvest

“Hula dancing was enjoyed everywhere during these festivities commemorating Lono. Some ancient hula chants may be interpreted as rain-making incantations. Here are several verses that refer to Hilo, one of the rainiest inhabited localities on the island of Hawaii: Hi‘u o Lani

“Heaven magic, fetch a Hilo-pour from heaven!
Morn’ cloud-buds, look! They swell in the East.
The rain-cloud parts, Hilo is deluged with rain,
The Hilo of King Hana-kahi.

Surf breaks, stirs the mire of Pi’ilani;
The bones of Hilo are broken
By the blows of the rain.
Ghostly the rain-scud of Hilo in heaven;

The cloud-forms of Pua-lani grow and thicken.
The rain-priest bestirs him now to go forth,
Forth to observe the stab and thrust of the rain,
The rain that clings to the roof of Hilo.”

(”Pua-Iani (Sky-flower) was the god who was seen as the rosy clouds of morning, a sign of rain.”)

“Laka, the goddess of the wildwood who was patron of the hula, was said to have been the wife and sister of Lana. The lines that follow are from the chant that dedicated the altar of the Halau Hula (Hall of Hula) in which the sacred and traditional hula was taught.”

“On the altar Laka was represented by a block of lama (which means light) wood covered by a yellow tapa cloth, and its decorations consisted of wild growth from the uplands …”

“… fragrant maile, orange-red and flamelike blossoms of ‘ie‘ie, deep red flowers of hala-pepe, scarlet blossoms of lehua which are like little pompoms, pinkish red mountain apples (‘ōhi‘a ‘ai) , many varieties of fern, flowers of hibiscus and hau, red-orange ‘ilima flowers, ti plants, bananas, and breadfruits.”

“According to Kawena Pukui there were five of the above which must be used without fail : (1) ‘Ōhi‘a lehua (branch and blooms); (2) hala pepe (branch and blossom); (3) maile (any kind); (4) ‘ie‘ie (branch with blossom); and (5) palapalai fern. Other foliage and flowers were used when available.”

“Possibly the origin of hula dancing, which is fundamentally a treading motion of the feet accompanied by rhythmical swinging of the hips and hand gestures …”

“… which express the words of the chant while the shoulders and head are held in poise, is to be found in the treading (hehi) of the earth in a newly made taro patch, or lo‘i (to make it hard and watertight) as described by Kamakau.”

“The day chosen for the treading was a holiday. Men, women and children attended. The owner of the patch provided beforehand an abundance of vegetables, pork, and fish. On the day of treading the new loti was flooded.”

“No one, not even the chief or chiefess, was too kapu (sacred) to tread the soil in the patch. It was a festive day-every man, woman and child decked himself with leaves and worked with all his might, tramping here and there, stirring the mud with his feet, dancing, rejoicing, shouting, reveling, and indulging in all sorts of sport.”

“This tramping and hardening of the surface was done so that the water would not sink away into the soil, but remain to circulate around the stalks of the taro when planted. The planting was done next day, for by then the mud had settled to the bottom of the lo‘i.”

“Laka is sometimes referred to as male, sometimes as female. Such contradictions are not inconsistent in Hawaiian thinking, for a nature god may be male in one form and female in another.”

“Ku-ka-‘ōhi‘a-laka is male. He is embodied in the ‘ōhi‘a lehua trees in the rain forest, and was worshiped as a rain god. He was also ‘god of the hula dance’, ‘He is the male god worshiped in the hula dance.”

“That is why the altar in the dance hall is not complete without a branch of red lehua blossoms.’ But as we have seen above, Laka on the hula altar, a block of lama wood, was a woman, the sister and wife of Lono.”

“Emerson identifies Lono (the god of rain) with Laka, Laka’s body, it is said, was the fragrant foliage of the mountains, the wild ginger, the fern, the maile, the ilima ti.”

“It is obvious that Laka, Lono’s wife, and hula dancing were intimately associated with the idea of rain and abundance of growing things.”

“Kane, with whom taro planting and the origin of taro were associated, was, along with Ku, Lono, and Laka, identified with rain.”

“In a series of prayers used at the decorating of the hula altar with greenery from the uplands: ‘On the highest pinnacle great Lono-of-Kane (Lono-nui-a -Kane) will hear.’”

“Later the prayer addresses Kane-of-Lono (Kane-o-Lono). Kane is also addressed as Kane-i-ka-pahu‘a, which may be translated “Kane-the-thruster” or “Kane-the-dancer.” Kane-i-ka-pahu-wai is “Kane with-a-calabash-of-water,” which he pours out on the earth below. This of course is “Kane-of-the-water-of-life,” who was invoked in prayers of the harvest festival.”

“Hula dances and recitatives were performed in honor of the high chief or mo‘i, and in honor of his first-born. It was the mo‘i who played the role of Lono in the Makahiki festival, and during the Makahiki the mo‘i was entertained with hula dancing and chanting.”

“We have an interesting description of a hula performed by planters, the Hula pu niu. This is a hula for farmers. It is done thus …”

“… In the evening the men are all told that they are going to farm, then in the early morning the kumu hula begins his dance, at the time of dancing there are some gourd instruments and the puniu (coconut drum) covered with the skin of the kala fish.”

“These are played at the hula and then taken to the field. Sometimes the larger instruments are taken, sometimes only the puniu, covered with the skin of the kala fish.”

“While the men work they are silent, and after they are finished they have another hula. The men go to the mountain for maile, palai ferns, awapuhi, and ‘ie‘ie.”

“When they return home, a banner (pahu hae) is taken ahead and the men walk in single file behind it. Thus they go till they reach the hula house. And because of this it is called a farmer’s hula.” (All from Handy, Handy & Pukui)

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Jean_Augustin_Franquelin_(after_Louis_Choris),_Danse_des_femmes_dans_les_iles_Sandwich_(1822)

Danse_des_hommes_dans_les_iles_Sandwich._Lith.e_par_Franquelin_d’apres_Choris._Lith._de_Langlume_i_de_l’Abbaye._Paris,_1822

Danse_des_femmes_dans_les_iles_Sandwich._Dess._et_lith._par_Choris._Lith._de_Langlume-1816

Four_Views_of_a_Man_Dancing-Webber-(BishopMuseum)-1780

October 5, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

299-Year Lease

“(T)he heirs of Kaahumanu – whoever they may happen to be in the year of our Lord 2125 – will come into the reversion of a very pretty property – if the world stands …” (Saturday Press, October 22, 1881)

Whoa … let’s look back …

April 25, 1825, Richard Charlton arrived in the Islands to serve as the first British consul. A former sea captain and trader, he was already familiar with the islands of the Pacific and had promoted them in England for their commercial potential (he worked for the East India Company in the Pacific as early as 1821.)

Charlton had been in London during Kamehameha II’s visit in 1824 and secured an introduction to the king and his entourage. By the time he arrived in Hawai‘i in 1825, instructions had already arrived from Kamehameha II …

… that Charlton was to be allowed to build a house, or houses, any place he wished and should be made comfortable. This apparently was due to favors Charlton had done for the royal party. (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

Charlton didn’t play well with others. A report by Thrum noted, “July 13th (1827) – Last evening the English consul, in conversation with Boki told him he would cut Kaahumanu’s head off and all the residents were ready to join in it.”

“Guards were ordered out in all parts of the village. Mr. Charlton may be ready to take up arms against the chief but few, if any, I believe would follow or join with him.” (Thrum)

In spite of that, Charlton did receive land for his home and for Consular offices. The records suggest that the land under the present Washington Place premises were part of a grant from the chiefs to Charlton in 1825-26 to provide a permanent location for a British Consulate. (HABS)

(Charlton later sold that property to Captain John Dominis (December 26, 1840,) who later built Washington Place. … By the way, Beretania Street was so named because of the British Consulate there.)

Charlton claimed this and other lands as his personal property. He also claimed land down by the waterfront. There was no disagreement over a small parcel, Wailele, but the larger adjoining parcel he claimed (Pūlaholaho) had been occupied since 1826 by retainers and heirs of Kaʻahumanu.

The Pūlaholaho/Charlton Square block is bounded by Nu‘uanu, Merchant, Ka‘ahumanu (now the breezeway in the Harbor Court condo building) and Queen Streets, and “comprises a large portion of the most valuable business sites of the city” (Bennett, 1869:36)

In making his claim for Pūlaholaho, Charlton showed a 299-lease dated October 5, 1826 issued to him by Kalanimōku. That claim, made in 1840, however, was made after Kalanimōku and Kaʻahumanu had died.

Following Charlton’s presentation of his claim to rights of the entire land section of Pūlaholaho, Kamehameha III sought a means of providing security for the native residents on the land, and claimed that Pūlaholaho belonged to the crown. (Maly)

In rejecting Charlton’s claim, Kamehameha III cited the fact that Kalanimōku did not have the authority to grant the lease. At the time the lease was made, Kaʻahumanu was Kuhina Nui, and only she and the king could make such grants. The land was Kaʻahumanu’s in the first place, and Kalanimōku certainly could not give it away. (Hawaiʻi State Archives) The dispute dragged on for years.

This, and other grievances purported by Charlton and the British community in Hawai‘i, led to the landing of George Paulet on February 11, 1843 “for the purpose of affording protection to British subjects, as likewise to support the position of Her Britannic Majesty’s representative here”.

Following this, King Kamehameha III ceded the Islands and Paulet took control. After five months of British rule, Queen Victoria, on learning the injustice done, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty to its rightful rulers.

“On the 25th [July] the King arrived at Honolulu, and on the 26th, H.B. M’s line-of-battle Ship, the Dublin, Rear Admiral Thomas, arrived from Valparaiso…”

“Shortly after the Dublin had anchored, a note was dispatched from the Admiral to the King, requesting an interview, and on the 27th and 28th, long conferences were held, in which the Admiral manifested very kindly and friendly feelings towards the King, and no demands were made that the latter could not cheerfully comply with.”

“The conferences terminated by the expression of desire on the part of the Admiral, that the Hawaiian flag should be restored, and Monday, July 31st, was appointed for the formal and public act of restoration…” (Bennett)

The 31st of July was a great day for the Hawaiians. On the plain of Waikiki, tents were erected for the accommodation of the King and the Admiral and their suites, and the foreigners and their ladies…

On July 31, 1843 the Hawaiian flag was raised. The ceremony was held in area known as Kulaokahuʻa; the site of the ceremony was turned into a park, Thomas Square.

The settlement of this issue and return of rule to Kamehameha III resolved most issues between the kingdom and Great Britain, but the matter of Charlton’s claim to the 299 year leasehold rights at Pūlaholaho remained.

Following Admiral Thomas’ actions Charlton remained on the land, and in 1845, Carlton evicted the native Hawaiian tenants — many of whom had been tied to Ka‘ahumanu’s household — from the land of Pūlaholaho. (Maly)

“Difficulties with England continued for several years, mostly because of the demands of Mr. Charlton and the British consul. The law advisors of the crown of Great Britain decided in favor of the Hawaiian government on every point except the Charlton land claim.”

“In regard to this last they required that Mr. Charlton, having first produced the original deed and shown it to be genuine, should be put in possession of the land by the government.”

“Previously Charlton had leased a small portion of this land for consular offices. The king wrote Charlton that the proper time for presenting the large claim was past. Those who had contracted the business and the witnesses were all dead. Thirteen years had elapsed. Twenty-three persons had built houses and were living on the land.”

“Moreover the king stated only Kaahumanu had the right to lease the crown land. In 1845 Charlton, nevertheless, razed the twenty-three houses on the land, homes of 156 Hawaiians, and took possession.”

“A long “Palace Investigation” convened in October 1845, at which almost without exception the evidence of chiefs and missionaries questioned was that the signatures of Kalanimoku and the witnesses, John Ii and Don Marin, were not genuine.” (Alexander; Maly)

“The British Consul General and British Naval Commanders had made this claim a subject of demand on the Hawaiian Government, and it was one of the principal ones urged by Lord George Paulet at the time of the forced cession of the sovereignty of the Islands in 1843.”

“In 1847, after a long correspondence with the British Consul, and repeated and protracted investigations, the particulars of which with the voluminous correspondence were all printed, the whole matter was submitted to the decision of the Law Officer of the British Government.”

“In so doing the King and his Government testified both the confidence they reposed in the justice of their own case and their reliance upon the fairness of the Queen’s Government.”

“The particulars of the investigation in London were never known here, but no little surprise was felt when the decision was received confirming the claim of Charlton – or rather of his representatives, for he had long since sold out his rights in the land.”

“It was very generally believed here at that time that the claim was a fraudulent one – the late R. C. Wyllie, who was quite familiar with the subject from beginning to end, was outspoken in his opinion”. (Saturday Press, October 22, 1881)

“General Miller, acting consul for Great Britain, had limited the question to the genuineness of the handwriting. But he evidently considered it a mere matter of form. Charlton kept the land.” (Alexander; Maly)

“(It) has come to my knowledge on these island; and in this case the heirs of Kaahumanu – whoever they may happen to be in the year of our Lord 2125 – will come into the reversion of a very pretty property – if the world stands…” (Sheldon; Saturday Press, October 22, 1881)

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