Prince Kuhio | Page 4 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kawānanakoa Experimental School

This flag that now waves o’er our school
Protecting weak and strong
Is the flag that vindicates the right
And punishes the wrong

The John Dewey Society grew out of a series of discussions held in 1934 and early 1935 among 60 or so educators who wanted to found a society to “encourage in every way possible and itself conduct scholarly and scientific investigations of the relations of school and society, with particular reference to the place and function of education in the process of social change.”

Originally called “The Association for the Study of Education in its Social Aspects,” the name was changed to the John Dewey Society in early 1936. The new society was named for John Dewey because the founders felt that in his life and work he represented the soundest and most hopeful approach to the study of the problems of education.

“For more than a generation he has proclaimed the social nature of the educative process and emphasized the close interdependence of school and society.”

“Presumably, without being bound by his philosophy, the John Dewey Society will work out of the tradition which John Dewey has done more than any other person to create. Such an organization is badly needed in America today.” (The Social Frontier, 1936; John Dewey Society)

Hawai‘i’s Department of Public Instruction launched its most ambitious venture in progressive education in the fall of 1927, when its Division of Research decided to create a ‘laboratory school’ to serve as an experimental model for the Territory. (Forbes)

The former Fort Street School was selected for the site for the laboratory school within the Territorial Department of Public Instruction, and renamed the Kawānanakoa Experimental School. (Legislature)

George E Axtelle was a philosopher of education who is best known as the first editor of the Collected Works of John Dewey and president of the executive committee of the John Dewey Society.

What is less known is that Axtelle served from 1927 as the principal of Kawānanakoa Experimental School in Hawai‘i, tasked with the job of implementing and promoting progressive teaching methods and curriculum.

The experiment had mixed results; yet, in spite of the challenges in encouraging teachers to embrace the demands placed on them by Dewey’s pedagogy the Kawānanakoa experiment did achieve results in moving teachers away from methods based on routine instruction and memorization drills. (UH)

The Kawānanakoa Experimental School was explicitly conceived as a proving-ground of Deweyite principles. According to the official DPI publication on the school, Kawānanakoa was dedicated to the only form of “education worthy of the name… character education.”

While asserting that “Kawānanakoa does not belittle the importance of subject matter,” school officials viewed traditional subjects merely as a “means to an end,” the end being the development of the three aspects of the students’ “social or character objectives, namely intelligence, democracy, and art.”

Moving away from methods based on routine instruction and memorization drills, teachers were expected to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of their work in promoting Health, Initiative, Responsibility, Whole Heartedness, Cooperation, and Open Mindedness. (Forbes)

“In the middle forties the anthropologist, John Embree, and (Bernard Hormann) expressed themselves on the subject of pidgin, advocating a more permissive approach to the local dialect in the teaching of standard English.”

“In reviewing acquaintances this summer with George Axtelle, who was principal of Kawananakoa Experimental School in the late 20’s I was reminded by him how the school had succeeded in overcoming the classroom diffidence of Hawai‘i’s youth which today still worries educators.”

“’When people asked me how I got pupils to talk freely, I explained that my teachers encouraged the children to talk when they had something interesting to say, and did not inhibit them by constantly calling attention to their errors.’” (Hormann)

“In 1928, a teacher from Oklahoma was deeply moved at his first assembly recitation as little Nisei boys seriously recalled our Pilgrim forefathers. Each morning’s flag-raising was conducted as an elaborate pageant involving a color guard, drummer, and four students who recited patriotic verses at various points in the ceremony.

The final speaker concluded with the following lines: “This flag that now waves o’er our school, Protecting weak and strong, Is the flag that vindicates the right, And punishes the wrong.”

Among the students who participated in such school ceremonies was Hiram Fong, later Hawaii’s first Senator. According to Fong s biographer, Michael Chou, “Patriotism as taught in the public school system made a profound and lasting effect upon Fong and his contemporaries.”

“Much of the change, from the plantation mentality and the overthrow of the rule of the Republican oligarchy can be traced back to the teaching of American civics and government in the schools of the Territory. Such patriotic ceremonies helped to instill a sense of self-worth in children, like Fong, often so poor that their clothes consisted of “hand-me-downs made from rice bags.” (Forbes)

Kawānanakoa School was built in 1927, in the ahupua’a of Honolulu. The ahupua‘a runs from the Nuʻuanu Pali to Honolulu Harbor and is flanked on the west by Alewa Heights with Pauoa to the east. KMS sits at the foot of the Pali Highway, just mauka of downtown Honolulu. (kilohanahonua)

In 1940, the school was officially changed to Kawānanakoa Intermediate School and served 1,050 students in grades 7 through 9. In 1998, the name changed to Kawānanakoa Middle School.

Currently, the school serves students from grades 6 through 8 with an enrollment of approximately 800 students. (It was named for Prince David Laʻamea Kahalepouli Kinoiki Kawānanakoa, brother of Prince Kūhiō.)

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Kawananakoa, David, 1868-1908-PP-97-17-004

Brothers David Kawananakoa (1868-1908) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-2-023

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September 22, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Surfing in Britain

“Surf riding after the Hawaiian fashion is extremely simple when performed with pen and ink, but the swimmer who tries it at Waikiki when there is any sort of sea tumbling in from the south is either overwhelmed in the roller …”

“… or parts company with his board to learn the adamantine solidity of beach sand when a would-be rider essays to plow it up with any portion of his anatomy.” (Paducah Daily Sun, AK, August 18, 1898)

Edward, Prince of Wales (Later King Edward VIII) visited Hawai‘i in April 1920 and enjoyed a three-day surf trip with Earl Mountbatten (future Admiral of the Fleet.) He was so thrilled with the experience that he ordered his ship, the HMS Renown, to return for three days so he could surf again.

But it’s not the surfing of British royals in Hawai‘i that is the focus of this summary, this is about Hawaiian royals in Britain, surfing off the British coast.

While Duke Kahanamoku introduced and promoted surfing to the rest of the world (making him the ‘Father of International Surfing,’) the year he was born (1890,) a couple Hawaiian Princes were riding the waves at Bridlington, Yorkshire in Britain.

Brothers David Kawānanakoa (Koa) and Kūhiō, orphaned after their father died in 1880 and mother in 1884, were adopted by King David Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapiʻolani, who was their maternal aunt.

Both were sent on Kalākaua’s ‘studies abroad program.’ They travelled with a guardian arriving in London on November 27, 1889. At first, it was thought that David might work for Hawaii Consul Armstrong in London.

There were 13 Hawaiian Consuls throughout England, indicative of the two countries important trade relations. As for Kuhio, “(he) is not sure if he wants to stay or leave. He thinks he’ll leave, (because) it is very cold here.” (Hall)

On September 22, 1890 Prince Kūhiō could not restrain his enthusiasm in his letter to the Hawaiian Consul Armstrong about their experience of surfing at Bridlington:

“We enjoy the seaside very much and are out swimming every day. The weather has been very windy these few days and we like it very much for we like the sea to be rough so that we are able to have surf riding. We enjoy surf riding very much and surprise the people to see us riding on the surf.”

“Even (John) Wrightson (their tutor) is learning surf riding and will be able to ride as well as we can in a few days more. He likes this very much for it is a very good sport.” (Museum of British Surfing)

Their Bridlington surfboards would most likely have been planks purchased from a boat‐builder. There were extensive regional forests plus readily available foreign timber. A local wood expert’s best guess is that the wood was ash, sycamore or lime. (Hall)

This wasn’t the first international surfing experience for the princely brothers. In 1885, the Koa and Kūhiō (and their other brother Edward, who later died in 1887) were schooled at St Matthew’s Hall in San Mateo, California; they were placed under the care of Antoinette Swan, one of the ‘Pioneers’ of Santa Cruz and daughter of Don Francisco de Paula Marin.

When the Swan home became too crowded, the princes boarded at the nearby Wilkins House, located half a block away, on Pacific and Cathcart streets. (Dunn & Stoner)

The three princes are noted in the first account of surfing anywhere in the Americas: “The young Hawaiian princes were in the water, enjoying it hugely and giving interesting exhibitions of surf-board swimming as practiced in their native islands.” (Santa Cruz Daily Surf, July 20, 1885; Divine)

Another Hawaiian royal may also have added to the international surfing experience. It is suggested that when Princess Kaʻiulani, a cousin of Koa and Kūhiō, also surfed in England (in 1892.)

“She may have been the first female surfer in Britain, … a letter in which she wrote that she enjoyed ‘being on the water again’ at Brighton.”

“Kaʻiulani liked swimming and surfing. She was a high-spirited girl, who when she returned to Hawaii, liked to sneak out past midnight to go swimming in the moonlight with girlfriends.” (Hall)

Reportedly, “The tall foreign dignitary stood erect on a thin board with her hair blowing in the wind and rode the chilly waters.” (British Surfing Museum; Boal)

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Brighton Beach-UK-from_the-Pier-LOC-1890

David Kawananakoa (1868-1908) Edward Keliiahonui (1869-1887) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-17-008

Hawaiian Surfers-BridlingtonFreePress

Koa and Kuhio-MuseumOfBritishSurfing

Prince Kuhio letter to the Hawaiian consul Mr Armstrong in London-Sep_22,_1890-1-MuseumOfBritishSurfing

Prince Kuhio letter to the Hawaiian consul Mr Armstrong in London-Sep_22,_1890-2-MuseumOfBritishSurfing

Saltburn-by-the-Sea-UK-noting-sea_bathing-changing-carts-LOC-1890

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Brighton Beach-UK-the-Pier-LOC-1890

Bridlington_UK_The_Parade-(Promenade)-LOC-1890

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Brighton Beach-UK-LOC-1915

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Brighton Beach-Bathing-UK-LOC-1915

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Prince Edward-and_Duke_Kahanamoku_go_Surfing

August 22, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kalanianaʻole Settlement

In 1920, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, Hawai‘i’s Republican delegate to Congress, drafted the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. In 1921, the federal government of the United States set aside as Hawaiian Homelands approximately 200,000‐acres in the Territory of Hawai‘i as a land trust for homesteading by native Hawaiians.

The avowed purpose of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was returning native Hawaiians to the land in order to maintain traditional ties to the land.

The Hawai‘i State Legislature in 1960 created the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) for the purposes of administering the Hawaiian home lands program and managing the Hawaiian home lands trust.

The Department provides direct benefits to native Hawaiians in the form of homestead leases for residential, agricultural, or pastoral purposes. The intent of the homesteading program is to provide for economic self‐sufficiency of native Hawaiians through the provision of land.

“For more than a year the subject of the rehabilitation of the Hawaiian people has been prominently before the public. The legislature of 1921 provided for the appointment of a commission that went to Washington and secured the necessary federal assistance.”

“The idea of rehabilitation is not a new one; it has been the endeavor of a strong Hawaiian society, headed by the late Prince Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, to get the people out of the cities and place them on the soil, there to work out their own destiny.”

“The newspapers have been generous in their treatment of this important subject; it has been a topic of discussion in all sorts of gatherings; it has been injected into political argument and has become a political issue, the Republicans being in favor of the plan, the Democrats being largely opposed to the idea.” (Judd, The Friend, August 1922)

Prince Kūhiō died at the age of 50, on January 7, 1922. Six months after his passing, the first Hawaiian homesteaders would move to what was referred to as the Kalanianaʻole Colony (sometimes called Kalanianaʻole Settlement) on Molokai.

Twenty-three lots of approximately 25-acres each, adjoined by 2,000-acres of community pasture were carved out. Later residential lots were added.

“The Commission selected the promising land of Kalamaula, adjacent to the port of Kaunakakai. It has this advantage of closeness to a shipping point; the obvious privileges of proximity to a community possessing a church, or rather three churches, a social hall with the prospects of a library soon to be erected; a school and other features of modern life.”

“Not only has Kalamaula this fine location, but more important is the fact that it has the soil and the water to insure the success of this first experiment in assisted homesteading.”

“Not far from the “Ho‘opulapula” lots, a field of cane has recently produced sugar at the rate of twelve tons to the acre. Kalamaula has identical conditions with the land of Kaunakakai where the cane was grown.”

“The rich soil is at least four feet deep and at one time had a crop of sugarcane, when the American Sugar Company was actively engaged in the cultivation of this staple.”

“When that enterprise was abandoned more than twenty years ago, the kiawe forest sprang up, and for the past two decades this forest has sheltered cattle and pigs, attracted thither by the abundant crop of kiawe beans that fall every summer.” (Judd, The Friend, August 1922)

“Amongst the applicants that reached seventy in number, to go back to the homestead lands of Molokai, the Commissioner of Hawaiian Homes chose last week Wednesday, eight families as the first to go to live on the homestead lands of Kalamaula Kai, and the rest, they will go later, however, only between twenty and twenty-four families total will live at Kalamaula.”

“In the selection of the commission of those eight families, it was done with them choosing full-blooded Hawaiians, hapa Haole, and hapa Chinese. At the same time, considered were their ages and the children in their families.”

The first eight Hawaiians and their families which were selected by the commission to go to the ‘āina ho‘opulapula at Kalamaula Kai were: David K Kamai, Clarence K Kinney, Albert Kahinu, WA Aki, John Puaa, Harry Apo, George W Maioho and William Kamakaua.

“Of these eight families, only three will go first, because only three of the lots have been so far cleared by the commission to be farmed at once, and thereafter, other families will go when their lots are ready.” (Kuokoa, August 17, 1922) Kamai was the first.

“David K Kamai, a full-blooded Hawaiian who is 41 years old, his occupation is a contractor and a carpenter. He has a wife and they have 11 children, 6 boys and 5 girls.”

“He is a land owner and he has knowledge of taro cultivation, sweet potato, corn, cabbage, alfalfa grass and melons. He is prepared to go at once and live on the land when his application is approved.” (Kuokoa, August 17, 1922)

“This lot, like all the others, has a frontage of five hundred feet on the government road that leads up to Kalae. The second lot is the demonstration lot, as already stated. Then come two more lots, after which is the plot reserved for the school, the playground, the reservoir. It is on higher ground than the rest of the country.”

“Laborers are now clearing the lots. The kiawe trees are being pulled out by their roots and the wood cut into proper lengths, for shipment to Lāhainā and other places. The land will soon be ploughed and prepared for the homesteaders by the Commission.”

“Seed corn is now growing near Kalae and chickens are being raised for the “Ho‘opulapula.” Efforts are being made to secure suitable varieties of taro and sweet-potatoes for the use of the farmers.”

“Alfalfa will likely be a popular crop. It does exceptionally well at Kaunakakai where as many as thirteen crops have been cut in one year. This is said to be a world record.”

“The first eight farmers have now chosen their locations and are ready to live there as soon as the lands are cleared and their houses erected. There are many children in these pioneer families; between thirty and forty young people are looking forward to being located at Kalamaula in a short time.”

“The eight heads of households are industrious, self-reliant and progressive men of promise. The policy of the Commission is not to get incompetent people out of the tenements and send them to the country regardless of their fitness and ability to make a living from the soil.”

“The idea is rather to secure picked men to make this initial attempt a success and thereby create a momentum that will spell victory in other places where the Homes Commission may undertake work in the near future.” (Judd, The Friend, August 1922)

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Molokai-USGS_Quadrangle-Kaunakakai-1952-portion

April 14, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Huliheʻe, Its Owners and Visitors

John Adams Kuakini was born about 1789 with the name Kaluaikonahale, the son of Keʻeaumoku and his wife Nāmāhana. His sisters were Queen Kaʻahumanu (Kamehameha’s favorite wife who later became the powerful Queen Regent and Kuhina nui,) Kalākua Kaheiheimālie and Namahana-o-Piʻia (also queens of Kamehameha) and brother George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku.

He married Analeʻa (Ane or Annie) Keohokālole; they had no children. (She later married Caesar Kapaʻakea. That union produced several children (including the future King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.))

In 1838, Kuakini built Huliheʻe as his primary residence; a structure that exemplified Hawaiʻi’s ability to build modern structures; it is a two-story stone structure with a symmetrical floor plan that has strong similarities to a New England style house. These similarities were readily apparent to foreign visitors.

In 1838, a visitor who witnessed the palace under construction wrote: “It is of stone and as handsome a building as I have seen in the islands …. It is two story, has three rooms above and below, a lanai in front the whole length and a piazza back, the lower part painted marble color and the upper green. He has much of the Koa in it which is almost as nice as mahogany.” (NPS)

Huliheʻe Palace was a source of great pride for its builder and he would regularly show the palace off to foreign visitors to the island. Kuakini died December 9, 1844 in Kailua-Kona; Huliheʻe passed to his hānai son, William Pitt Leleiōhoku.

Leleiōhoku died a few months later, leaving Huliheʻe to his wife, Princess Ruth Luka Keʻelikōlani. It became a favorite retreat for members of the Hawaiian royal family.

Following Kuakini’s death, Amos Cooke and Thomas Rooke took the children of the Chiefs’ Childrens’ School (Royal School) on a visit to Kona, arriving on July 11, 1846. Cooke noted in his journal:

“… we landed at Kailua, & were escorted to the large stone house, builed by John Adams. It had been cleared of its furniture, but mats were plenty & we occupied them for beds. Our meals were cooked on board the vessel & brought on shore.”

“The house had three large rooms above 5 below. The boys took one end room above & the girls the other. The room under the girls was used as a dining hall while we were there. It was a large & commodious house & must have cost $10,000.”

Later, Kamehameha IV (Ruth’s half-brother, who had visited Huliheʻe as a student at the Royal School) and Queen Emma particularly enjoyed their time vacationing at Huliheʻe, and visited the palace many times with their son, Prince Albert.

Kamehameha IV signed a lease with Princess Ruth for Huliheʻe at $200 per year, with the agreement that additions and repairs made would be deducted from the rental. (Daughters of Hawaiʻi)

The King and Queen purchased the ahupuaʻa of Waiaha; in 1858 they moved to Kona for a 4-month stay. (That visit was cut short with the untimely death of Queen Emma’s hānai father, Dr Rooke.)

In May, 1861 Lady Jane Franklin, widow of a famed explorer, visited the palace. Lady Franklin describes Huliheʻe as “a huge house, with excellent rooms, standing within a grassy enclosure close upon the shore and faced to the sea by a wall of lava blocks. “

“We have the great house all to ourselves, every door and window open, scanty furniture (only a bed, a sofa, tables and chairs).” The future king and future owner of the palace, David Kalākaua, accompanied Lady Franklin on the trip. (NPS)

Shortly after being elected King in 1873, Lunalilo became ill and at the urging of Princess Ruth and Queen Emma went to Huliheʻe to recover. Lunalilo brought the Henry Berger and the Royal Hawaiian Band to the palace throughout Christmas and the New Year to entertain the royalty during the holiday season. Lunalilo never recovered from his illness and died shortly after returning to Honolulu.

Despite owning Huliheʻe Palace, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani chose to live in a large hale pili (traditional grass home) on the same oceanfront property. When she became ill in Honolulu, her doctors recommended that she return to Huliheʻe, her Kailua-Kona residence, where they believed she would more quickly regain her health.

She received medical attention, but did not recover. On May 24, 1883, Keʻelikōlani died at the age of fifty-seven at Haleʻōlelo, her hale pili. Per her will, Huliheʻe Palace went to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (who died within a year of inheriting the palace.)

Shortly after King Kalākaua finished building ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu (1882,) he purchased Huliheʻe from Pauahi’s estate in 1885 and turned Huliheʻe into his summer residence.

He completed some major renovations so that the palace would more closely resemble the modern structures he saw during his travels. He stuccoed the entire lava rock exterior and plastered over the koa-paneled walls. He felt that the palace was outdated and that these renovations were necessary so that Hawai’i could portray itself to the world as a modern society.

Other changes included enlarging the lanais, and hanging crystal chandeliers, like those he had seen in the United States and Europe, in the entry ways. The ceiling of the palace was given an ornamental cornice and gold leaf picture molding was added in some of the rooms.

Kalākaua felt that these larger and more modern palaces were more comparable to those that he saw when he was abroad, and that they were better suited for the aliʻi to live in. (During the renovation he also demolished Princess Ruth’s grass house that still stood on the property.)

The same year he finished renovation to Huliheʻe (1887,) Kalākaua, under threat of force, signed the ‘Bayonet Constitution.’ The King spent the majority of his time at Huliheʻe Palace after he signed the new constitution.

He continued to make improvements to Huliheʻe while living there and had a telephone line installed in the palace in 1888, which was one of the first telephones on the island of Hawai’i. He continued to entertain foreign visitors at the palace.

In 1889 the Prince and Princess Henri de Bourbon, members of the Austrian royal family, visited the palace and were entertained by the King. Kalākaua died in 1891 and his wife, Queen Kapiʻolani, inherited the palace. Kapiʻolani resided at Huliheʻe throughout the period of the subsequent overthrow.

Upon her death in 1899, the property went to her nephews, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and Prince David Kawānanakoa. Fifteen years after the Princes inherited the palace they sold it to a wealthy woman, Mrs Bathsheba Alien, for $8,600. (She died just one month after the transaction.)

For years the property sat vacant and eventually fell into a state of disrepair. In 1925, the Territory of Hawaiʻi purchased the property then turned it over to the Daughters of Hawaiʻi to run it as a museum (which they continue to do today.)

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Hulihee_Palace,_before 1884

‘John Adams’ Kuakini, royal governor or the island of Hawai’i, circa 1823

Bayside_view_of_Hulihee_Palace,_prior_to_1884

Huliheʻe_Palace,_Kona,_Hawaiʻi,_c._1859._Watercolor_by_Paul_Emmert

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Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani (1826-1883)

Hulihee_Palace_with_Princess_Ruth_Keelikolani’s_grass_house,_ca._1885,_by_C._J._Hedemann

Princess Ruth slept in a pili grass house rather than Hulihee Palace

Visit to Hulihee Palace, Kona, Hawaii by Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922) and party-(HSA)-PP-97-1-012

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Hulihee Plaque

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Hulihee Palace(left)-Mokuaikaua Church(right)

Hulihee in background-the girl sitting (left) is my mother-sitting next to her(in hat) my grandmother-1928

Esther Julia Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe (1834–1899) was Queen consort of King Kalākaua

Chris J. Willis, John Maguire, and his son Charles Maguire-on_Hulihee_Palace-Lanai-(HSA)-PP-97-1-025

Map of Kailua Bay, noting Hulihee Palace

January 7, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Four Horsemen

“Kuhio was not an heir-born but a created prince by royal proclamation at the coronation ceremonies of King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani in February, 1883, as was also his brother, the late David Kawananakoa. They were nephews of Kapiʻolani, the queen consort; sons of David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi, a high chief of Kauai, and Kinoiki Kekaulike.”

“Kuhio Kalanianaʻole was born at Kapaʻa, Kauai, March 26th, 1871, a lineal descendant of the last king of the islands of Kauai and Niʻihau. He married Elizabeth Kahanu K Kaauwai, a chiefess of the old regime, October 9th, 1896”. (Thrum)

“The last great work of Prince Kalanianaʻole was for his people. He labored ceaselessly for more than a year on a scheme of rehabilitation through which it is hoped the Hawaiian may be returned to the land of his ancestors, to live as fisherman and farmer.”

“Against formidable and aggressively active opposition the Prince managed to consummate his plans, and the ‘Rehabilitation Bill’ is now a law.”

“Through its operation large tracts of land … will be allotted to those of Hawaiian blood who desire to return to husbandry. Each will receive a sizeable farm and a sum in cash sufficient to put it under cultivation and sustain a family until the crops begin to yield…” (Mellen; Hitt)

A few years before the passage of the Rehabilitation Law, and a few days after the return of the Delegate Prince Kuhio from Washington, four Hawaiians, assembled at Pualeilani at Waikiki to discuss the subject “Rehabilitation of the Hawaiians.”

Dubbed the Four Horsemen, Kuhio, Rev Stephen Langhern Desha, Sr, John Carey Lane and Henry Lincoln Holstein had their pictures taken so Kuhio could show to his fellow congressmen at Washington his backers that brought up this important matter for rehabilitating its people.

Later other friends joined, and they were John H Wise, Noa Aluli, Akaiko Akana, Emil Muller, Attorney CK Breckons, and several others, and they planned to first pass the measure in the local legislature.

It was introduced by John Wise in the senate and backed by Senator Desha and John Lane, and it was introduced in the House by Speaker Holstein. It was through their efforts that it became a law and it was approved by congress at Washington. (Star-Bulletin)

Rev Stephen Langhern Desha, Sr had an unusual combination of ministry of the gospel, service in legislative bodies and publisher of a newspaper. He was behind the ‘Desha Bathing Suit Law,’ requiring all over 14 to cover up ‘at least to the knees,’ or be fined.

Desha began his career as pastor of the Napoʻopoʻo church, Kona and served Haili Church in Hilo for 45-years; he was a supervisor of the County of Hawaii and later elected to the senate of the Territory; and he was editor and business manager of the Hawaiian newspaper, ‘Ka Hoku o Hawaii.’

“Rev SL Desha is in a class by himself. One may listen to this man and watch him with much enjoyment without understanding a single word of what he says. … In eloquence of gesture, no speaker of any race I have seen can equal the Rev Desha when talking in Hawaiian.” (Hawaiian Star, October 10, 1908)

John Carey Lane was a member of the territorial senate from 1905 to 1907 and introduced the bill establishing the City and County of Honolulu. He was elected by an overwhelming majority to serve as Mayor of Honolulu from 1915 to 1917.

He was an avowed Royalist supporting Queen Liliʻuokalani, and Lane “was at her side when they usurped control and dethroned her in 1893, and he was among those who took part in the counterrevolution in 1895 with the hope of restoring her throne and native Hawaiian rule”. (Mellen; Advertiser, 1954)

Henry Lincoln Holstein served in the Senate of the Republic of Hawaiʻi from 1896 to 1898 and later as Speaker of the House in the House of Representatives of the Territorial legislature. Holstein served as the executor of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s estate.

The provisions of the Hawaiian Rehabilitation Act (Hawaiian Homes Act (HHCA)) are embodied the desires to (1) build up in Hawaiʻi a class of independent citizen farmers, and (2) place the Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian people back upon the land. (Rehabilitation in Hawaiʻi, 1922)

Passed by Congress and signed into law by President Warren Harding on July 9, 1921, the HHCA provides for the rehabilitation of the native Hawaiian people through a government-sponsored homesteading program. Native Hawaiians are defined as individuals having at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood.

DHHL provides direct benefits to native Hawaiians in the form of 99-year homestead leases at an annual rental of $1. In 1990, the Legislature authorized the Department to extend leases for an aggregate term not to exceed 199 years.

Homestead leases are for residential, agricultural or pastoral purposes. Aquacultural leases are also authorized, but none have been awarded to date. The intent of the homesteading program is to provide for economic self-sufficiency of native Hawaiians through the provision of land.

Other benefits provided by the HHCA include financial assistance through direct loans or loan guarantees for home construction, replacement, or repair, and for the development of farms and ranches; technical assistance to farmers and ranchers; and the operation of water systems.

On January 7, 1922, six months after he had succeeded in having the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act passed, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaʻole passed away. (hawaii-edu)

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