Legislators see gains in homes setup

Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.

Financial problems of the Hawaiian homestead project on Molokai absorb the attention of legislators in Honolulu.

They returned Saturday afternoon from their special plane trip to Molokai, impressed with the development of homes for Hawaiians which the program has brought.

But they also face the critical condition of the project’s finances, which threatens the immediate future of the Hawaiian rehabilitation project. The financial setup is receiving the serious consideration of the special legislative holdover committee on homes commission affairs.

Working with the legislators in one of the most searching inquiries ever launched into the progress to date of the homesteading scheme are members of the Homes commission and sociological and agricultural experts of the University of Hawaii.

The holdover committee, composed of three senators and three members of the lower house, expect to formulate… definite recommendations to the next legislature for the continuance of the late Prince Kuhio’s ambitious dream to re-establish the Hawaiian on his native soil.

Although the financial plight of the Homes commission looms largest in its discussions, investigatory emphasis is being placed on every aspect of the life and labor problems of the homesteaders.

Under scrutiny by the legislators are the personal, economic and financial, youth, commu- nity life, social and recreational and kindred problems of those the commission has settled on the soil. …

Cause for considerable concern … was the revelation in a financial statement, prepared specifi- cally for the holdover committee, that the original $2,000,000 Homes commission revolving fund has been almost entirely dissipated. … According to figures for operating needs of the commission, per annum, unless new funds are forthcoming either from the federal or territorial government, the commission’s funds will be entirely gone in approxi- mately six years.