Cross v. Hawaiian Sugar Co.

12 Haw. 415, 1900 Haw. LEXIS 33
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedJune 20, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 12 Haw. 415 (Cross v. Hawaiian Sugar Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cross v. Hawaiian Sugar Co., 12 Haw. 415, 1900 Haw. LEXIS 33 (haw 1900).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

CIRCUIT JUDGE PERRY.

Tlie questions at issue between the parties in this case have been submitted to this court for decision upon an agreed statement of facts, in accordance with the provisions of the statute.

Erom that statement it appears that on October 24, 1889, Gray & Robinson, a copartnership, executed a lease of certain lands situate on the Island of Kauai to one W. R. Watson for the term of 28 years as to some of such lands and .50 years as to the remainder; that thereafter Watson assigned said lease to the defendant corporation and that defendant by virtue of said assignment succeeded to and now holds all the rights, powers and privileges of Watson under said lease. The demised lands are described in the lease by metes and bounds, “reserving to the lessors the exclusive right of pasturage upon all such lands within the demised premises as shall not have been fenced in by the lessees for plantation lands and so long as the same shall remain unfenced.”

The lease also contains the following provisions:

“And it is hereby further declared and agreed that the lessee during said term of fifty years and subject to the conditions hereinafter expressed, may take and use all the water in and of the Koula and Hanapepe and Makaweli rivers for irrigating cane and for Turning and for mill and plantation purposes, but only for the demised premises and for said purposes may enter upon the lands of the lessors and construct such dams or other works as may be necessary in order to obtain and use such water and on condition and always provided that the lessee shall at no time and in no wise thereby abridge or interfere with the use or right of water for irrigation which now is or heretofore has been enjoyed by land holders or used for irrigation by the lessors in Hanapepe or Makaweli lands or valleys or in any wise to interfere with the rights of others and also that such use by the lessors be restricted within such limits as shall be authorized by said Crown land leases wherever the same apply thereto. And [417]*417also that if the lessee shall think fit to take and use the water of the said Makaweli river before taking the water of the Koula river he shall be at liberty to do so, but if he shall do so he shall not take or use the water from the Koula river unless within six years after he shall have commenced making sugar on the demised premises. And also that the lessors shall be at liberty to have free of charge a supply of water for their domestic and garden use through two two-inch pipes to be laid by them from, the nearest mutually convenient points of any pipes or ditches in which the lessee may take water from either or both of said Koula and Makaweli rivers. And also that the lessors shall be entitled to receive from the lessee free of charge for irrigation and for the domestic use of them plantation laborers such proportion of all the water available to the lessee for the time being as the area of the lessors’ cane fields shall bear to the area of the lessee’s cane fields requiring irrigation. And no water to which the lessee shall be entitled by virtue of these presents shall be used by the lessee for any but plantation purposes. And also that if for the period of two consecutive years at any time or times after the lessee shall begin and continue making sugar as aforesaid the lessors shall not have at the least one hundred acres of plant and or first rattoon cane under cultivation out of the said 600 acres of land or at their option shall for such two consecutive years omit or fail to plant and cultivate each year at least fifty acres of cane therein then and in such case and thereafter all of the said 600 acres shall be at the disposal of the lessee for plantation use. Provided however that at any time until the end of the further period of two years from said two years first above named the lessors may if they shall so elect and give written notice of such election to the lessee have and retain the full use of all of said 600 acres on paying to the lessee the sum of six hundred dollars ($600) a year for each of such years during which they shall not have such 100 acres of plant cane and or first rattoons under cultivation or shall not have planted and cultivated fifty acres as aforesaid. And also that the lessee shall not be obliged in any case to supply the lessors with water to irrigate more than 400 acres of cane in any one year. It being agreed however that the lessors may use the water so furnished upon said 600 acre tract or partially or wholly upon other lands of the lessors not herein demised to the lessee and that all cane grown by the lessors with water so furnished them shall be delivered to the lessee for grinding in the manner [418]*418hereinafter set forth. But a failure by the lessee to supply the lessors with sufficient water for irrigating the lessors’ cane shall always be a sufficient excuse for their failure to plant and cultivate as aforesaid. And the lessors hereby further covenant with the lessee that at any time before the end of five years after the lessee shall have offered and agreed to execute these presents, the lessors will accept a surrender of the demised premises and that in snch case no rental will be required of the lessee. And the lessee hereby covenants with the lessors that if by the end of said five years he shall not have commenced to make sugar on the demised premises, he will pay to the lessors the sum of five thousand dollars a year as rental for the demised premises in semi-annual payments of twenty-five hundred dollars each for each year thereafter not exceeding two years and after the same rate for any portion of a year until he shall begin making such sugar. And that in any case the lessee will not enclose the demised lands before commencing the construction of one or the other main water leads. And also that if by the end of the further period of two year’s following said first above named five years, the lessee shall not have begun to make such sugar, then this lease and the premises thereby demised shall forthwith be surrendered to the lessors. But it is agreed that upon such surrender other than at the end of said term of fifty years as herein mentioned, the lessee shall be at liberty to remove fr'om the demised premises all buildings and houses, -mills and machinery but not remove therefrom or otherwise dispose of any standing fences, wharf fixtures or mooring buoys, flumes or water piping thereon. And it is also hereby agreed that the lessors shall not be held liable in damages for any trespass or injury by animals upon any unfenced lands of the lessee, meaning thereby a fence which is not less than four and one-half feet high and reasonably strong and secure against trespass by animals. And it is agreed that the lessee shall not be obliged to fence the one hundred yards space reserved, but he shall at all times and at his own expense maintain good and sufficient gates at Mahinauli and Hanapepe whereby the lessors may have free access to said reserved space. And also that no fishing rights and no rights outside of the demised premises other than herein granted are hereby secured to the lessee. And also that the expression “Plantation Lands” herein used shall be deemed to mean all lands which the lessee shall have fenced.
******
[419]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Robinson v. Ariyoshi
441 F. Supp. 559 (D. Hawaii, 1977)
Menashe v. Sutton
38 Haw. 449 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
12 Haw. 415, 1900 Haw. LEXIS 33, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cross-v-hawaiian-sugar-co-haw-1900.