Captain Cook
Captain Cook
Monumental misconception
The Captain Cook Monument was built from Oct. 23-25, 1876 by the crew of Her Majesties ship the HMS Phantome on order of her majesties’ government.
The obelisk is made of stacked local rock, finished with concrete and painted white. The fence is made from anchor chain and 32-pound cannons from Esquimalt, British Columbia, near Victoria. This is also the home station of HCMS Vancouver.
There is a well-known photo of King Kalakaua leaning against one of the cannons shortly after the Cook Monument was completed.
A fallacy exists to this day regarding the ownership of the 5,682.6 square feet of land upon which the monument sits. Many maintain the land belongs to Great Britain.
In 1938, the Territorial Board of Tax Commissioners sent a notice of Real Property Assessment to the King of England. As this caused some controversy, a subsequent Honolulu legal opinion in 1939 found that “no foreign government can acquire land within the boundaries of another state.” (Otherwise, for example, China could buy California.)
The opinion further stated the land was given by Archibald Cleghorn and his wife, Princess Miriam Likelike Cleghorn in trust to Maj. James Hay Wodehouse, his heirs and assigns. Maj. Wodehouse was a British citizen at the time and representative of the British Government in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Wodehouse and his family later became citizens of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
The sole purpose of this grant of land was for the Captain Cook Monument. The only way Great Britain could acquire this land would be by outright conquest or cession, that is, for the heirs of Wodehouse and the United States government to grant title.
The Wodehouse family has ownership of this land to this day.
Terry Wallace
South Kona
Casinos
Money leaves isles
In response to Richard Swann’s letter to the editor Aug. 28: He obviously has not traveled to too many exotic places in the world when he says “people don’t go to exotic places to sit in a dark casino.”
Mr. Swann, hundreds of exotic places around the world offer not only all the amenities of beautiful hotels, beaches, golf courses, pools and more, they also have casinos, much desired by the visitors. Perhaps he is not aware of the hundreds of residents of Hawaii who travel to Vegas, Reno, etc. every month, thus taking their money there rather than spending it here in Hawaii.
As for prostitution, it happens whether legal or illegal. The advantage of legalized prostitution is it is mandatory for prostitutes to be checked by a physician regularly for diseases. How taxes would be collected from legalized prostitutes sounds like a fantasy, but perhaps Mr. Swann has an idea that he could pass on to the IRS.
Christa Wagner
Kailua-Kona