Proclamation 427—Reserving for Naval Purposes Certain Lands in Honolulu, Hawaii

Whereas by joint resolution "to provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States," approved July 7, 1898, the cession by the Government of the Republic of Hawaii to the United States of America, of all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind in and over the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies, and the transfer to the United States of the absolute fee and ownership of all public, Government, or crown lands, public buildings, or edifices, ports, harbors, military equipment, and all other public property of every kind and description belonging to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands, was duly accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and the said Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies annexed as a part of the territory of the United States and made subject to the sovereign dominion thereof, and all and singular the property and rights hereinbefore mentioned vested in the United States of America; and

Whereas it was further provided in said resolution that the existing laws of the United States relative to public lands shall not apply to such lands in the Hawaiian Islands, but the Congress of the United States shall enact special laws for their management and disposition; and

Whereas it is deemed necessary in the public interests that certain lots and plats of land in the city of Honolulu be immediately reserved for naval purposes;

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority in me vested, do hereby declare, proclaim, and make known that the following described lots or plats of land be and the same are hereby reserved for naval purposes until such time as the Congress of the United States shall otherwise direct, to wit:

1st. The water front lying between the Bishop Estate and the line of Richards Street including the site of prospective wharves, slips, and their approaches.

2d. The blocks of land embracing lots No. 86 to 91, 100 to 131, including Mililani Street to the intersection of Halekauwali Street; and the Government water lots lying between the Bishop Estate and Punch-bowl and Allen Streets.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 2d day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-third.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

By the President:

JOHN HAY,

Secretary of State.

HAWAIIAN CABLE CONCESSION.

To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:

Know ye, that: Whereas, by an Indenture made the 2d day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight between Sanford B. Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii for and in behalf of the Hawaiian Government of the one part and the Pacific Cable Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York of the United States of America, of the other part, there was granted, conceded, and confirmed unto the party of the second part and its successors and assigns the right and privilege to lay, construct, land, maintain and operate telegraphic and magnetic lines or cables from a point or points on the Pacific Coast of the United States to a suitable landing place or places to be selected by the party of the second part in the Hawaiian Islands with terminus at Honolulu, Island of Oahu, and from and beyond the Hawaiian Islands to Japan and any islands or places necessary for stations for such cables between the Hawaiian Islands and Japan that lie north of the tenth degree or parallel of north latitude in the North Pacific Ocean, as an exclusive right and privilege together with an exemption from duties, charges, and taxes for and during the term of twenty years from the date expressed in said Indenture, to wit, the 21st day of June, A. D. 1898,--said right, privilege, and exemption being subject to the terms and conditions set forth in said Indenture;

And whereas among said terms and conditions it is declared and agreed by said Indenture that the party of the second part within two years from the approval (within eighteen months from the date of said contract) of an act by the Congress of the United States authorizing the party of the second part to construct and operate a submarine cable line between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands shall construct, lay in proper working order, and establish a submarine telegraph cable from a point or points on the Pacific coast of the United States to a landing place or places in the Hawaiian Islands with terminus at Honolulu, Island of Oahu, according to the specifications of said Indenture, and further, within three years from the approval of such act by the Congress of the United States, shall in like manner construct, lay in proper working order, and establish a submarine telegraph cable from a point or points at or near said Honolulu to Japan;

And whereas it is provided by said Indenture that the contract therein made and set forth shall not take effect, if at any time within six months from the date thereof, to wit, the 2d day of July, A. D., 1898, "the United States State Department" shall express its disapproval thereof;

And whereas, pursuant to a Joint Resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, approved July 7, 1898, to provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, the sovereignty of the said Hawaiian Islands was yielded up to the United States on the 12th day of August, A. D., 1898, becoming thenceforth vested in the United States of America.

And whereas, in view of the provisions of said Joint Resolution for the determination by the Congress of the United States of all matters of municipal legislation concerning the Hawaiian Islands, and because the subject matter and provisions of said Indenture are deemed to be proper subjects for the consideration and determination of the Congress of the United States, it is deemed expedient and necessary that the Congress of the United States consider and adopt such legislation, especially in regard to grants and contractual obligations to be controlled by and rest upon the United States of America as vested with sovereignty over said Hawaiian Islands, without let or hindrance by reason of any action of the Government of the Republic of Hawaii in respect to such grants and contractual obligations initiated by the said Government of the Republic of Hawaii prior to and incomplete at the time of the yielding up of the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States;

Now, therefore, I, John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States, do hereby express on the part of "the United States State Department" its disapproval of the contract stipulated in the said Indenture to the end that the same shall not take effect.

Given under my hand and the seal of the Department of State of the United States, in the city of Washington, D. C., this thirty-first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.

JOHN HAY.