gj jaw studies in 1958, no subseLent study of land tenure systems has Foe, made, due to limited budget Chapter 3 evied on all the \iported into the every 20 ciga- than cigarettes netics and toigne and other of perfumery, otherwise, and applications to icks, pomades, et preparations roperties—25% . non-alcoholic ‘luid ounces or beverages—-3¢ ‘luid ounces or ic beverages— vine gallon. human 1. con- ed products, Jove and gas» ad valorem, d on the use, in the Terridiesel fuel at on so used, Brovisions in the Division of Land Afjnagement. Until customary land LAND AND AGRICULTURE boys ol the Territory are codified, the handbook, along with sup- resent Land Tenure Bicmentary studies and court opinions en decisions, must serve as a basic Customary land tenure and utiliza. é Administration in resolvtion practices differ greatly through. ide for the :! land problems. Many variations in out the Territory, not only from ustoms and practices make codificadistrict to district, but even in some: task. instances amongisland groups withing ion a monumental district. These traditional practice; Existing land ownership and land have undergone considerable modifica. are distribution tion as a result of the influenc e from Appendix VU. the various administrations. Never the. less, the Economic Development Plant for Micronesia, completed by Robert summarized in In ancient Palau, land was divided into public domain (chutem bwai) and R. Nathan Associates, Inc., in Dece m. clin ber 1966, makes a keen observation: “Still, today, the many traditional tenure arrangements which continue to persist often create obstacles to agricultural development. The syste m of undefined ownership by extended families and clans, with use rights by many, discourages investment in land improvement. Land reform is the only _ultimate solution, but the careful planning and equitable implements tion of a well-conceived land reform will take much expert effort and many years to achieve.” jands fchutem kebliul} The uninhabitable interior of Babelthuap Island was public domain, as were the ‘rock islands, mangrove swamps, seas and reefs of Koror, Peleliu, Angaur and the various traditional villages of Babelthuap. In most cases the village F council, the klobak, controlled the public domain but in some areas the district council or a group of villages within a district collectively controlled the public domain. Clan lands comprised most of the private lands of aboriginal Palau. These included lands having utility value—home sites, taro paddies, woodlots and palm forests— The Administration, aware of the and, except in the case of the taro complexity of traditional land tenure swamps, were assigned to male lineage systems, is making conscious efforts to heads who in turn assigned parcels to urge the people to seek solutions mule lineage members. Taro paddies within the established judicial process were assigned to female lineage heads and the administrative framework. The who, assigned paddy land to its memPolicy of the Government is to | ber women and women married into encourage, where possible, ways and the lineage. means to promote understanding of the need for a single consistent system of land holdings in the Territory. Since publication of a handbook on customary land tenure patterns and Part VI—Economic Advancement In Yap, the traditional unit of land is and has been for centuries the lubtnaw, or estate, which consists of “il land belonging to a single extended household and which mayinclude one Fiscal Year 1968 or more house plattorms, taro pits, tracts of sea inside the reef. stone fish weirs, coconut palms, yam gardens, grassy uplands, and timber lots. In precontact time the Mariana Islands were divided into districts, each ruled by a local chief who nominally controlled the lands within it. The rights to areas within the district were assigned to kinship groups. The land tenure system began to break down when the Spanish administration gave Chamorro families rights to certain lands on the islands. In the latter part of the 1800’s, when the Chamorros resettled in Saipan, individual ownership was established and each family cultivated its own fields. Present-day land tenure patterns among the Mariana Islands resemble the western system more than do the patterns in any other district of the Trust Territory. The sale of land is an accepted practice. In the Truk District, especially on the atolls, land is more precious than anywhere else in the Territory due to, the high population density. Land is identified with food. For example, a Trukese will say, “That is my food,” when pointing to his parcel of land. The land may be owned individually or by lineage groups. Major types of land recognized by the local inhabitants are dry land, fresh water swamp, and the shallow area covered by sea water. Improvements or planting of tree crops, such as breadfruit trees, in any of these areas may be owned separately from the land itself. The size of individual pieces of property may be quite small, seldom more than a few acres, although a person usually has some, but not necessarily sole, interest in a half dozen or more plots. In precontact time all the land area of the Ponape Islands belonged to the 55