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BRITISH GUIANA.

J. J. NUNAN, B.A, LL.B, Editor in Chief.
REV. j. AIKEN, M.A., Sctentific Assistant Editor
G. FrankKS, M.A., Literary Assistant Edttor.
Vol. IN. ( Phird. Series), 1913. *
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Demerara :

THE ARGOSY” COMPANY, LIMITED.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

ForEWworD ae ee eae

Fan PALMS AND Pond FLowers—By Edgar Beckett ae

THE BritisH GuIANA BANK—By J. Van Sertima

An OLp Book Upon Barpapos—By J. Graham Cruickshank

THE Htnpus IN THE West [NDIES—By Archdeacon Josa...

THE PLaNrers Insect FrieNps—By Harold W. B. Moore

SomE oF Our Foop FisHes—By J. Rodway and Rev. James Aiken
SomE AXIOMS OF CoRPORATE EDUCATION—By Rey. James Aiken

A Few Jorrincs oF MEMORIES EXTENDING OVER ForTY-
One YEARS IN BritisH GuiaNa—By Ulric R. White ...

A NEw Scuooi—By Ethel M. Minett
DEVELOPMENT AND TAXATION (A Discussion) ...

COLONIZATION AND SETTLEMEXT ON Coast, RIVER AND
SAVANNAH—By Joseph A. King

THE HYMENOPTERA OF THE GEORGETOWN MusEUM—bBy P.

Cameron

MEETINGS, ETC. :
PRESIDENTS INAUGURAL ADDRESS ...

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY

APPENDICES

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TIMEHRIL:

THE JOURNAL OF

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL SOCIETY
OF BRITISH GUIANA.

“Vo.m SEPTEMBER, 1913. | No.1.

FOREWORD.

His Excellency’s speech at the Society's Rooms during the debate
on the development of the Colony referred to the special interest which
the present Secretary of State, Mr. Harcourt, takes in the fortunes of
this country. Mr. Harcourt, in the annual summary of colonial affairs by
which he has elected to render to Parliament an account of his steward-
ship, has told us that a Harcourt ancestor of his in the days of James I.
received a grant of this part of the world and actually set out to take
possession. He was forced to return, probably owing to a mutiny, as
the beer on board his ships turned sour. But for the dishonesty or
carelessness of a London brewer, the present Mr. Harcourt, as he humour-
ously reflects, might be President of Venezuela or of some United States
of Guiana instead of Secretary of State for the Colonies. We hope to
secure in time for our next issue an article on the Harcourt Expedition
to British Guiana. Meanwhile we can congratulate ourselves that any
rational schemes of development are certain to receive most sympathetic
consideration from the descendant of one whose imagination was fired in
those early days by the possibilities of the land of El Dorado. The
effect of this direct interest is apparent in many directions and lightens
the somewhat depressed condition which the continuance of the drought
has produced in some departments of the colony's activity. The drought
compels us to concentrate our attention upon drainage and irrigation and
shows that unless practical projects can be formulated and carried into
effect, cultivation for non-capitalists must always {be precarious on the
coast-lands. At the time of going to press the selection of a hydraulic
engineer is announced so that we shall soon be provided with expert
opinion. Meanwhile His Excellency’s expedition to the Rupununi
savannahs in company with a railway engineer, although not an explora-
tion survey in the stricter sense, has aroused hopes that we are on the eve
of abandoning «@ priori methods and of acquiring some of the material on
which may be based the scientific consideration of any scheme for open-
ing up the interior and securing access to Manaos, the progressive capital

ii. Timehrv.

of the Amazon Valley. Whether one can be done without the other is
still a subject of controversy. Some are satisfied that a development rail-
way should end in the bush and that we should rely upon internal possi-
bilities alone. Many shrink from the very idea of Georgetown (improved
to the rank of a first-class port under Baron Siccama’s projects or under
some newer scheme) becoming the Northern terminus of one of the
numerous lines now reaching up through the Matto Grosso to Manaos or
heing surveyed from that gang-lion through Northern Amazonas.

This magazine has only one railway policy and that is the
ascertainment of all the data. The Royal Agricultural and Com-
mercial Society of which it is the organ is not likely to repudi-
ate any legitimate ambition of the colony which is based upon
such an investigation. But the friend who told Hon. C. F. Wieting in
London a year or two ago that what was wanted in the colony was a
little more imagination has laid his finger upon the great intellectual
deficiency which tends to paralyse our population as pioneers. Without
that saving gift Cecil Rhodes would never have planned the railway and
telegraph ‘which have given to the British Empire Africa South of Lake
Tangayika, nor would Strathcona and Hays with their associates have
covered Canada with a network of railways and with hundreds of
thousands of homes. To increase our population we must consider
whether we cannot aftord to offer the necessary inducements to settlers
which other countries have thriven by advertising. Schemes of
colonization which have partially succeeded in this country in the past or
which are succeeding to-day in tropical and sub-tropical Brazil may not
be beyond our reach. If Kast Indian indentured immigration continues
and whether it continues or not the present system might perhaps be
supplemented by the introduction of whole families. A better class of
cultivator and a Jabourer less amenable to outbursts of furious excitement
might thus be secured. The incidence of cost could be so arranged as to
impose upon the sugar planter no more of the burden than his fair share.
It is easy to undervalue the services of the latter to this colony in the
past and it is only when a sugar estate goes out of cultivation that one
thinks of estimating the Hares loss to ike community which such a
event entails. By the collapse of the New Colonial Conse
we are threatened with the loss of four. There are many indica-
tions that the proprietors are beginning to realize the value of
the personal equation in their relations with the colony and_ the
colonists should not fail to take advantage of the change. When
therefore the managing director of a great and _ exclusively plant-
ing firm, like Mr. C. Sandbach Parker, identifies himself so far
with the general fortunes of the country as to formulate a scheme
of development, which he has done in his recent address at one of the
Royal Colonial Institute City luncheons, it should receive most careful
study and attention from every citizen. Adequate discussion has not been
forthcoming hitherto. Prominence has therefore been given to it in
the introductory address to the debate on the development ‘of the colony.
On the question of expense Hon. C. F. Wieting at the same meeting

Foreword. ill.

has summed up all that can be said on the subject. Risks, he said, cannot
be avoided. It is better to encounter them than to face the slow strangu-
lation of our present decline. To develop our inheritance we must be
prepared to meet the initial cost.

In short the economic side of this magazine will set itself in
future to the accumulation of the data bearing upon (1) the mak-
ing of Georgetown a first-class port; (2) the opening up of -the
interior by a frontier railway aiming at becoming the Northern
section of a South American trunk line; (5) the irrigating and draining
of suitable areas on the Corentyne and on the East Coast Demerara and
West Coast Berbice for future settlement; (4) the introduction of an
annual supply of labour and population of a suitable class in the shape
of whole families by proper inducements, East Indians for the Coast and
Europeans and Africans for the Savannahs being preferred; (5) the
financial questions attending any attempt to carry out such enterprises
individually or as a whole and their general effect upon taxation, revenue
and public debt; (6) as incidental to some of the foregoing the ascer-
tainment of the market possibilities of our colony timbers and our
savannah cattle of which we are in complete ignorance. There is nothing
new about this programme of investigation. If carried out even in part
as a constructive policy it will be only an imitation of what has been
done elsewhere by poorer but more enterprising communities.

The present number begins the third volume of the new series of
Timehri. The two special numbers of the Colony Volume have done
yeoman service and have received a very large circulation. The extra
expense entailed by the wide distribution of the magazine in countries
where it might usefully advertise the colony has been borne cheerfully by
the Society and in time should reap a worthy harvest of return.
The number of enquiries as to land, cattle and timber possibilities.
which it has called forth from places as remote from us as the Argentine
and the Transvaal are a hopeful sign. ‘The scientific articles have also
received full recognition in learned circles, some receiving the honour of
mention in authoritative catalogues. The articles on our native Indians
have aroused special interest. The new volume, we hope, will not fall below
the standard already attained and which in the course of time we hope to
surpass. Subject to the scientific object and avoiding political questions
its great aim is the creation of an informed public opinion in the colony
on all questions which affect its welfare. For that purpose, no editorial
responsibility is assumed for signed articles and our pages are open to’
suitable contributions from members of every race, religion and class.
The Presidential Address of Mr. J. B. Laing has been included.

[The Editor-in-Chief desires to record his special obligations to Rev.
James Aiken, the Scientific Assistant Editor, who completed the prepara-
tion of the last number during his absence and who has actively
colloborated in the present issue. To Mr. J. Rodway, Assistant Secretary
of the Society, among others his thanks are also due. ]

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Clump of Euterpe edulis (Manicole palm) with Pritchardia pacifica
on the right and Colony House in the background.

FAN PALMS AND POND FLOWERS.

By EpGar BECKErT.

Possibly it is because one knows the trees, or at least a large
proportion of them, that the delightful little gardens in New Amsterdam
are a never-failine source of pleasure.

We have often been surprised at the small amount of interest and
pleasure the inhabitants of New Amsterdam appear to take in these
gardens, in spite of the fact that they are easy of access and the town
itself has, apart from them, very little that can claim to be attractive.

For the most part, unless some concert is conducted there, or on the
rare occasions a band of music is present, the gardens are practically
deserted except for a few nursery-maids and their pretty little charges.
Sunday afternoon is an exception, then the lads and lasses of the town
congregate there bravely dressed in their Sunday best; but we fear the
beauty of the place does not appeal to these, as for the most part they
are roystering youths and giddy girls, who for one afternoon in the week
are free to use this dainty little spot to disport themselves in their fancy
frills and ribbons

This, of course, can be readily understood, but how the more
intelligent fail to find in them the one spot where one exempt from
public haunt,

“Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in everything,”
is not so easily accountea for.

The gardens themselves, we believe, are only about a quarter of a
century old, a fact which strikes one who is not accustomed to the rapid
rampant growth of the tropics as amazing. Infancy is the least interest-
ing stage in gardens, if not in children. but the passage from baby-hood to
sturdy young manhood, ina tropical garden is so fast that despite of its
twenty-five years, these gardens have become already, and have been for
many years past, very much too small. Interesting as they are, they would
prove very much more so, had the original plan allowed for the oceupa-
tion of a much larger area—even to thrice the size. As it is, man’s unro-
mantic hands have to be continually occupied in severe pruning, and sacri-
fices must be made to keep riotous, tropical Nature, within the bounds of
the iron rails that enclose as sweet a spot as is to be found in the whole
Berbice county. Already, as if impatient of her iron boundaries, Nature
bursts over and through them, and if she had her way they would serve as
but sinall impediments to her vigorous progress.

N.B. For the beautiful pictures illustrating this paper I am indebted to the Rev.
J. Whyte MacGill, M.A., who kindly took the photographs for me-and lent me a
negative of the lake taken by him twelve years ago.

Timehri.

Inv

All Berbicians should remember that they ows these gardens, which
have sprung up on an infertile, heavy clay, to the tender care of that
distinguished Botanist, the late G. 8. Jenman. We may erect clocks and
what not to his memory, but such stand for nothing, when we bear in
mind that his hands raised such fitting and glorious memorials as_ the
Botanic and Municipal Gardens in Georgetown and the Gardens in New
Amsterdam.

Clocks under such circumstances, we must admit, appear banal,
when we think of the many dream spots created by him on this muddy
foreshore. which woo us to

“that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.”

Sturdy old Keeper Hunt, who hailed from Barbados, worthily
carried out his trust until February, 1902, after tending these gardens
for twenty years. His, we believe, was a labour of Jove, and now he has
but lately been gathered to his fathers full of years, he also should not be
forgotten when we revel in the delights that these gardens afford. The
present keeper, Nardamuni, who succeeded Hunt, has followed worthily in
his predecessor's footsteps, while the County Agricultural Instructor
must be congratulated on the air of brightness and gaiety he has intro-
duced into his borders and beds, by an effective display of colour. Too
often a tropical garden, contrary to the English idea, is sadly lacking in
colour. True it is that individual plants, here and there, dazzle us with
the daring brightness of their ftowers, but the total effect is very often a
sombre one.

Mr. Rodway and others have described vividly enough to us, the
terrible struggle fer existence that is always going on in the Guiana
forests. To the trained eye this, of course on a minute scale, can be seen
in these Gardens.

Owing to the fact that the space occupied by the Gardens is much
too small, a constavt struggle for more and mcre room is. ceaselessly going
on in bed and border, needing the ever watchful gardener’s eye to check,
here a rampant growth of hibiscus thrusting its flame-coloured flowers
everywhere, and there the sturdy vigour of a Tabernaemontana or Ixora,
while the pruning saw has to despoil a Pachira or a Cedrella of many a
lusty limb. But let us take a closer peep.

First and foremost must we mention the statuette of Victoria the
Good of blessed memory, There the familiar bust stands all covered with
a profusion of Bougainvillea whose purple-tinted bracts display a never-
ending blaze of colour lovingly embracing the pedestal and twining, ever
so gently, a frame of beauty round her—a fitting memorial to the undy-
ing name of her late revered Majesty. This was erected, according to
the inscription, in the Jubilee year of our Queen, so that this tribute
appears to be about as old as the Gardens themselves.

"uLS. Te ys uo pJDu}Dd DIIAOpNjID>) JO duinyjo ‘out yussoid oy} ye—

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(‘ds DIDUIADY]) BOI SATTPOACIT OY]
‘ulsreur UO puke sal] WNIquInjou YUM ‘ose sieaX salam} poivodde jt se ‘AMV AHI

Fan Palms and Pond Flowers. 3

‘Then are the glories of the Jake disclosed to us. There we find the
light and dark pink nymphwas, their rose-coloured flowers floating on
the bosom of the dark waters, which have come to feed this artificial lake,
all the way from the bounteous waters of the Canje.

Atone time the nymphwas, beautiful though they be, with their
delicate shade of pink and charming leaves, were surely eclipsed by the
pink flowers of the mystic lotus—nelwiubium speciosum, Probably its
vigorous growth has accounted for the banishment of the lotus. It can,
however, still be seen, persistent enough, in one of the trenches of New
Amsterdam, where as we watch the little silvery drops of water as they
roll off the leaves after a shower of rain, owing to a special protection of
the leaf-surface, few of us realise that these nelwmbiums were not objects
of veneration to the Egyptians alone, but they found worshippers in far
off China and Japan, India and Tibet, and we believe they yet play an
important part in the religious ceremonies of these countries, even to-day.

Herodotus that “Father of History,” as Cicero calls him, mentions
the lotus lily on several occasions. ‘ They are lilies like roses,” he says,
‘that grow in the river, the fruit of which is contained in a separate pod,
that springs up from the root in form very like a wasp’s nest, in this
there are many berries fit to be eaten of the size of an olive stone, and
they are eaten both fresh and dried.” Euterpe 11. 92.

Even to-day our boys and girls love to eat the “nut-like” fruit
that is found in the wasp-nest pod. So that our thoughts can be carried
back, by an action so simple, to 450 B.C. The fibres of the leaf-stalk
are said to be made into wicks by the Hindu and burnt before his gods.
Fringing this pretty picture of pink and green are clumps of feathery
bamboos, aquatic ferns and grasses and our indigenous Hydroleiw
spinosa with its delicate blue flowers, which give no suspicion of the
cruel nature of the thorns with which this plant is amply armed. Nor
must we fail to mention a fine clump of Carludovica palmata at the
sight of which luxuriant growth at the edge of the lake we conjure up
visions of a trade in Panama hats, for it is from this palin that these
famous hats are fashioned. Right over the brink the Nipa fruticans
palm hangs its feathery leaves, laden with its large queer-shaped bunches
of fruit. This is a plant interesting to all botanists, for it is said to be
the only representative of the genus: “the fruit is a one-seeded drupe,
aggregated in heads as large as that of a man. The foliage called
Nipah is used as a thatch, and when burnt yields a supply of salt. From
the spadix toddy is extracted, convertible into syrup, sugar, vinegar,
yeast, and a strong spirit. The kernel of the fruit is edible.” (The
Treasury of Botany—Dr. Seemann).

Then we cannot fail to be struck by a magnificent clump of Travel-
ler’s palin (Ravenala species), so-called because of the water it stores in
the sheaths of its leaf-stalks, which is supposed to quench the thirst of
many a weary and sore-footed voyager. Its growth can be seen by the
pictures showing its appearance some time back and at the present
moment.

4 Timehri.

hese clumps with their fan-shaped leaves are most conspicuous, but
their noble beauty to be appreciated should be seen on a moonlit night,
when all these gardens are bathed in a witching light that makes them
look indeed like fairyland. Nearby the lake are clumps of Raphia—
flabelliformis, a genus ot palms which is very limited as to the number
of species, and which locally is dear to the heart of our native boys from
the short walking-stick stems they furnish, while one’s attention must be
arrested by a small clump of native Bamboo grass or rather Guadua, fine
specimens of which are to be seen at Cabacaburi where they were planted —
by Archdeacon Heard, who, we believe, brought them from the Waini
river. They start from the base with a fair girth gradually tapering to a
point, and are grey-ringed at the joints and are armed with a terrible
array of thorns. Around are picturesquely displayed such palms as
Cocos plumosus, Areca catechu, the betel-nut of the Hindu, Jivistona
australis, all possessing beauty and grace of their own.

The handsome Areca catechu is often cultivated for the sake of its |
fruit, pieces of w hich are rolled, with a little temper-lime and other in- |
vredients i ina “pan” leaf, and are then chewed by our East Indian ~
fellow- -subjects—whose ap stained mouths and saliva owe their vivid hue
to this habit of masticating their beloved betel-nut.

The Colony House grounds were ceded by the Public Works Depart-
ment to the Botanic Gardens in 1906, the responsibility for planting
which devolved on the Head Gardener of the Botanie Station. For the
most part the laying out has been well done, but we cannot congratu-
late the individual who planted the area facing the Esplanade Here
several huge and beautifully shaped Sand-box trees (Hura crepitais)
make an imposing and majestic show to the entry of Colony House, and at
the same time fulfilthe prosaic purpose of sheltering many from the robust
kisses of Phoebus. Unfortunately the ground beneath these trees has been
thickly planted ; amongst others there being Chrysalidocarpus lutescens,
the sugar-cane palm, and a Clusia whose ‘glossy-¢ sreen leaves, polished
always to a state of brightness, cannot fail to attract attention. But
two Livistonas have already reared their heads amidst the branches of
the sandbox trees. Shut out from the light and air, theirs must be a
cruel lot. Indeed this small portion of ground is the one blot on what
otherwise is a perfect picture.

Near what used to be a public entrance before the Colony grounds
were taken over, are two stately Pritchardiu pucifica palms. The stiff
fan-shaped leaves are of a fine green colour, the young leaves beiag coated
with a delicate, soft, downy substance. The black cherry-like fruit is
also pretty, whilst the dead grey leaves, clasping the spineless stem of
their parent as if loathe to leave her, add to the beauty of one of the
finest palms in the gardens.

As We wander in we cannot fail to admire the specimen of that ele-
gant palm, known botanically as Caryota wrens, with its strange pinnate

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The Traveller's tree (Ravenala species)—clumps of Spanish dagger

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Fan Palms and Pond Flowers. 5

leaves so sharply but picturesquely notched. he leaflets will well bear
examination. It is to Ceylon and India we owe this beautiful stranger.

What too can be more lovely than the fan-shaped leaves of the
Licuala grandis when they escape the rude treatment of the wind and
remain unscathed !

The well-armed Martinezia, bristling with spines both on trunk and
leaf-stalks, is as vigorous as a palm belonging to tropical America should
be, but for all its armed appearance its handsome pinnate leaves with
their jagged ends invite us to approach.

Though we should like to see more of our own beautiful palms grow-
ing in these gardens, we yet can boast of some. The familiar Manicole
(Buterpe edulis) is so well-known to most of us that we are apt to pass
over its beauty and grace. These clumps are moisture-loving and those
responsible for the Garden should be proud of having kept them fresh and
-yigorous throughout the terrible drought we have just recently experi-

enced.

We all know how useful the Manicole palm is to the Indians and
sojourners in the interior. The stems are commonly used as floors or
‘split to make palings and so forth, whilst the “heart” or terminal bud
ean furnish an appetising dish.

The single, solitary Huterpe stenophylla, the Rayhoo of the Arawaks,
is very much like the Manicole, but is never found growing in clumps.
It possesses a delicate lady-like air that places it in the first rank of our
native palms, renowned for grace and beauty. We should like to see
‘more of them planted here, and as these gardens are fairly well-drained
they should thrive even better than the manicole, for unlike its sister it
does not appear to appreciate swampy land.

We cannot fail to be impressed with that noble genus of the palm
family, the Maximiliana, which is renowned for its stately glory through-
out the botanical world. Nor must we tear ourselves away from these
beautiful pictures without a word covcerning the light green stems and
the brilliant red-stained sheaths of the Crytostachys renda, which like
most palms, calls aloud for the painter’s brush and _ skill, even as the
specimen of Corypha elata may set free the poet’s tongue with its
imposing majesty, when it shall have reached maturity and sent forth its
marvellous flowering spike.

One can never tire of the palms displayed in this small area; we
have mentioned a few but there are many others of equal interest and

beauty.

During the drought the display made by the well-known euphor-
biaceous shrubs, Poinsettia, with their bright red bracts formed a
grateful colouring when the eye was weary of the fistlessness and dulness
Nature was forced to assume. In sharp contrast to the Poinsettias were

6 Timehri.

the Mussaenda frondosa plants, with their small deep yellow flowers —
showing strikingly against the pale-yellow, almost white, calycinal leaf. —
The effect is most uncommon. ‘This leaf, on examination, proves to have
an entirely different venation from that of the stem leaves, a fact which
the casual observer may probably lose sight of.

All of us know the common Bat-seed tree (Andira imermis), but
many Berbicians fail to recognise in the magnificent specimen near the
entrance opposite to All Saints’ Scotch Church, a species of Andria.
When the tree bursts into bloom it forms a picture that few lovers of
Nature will easily forget. Just recently it presented a show of flowers
that has never yet been surpassed. The pea flowers possess lilac-tinted
pe‘als of a particularly soft shade, which form an effective contrast to the
flower-stalks. When not in bloom, its liberal foliage of dark green is in
itself handsome enough. We have never seen a finer specimen of Andira
than this one now growing in the Colony House grounds. Near this
giant is Spathodea campanulata, whose reddish-orange coloured bell-
shaped flowers claim more than passing attention, when they are on show.
This genus belongs to Bignoniacee, an order well-known for the
beauty of its flowers, to which the lovely Jacaranda, now in flower, is
by no means an exception. Its blue panicles of flowers are always
admired even by the most casual of visitors. At present they are a
striking feature.

At one time, facing the entrance to the old Berbice Cricket Club’s
grounds, there was a representative of the conifers in the shape of a
Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria excelsu), which unfortunately, after
leaning at a dangerous angle for many years, fell down when it had
reached a height of eighty-six feet, on Good-Friday morning, 1907. This
is very much to be regretted, as it was a striking object, and would have
been still more so, had it lived to attain the height it is said to reach in
its native habitat, namely, 200 feet. But Australia is represented by
the melaleucas and Eucalypti which grow readily enough in most parts of
dritish Guiana.

There are two specimens of the sturdy Cannon-ball tree (Cowroupita
gquianensis) which give evidence of the hardy nature of this wonderful
tree, he flowers spring from the trunk and branches and will well repay
examination, while the large famuiar cannon-ball fruit is wonderfully
realistic. It is supposed to be a native of this colony but in all our wan-
derings in the ‘ bush” we have never seen it, though another genus of
the Lecythidacew, the Monkey Pot (Lecythis ollaria) is fairly common.

Space has been found for the Long John (7riplaris surinamensis) so
familiar and useful to all wood-cutters, and we are glad to see a hand-
some specimen of the Tamarind (Vamarindus indica), always a pleasant
sight because of its graceful feathery foliage, and its pretty racemes of
flowers.

Flower of Couroupita guianensis (the Cannon-ball Tree) showing
the six petals and characteristic hood with authers.

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Couroupita guianensis.

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Fan Palius and Pond Flowers. y

Less conspicuous is the well-known cinnamon tree, near to which
ean be discovere] a specimen of Castilloa elastica (the Central American
Rubber tree) hidden away as if ashamed of the notoriety the boom in
rubber has given every tree that produces ruabber-bearing latex. It,
nevertheless, is ambitious enough, for it is now shyly flowering.

Of course the gaudy flamboyant (Poincianu regia) is to be met with,
nor do the pretty Queen of Flowers. (Lagerstraemias) go unrepresented.
No tropical garden would be complete without these and the many varie-
gated Crotons, but not all Berbicians know where to find the spot where
a Cacao tree and a large Pear-shaped Guava are to be found, tucked
away comfortably enough.

The screw-pines (Pandan), are represented by a specimen at one of
the gates, its rapid and somewhat bulky growth, kept however in due
bounds. The ‘ Doctor-Doodle” (Caesalpinia) is there too in all its
pride, and the various Hibiscus are not to be denied.

Daintily planted rosebeds are everywhere, and properly made up
borders of bright flowering annuals are at times a distinct feature. Puna
and Malpighia, as usual, are made to serve fencing purposes with effect.
Acalypha, Pentas, Eranthemum, Galpinits, Petrea and a hundred other
shrubs are all tastefully arranged.

The Frangipanni (Plumeria) has not been forgotten, the one
favoured being the pink-tinted flowering variety.

The Lucky-seed (Cerbera thevetia) is at present fruiting heavily, in
one of the borders, handfuls of the seed can be gathered in a few minutes.
We must not forget another favourite which is, at the time of writing,
producing quantities of seed and that is the liquorice or crab-eye vine
(Abrus precatorvws) which is to be seen twining around one of the palms.
Inconspicuous as its white flowers are in contrast to the shining scarlet
seed with a black spot at one end, the wh: le delicate vine is nevertheless
attractive. ‘The crab-eye seels are often used for necklaces and other
ornaments, but it has been said that in India they are employed as a
standard of weight and that the far-famed Koh-i-noor diamond was
weighed in this manner.

We must not pass over the handsome specimens of various Agaves,
nor an interesting and pretty specimen of Hrythrina, nor should we
forget that our imposing Locust tree (Hymencea courbari!), is also to be
found, though it has attained nothing lke the eno mous size of its
brothers in the forest. At present it is nervously producing a few pods
of fruit. The splendid specimen of a Pachira or Wild Cacao must also
not be omitted.

A visit at any time is full of pleasure whether it be in the cool
morning hours soon after daybreak, when the numerous birds are full
of thankful song as they hunt for their morning feed, or at midday when

g Timehrr.

hird-life is still, and we find the shrubs, some striving manfully enough
to keep a brave show under the fierce heat of the sun, others apparently
elorying and revelling in the heat, others again happy and contented
under the protecting shadow fitfully thrown by some large neighbouring
tree. Whilst in the evening, though the elory of the lake is faded, the
closing of leaf and the cheerful flioht of the birds ag they wing ‘their
way back to their nests, furnishes a picture of peace and restfulness,
quite as pleasant as the morning’s scene, when life and activity was to
be seen on all sides.

Romantic as these grounds are it is not surprising that Jack will
whisper ‘‘sweet nothings” in Jill’s ear, but it is amazing to find many
looking upon them as merely a convenient short passage from one street
to the other.

A visit intelligently made can, with the honest use of one’s eyes,
lead us to a world as full of interest as the scene is fair.

te “BRITISH GUIANA’ BANK.

BRIEF HISTORY.
By J. VAN SERTIMA.

Colonial institutions are not of long life, and this for a variety of
causes which we need not stop to enumerate or examine. There are excep-
tions to every rule, of course; and the British Guiana Bank is a gratily-
ing illustration of longevity in the case of commercial establishments.
It is a kind of institution that is as breath to the nostrils of commerce,
and if all is not well with it, all cannot be well ‘on the Rialto.” The
British Guiana Bank, the oldest financial institution in the colony, was
fortunate in the opportunity of its birth. It was formed in the year
1836, at a time when there was much need for an establishment of its
kind, and it met with all the support and success that its promoters
anticipated. Compensation money for the liberation of the slaves had
been paid, and so there was a good deal of money in the colony for
profitable investment. The bank met this want so far as the planters and
commercial men were concerned. Thanks largely to the prescience of
the Governor, Sir James Carmichael Smyth,* Government savings banks
were also established, and these supplied the wants of the labouring and
artisan class.

The formation of a local banking company was due to the initiative
of a Scottish gentleman named Hugh Robertson. He had begun his
career in the Inverness branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland; and in
1830 he was engaged in business in Water Street, Georgetown. He saw
the great necessity there was for a bank, one reason in particular
therefor being the high rate of exchange. Mr. Robertson’s well-mean-
ing eftorts did not at first meet with success, owing, it is said, to “ the
opposition of the colonial section of the Court of Policy.” In May, 1852,
a circumstance occurred which exercised the public mind not a little and

*A bust of Governor Smyth may be seen in the Town Hall, New Amsterdam, in the
manager's office of the British Guiana Bank, Georgetown, and in the vestibule of Colony
House, Berbice. Beneath the bust in the last-mentioned place is a marble tablet with
the fullowing inscription :—‘‘ To the memory of His Excellency Major-General Sir James
Carmichael Smyth, Baronet, C.B., K.C.H., K.M.T., K.S.W., ete., late Governor and
Commander in Chief of British Guiana. This monument was erected by the inhabitants
of the county of Berbice to testify the respect in which His Excellency was held by all
classes of this conmunity and more especially to mark their sense of approbation of the
system pursued by him in administering the government of this province during a most
important period of colonial history when the state of society in the British West Indies
was undergoing such rapid and important changes as were involved in the transition from
slavery to unqualified freedom ; the manifest success which attended the system of
apprenticeship in this province is ascribed, under the gnidance of Divine Providence, to
the energy, wisdom and firmness of this distinguished officer who was honoured
as the instrament for conducting in this colony the grand experiment, but who was not
permitted to witness the completion of the work, being cut off by the hand of death after

a Short illness of four days at a time when busily engaged in the duties of his Government
on the 4th of March, 1838.”

10 Timehri.

clearly showed that a bank was much needed. Some business premises
belonging to Messrs. H. and W. Howes and purchased for 25,700 guilders
(the value of a guilder was then 1s. 8d.) in 1828 were forced into the
market after they had been considerably improved and were worth
67,000 guilders. The owners happened to be indebted to a Dr. Webster
(who had died) to the extent of between 18,000 and 20,000 guilders.
The executors in the colony, having received orders from the heirs in
England that the estate should be closed as early as possible and the
moneys remitted to them, peremptorily placed the Howes’ property in
the open market, where it fetched only 25,000 guilders. “The Royal
Gazette,” remarking on the sacrifice, asked if such a thing could have
been possible had there been a well-conducted banking establishment
available for accommodation. Soon after, Pln. Taymouth Manor had to
be bought in, and the property fetched only 200,500 guilders, ‘a sum
that did not cover the mortgage demands, and leaving the mortgage
minus upwards of £25,000.”

In April, 1836, intelligence reached the colony to the effect that the
Colonial Bank was about to be formed in England with a capital of two
million pounds in shares of one hundred pounds each; and soon after
some Liverpool merchants interested in the colony set on foot a project
to start a joint-stock bank here with a capital of £300,000 in £25 shares,
of which 4,000 were to be reserved for local subscription. Then came
forward again Mr. Hugh Robertson. He issued a prospectus with the
object of ‘starting a bank under the name of “The British Guiana Bank-
ing Company.” “The scheme was looked upon with much favour, the
Governor himself being among the first to subscribe. The shareholders
inet for the first time on the 7th of September, Hon. J. G. Reed, of Doch-
four, presiding. A committee, one of whom was Mr. J. Lucie Smith
(afterwards Attorney General) father of the present Chief Justice of
Trinidad,. was appointed to frame rules and arrange the necessary
preliminaries. They recommended that application should be made to
the Legislature for an ordinance to establish a bank to be called “ The
British Guiana Bank”; the capital was to be 4,200,000 guilders in 700
euilder shares, and that the bank should be allowed to do business when
2,100,000 guilders had been collected from the shareholders. The first
directors were: Hons. John Croal and J. G. Reed and Messrs. Charles
Benjamin, William Johnson, Alexander Glen, John Lane, G. J. Traughton,
jor., Abraham Garnett, and James Holmes. The first secretary was Mr.
Frederick Verbeke.

In October the Court of Policy met to consider the memorial of the
subseribers for a charter of incorporation, but just before this the
Colonial Bank protested on the ground that the establishment of a local
bank was an infringement of the Colonial Bank’s Royal Charter. In the
Court the opposition on behalf of the Colonial Bank was conducted by
Hon. Peter Rose who had been provisionally appointed manager of that
bank. He had a worthy opponent in the person of Hon. John Croal.
The opposition failed and the ordinance to incorporate the British

The British Guiana Bank. 1

Guiana Bank passed through all its stages in November. It was not
until the 16th February in the next year (1857), however, that the bank
began business, with Mr. George Robertson as manager, and Mr. J. H.
Bonner as accountant. The Berbice branch was started on the 6th of
March. It was customary for some time to advertise in the newspapers
the names of the directors in charge of the bank each week; and at
public dinners ‘“‘The British Guiana Bank” usually figured on the toast
list. The Colonial Bank, which opened business on May 1, kept its
accounts in dollars and cents, but the other one in guilders, stivers, We.,
until the decimal system came into authorised general adoption, that is,
in February, 1839. The first half-yearly meeting was held on the 24th
July, 1837. In their report the directors stated that they had it in
contemplation to limit the issue for the time being to 1,000 shares in
order to fulfil the stipulations of the Act of Incorporation, requiring
4,500 shares to be subscribed for by the end of the year. Forty per
cent. had been paid on 3,509 shares which were held by 545 shareholders.
At the end of June the deposits in the bank had amounted to [684,780:79
cents and on the 15th of the next month they had increased to
f821,801:16. The announcement was also made that the old-established
banking firm of Messrs. Smith, Payne and Smiths, of London, had been
appointed agents for the bank—a connection which has been unbroken to
this day. For the short time the bank had been in existence it had
{22,497:74 in its favour, after payment of about [80,000 for preliminary
expenses as well as its ordinary current expenses. No payment of a
dividend was recommended, but at the next half-yearly meeting a
dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum was declared. Before the
third meeting came round, on July 24th, 1838, Governor Carmichael
Smyth died of yellow fever. He had been a good friend and staunch
supporter of the bank, and had done his best to improve the colonial
currency.

At this time the capital stock of the bank consisted of 6,000 shares,
50 per cent. of which had been paid. In April, an ordinance had been
passed amending the charter of 1836, requiring, inter alia, that the
bank notes should not be less than $5, ‘* payable on demand in dollars of
the acknowledged weight and fineness of Spanish dollars” and that the
corporation should not find money or make advances in respect to real
property. Mr. Croal, who retired during the year, was succeeded by
Mr. A. Glen. The other gentlemen on the board of directors at the
beginnine of 1839 were: Messrs. B. J. Traughton. jnr., A. Garnett,
Colin Simson, J. Christy, A E. Luthers, Charles Benjamin, A. Vyfhuis,
and John Cameron. The staff consisted of Mr. G. Robertson, manager
and cashier; Mr. J. H. Bonner, accountant; Mr. James Waddell, assist-
ant accountant; Messrs. James Robertson and John Rose, tellers; D. J.
Lucie Smith, jnr., was standing counsel ; Mr. Andrew Galloway, the bank's
solicitor, and Mr. F. Verbeke its secretary. At the Berbice branch
Mr. A. Bone was cashier and Mr. John Dyett accountant. At the fourth
half-yearly meeting the payment of a dividend of 6 per cent. was recom-

12 Timehri.

mended. An amount of £300 was awarded to Mr. John Jones for his
valuable services in connection with the “final obtainment” of the
charter. His zeal and perseverance in advocating the privileges and
interests in the British Guiana Bank had helped largely to overcome the
powerful and influential opposition the charter had encountered.

In July, 1841,the directors had to deplore a commercial failure
through which the bank sustained its first loss. The failure in question
was that of Messrs, Traughton, Bros. & Co., one of the partners of which
firm had been a director of the bank. There was a crisis in the follow-
ing year to which the directors alluded in these terms :—‘“‘ Since the

half-yearly meeting, the general condition of the colony has suftered
considerable depression in its agricultural and mercantile relations, conse-
quent on a short production and a fall in the price of the staple articles.
The directors of the bank have in these circumstances evinced every
desire to alleviate difficulties and aftord assistance, and they propose to
continue every reasonable accommodation to the public, compatible with a
prudential action and a due regard to the interests of the corporation.”

Upon the retirement in 1843, of Mr. George Robertson, the manager,
Mr. Verbeke and Mr. Bonner held the post in conjunction. Soon after,
the bank sustained a loss, this time through the dishonesty of one of its
employees, and to the extent of $17,000. Referring to this loss, the
report stated:—‘‘The frauds of the late assistant accountant were
contined to the pass books of some of the bank’s customers, and to errors
of addition in the account current balance book kept by him. They
were facilitated by the unwary issue of cheques by customers to protect
errors in their pass-books which the assistant accountant himself pur-
posely made in order to obtain the cheques (Since that time there has
been only one fraud in connection with the bank). Owing to the loss a
dividend of only 2 per cent. was declared. The dual management
already referred to was discontinued in 1844 when Mr. Verbeke alone
managed the concern. Since Mr. Verbeke’s time the following gentle-
men have been inanagers of the bank :—Messrs. Alexander Garnett (at
one time its chairman), G. L. Davson, G. W. Lane, E. C. Hamley and
J. B. Laing, the present managing-director. Much of the success earned
by the bank throughout its long life is in no small measure due to its
wise and judicious inanagement. During the decade ending 1871, the
average dividends were 10} per cent. per annum; from 1872 to 1881
they were 10.6, and during that decade, to wit, in the year 1872. a
dividend of as high as 14 per cent. was declared ; from 1882 to 1891
the average was 9°2 per cent,; in 1892 it was 9, falling to 8 in the
following year and to 6 in 1894. The next year the directors did
not feel justified in recommending the declaration of a higher dividend
than 3 per cent., the institution ‘having lost a yoodly sum through
its advances to Plns. Springhall and Cloabrook. No dividend was
declared after 1895 until February, 1902. when one was—at the rate of
2 per cent. for the year.

The British Guiana Bank. 13

Unfortunately in 1895-96, one of the bank’s customers, one of the
best of them, by the way, was allowed considerably to overdraw his
account. This, coupled with the fact that the colonial sugar industry
from which all local commercial institutions derive much of their susten-
ance was in a bad way, had the effect of putting the bank in shallow
water. The situation was gloomy enough. Unsuccessful efforts were
made to get aid from England, when the local Government came to the
rescue by pledging their credit on behalf of the bank. Through this it
became necessary for the Goverament to inanage the concern under a
new Ordinance for a few years until such time as no further assistance
should be required. The crisis was not of long duration, the recovery of
the bank being rapid, and at the present moment the institution is in a
good and sound position, and continues to fulfil the objects for which it
was founded.

The usefulness of the institution has been increased by the opening
of a savines bank branch a few years ago. The British Guiana Bank has
a subscribed capital of £291,666 13 4 and a paid-up capital of £193,025.
Its note circulation amounts to a sum between £55,000 and £70,000.
By the Ordinance (11 of 1900) which governs the operations of the bank
it has*to give securities for its note issue ‘‘equal to not less than
one fourth of the maximum amount of its notes for the time being in
circulation if such amount does not exceed $500,000, and if such amount
exceed $500,000, equal to one-fourth of $500,000, and in addition one-
half of the sum by which such amount exceeds 4500,000.” Agreeably
with this stipulation, the Crown Agents for the Colonies now hold
£18,500 worth of securities for and on account of the note issue of the
British Guiana Bank. The Reserve or Surplus Fund is now some 25 per
cent. of the paid-up capital, and dividends with bonus at the rate of tive
cent. per annum are now being regularly declared.

The agents of the bank are :—London, Union of London and Smiths
Bank, Ltd.; New York, Maitland Coppell & Co. ; British North America,
the Royal Bank of Canada; Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados, the Royal
Bank of Canada. The bank is also represented in the other West
Indian islands. The books of the Corporation, the necessary extracts
from which are sent forward for the purpose, are specially examined by
Mr. Douro Hoare and Mr. C. W. Middleton Kemp in order that they should
advise with respect to advances and the value of certain securities.

The present currency of the colony consists of British token coins,
silver (which is legal tender upon a gold standard), and bronze, and notes
of the British Guiana and Colonial Banks. | For practical purposes
British Guiana stands in the same currency footing as the bulk of the
West India islands, and consists in practice of sterling tokens only.
Accounts, however, are kept in dollars and cents which are the money of
account by law established.

14 Timehri.

AN INTERESTING LETTER.

When the bank was about to be incorporated, its founder Sir James
Carmichael Smyth, addressed the following letter, of historical as well as
general interest to the promoters :—

GENTLEMEN,—TI congratulate you upon the passing of an Ordinance
from which, in my opinion, the most beneficial effects may be expected to be
ep ania by the landed proprietor, the merchant, the mechanic, and the
labourer ; in short, by all classes of the community.

(2.) Burke, in his celebrated speech, urging conciliation with America,
says: ‘ When we speak of the commerce of our colonies fiction lags after truth,
invention is unfruitful; and imagination cold and barren.” Few of the
politicians of that day possessed the gifted mind of Burke. The words as quoted
are considered by the multitude as the rhetorical flowers of the orator, not as
the cool deductions of the statesman, founded upon a careful investigation into
the history of our colonies, and their commercial importance. Every succeeding
year affords, however, additional proof of the political wisdom and foresight of
that great man ; and of the truth of his assertions and predictions.

(3.) The assertion made by Burke with respect to the commerce with our
colcnies in general, may, with the greatest propriety, be applied to the colony
of British Guiana in particular. This colony as yet almost in its infancy,
already imports and consumes British manufactures, annually to the amount of
one and a half million of pounds sterling. Under the blessing of the Almighty
Disposer of events an immense impetus has lately been given to the prosperity
of this colony. The abolition of slavery has given the death blow to that
system of dependence and control which, emanating from the mortgagee in
Europe, pervaded all ranks; and was sensibly felt by all, from the nominal
proprietor of an estate to the humblest slave employed in its cultivation. A
great change has already taken place in the settlements of the inhabitants of
this colony. The proprietor of an estate (owing to payment of the Compen-
sation money) being now either perfectly free or nearly so from all former
engagements with che mortgagee is a happy and independent man. A kinder
and a better feeling between the employer and the labourer, is everywhere
visibly and rapidly gaining ground. The labourer, receiving wages for extra
labour, now feels the adv antage of being diligent and industrious, and the money
he acquires being laid out in the acquisjtion of clothes and other articles for
himself and his family, the merchant imports more largely and the commercial
and manufacturing interests of the Empire are benefited accordingly. It is
impossible to contemplate the improved and improving state of this colony
without the greatest satisfaction.

(4.) Released as the great body of the proprietors are from the pressure
of heavy mortgages, yet it is ev ident that to acquire a competency the greater
number of them must still spend many years in this colony in the superin-
tendence of their affairs. Gentlemen, so situated, will doubtless prefer
employing the surplus of their incomes in profitable Epecuintion jn this colony,
to the remitting of the amount to Europe where capital obtains so small a rate
of interest. The disposable money of the planter will be, hereafter, profitably
employed in the construction of railroads and in the introduction of steam
vessels and other improvements to the great advantage of all interests connected

The British Guiana Bank. 15

with British Guiana. Hence has arisen, in my opinion, the policy and
propriety of forming a Local Bank, an establishment throuch the agency of which
those who have money to advance and those who wish to undertake the
construction of those improvements to which I have alluded, or others of a
similar nature, may be equally accommodated.

(5.) The foregoing are my views upon the subject: and, under the
influence of which I have been friendly from the first to the establishment of a
Guiana Bank. The more I reflect upon the subject the more I am convinced
that the advantage which this community cannot fail to derive from a local
bank, under judicious management and arrangement, will be incalculable.

(6.) A wish to promote the welfare of the colony and to advance the
interests of the inhabitants generally has been the principle by which T have
been solely actuated in putting down my name as a subscriber to the British
Guiana Bank.

Court of Policy,
llth November, 1836.

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AN OLD BOOK UPON’ BARBADOS.

By J. GRAHAM CRUICKSHANK.

Old books are not read much now-a-days, and I know several
people, quite estimable otherwise, who would soon handle a scorpion as
touch a book whose pages are dusty and time-worn. Nevertheless, it is
the heart of a book that counts, and I have found wit and wisdom and
sunshine at the heart of many an old book in rags and tatters. ‘ Old
wine to drink,” says a Spanish author, ‘ old friends to trust, old wood to
burn, old books to read.”

By far the best books on the West Indies are the old ones. I have
been surprised more than once—until now I have got past surprise,—to
find how many excellent books were written about the West Indies in the
old time. They were mainly books of travels, and books on natural
history. All of them have long ago gone out of print, and no publisher
has thought it worth his while to bring out any of them again in a new
edition. Nowadays such books are to be got only by a prompt atten-
tion to the catalogues of the second-hand booksellers. There you will
note them under ‘‘ America” or ‘“ West Indies,” sometimes with the
terrible postscript ‘“‘ worn” or ‘“‘pages frayed” or even ‘‘ worm-eaten, ”
which is quite enough to make the ordinary reader jib immediately. But
the book-lover or historical student is not to be put off so easily, and he
will post an order for that book by return mail, hoping he may not be
told in reply, ‘‘Sold.” Only in this way may you gather as the years
go, a good West Indian library. Only thus you may ever expect to
collect on your shelves a few of the old books to paint for you glowing
little pictures of the brave days in the Caribbean.

I have an old book of a disreputable appearance. I do not mind
that because I know the book, but I can quite imagine that it would
receive short shrift at the hands of a stranger. It is without covers, and
the pages are so brittle that I question whether the binder’s thread would
hold them together. JI am not minded to try the experiment. As a
matter of fact it should not be in such bad order, because the few other
copies I have seen—one other in British Guiana—are in fair order. but
this copy, because of the tattered nature of its wardrobe, went cheap,
and when one wants three old West Indian books and has the money for
two, this point is of some importance as you will observe.

1s Timehri.

The full title of the book is :—

A True & Exact
History
of the Island of

BARBADOS.

[Illustrated with a Map of the Island, as

also the Principall Trees and Plants there, set forth

in their due Proportions and Shapes, drawne out by
their severall and respective Scales.

Together with the Ingenio that makes the Sugar, with
the Plots of the severall Houses, Roomes, and other places that
are used in the whole processe of Sugar-making, viz., the Curing
house, Still-house, and Furnaces ;
All cut in Copper.

By Richard Ligon Gent.
LONDON,

Printed for Humphrey Mosely, at the Prince’s Armes
in St. Paul’s Church-yard : 1657.

Material for a True and Exact View of early Barbados is not abun-
dant. A short chapter on the Island may be found in Captain John Smith's ©
“True Travels, Adventures and Observations” (London: 1630). Two —
manuscripts have been unearthed which throw some light on the infant ©
plantation, namely, Major John Scott's Description, (Sloane 3,662, British |

Guiana,) and the “ Voyage of Sir Henry Colt, Kt.,” preserved in the
University Library, Cambridge. These manuscripts, unearthed and

copied by a West Indian bibliophile, were printed in the Demerara -

“ Argosy,’ but now they are buried again in the back files of that
newspaper ; they are not available in pamphlet form. ‘‘ Cavaliers and
Roundheads of Barbades” (Georgetown: 1887), which is a mine of
information about the infant plantations in the West Indies, gives us two
valuable letters written from Barbados in 1627, and two further letters
dated 1647 and 1648. When we enumerate these documents we about
clear the field.

This dearth of books and of manuscripts is rather astonishing, because
a number of literate people went to Barbados shortly after its settlement,
and they must have written about Barbados to their friends in Old

England or in Virginia. Possibly some more documents may be unearthed —

as the search for buried history goes on.

However, while “canty for more,” we must be thankful for what we —

have, and the True and Exact History of Richard Ligon is a book of value.

a =a SS Ss Ee = 6B

SS ee ee ee ee ee ee ee oe

An Old Book Upon Barbados. 19

Who was Richard Ligon? We know hardly anything of him but
what he tells of himself. He was a Royalist who had been badly hit by
the Great Civil War,-—‘ that Barbarous Riot,” as he calls it. Two years
after Naseby, he resolves, rather than abide in England where he was now
a stranger, many of his friends being dead or scattered, ‘‘ to lay hold on
the first opportunity that might convoy me to any other part of the
World, how far distant soever.” He was then above sixty years of age.

On June 16, 1647, he embarks aboard the “ Achilles,” a ship of 350 tons.

He travelled under the wing of Thomas Modiford, who afterwards became

Governor of Jamaica. After touching at St. Jago, one of the Cape Verde

islands, the ‘‘ Achilles ” arrived at Barbados in September, 1647. Modiford
had intended to plant in Antigua, but was persuaded to buy the moiety

of a plantation in Barbados and to remain there. The traveller may yet
pass in the pleasant parish of St. John the plantation Modiford bought

from Hilliard. It was known as ‘* Bushlands then; it is now ‘“ Kendall’s.”

The ‘‘ Exact History ” is largely autobiographical, and from it one
may fairly gather how Ligon passed his time. His main employment

was to assist Modiford in the ‘“‘ Businesses of plantations.” But he turned
his hand to other work. He was an architect, and he designed for the

Island one or two of its most notable Great Houses, including that on
Indian River plantation, or Fontabelle. He was a Surveyor, and he cut
bush-paths through the woods. He was something of a Cook, and re-

lates how occasionally riding down to the Bridge, and supping at the
taverns of Mistress Joan Fuller and Master Jobson, he imparted to those

worthies hints whereby their cooking of fish was improved. Certainly
the Barbadians to this day know how to prepare fish tastily. As a

_ philosopher and a humorist, intensely interested in the world however
_ dark the world might be, as a raconteur, and as a master on the theorbo,

Ligon was made welcome by all the planters, whether Roundhead or
Cavalier. He dined with Colonel Humphrey Walrond (the Cavalier) at
Indian River plantation, near the sea: he dined with Colonel James
Drax (the Roundhead) at Drax Hall, in the woods. Of both dinners —
the one the natural basis of which was fish, the other the natural basis of

_ which meat—he has left usa True & Exact, affectionately detailed, menu.

As regards the main industry of the Island, the bone and sinew of
plantation, sugar-making, he tells us a good deal. Modiford was mainly

interested in sugar as all the bigger planters were beginning to be in

those days. Tobacco, cotton, indigo, and fustick wood were taking a
back seat. The Royalist finds room, however, to say of tobacco—as do
some other writers of the period—that the tobacco grown in Barbados
was surely the worst on earth.

Ligon had some talk with the African negro who was then reoting

himself in Barbados. I wish that some of this talk had been reproduced,

verbatim, in the book, because this English of the early Blacks was of
quaint interest. His description of one or two of those early ‘“ Salt
Waters” is very tenderly done. Here is a pleasant picture.

20 Timehri.

Being employed in the woods cutting Church wayes, the negro
Sambo “desired me, that he might be made a Christian; for he
thought to be a Christian was to be endued with all those know- ©
ledges he wanted. I promised to do my best endeavour ; and when
I came home, spoke to the Master of the Plantation, and told him,
that poor Sambo desired much to be a Christian. But his answer was,
That the people of that Hand were governed by the Lawes of
England, and by those Lawes we could not make a Christian a Slave.
I told him, my request was far different from that, for I desired him
to make a Slave a Christian. His answer was, That it was true,
there was a great difference in that: But, being once a Christian, —
he could no more account him a Slave, and so lose the hold they had ~
of them as Slaves, by making them Christians ; and by that means
should open such a gap as all the Planters in the land would curse
him. So I was struck mute, and poor Sambo kept out of the Church; —
as ingenious, as honest, and as good a natur’d poor soul, as ever
wore black, or eat green.

We find a word or two also about the white Bondservant, although
not so much as I would like to have found. Whole pages are taken up —
in describing the Palmetto Royal, and such vegetables, which one may —
see for himself any day down Black Rock, and in the sour-grass pastures
about the Hole. But the white Bondservant has disappeared—he is —
buried beneath the mould in forgotten places—and a picture of him, in
greater detail, would have been valuable. However since anything is
better than nothing, we must be thankful for those little vivid touches in
Ligon, which do help us to picture the exiled Kerne as he laboured in the —
field all day and returned at night to his hut of wattle-and-daub.

We have here the Bridge, which was the beginning of Bridgetown.

Upon the most inward part of the bay, stands the Town, which
is about the bigness of Hounslo, and is called the Bridge ; for that a
long Bridge was made at first over a little nook of the Sea, which
was rather a Bog than Sea. A Town ill scituate ; for if they had
considered health, as they did conveniency, they would never have
set it there; of, if they had any intention at first to have built a
Town there, they could not have been so improvident, as not to foresee
the main inconveniences that must ensue, by making choice of so
unhealthy a place to ive in. But, one house being set up, another
was erected, and so a third, and a fourth, till at last it came to take
the name of a Town; Divers Store-houses being there built, to stow
their goods in, for their convenience, being near the Harbour. But
the main oversight was, to build their Town upon so unwholesome a
a place. For, the greund being somewhat lower within the Land
than the Sea-banks are, the spring Tides flow over, and there re-
mains, making a great part of that flat a kind of Bog or Morasse,
which vents out so loathsome a savour as cannot but breathe ill
blood, and is (no doubt) the occasion of much sickness to those
that live there.

An Old Book Upon Barbados. 21

At the time of our arrival, and a month or two after, the sick-
ness raign’d so extreamly as the living could hardly bury the dead ;
and for that this place was near to them, they threw the dead ear-
casses into the bog, which infected so the water, as divers that
drunk of it were absolutely poysoned and died in a few hours after ;
but others, taking warning by their harms, forbear to taste any
more of it.

The ground on either side of the Bay (but chiefly that of the
Eastward) is much Firmer, and lies higher ; and, I believe, they will
in time remove the Town upon that ground, for their habitations,
though they suffer the Store-houses to remain where they are, for
their convenience. But the other scituation may be made with some
charge as convenient as that, and abundantly more healthful.

About the end of 1649 the old Royalist suffered from a grievous
illness, and even more so from the ‘“ Quacksalvers ” who tried to remedy
it. He has his revenge upon those gentlemen by hitting them hard in
his book. Upon recovery, he thought it as well to depart the Island, once
more to ‘suck in some of the sweet air of England.” The air of Barba-
dos at that time—there being divers bogs, and much high wood, breed-
ing fevers and calentures—was not particularly wholesome. Upon the
15th of April, 1650, at midnight,—sailing at that dark hour, he tells us,
the better to evade an Irish Pirate (one Plungnet)* who had for many days
hovered about the Island—Richard Ligon left the West Indies for ever
He had been there for two years and six months. By daybreak they had
lost “ the Barbadoes.”

We turn now to the genesis of the Exact History. It is evident that
Dr. Brian Duppa, Bishop of Salisbury, inspired the book. His name
deserves to be kept green by all Barbadians. Upon Ligon’s return the
Bishop was pleased to enquire about Barbados, an island he was ‘‘ much
interested in.’ But there was little time to tell much when so much was
to be told, so the Bishop imposed the task—‘“ very unfit for me to under-
take,” says Ligon, “being one altogether unlettered “—to deliver in
writing “the sum of all I knew, concerning that Hand.” The Bishop
then read the notes, and advised, for the benefit of those who intended to
adventure upon plantation, they be published as a book.

It is just possible that Ligon may have had some idea of a book,
while in Barbados. Worthy of the most inveterate bookmaker was the
way he worried and harassed Surveyor Captain Swan, to “rub up his
memory, to try and take a little paines in the survey of his Papers, to
try what could be found out there, that might give me some light in the
extent of the [and.”

Be that as it may, the Bishop’s advice settled the matter. The
Royalist falls to re-reading his notes, falls like Surveyor Swan, to ‘“ rub-
bing up his memory.”

* Plunkett (d.)

tw
nm

Timehri.

ee =

Then—horribile dictu !—he finds himself in the Upper Bench
prison. Months passed, and nothing more was heard of the book. If
Ligon was unlettered, as he says he was, but which we, with all
due respect for so veracious a gentleman must refuse to believe, it is
probable that the delay was not without its advantages ; it may be partly
responsible for the ‘ self-pleasing quaintness “of many of his pages,
breathing the old time deliberation! Some months before, the traveller
had been designing “a piece of Landscape, and one of Story, wherein I |
meant to expresse the postures of the Negres, in their severall kinds of —
Sports and Labours ; and with it, the beauties of the Vegetables that do
adorn that place.” But now, being cast into Prison, he was deprived
‘“ both of light and loneliness, two main helpers in that Art.” So the idea
had to be abandoned.

4

J
iH
a

But he was not to be baulked of his book nevertheless. Writing
from Prison on July 12, 1653, this earlier John Bunyan, but of a some-
what dissimilar type, addresses an ‘‘ Epistle Dedicatory ” to the Bishop of
Salisbury. He has put his pages together, he says, and here they are.
The question is, shall he yet publish? On September 5, the Bishop
replies in an affectionate letter, printed after the Dedication. ‘ And for
the question you put to me, whether you should publish it or not, I
desire you would make no doubt of it.” By your aid, he adds, ‘I have
ina few daies gone the same voyage, viewd the Iland, weigh’d all the
Commodities and Incommodities of it, and all this with so much pleasure
that 1 cannot forbear telling you that though I have read formerly many
Relations of other parts of the World, I never yet met with so exact a
piece, as this of yours.”

Four years again elapse. Then in 1657, the True & Exact History —
of the Island of Barbados is published in St. Paul’s Churchyard.

In 1675 a second edition appeared: Printed and_ sold by Peter
Parker, at His Shop at the Leg and Star over against the Royal Exchange,
and Thomas Guy at the corner Shop of Little Lumbard-street and
Cornhill. Beyond the correction of printers’ errors, the second edition
differs not at all from the first. In 1674, the History was published in
Paris,—‘* Histore de l'Isle des Barbados "—along with other African and
American Voyages.

Ligon’s book must have been read by many with great interest. It
was the first book published about Barbados. And Barbados, by the
middle of the seventeenth century, was a place of some note, not to say
notoriety. Already it had defied the Parliament Fleet, and had been
granted its own Charter. For Royalists it was a Cave of Adullam, and
a jumping-off ground for Virginia, Jamaica and Antigua. Beating their
swords into ploughshares, broken soldiers from Marston Moor here
turned from the Field of Battle into the Tobacco Field. And lastly was it
not of this Island of which it had been said, ‘ the prisoners in the Tower
would be Barbadozz’d ” ?

An Old Book Upon Barbados, 23

Evelyn mentions in his Diary that he had perused Ligon. Richard
Steele, too,—whose first wife was a Barbadian—read him too, and in the
“Spectator ” for March 15, 1710-11 (No. 11) borrows from Ligon, with
some inimitable touches of his own, the sad tale of the Indian maid,
Yarico. The wailful fate of Yarico has been told in several languages,
according to the Abbe Raynal.* In the English language, the best
known work after Steele's Essay is the younger Colman’s play of “ Inkle
and Yarico,” in which appeared the well-known lines ;—

Now let us dance and sing
While all Barbadoe’s bells do ring.

As for later writers on the West Indies, not one of them neglects his
Ligon from Sloane onwards.

One asks,—and it is a worthy motive because in historical matters
one dare not trust one’s own grandfather—how far is Ligon’s account of
Barbados reliable? A pleasant humour which plays about his pages has
raised a doubt as to his trustworthiness in the mind of Dry-as-Dust, who
associates a pleasant style with flippancy, and accurate learning with
insufferable dulness. Dry-as-Dust may be quite easy in his mind ; Ligon
may be read with profit as well as pleasure.

No man in his day knew more, about the early records of his native
land than Mr. Nathan Lucas of Farley Hill, Barbados, Mr. Lucas was a
erandfather of Charles Kingsley, and in Kingsley there sprung to deeper
life, the interest in matters of history notable in his vrandfather. Mr.
Lucas was a Judge of the Precinct of St. Michael when he retired on
pension. Unless he has a hobby, your old pensioner is the most desolate
of men. But the Judge had a hobby, and this he rode during the re-
maining years of his life, to his country’s benefit. Did you want the
Judge in those latter years, you might find him among the dusty and
water-stained, burnt and worm-eaten books and papers which littered the
-rubbish-rooms of the old Colonial Secretary’s Office. Nowadays the

historical student will find that four or five of the original volumes of the

early Council Minutes have disappeared. By taking thought however,
he may get Judge Lucas’s copies of those volumes, which are almost as
good, and in one sense better because they are indexed. Here and there,
in his own volumes, the Judge adds a footnote which occasionally runs to
a page or two, and in two or three instances broadens out into a Miscellan-
eous volume, embodying some tradition current in his day, or something
that one of the “ oldest inhabitants ” had told him, in amplification of the
official minute. It is here we touch Ligon, whose statements the Anti-
quary had frequent opportunity of checking.

On page 22 of his book, Ligon mentions the acreage, crop by crop,
together with other particulars of Modiford’s plantation, Judge Lucas
notes :—‘‘ Ligon’s pnrticulars I know to be true, from the original

*« Yarico’s Pond” was formerly a feature of Kendall’s plantation in Barbados. [
visited “‘ Kendall’s ” in 1906 but found that a cow-pen had been built over ‘‘Yarico’s Pond.”

24 Timehri.

Hilliard—Modiford agreement, to which Ligon is a witness, recorded in
the Secretary’s Office.” Alas! this agreement has since disappeared. I
searched for it seven years ago, as a matter of personal curiosity, but it
was not to be found. It may have been among those other Records —
which a former Colonial Secretary, who would be surprised if we called
him a Vandal, as we do, put into twelve bags, and sunk in the bay. In
another place Judge Lucas says :—‘‘ To me, Oldmixon (In the Barbados
section of his ‘British Empire in America’) often appears arrogant,
presumptuous and pert, especially when he quotes the faithful and acecu-
rate Ligon. ‘ Oldmixon,” adds the Judge, in his best Bench manner,
“is always to be credited with caution.”

Judge Lucas is my principal witness. There is really no need for
any other. But other evidence may be adduced if it is wanted. Take
Ligon’s description of sugar-making, for example. His Boyling-House
and Curing-House (allowing for a few improvements which have been
inade during two hundred and fifty years) may be seen any day of the
week among the Barbados hills. Barrels long ago took the place of the
old su_ar-pots, but the term “ potting ” survives, as signifying to cure the
ereen muscovado. On some of those hill estates, too, one may yet see,
as Ligon saw, the canes ‘bound up in faggots,” and brought home,
Devon-fashion, ‘‘ upon the backs of Assinegoes.”

We have heard Ligon on the bog at the Bridge. Some years ago,
when they were digging the foundations of the Public Buildings, some of
the earth was taken away and thrown in the garden of Government
House. Air and sunlight awakened the dead soil, and after a month or
two there was observed to be springing from this earth the green shoots
of the bog mangrove.

Take again Ligon’s description of the Indians, a few of whom,—the
remnant of a batch from Essequebo,—he found in Barbados. He gives
a pleasant picture of the gentle Arawak. It tallies with our knowledge
of the Arawak as we know him to-day in Guiana.

Again, Ligon’s ‘“ Mapp.” A lively presentation of the life of the
Island it is. Here is what looks like a Highlander, in kilts and all,
driving an Assinego. And here, at the north end of the Island, about
that level champaigne, locally known as ‘‘ Champion Ground,” is a man
on horseback shooting at a negro who is running away. That is a touch
of imagination, you might think. But it is not. Look through the early
records, and note in support of the faithful Ligon, a day that was “ set
apart for a general hunting of the runaway negroes.” And for the place
where the runaways were, it was just at the north end of the Island,

where they lurked—they and those rebels, the Irish—in cave and wood
and gully.

Finally, as indicating Ligon’s extreme regard for accuracy, we may
note that he leaves the year of the settlement of Barbados blank. A
later authority has filled it in as 1627.

fae. BPINDUS IN’ THE WEST “INDIES.

By ARCHDEACON JOSA.

In the December Journal some notes appeared on the Religion of
the Hindus and on the Caste System. We propose in the present number
of ‘“Timehri” to give furth-r notes on Woman as she is treated in
India and here, and on some Marriage customs that prevail in India as
well as amongst our own East Indians.

6 WoMAN.”

* What are little girls made of —
Sugar and spice and all that’s nice,
And that’s what little girls are made of.”

If the Indian ayas, or nurses, indulge in nursery rhyme3, we wonder
whether they would not rather say that little girls are male of ‘“ snaps
and snails, and puppy dogs’ tails.” Woman holds no place of honour in
Hinduism. And although there are many goddesses yet these goddesses
have nothing in common with woman—as we understand that term.
These goddesses are worshipped because they are dreaded. The goddess
Kal, the most popular of all goddesses, haunts cemeteries, her garlands
are serpents, her necklaces human skulls! She is the destructive deity.
Her hands are dyed with gore, and one of her four hands is represented
as holding a naked sword, ready for vengeance.

But let us trace woman from her infancy, as she is in India and here.
We have read somewhere that as soon as a baby girl is born into the
world, the accoucheuse looks into the face of the father, and if a certain
sign is made, the accoucheuse places her hand on a well-known spot on
the head and the child ceases to live. It is terrible to think on such
things. In Demerara it should be stated no such thing is ever practised
amongst our coolies, as a child of-either sex seems welcome.

A female child, as a first-born, is a source of mourning to a family!
The Hindu believes that no one can perform his funeral rites but his son ;
and so he dreads that bis soul will not rest in peace, if there be no male
to perform then. Then again for a female child a dowry is to be pro-
vided—in fact she is a continuous source of trouble.

The poor girl Jeads a life of entire subordination. She is ignorant,
and kept so purposely. A learned Pandit once said words to this eftect,
that it was impossible for their women to be taught to read, unless Indian
literature is entirely changed. It is too immoral for them to read! When
the time of marriage arrives the girl is asked no questions. She marries
the one chosen by her parents. The following free translations from
Hindu sacred books will show, how that such a thing as “ Woman's
rights” are unknown in India. It is said ‘“ woman whether she be a

26 Timehri.

child, a girl, or an old woman, she cannot do anything in the house as a
free agent. In her childhood she is under the authority of her father, in
her youth under that of her husband, and after the death of her husband
she is in subjection to her children!” ‘She can never be free.”

The following passage hits at men somewhat hard, yet our ladies
would not quite like to follow the commands of this Shastra :—

‘A woman should never look on a man’s beauty or youth, it should
not matter to her whether he is handsome or ugly, let her adore his
manhood only ; man is by nature busy, inconstant, and hard-hearted,
therefore it is her duty te keep an eye on him !”

A woman is not allowed to sit together with her father, brother, or
husband, nor to eat with them. We have frequently noticed in this
country the males eating out of a saucepan, and when they were satisfied,
to throw down the saucepan for a woman, and in many instances, with
not as much grace as we give food to our dogs! Woman is a mere chattel.
Our readers must frequently have noticed that when the coolies take
their wives for a walk, they invariably walk in front and the women
follow, generally at a distance of some two or three yards.

It would also appear that there is no necessity for a woman to have
any religion, and if we read Manu's rightly, he says :—

‘“ For women there is no need of a special religion, abstinence, or
religious fasting, for by their revering their husbands, they are considered
great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

We hope our lady friends will not mind our next quotation. We
will endeavour to translate it into as mild English as we can—

“Tt is a natural fault of a weman to utter what is not true, to do
things without consideration, to make use of stratagem, to sry hard words,
as well as to be impure and cruel. It is also their nature to blame their
husbands, therefore let wise men beware of women ! ”

There was a time—we are happy to be able to use the past tense,—
there was a time, when woman was considered very useful and all that
was good. This was atthe time of Suttee—or the practice of burnins
women alive after the death of their husbands. Professor Max Muller
has proved that there is no passage in the Vedas sanctioning the burning
of women. It was an “ innovation and a heresy ; but it was an innovation
of 2,000 years standing, and a heresy abetted by the priesthood since the
days of Alexander.” Women are expressly forbidden even to follow their
husbands to the graves, as the following passage proves :—

“With the verse ‘ Rise woman’ the wife ascends to follow her dead
husband; the younger brother of the departed repeating the verse,
prevents her. The Hotri priest performs that act, if there is no brother-
in-law, but to follow the dead husband is forbidden, so says the law of the
Brahmans.” ; .

The Hindus in. the West Indies. D7

It was a bold yet a noble step on the part of the British Government
to prohibis ‘“ widow burning ” and though the condition of woman is still
a forlorn one, yet matters are improving. In the after literature of India,
woman is made to perform great wonders through the burning of her
body. ‘ By it she saves her husband from hell fire.” By sacrificing
herself “ she is able to save her husband and all her relatives! Even if a
woman’s husband is a murderer ‘“ suttee” obliterates all his sins!” But
if woman is considered to be “ sin personified ” when alive, what extra-
ordinary things she is able to do by her death! “ As the eagle snatches
a serpent from his hole, so a woman by performing ‘suttee delivers her
husband from hell and rejoices together with him in heaven.” (11.)

A local writer (2) states that woman ‘has no choice in any matter
throughout life.” To prove that abject obedience is required of women, we
will quote the following : ‘‘ A woman ‘s not allowed to go out of the house
without the consent of her husband, nor to laugh without a veil over her
face, nor to stand at the door, nor look out at the window. She was
made for servitude to her husband, she has no fitness for his equal
companionship.” (2.}

We have frequently asked women to give us the names of their
husbands, and invariably they have refused so to do. The reason of this
seems to be that a slave has no business to pollute the very sound of her
ord and master’s name. We have also been told that if a woman dare
mention her husband’s name, “ something ” will of a surety happen to him.

The women of India are celebrated for their modesty, and we have
frequently noticed the women here to cover their heads as soon as they
have noticed a maa pass by. We believe we are correct in stating that
the women in India are as moral as the women of Ireland. Such a thing
as a woman | aving her husband is unknown. Here in Demerara quite
the reverse prevails. Is it any wonder then that the Hindu who,
according to his own religion, is so far superior to the woman, when he
finds that his wife has proved unfaithful, takes his “cutlass ” and makes
mincemeat of such a thing ? He considers woman a mere chattel. We
feel for the man. We could almost wish that capital punishment were
abolished for such as he—until he learns to understand that woman is his
equal—his help-mate—his “ wife.”

Here in Demerara, the condition of the woman is greatly enhanced.
She earns her own living. The manager pays her wages into her hands
and she altogether feels that she is a rational being. We have known
some Indian women keep their husbands in proper subjection as their
sisters do, or try to, in the West. Just imagine a woman daring to
‘“suinmons ” her lord and master in India! Here on the other hand it is
frequently done and we see “ Sanichari ” suing ‘‘ Mangal ” for money lent.

Immigration to this and other countries has greatly improved the
conditions of the East Indian woman and as women are so scarce in this
colony they feel their power. They are also sure that they can exchange

28 Timehri.

one lord and master for another with the greatest ease. It is shortsighted-
ness on the part of our Government not to import more women. There
is a great deal of crime and murder here. Import more women and the
evil will disappear. Why not import the child-widow of India ?

MARRIAGE.

It has already been stated that it is the duty of every man who
profess the Hindu Religion to be married ; it is equally an object of re-
proach for any woman to remain unmarried. A party of old maids to
escape from this reproachful condition, have been known to unite them-
selves in marriage with old men as their friends were carrying them to
die on the banks of the Ganges! It is therefore an anxious thought of
every parent to marry his offspring, and this is the reason which causes
the betrothal at an early age—frequently during infancy. Such
betrothals are considered binding on the part of the young people. It is
binding on the part of the parents to procure husbands for their
daughters who very frequently are married to men three or four times
older than themselves.

In British Guiana also marriages are contracted very early. It is
said in their books “The giver (the father) of a Gauri (a girl eight
years of age) obtains the heaven of the celestial dieties; the giver of a
Rohini (of nine years) the heaven of Vishnu ; the giver of a Kanya (of
ten years) the heaven of Brahma; and the giver of a Rajaswali (above
ten years of age) * * * * sinks into hell”! ! !(3) This passage explains
fully why the people are married so early and then one ought to bear in
mind that Indian girls arrive at the age of puberty at an earlier age than
their European sisters. An English girl, for instance, at twenty-five or
thirty is in her prime—whilst an Indian woman of that same age is
wrinkled, emaciated and looks an old woman.

The Jaws of Manu enumerate eight kinds of marriage, but as
some of these are prohibited and two only are practically in use, we
will not make mention of the other six. The two in use are the
Gandharva and the Rakshasa rites. The former is a simple mutual
consent from the affection without any mutual rite, made in the
presence of the parents and relations; the latter is the marrying
of a girl forcibly, just as if she were a prize carried off in war. ‘‘ Though
polygamy is permitted by every Hindu Code and in every age to all
classes, yet the practice of it among the Hindus is not generul ; in fact it
seldom happens even among the wealthy. When more wives were taken
during the lifetime of the first, she is always considered as the mistress of
the family ; all religious ceremonies are conducted by her and under her
exclusive management. The other wives who are denominated secondary,
or auxiliary wives, are considered as her younger sisters, from whom, as
to their senior and superior, all deference and respect, and even service, if
required is due.

The marriage festivities last for several days. The marriage pro-
cessions have often been described as gaudy in the extreme. No

Lh S 9 ec aN N RC GEE A A tN CRIED LO BE NAN GARE NERS AA AS 5 TUG he CR I IE TMS

The Hindus in the West Indies. 29
“respectable” marriage can be celebrated at a smaller cost than $2,500
and it has been known to exceed $60,000. The savings of years are thus
dissipated in a few days of extravagance, and families which were in
comfortable circumstances are plunged into poverty and debt by the
marriage of one of their members.

The expenditure consists not in eating or drinking or the giving of
presents to the bride. ‘The Hindus are very abstemious, and it is not the
eating and drinking that runs away with the money, but the giving of
presents of garments and moneys to the guests, feeing the Brahmans,
processions, and fireworks.

As the Hindu are very superstitious, and believe in the science of
astrology, they never “fix the day ” until the Jyotishi or family astrologer,
has fixed the auspicious day and hour. The bride is given away by her
father or his representstive at her own home. .

The ceremony begins by worshipping Ganesha, who should be
invoked at the beginning olf every action, for it is the province of this
deity to ward off the obstacles by which all undertakings are liable to be
thwarted by the malice of evil spirits. In the case of the marriage of
Brahmans, the most important parts of the ceremony are—

(a) The saptapadi (4) the leading of the bride around the sacred fire
each time in seven steps.

(b) The offering of the burnt oblation (Loma) by the bridegroom.

(c) The binding together of the bride and bridegroom by a cord
passed around their necks.

(d) The tying together of their dresses. (5.)

In this colony we have noticed that in addition to some of the cere-
monies abovementioned—both the coolie bride and bridegroom put on a
gold or silver necklace called /asli, and if the people are too poor they
borrow it.

After the ceremony is ended the bride is taken to the bridegroom’s
father’s house and the husband puts her under the care of his mother.
The mother-in-law considers her son’s spouse as little better than a slave.
Hence very often the Hindu spouse flies back to her parents, and the
misery of a married life begins.

Not only is the Hindu bride placed under the care of her good
mother-in-law;- but also in an apartment set apart for ladies. These
apartments are called Zenanas. They are usually the most dreary places,
never visited by men. In Europe, and here, if we canuot give the ladies
better rooms than those occupied by the men, at any rate they possess
the best possible apartments. It is not so in India. The man have the
best rooms and ‘he best furniture, the women the worst rooms and no
furniture at all. As the bride has no accomplishments, she cannot play,
paint or read, sc her life is a wearisome one. A great deal of her time is

/

30 Timehri.

spent in amusing herself in putting on her ornaments and adorning her-
self. The poor women have their household duties to perform, their
curries and sweetmeats to make to please their husbands. They have a
good deal of time on their hands which is spent in sauntering and talking
for ever, talking—possibly scandal.

The same costumes that were in vogue 200 years ago are in vogue
now. There are no fashion plates to consult; no milliners’ heavy bills to
be dreaded. And we believe that ladies in India do not continually run
to their husbands to complam that they ‘‘ have nothing to put on.”

But surely the very fact that a woman was the Sovereign Empress of
India, must doa great deal to better woman’s position. The Queen-
Empress Victoria, is already worshipped in India as a deity ; let us hope
that the people wil! soon desist in this but learn from Victoria’s life what
is the true position of woman, of a wife

The marriage customs of this colony are in several points like those
of India. We have noticed one difference particularly. The bride does |
net bring a dowry, but her husband frequently has to make handsome
presents to her parents to obtain their consent and several parents hope
to live on their son-in-law. ‘Ihis is owing to the scarcity of women.

The marriages in this colony are performed by Brahmans according
to the Hindu law but the coolies themselves prefer to be married by a
Christian minister, not because they believe the marriage to be more
binding in a religious point of view, but because they hope that by being
so married their wives may not be enticed away. ‘They desire to be
married ‘English fashion.” The question arises are the marriages
performed by the Christian ministers valid, in point of law, in the case of
immigrants who are heathen?’ We unhesitatingly reply in the negative.
In the first place, the heathens are made to go through a service in the
name of the Most Holy Trinity, in whom they do not believe. Secondly,
Ordinance No. 10 of 1860 was passed “‘for the due celebration and
registration of the marriage of heathen immigrants ~ no minister of any
denomination, therefore has any business to marry heathen immigrants
on the face of this Ordinance.

According to the English law it is necessary “in order to constitute
a valid marriage that the parties must be able to contract, willing to
contract, and must actually contract in the proper forms and solemnities
required by law to be observed.” For Christians the Order in Council
-of September 7th, 1838, is still in force. We maintain that, apart from
the mockery of performing a service which is to make the contracting
parties act a lie, these marriages are not valid. Possibly at some future
date some important case may be brought forward which will shew that
we are right in the interpretation of the law.

(a) There are now several centres throughout the colony which enable
our heathen coolies to marry before a magistrate or other civil authority
after giving proper notice.

The Hindus in the West Indies. Sit

(6) * The Indian immigrant must be made to feel and know that all
marriages contracted in the colony are as binding as those performed in
his own country. ‘The present law is not considered in this light by
them, but looked upon as a matter of convenience, to be thrown aside
whenever it becomes irksome.” This might be done by having some
ceremony which would impress our coolies. Marriages performed at the
Immigration Department lack a ceremony and show.

(c) Considering the frequent wife-murders that occur in the colony,
some stringent laws should be enacted to prevent the enticing away of
women.

(d) But the very best means of improving our coolies in this respect
would be by importing a few ship-loads of women, and also endeavour
to persuade our coolies to inter-marry with creoles, and vice versa. We
know of several of these marriages that have proven very happy.

There is one more point and we conclude. Many coolies for the sake
of being married have consented to be baptised. ‘here is a vast differ-
ence between christening and Christainizing. Such baptisms will bring
the Christian Religion into discredit. We also believe that the coolies
are greatly demoralized by this lowering of the standard of Christianity.
‘We cannot help asking the question ‘‘ Would Christian Ministers perform
such marriage ceremonies if there were no fees ? ”

The Clergy, some of them, do not seem to know that there is a law
which forbids even publication of banns under the penalty of £10 without
first obtaining permission from the Immigration Department to publish
the banns—for it frequently happens that the contracting parties have
already another partner, duly registered at the Depot. This permit of
the Immigration Agent General however only safeguards the officiating
minister from incurring the penalty but in most cases when the contract-
ing parties were born in India, it is fairly safe to conclude that they
were already married in India.

(1) Max Muller’s “ Chips.” Vol. 11, 34, 38, 10.

(2) Bronkhurst “ The Origin of the Guyanian Indians ” page 23.
(5) Do. Do. Do. page 23.
(4) Saptapadi, ef the Latin septem and pes pedis =seven steps.

(5) Monier Williams’s “ Hinduism,” p. 63,

ite PLANTERS), INSECT. FRIENDS.

By Harotp W. b. Moore.

Every part of the sugar-cane is hable to attack by insects. The
blades are sapped by scale-insects, and also eaten by grasshoppers and
caterpillars. The stem is sapped by other scale insects, and bored and
tunnelled by another set of caterpillars, by beetles and beetle larvae, and
by wood-ants. Lastly, the underground parts are assaulted by wood-ants,
scale-insects, and a third lot of caterpillars.

Were these various pests allowed to have their own way the cultiva-
tion of the sugar-cane in british Guiana would be an absolute impossi-
bility. They are not, however, permitted to damage, kill, and destroy
the canes without let or hindrance, for they are vreatly hampered, and in
some cases even completely stopped, in their diabolicai work by several
agencies, one of the principal of which are certain other insects, and it is
of some of these, which constitute the planters’ insect friends, I now pro-
ceed to give a short account.

Let us begin with insects which attack the blades, and let us note
some of their insect cnemies.

The moths Remigia repandu and Laphyqma frugeuperda, it dis-
turbed from rest, are, sill flyine, eagerly seized and devoured by the
big green dragon- fly or pond-fly Lepthemis vesciculosa. In his grasp
they are powerless. He perches with them on a cane-blade or other
eminence, cuts off their head, wings, and other almost juiceless parts, and
then gnaws into their thorax, so that death is fairly speedy. It is the
caterpillars, not the adult moths, that destroy the blades, but nevertheless
by consuming the moths the dragou-fly prevents to some extent the
deposition of eggs, which, if not parasitized or otherwise destroyed, would
eventually produce harmful caterpillars.

The eges of Laphygma frugiperda are parasitized by a iminute
yellow hymenopterous insect, apparently the same which is also a para-
site of the eggs of the small moth-borers, while those of Lycophotva
infecta, also a moth, are parasitized by a little black hymenopteron,
named Velenongus atripes by the late Peter Cameron. I once obtained
egg-clusters of this last moth aggregating nearly a thousand eggs, and of
these fully 687 had been killed off by this parasite.

Before going further it may be well to explain for the benefit of the
general reader the way in which egg-parasites work. It is as follows :—
The full-grown parasites, which are always micruscopic, sometimes only
about the size of the ordinary full-stop used in punctuation, seek out eggs
which butterflies, moths, or other insects have freshly laid. On finding
such eges they deposit their own eggs inside of these by piercing the egg-

34 Timehri

shells with a special organ known as the ovipositor. The eggs of the
parasites rapidly hatch into tiny grubs that eat up the egg-yolk in which
they find themselves immersed, and thus prevent the hatching of hurtful
caterpillars or larve. The grubs, of which sometimes half-a-dozen or
more may obtain enough sustenance in a single egg, then change into

pup, and finally into adult parasites, which then emerge into the outer 2
world by breaking a hole in the lepidopterous or other egg-shell which i

imprisons them, and fly off to parasitize other eggs in turn.

Not only are the eggs of Laphyqma frugiperda parasitized, but the
caterpillars for these are attacked by an ichneumon named Lnicospilus
guyanensis by Cameron. In its larval stage it feeds inside the caterpillars,
one to each caterpillar, and emerges as an adult from a tough brown cell
which is more rounded and more tapering at the posterior than at the
anterior end. It is one of our commonest ichneumons, and is sure to put
in an appearance in cane-fields whenever its host is in season.

It may be mentioned here that the caterpillars of Laphygma frugi- |
perda are cannibalistic, preying not only on one another but on cater-
pillars and pup of skipper butterflies. If they happen to enter the ~
retreat of a skipper caterpillar they do not hesitate to attack any ©
caterpillar or pupa hidden therein. They are therefore both enemies —

and friends of the planters, but on the whole they are more enemies than
friends.

Caligo oberon, one of our biggest butterflies, is frequently met with

in cane-fields, A check on its undue multiplication oceurs in the shape
of a Chalcid parasite, which emerges from the pupa of the butterfly. A
pupa which has suftered parasitism is readily recognisable by the holes
gnawed in it by the parasites at the time of their emergence.

The caterpillars of about a dozen skipper butterflies (Hesperiide)
may be fuund in our cane-fields. They form retreats by folding the
blades edge to edge, or by making one or more incisions from the edge
towards the midrib, and then folding over the portion next the one
incision or between the two incisions. These retreats although indicat-
ing to parasites the position of their host must be regarded as protective
on the whole. Hymenopterous parasites of skippers include a Joppa, a

Zelemorpha, and Chalcis annulata. The first and third emerge from —

pup of the butterflies, the second from caterpillars.

The Joppa larva hollows the skipper pupa to a mere shell, and
itself transforms therein to a pupa, which is fairly discernible on account
of the semi-transparency of the pupa shell of its host. In due time the
head part of the skipper pupa is broken away and out comes the lively
parasite. But a single Joppa occurs in a pupa.

Several individuals, however, of Chalcis annulata, a very common
insect, occur in a pupa, and on emerging leave ugly looking holes to tell
how the pupa met its death. Attacked pupe turn dusky yellow brown
with the skin glassy and transparent.

)
|

The Planters’ Insect Friends. 35

A caterpillar attacked by a Zelemorpha becomes quiescent, fixes
itself to the blade, dies, and then turns dark brown. The _ parasite
pupates within the caterpillar, and at the time of emergence gnaws a
hole in the back of the ninth and tenth segment.

The caterpillars of certain Pyralid moths, species of Syngamia, are
badly parasitized by a Tachinid fly. There is also a brisk demand for
them by a wasp, a mud-dauber named Odynerus clavilinatus by
Cameron, which requires them to place in its cells to serve as food for
its larve. It is most interesting to watch this wasp deliberately search-
ing the cane-blades for the caterpillars. Its actions show it to be as
much aware as the human entomologist that attention need be directed
only to folded blades.

If we be in a thoughtful mood the spectacle reminds us that
hymenoptera used to sally forth on entomological expeditions at a period
in the earth’s history antedating the appearance of man, and we cannot
but feel humbled by the fact that we are toa great extent mere copyists
of what—wasps! Here we are in a field on the look out for folded
cane-blades to see if the folds contain caterpillars, and there along with
us is an Odynerus doing exactly the same thing, which it knew of before
we did, and getting through its hunting more expeditiously and, perhaps,
more successfully too, than we are getting through ours.

The eggs of a leaf-hopper, one of the Fulgoride, a sucking insect of
the plant-bug group, may often be seen in canefields. They are
deposited in the blade itself, just beneath the upper surface, in clusters of
about a dozen. They are laid side by side in a row. On a casual
glance they may be mistaken for eggs of the small moth-borer as the
spot in which they are laid turns yellow white and thus causes a resem-
blance to the egg-cluster of the moth-horer. They are parasitized by an
elongate black hymenopteron, which probably is mainly responsible for
keeping the leaf-hopper low down in the category of minor pests.

A scale-iusect, apparently a Pulvinaria, is now and then observed on
cane-blades, its presence being always accompanied by busy throngs of
black ants. It never, however, becomes rampant, one reason being the
existence of a Chalcid which parasitizes it sometimes to the extent of
over 907.

Various grasshoppers damage the can. -blades. Two of their insect
enemies are the Sphegid wasps, Sphea ichneumoneus and Chlorion (Pro-
terosphex) neotropicus, which require them as food for their Jarve. The
wasps, which first paralyze the grasshoppers by stinging, may now and
then be seen with burdens all but too heavy for them to carry.

Coming to the insects which attack the cane stem, the first whose
enemies I shall deal with is the mealy-bug, which is a Coccid or scale-
insect, and one which is somctimes abundant enough to be a serious pest.
It has quite a number of insect enemies, being parasitized by certain

36 Timehri

minute hymenoptera, and being fed on by Coccinellid beetles and their
larvee, by the larvee of lace-wing flies (Chrysopid), and probably by the
larve of a Cecidomyiid fly. None of these friends has as yet been
identified,

The larvee of some of the Coccinellids are thickly covered with white
fluff so resembling that of the mealy-bug that it is often a little difheult
to detect them among a mass of their prey.

The eggs of the mealy-bug lace-wing fly are yellow or yellow white,
borne each on a long slender classy transparent stalk, by which they are
attached to the cane-blades in a group of over a score at times. When
first hatched the larve are naked but have a few hairs. As soon, how-
ever, as they begin to roam about in search of food they commence form-
ing on their back a covering of various materials, such as a mealy-bug fluff,
and odd bits of stuff from surfaces over which they wander. Their body
hairs assist In supporting the covering. ‘Their jaws are streng, curved,
and sharp, admirably suited for piercing their victims, which they some-
times transfix and bear away. ‘They pupate beneath their curious cover-
ings, affixing themselves to cane-blades, dry er green. In about two
weeks after pupation the adults emerge. They are handsome delicate
creatures, green, with long antenne and four gauzy wings, and eyes with
a golden green iridescence.

The larve of a Cecidomyiid is abundant among masses of mealy-bug
on the eggs of which they seem to fee!. The adult fly is reddish, clothed
with dusky brown scales, and has the wings densely hairy.

The most terrible pests of the cane are the small moti-borers Diatrwa
saccharalis and Diatreu canella. These are responsible for more damage
and loss than all the other pests combined. It is therefore of the great-
est interest to tind that they have several insect enemies, some of whieh
are of the highest importance.

The most valuable of their enc mies are two hymenopterous parasites
first discovered in the colony by Mr. J.J Quelch. At times they para-
sitize the moth-borer egos to the extent of 75°, and more. One of the
parasites is yellow, the other black, The former is the commoner of the
two, wnd whereas the latter occurs singly i in each egg of the moth-borer,
several of the former may be noticed in a single egg. Egg-clusters para-
sitized by either soon become of a black colour, which is more complete
and opaque in case of the yellow one than in that of the black, because
with the latter the Diatrcea egg-shells show as a more or less transparent
ring around the contained black parasites. Mr. Quelch mentions the
interesting and HT gE fact that the parasites on emerging immediately
copulate. In his “Interim Report un Insect Pests,” “April, 1911, he
says :—‘‘ It was curious to note during the emergence of these little forms
from the egg in which they had passed their whole development, the
method by which fertilisation occurs. The previously freed males kept
closely to the egg-cluster, taking note when any female began to break |

The Planters’ Insect Friends. 3

through, fertilisation taking place at once after emergence after some
struggle among the males. The females were thus at once prepared for
the deposition of fertile eggs.”

[ have observed the life-history of the yellow parasite from egg-
laying to adult, I was enabled to do’ so in the following way. On the
afternoon of Friday, August 30th gone, I was in a eanefield of an East
Coast estate searching for freshly laid egg-clusters of Diatrcea. Shortly
after securing one and while I had it in my hand on a bit of the blade on
which it had been deposited, one of the yellow parasites alighted on it
and began to parasitize it. So engrossed was the tiny creature in its
task, that it kept to it even though I continued moving along on the
hunt for more clusters. Now and then I paused to note under a hand
lens the method of parasitization. It began its work at 3 p.m., and
about 4.30 p.m., by. which time I had travelled back by batteau to the
factory yard, it seemed to have finished. During the hour and a half it
walked off from the cluster three or four times but returned again each
time to resume thrusting its ovipositor into the eggs. It seemed that it
desired to make sure it had dealt thoroughly with each of the thirteen
egos composing the cluster.

By Sunday, * September Ist, several granular objects—the developing
parasites— could be seen in the eggs, which had then begun to show
very faint orange traces. By the next mor ning the cluster was beginning
‘to blacken, and “by Tuesday it was quite black. By Wednesday “of the
following week the parasites had emerged, thus giving about 12 days
from ego-laying te adult. On another occasion on a West Coast estate
I came upen a parasite at rest on an egg-cluster. I brought it from the
field, and carried it on a railway journey of 11 miles to the ferry wharf.
While waiting for the ferry steamer darkness began to come on, and it
was only then that the parasite became restless, and flew away to seek
shelter for the night I supposed. The parasites are so tiny and frail,
and must often have to search so lone and hard for fresh eyg-clusters
that it is not to be wondered at that when they discover one they
become oblivious of everything save the immediate businesss in hand,
viz., that of parasitizing the eggs in order to continue their own species.
Neither of these parasites has been identified by a specialist, but the
yellow one is probably T'richogramma pretiosa which is found in the

West Indies.

Although the yellow one is oftener met with, instances may be
observed where eggs over entire fields have been parasitized almost
exclusively by the black one.

Another important parasite of Diatroea is a Braconid corresponding
to one in the local museum named Jphiaulax medianus by Cameron.
It is red with wings fusecous, but nearly hyaline towards the base, and
with stigma yellow or ochraceous. It parasitizes the caterpillars singly,
and is at ceitain times plentiful in severely infested fields. The adult
female parasite on alighting upon a cane, sesrches for a Diatrca boring,

38 Timehri.

and having found one is informed of the presence and position of a
caterpillar within the cane probably by the vibrations set up by its
enawing and movements. She then endeavours to reach it by thrusting
her long ovipositor up into the tunnel or boring _ If the caterpillar be
beneath a leaf-sheath which it has nearly gnawed through, she gets at it
by piercing the leaf-sheath at the spot where the caterpillar is eating.
The I phiaulax larva is dirty or yellow white, and feeds externally on the
caterpillar, at first just gently imbibing its juices, but when full growth
is approaching practically eating it up. Near the last stages growth
is so rapid that it can double its size in a single night. If it be detached
from a caterpillar, it appears usually to be unable to regain its hold, with
the result that it perishes. In the tunnel of the caterpillar it constructs _
a white or dirty white cocoon in which it pupates, the perfect insect :
appearing about 12 to 14 days after. The cocoon is cylindrical, flat at 7
the ends.

;

;
P

pea et

q

The female Iphiaulax seems to endeavour to select for attack full- '
grown or nearly full-grown caterpillars. She certainly, however, makes }
mistakes sometimes, and attacks caterpillars that are not big enough to ;
afford sufficient nutriment to her laryee which therefore perish. We can —
excuse her, since she does not see the caterpillar she attacks. I have 4
come across instances where larvz have finished oft their caterpillar, but —
to be faced with death by starvation. f

A caterpillar with an Iphiaulax larva upon it is always observed to —
be in a state of coma or paralysis no matter if the larva be so young as
evidently to have been not long disclosed from the egg. In fact the
larva being an external feeder would run the risk of being fatally bruised
against the walls of the tunnel by a violent movement of the caterpillar,
or of being jerked off its back to perish ultimately of starvation, were
not the caterpillar thrown into a state of virtual quiescence. I have not
determined satisfactorily the manner in which the paralyzed condition is
produced. Can it be by some act of the adult female Iphiaulax at the time
she lays her egg? It would hardly seem so, as the Braconids are not
poison-secreting hymenoptere. Even assuming that it results from some
act of the female at the time of oviposition, the paralyzed state does not
perhaps occur immediately, for on two occasions while breeding Diatreea —
moths from caterpillars collected from the field I got out an Iphiaulax, ~
and the caterpillars which gave the parasite had at first been quite as lively
as their unparasitized fellows. Indeed, I was quite unaware that any of the
caterpillars was parasitized, as none, when collected, had parasite larvee
upon them. It seems more likely that the paralyzed condition is caused
by some act of the parasite larve in their earliest stages. In every
instance where I have found young larvee they have always been affixed
to the thorax at a point immediately behind the head. and paralysis of
the caterpillar probably results from the larve attacking. as a first act
after hatching from the egg, its nervous system.*

DP?

ee i ee

ee

a i el

Oar Ld Oe Eee Pd IT epee, 5 we

*See Note 3 at end of article. } |

The Planters Insect Friends. 39

The gangs which estates employ to cut out the Diatrcea caterpillars
from “dead hearts” destroy a number of this useful parasite. When
they cut open the ‘‘dead hearts” in search of the Diatrcea caterpillars,
larve and pupz of the parasite, if present, often get fatally injured, or
the larve are put into the tins where they perish among the heaps of
writhing caterpillars. Such destruction is unavoidable, as it is impossible
to tell without cutting it open whether or not a “ dead heart” contain a
parasite. Even the mere displacement of the parasite larve generally
means its death since it is, as already stated, usually unable to regain its
hol on the caterpillar.

Two other species of Iphiaulax, besides Jphiaulax medianus, are
seen in canefields, and they are probably parasites of Diatrcea or of some
other cane-pest.

Cremnops parvifasciatus, which the local Museum possesses a male
named by Cameron, is also a Braconid parasite on Diatroea caterpillars. It
is not as common an insect as [phiaulax medianus. It is red with the
thorax largely black.

An Ichneumonid parasite of the caterpillars occurs in a species of
Mesostenoideus, but it is rare.

It may he of interest to mention that the adult Iphiaulax and Crem-
nops feed on the moist ends of seeds of the razor-grass, a species of
Paspalum. -Iphiaulax I have also observed sipping up the honey-dew
which drops on leaves of plants infested by seale-insects (Coccide) and
white-fly (Aleurodide).

The big black ant known as the kop-kop carries off Diatrcea cater-
pillars which happen to be met with strolling abroad as they sometimes
have to do when seeking fresh food. A siagle ant is strong enough to
walk off with a caterpillar, which resists with allits might, contorting itself
and frequently clinging desperately to various objects encountered en
route to its captor’s abode.

Another black ant abundant in many cane-fields is the ‘‘ running ant,”
probably identical with the one which often infests houses. Quite recently
I saw a number of them devouring a fresh Diatroea egy-cluster, so that
they must be regarded as beneticial.

The practice, which so widely obtains, of burning the trash from the
canes destroys large numbers of both these useful ants, as both often nest
under the clasping bases of old dry blades.

The tarvee of Carabid beetles are predaceous, and three or four times
I have come across one of these larve attacking Diatroea caterpillars in
their tunnels. They are active creatures, and roam about, when necessary,
in search of their prey.

Metamusvus hemipterus, the weevil-borer which attacks cane-tops,
stems and shoots at weak points, has a hymenopterous parasite in the

40 - Timehri.

shape of a Braconid, which, as a lirva, feeds externally on the larva of
the weevil, for on one occasion upon splitting open a cane containing a
weevil-larva I discovered a Braconid larva sucking it. I did not succeed
in rearing the parasite, but the larva seemed the same as that of
Iphiaulaz medianus, already mentioned as a_ parasite of Diatroea
caterpillars.

Mallophora calidus, one of the hawk-flies (Asilidze) is sometimes met
with in canefields, having an adult weevil-borer in its grip. the Asilids
are a group of carnivorous flies, with strong bodies, and strong feet
furnished with strong claws. They have also a hard sharp beak which
they drive into their prey on seizing it. The larger kinds are capable of
tackling such stubborn stuff as beetles, cowflies, bees, and wasps.

Aspidiotus sacchari is a scale-insect which sometimes forms very
thick incrustations on the lowest joints of the cane, and on the stool
underground, often including the roots and rootlets. It is parasitized by
a minute hymenopteron.

Wood-ants are sometimes more destructive to cane-stools even than
Custnia licus, the giant moth-borer. Kop-kop ants are great enemies of
them. Ifa wood-ant nest be broken to pieces so that the insects have to
disperse, kop-kops soon appear, and proceed to march off each with a
wood-ant. When wood-ants are swarming they are liable to be harassed
by several foes, among them being our common small social black and
yellow wasp, Polybia occidentalis, which seizes them and carries them off,

The principal stool pest is Castnia licus, the large moth-borer, but
it does not appear to be seriously attacked by insect enemies. Mr. Quelch
has observed kop-kop ants attacking moths which have just emerged
from the chrysalis, and which are then practically helpless, bemg unable
as yet to use their wings in flight. He also found a fairly large carnivor-
ous beetle larva which fed on the Castnia caterpillars in the stools. Sub-
sequently I also obtained one of these larvee, which I attempted to rear
but without success.

In concluding this article I shall only point out that the planters’
insect friends have in turn insect enemies. To give but two instances
which have run into my mind. The pup of Coccinellid beetles which
feed on the mealy-bug are sometimes found with little holes, thus proving
they have been destroyed by hymenopterous parasites, while a_ beetle,
one of the Rhipiphoride, is parasitic in the cells of the mud-dauber,
Odynerus clavilinatus.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

The above paper was written early in March. Since then I have
gathered a good deal of further information on the subject dealt with, and with
the kind permission of the Editors of the Journal, embody some of this in the
following notes :—

(1.) In regard to Caligo oberon not only are the pupe destroyed by
parasites but the eggs as well, the latter being often attacked by a small

The Planters’ Insect Friends. 41

hymenopt-ron, several of which may be bred froma singleegg, T have obtained
as many as thirty-three from three eggs.

(2.) It is not only interesting, but amusing to observe Chaleis annilata
emerge from a big Hesperiid pupa, that, for example, of Perichares corydon,
They emerge rather damp, especially those first coming through the abdomen
of the pupa, as they have to work their way usually through a mass of fatty
tissue, and have to soften the outer skin of the pupa by a liquid exudation,
while they are gnawing their exit holes. When a slight opening is made, the
end of one or both fore- legs will now and then be protruded and withelvawn.
Those which emerge near the head, or those which, deeply situated, can utilize
the borings made by those that have already emerged, come out rather drier,
The wet ones have a lot of rubbing and cleaning down to do before they feel
fit for the duties which lie before them. Sis onaaped one presents a ludicrous
sight by emerging with an antenna stuck down across its face, and several
minutes may elapse before it gets it free.

(3). When [ wrote the first portion of this article I surmised that the
comatose condition of a Diatreea caterpillar attacked by the parasite [phiaulax
medianus was occasioned probably by some act of the parasite larva. ‘This
turns out incorrect as I have since worked out the full life-history of the
parasite, and have found that the Diatrwa caterpillar is indeed paralyzed by the
adult Iphiaulax at the time she oviposits, and that its young larva may
attach itself to segments other than the thoracic. The lite- -history as given in
my “ General Report on Insect Pests for the year 1912,” is as follows :—

“The adult female parasite alights on a cane shoot, along which she then
walks, tapping it with her antenne, her every action showing plainly she is in
keen search of something. On finding the orifice of a caterpillar tunnel she
pauses and begins to insert her ovipositor into the tunnel. She soon gives
three or four quick but slight jerks, and then remains quiescent. In about
ten minutes she withdraws her ovipositor. She paralyzes the caterpillar
at the time of oviposition, and the jerking movements no doubt occur when she
is stinging it. She deposits her egg in the tunnel, and near the caterpillar.
The egg is about three m.m. long, Hevesi translucent, firm or leathery, narrow
and elongated, tapering to a short point at the anterior end, but to a long point
at the posterior. At the latter end there is a minute curved blackish hook
which serves to keep the egg in position by catching into the cane fibres. The
firm texture of the egg serves to protect it from injury should the caterpillar
writhe against it.

“The egg-period is extremely short, being just about one day.

“The paralyzed caterpillar lives for three or four days from the time it
is paralyzed till finally killed by the parasite larva. The larval period of the
parasite is very short, about 4 days.

“The brevity of both the egg and larva stages can be very readily
understood when it is remembered that the larva requires fresh food, and has
only a single caterpillar on which to feed. It of necessity therefore has to get
through it rapidly before extreme decomposition sets in and do all its growing
in that short time.

“ After its feeding is over, the larva spins a cocoon, which may be white or
dirty white, in the tunnel of the caterpillar. Once ina way a cocoon will be
found between a shoot and the clasping base of a leaf- sheath showing most

42 Timehri.

likely that the caterpillar when attacked by the adult parasite had been feeding
beneath the leaf-sheath. In about 14 days the perfect insect emerges, so that
the time from egg-laying to adult is about 19 days.”

“The perfect insect can live for a long time. I have kept a male
alive for 53 days by feeding it about every three days with a little
sweetened water. As this and the other caterpillars-parasites deposit their
eggs one to a caterpillar, with probably long intervals between the depositions
it is necessary for them to have an extended life as compared with parasites
which deposit all, or a large number of their eggs, to a single caterpillar.”

(4). The larva of Cremnops parvifasciatus feeds internally, and not
externally like that of Iphiaulax, while the attacked caterpillar keeps feeding
and healthy-looking almost until the parasite larva is about to break through
and weave its cocoon. When this period approaches, the caterpillar becomes
sluggish and ceases to feed, while in another day or two it is totally consumed,
only the hard shell of the head, and bits of the skin being left.

(5.) Somewhat common in cane-fields is the larva of a beetle, probably
that of one of the Elateride or click-beetles. It is found in Diatreea borings,
in decaying cane-tops, and in decaying cane-stools. It feeds on the larve of
Diatreea, on pup (perhaps larvee too) of the weevil-borer, and probably also
on various organisms that frequent decaying vegetable matter. It attacks the
Diatrea caterpillars in a manner that calls to mind how the larve of
Aspidosoma maculatum, one of our common coast fire-flies (Lampyride) attack
slugs. The caterpillars writhe and twist in vain efforts to escape from the fatal
grip. These Elaterid larve are often taken by estate gangs cutting out Diatreea
caterpillars from dead hearts. They should not be collected but left in the
field. It was Mr. Bodkin, the Government Economic Biologist, who first drew
my attention to the fact that they were predaceous on Diatroea larve.

(6). Another enemy of Diatreea is the larva of a fly, of the family
Stratiomyide. The adult fly is somewhat wasp-like in shape, and of a
brilliant metallic hue, and is at certain times fairly plentiful in cane-fields,
where it may generally be seen at rest on the cane-blades, The larva has
moderate powers of locomotion, and attacks the caterpillars in their tunnels.
It is broad and flat, pale straw colour with three rather conspicuous longitu-
dinal brownish stripes. The head is small, and the mouth parts pointed and
well suited for piercing. The pupal form is assumed within the larva skin,
which retains its usual appearance, so that there is nothing to show that the
change from larva to pupa has occurred, save what is apparently a lifeless larva.

(7). Up to the present 1 am acquainted with thirteen or fourteen insect
enemies of Diatrca and there are probably more yet to be discovered.

SOME” OF OQUR' FOOD’ FISHES.

By J. Ropway.

Fishes may be treated from a scientific standpoint, as Professor
Kigenmann has so well done in his new book on our fresh-water species,
or for their economic value. ‘There is also their beauty and their fitness
for the conditions under which they live. <A great deal of confusion
exists in regard to the popular names, some of which cover several
species and others are rather vague; I shall endeavour to put these
in some kind of order, but I may state that my identifications are open
to correction and therefore are only tentative.

Our edible fishes may be roughly divided into three great classes,
first the scale fishes which form the majority, second the skin fishes,
mostly Siluridz, with sharks and eels and, last, the toe-nail fishes, the
Siluridz with plates, such as hassars and Doras, which the creole has so
named from the resemblance of the plates to a paring of the nails. There
is a strong prejudice among some people against skin fishes, possibly
connected with what is called “ kinna,” that feeling which is expressed
by saying “our family does not eat skin fish.” That this prejudice is
unreasonable is proved by the fact that many of these fishes are not only
wholesome but really good. Some however repel by their slimy appear-
ance and others suggest repulsive habits, especially when they are known
to feed on mud and filth. But even these may be wholesome, and so
nice that one of them has received the name of ‘‘ Gold-digger lose his
passage,” possibly because some one was so occupied in having a good
feed that he forgot the time.

Fishes may be further divided into those which are only found in salt
water, generally at a considerable distance from the shore, those which
frequent the mouths of the river and come into our trenches, and the
true fresh-water fishes, only found in the upper parts of the rivers and
creeks, but coming into our fresh-water canals. It may be generally
stated that the more beautiful fishes belong either to the blue sea or the
dark waters of the interior while dull-colours predominate in those of
the muddy water.

Probably, the most popular fish for the table is the red snapper
(Neomeznis aya) which is as nice as it is beautiful. It may be compared
to a magnified golden carp, in fact boys seeing gold fish in our aquarium
ask if they are young snappers. The grouper (Epinephelus adscensionis)
is also very nice but not so glorious in colour. In connection with this
species | may mention that in 1797 our Court of Policy thought fit to
regulate the prices of several commodities then sold in Stabroek Market.
Among the fishes was one named “ Jacob Everts,’ which puzzled me for
along time. At last I found out that it was the grouper and that it

44 Timehri.

received its name from the markings being compared to those on the face
of an old sun-burnt and_ pock- ‘marked Dutch skipper named Jacob
Evertzen

It will be interesting to note what fishes were sold in the market
over a century ago and compare them with the fish supply of to-day.
Besides Jacob Evertzen there were Queriman, Pourtouche (Porgy ?)
Bashaw, Mullet and Cartaback, all put in the higher class to be sold at
a schelling and a half per pound (.15c.) ; all other "ends were to be five
stivers (. L0c. ) We may safely state that those in the first-class are wor-
thy of their place, but they are by no means all the good fishes we have.

The Porgy (Stenotomus chrysops) is not equal to the snapper but it
is a good sea fish, and is to be found in the market. Possibly the jew-
fish (Plectropoma chlorurum) is one of the most popular of sea fishes if
we judge by the price (16 cents) at which it was once readily sold. Forty
years ago we sometimes heard an old Portuguese man on the streets
ringing a bell and repeating in a sing-song way—

‘‘ Jew-fish in the market, two bits a pound,
Who don’t want it, leave it alone,”

Other sea fishes might be got from the blue water, and it may be
safely stated that there is by no means anything like a full supply.

Coming now to those scale fishes which are caught within an easy
distance in brackish water, I give the first place to the Queriman, which
when small goes under the name of mullet, (Mugil curema’. This is un-
doubtedly very nice, under either name ; it is also clean-looking, silvery
with dark stripes. The bashaw (Plagioscion auratus) is a good fish but
not equal to the mullet. In the young stage this, and several other small
silvery species, are known as butter-fishes, possibly from their being
fried in butter. In these, and in fact most fishes, much depends upon
the cook, who can make appetising dishes of many kinds that are others
wise rather tasteless. Butter-fishes include, besides bashaws, Nebri-
microps and bungomaree (Macrodon ancylodon). The Snoeks (Centro-
pomus ensiferus and C. undecimalis) from the Dutch name for pike, are
easily recognised by their tapering snouts; they are very nice when
properly cooked. Among our fishes are herrings and sardines, so-called,
but they cannot be compared with the real kinds. Howe ever, they would
make fair substitutes if properly prepared and if they could be obtained
in quantity. Shoals of fish such as are seen in northern seas are however
quite unknown here ; it follows therefore that with only a few here and
there fish-curing is practically out of the question. The Guiana herring
is Ilsha flavipennis and the sardine or anchovy, Stolephorus spinifer.

Coming now to the scale fishes of the rivers and creeks probably the
most important is the pacou (Myleus pacu). This has been always
plentiful in the North-West and was brought to the settlements in early
times in large quantities, after being split and dried on the barbecue.

Some of Our Food Fishes. 45

Whether fresh or dried it is an excellent fish, much superior to the salt
cod of the shops. It grows to a fair size and is obloag in shape with a
thick fleshy body ; the colour is brownish red with black blotches. Allied
to the pacou are several other fishes which also have been much appreci-
ated by epicures. The cartaback is spoken of as being excellent, yet only
those who live up the rivers get an opportunity of tasting it. It will be
noticed however that Stabroek Market was better off in the olden time
for it must have been sold there. I have had great difficulty in identifying
the species; even yet I cannot say with certainty what it is. There
appear to be several species sometimes distinguished as large and small,
probably better known among the Indians. The smaller are species of
Metynnis and the larger Mylopus rubripinnis? All are very deep in
outline as broad as long, giving the impression of a disc. The colours
are bright, the silvery sides being especially brilliant. Whether the
perais (Pyvopristis and Pygocentris) are included among the Cartabacks
is uncertain ; they are however allied and are said to be good eating.
Unlike some other disc-like fishes these have a fair thickness of meat.

The perais are the most dangerous fish in our upper rivers. Unlike
most other fishes they come round any strugeling animal and being so
numerous cut it to pieces before it can escape. The cleaning of a fish
the water-side is dangerous in presence of a shoal of these fishes for they
will bite off a finger before a person is aware of their advance. Ducks
lose their toes in many cases and haye learnt to keep to the shallows
where the water is not deep enough for the disc-like bodies of the perai.

The teeth of the perais resemble those of the sharks, except that
there is only one row in each jaw. The consequence is that a clean cut
is made in an instant. Although so dangerous they are very beautiful.

It may not be out of place to mention here that the teeth of fishes
are varied to a wonderful extent and are often found in other places than
the jaws, in fact, they may be anywhere in the mouth down to the
gullet. There seems to be no system like there is in the mammals ; in
some cases they resemble incisors and in others canines, but true molars
are replaced by curious processes, which in the rays are like small pave-
ments between which molluscs are cracked as if they were nuts. Another
curious set are those found in many of the skin fishes, which may be
compared to wire brushes. A large number have no teeth and in some
the mouth opening forms a sucking dise with which a strong hold is
secured to rocks and fallen trees where the river currents are strong.

Our largest fresh-water fish is the arapaima (Arapaima gigas) which
has been reported sometimes to weigh as much as four hundred pounds ;
this however must be exceptional, the larger specimens generally caught
being only about one-fourth of that we eight. It is undoubtedly a orand
fish, ‘and in Brazil where it is known as the pirarucu it is commonly salted
and used by travellers instead of the well-known cod. As it is only
found beyond the rapids the people of the coast never get an opportunity

46 Timehri.

of testing its flavour. If we may judge by its popularity among the
Indians it must be very good. The arawana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum)
is a smaller fish found in the same localities as the arapaima ; it is said to
be tasty but with too many bones.

The cuffum or tarpon (Tarpon atlanticus) has a wide range from the
coast up the rivers. It is sometimes found of a large size but we rarely
get such monsters as are caught in Florida, It is eaten here but gener-
ally considered rather insipid.

The biara (Hydrolycus scomberoides) has been compared to a salmon.
It is very beautiful but at the same time gives the impression of great
ferocity from the long movable teeth. It is fairly plentiful at times and
can be seen mounting the rapids in a similar way to the salmon. It has
been suggested that this fish could be canned as salmon, but from what
we know of the habits of our fishes we do not consider that any one
species is plentiful enough to be economically taken for such a purpose.
Neither sea nor fresh-water species seem to go in large shoals as they
do in more northern countries ; it follows therefore that great fisheries
are practically impossible.

Three fishes that may be compared with the biara in ferocity are the
haimara (Hoplias macrophthalmus), huri (Hoplias malabaricus) and yarau
(Erythrinus erythrinus). The first belongs to the upper river districts
but the two others are common in our fresh-water trenches. All are
good table fishes and the two latter form a large portion of the supply of
our villages and plantations. The sun-fish (Crenicichla saxatilis). one of
the loveliest of our fishes, is also fairly common ‘These are active car-
nivorous species which make a stir in the water when they appear among
the slower species.

When we see a lot of small fishes swimming for dear life or taking
flying leaps from the water we may assume that one of these ferocious
creatures has appeared.

One of the most beautiful of our fishes and a really good one is the
lukanani (Cichla ocellaris). It is hardly known near town but in the
upper Mahaica and the Lamaha it is fairly common. The eye-spot on
the tail is margived with golden yellow, as are also three dark bands on
the sides. There are great varieties in the markings, but all have the
eye-spot on the. tail, Some epicures complain that it is bony but
the general opinion is that it is a good fish for the table.

Among the fishes of small size the patwas are perhaps most common.
The name of the patwa is given to quite a large number of species all of
which are however deep in outline and are closely allied. The most
common are Cichlasoma bimaculatum and Mesonauta festivum ; these are
everywhere. They rarely exceed six inches in length but there are
larger kinds known as black patwas (Geophagus and Chetobranchus)
which reach eight or ten inches. Properly cooked they are very nice.

Some of Our Food Fishes. 47

A class of fishes is known as fresh-water mullets (Hemiodus notatus,
Wc.), also banded fishes called kibihi from the bands resembling the tail
of that mammal (Anostomus fasciatus and Leporinus fasciatus). These
are very useful fishes, about the size of small herrings.

Anyone who has watched the tide coming in must have noticed the
shoals of four-eyes (Anableps) and perhaps wondered why some of them
are not caught by the fishermen. There seems to be no reason for
neglecting them except the prejudice against them as gross feeders.
Possibly they might be salted like pilchards and become a valuable
addition to the food supply. Being the only fish of any size to aggregate
in vast numbers, it would certainly be worth while to make an experi-
ment. These fishes are not only common on the sea-shore but they are
found at long distances up the rivers.

A very large class of small fishes may be compared to sprats. Most
of them are known under the name of Silver-bait, corrupted into Sillibay.
The larger are species of Tetragonopterus and Charax and form an
addition to the food supply. Sometimes they are dried and possibly
they could be put up as sardines.

Coming now to the skin fishes, the inost important is the gilbacker,
which is not only valuable for food but also for the isinglass or fish glue
which is of importance as an item in our exports. The question of what
is the gilbacker has given me some trouble; it is supposed to be
Sciadeichthys parkeri but I am inclined to think that several allied
species also produce the isinglass. The gilbacker of the market is known
also as kokwarri and is very “much liked by those not prejudiced against
skin fishes.

A fair number of skin fishes are to be found in the market under the
names of cuirass, kossi, kakanettes, milk fish, tampoco, twee-twee and
cat-fish. Most of them are considered inferior to the best fishes and are
sold cheap, but judging from the small stocks left on hand there is no
difficulty in finding purchasers. That the prejudice against them is un-
founded is quite certain and it would be well if our people could be a
little more reasonable in their likes and dislikes, instead of being governed
by “ kinnas.”

The name cuirass suggests that the armour-plate behind the head
was noticed at the time when armour was worn. The name is general
rather than particular for many of the Siluride have such plates and I
have had different fishes pointed out as cuirass, including that the head
and back plate of which is compared to a crucifix and sold as a curio.
This is Sciadeichthys proops, which is, probably when full-grown, called
gilbacker.

The low-low (Brachyplatystoma vaillanti) is a skin fish as large as the
gilbacker attaining ten or twelve feet in length, The flesh is said to be
firm and comparable to veal; it is much relished in the upper river dis-

AS Timehri.

tricts. An inferior kind of isinglass is collected from it. The dawalla
(Hypophthalmus edentatus) and the tiger fish (Pseudoplatystoma fascia-
tum) are also much relished by Indians and bovianders.

Toe-nail fishes are so called by some creoles from the resemblance of
the armour plates to nail parings. They are closely allied to the skin
fishes but deserve special mention for their peculiarities. To this section
belong the hassars, the common species, Hoplosternum littorale, being
one of the most delicate fishes in the world. In soups, stews and pepper-
pot it is relished by everyone and may be considered an epicure’s fish.
Covered with a coat of mail ana living in mud there is nothing attractive
in its appearance, yet it has been picked out as superior in taste to all the
lovely denizens of our waters. Other species are not popular, one called
the sea hassar, which however cannot live in salt water, is not considered
edible, but I cannot see why. This is Plecostomus watwata and there are
other species of the genus, all of which have stronger armour plates than
the hassar. This protection however culminates in the Doras, some hay-
ing strong spines on every plate. It may be mentioned that many of the
skin and toe-nail fishes have their pectoral spines sharp and covered with
thorns or spines which, when the fish is caught, will inflict severe cuts on
the hand as the fins are spasmodically moved. At the same time the fish
emits a grunting noise which together with the scratch often causes it to
be dropped.

Sharks, saw-fish and rays form a class that is not much appreciated
for food. I have however seen an angler catching sharp-noses (Carchari-
nus oxyrhynchus) and hammer-heads (Sphyrna zygena) off our wharves
and no doubt young sharks are very good. Saw-fish (Pristis perottetti)
are also eaten. Skates, rays and sea-devils are looked upon with dis-
gust, but there is no reason why they should not be utilised.

Eels are never eaten by the creoles, in fact they are looked upon as
water-snakes. The universal Anguilla chrysypa is sometimes found here
but the more common eel is the Lycodontis ocellatus, the mooray, which
is probably as luscious and wholesoine as the other. Occasionally a con-
ger is seen in the market, but I understand that their only use is for bait-
Were it not for unfounded prejudices many kinds of wholesome food
could be utilized.

The electric eel is sometimes eaten by the Indians of the interior but
its shock is so little relished that fishing for it is not common. Allied
fishes called logo-logo (Kigenmannia virescens) and curiberu (Gymnotus
carapus) are sometimes eaten but there is very little meat on their flat
ribbon-like bodies.

Two soles (called flounders) are sometimes te be had in the market ;
one is Archirus lineatus and the other Soleonasis finis. They are said to
be much liked by Chinese, but as no supply is ever obtained our cooks
probably know nothing of the usual method of preparing them. Possibly
they might be got in quantity if there were a demand.

cee aan mene We a" ‘

Some of Our Food Fishes. 49

In conclusion it may be said that our rivers, creeks and trenches
abound with fishes, all of which are wholesome. The supply is fairly
large, especially near the railway station, Georgetown, and in the villages,
but it is rarely that a good selection can be made in the Stabroek
Market. There is no system and no arrangement, except in the case of
the Ice Depot, for keeping fishes beyond a few hours. Possibly in the
near future ice will be used to a greater extent, with corresponding
advantage. We want to be able to get to order any fish we require,
which at present is impossible.

NOTES ON THE FISHES OF NEW AMSTERDAM MARKET.

By the Rev. Jas. AIKEN, M.A.

I have been asked by the author of the foregoing article to add a
note on the fishes of the New Amsterdam market. For the most part
they are of course identical with those mentioned by Mr. Rodway as for
sale in Georgetown, except for notable omissions such as Snapper which,
so far as I know, does not appear on the Berbice cook's list. The local
names in use are in some cases different and the group represented by
Lau-lau is extended by Manari and bringle or Blaika, distinctions made
by the fishermen of the lower reaches of the river as well as by the
Indians of the upper reaches. Blaika is known as an isinglass yielding
fish almost equal to the Gilbacker. The swimbladder of the former is
broader and thicker but shorter than in the latter. A fish named Tam-
poca similar to Gilbacker is spoken of by fishermen and Kakwarri and
Sand-koker fish seein to distinguish the larger and smaller specimens of
one species. Cooleetee, which is caught, as are also Blaika, Manari and
Lau-lau when the sweet water is felt as far down as New Amsterdam, is
distinguished in the higher reaches from Tiger fish and may be the
Arekaima (P. arekaima) or perhaps P. notatus. On the Cooleetee,
I found at De Velde in February of the present year a very curious
fish tick of which I hope to give a description and drawings in a
subsequent issue of this journal. Meantime I have sent the specimen
away for identification.

In the Catfish group Highwata fish, Bum-bum and Dawalla are dis-
tinguished, and amongst the Bashaws, Table-bashaw, Dag-bashaw and
Snapper-bashaw which latter is red “like snapper” according to the
somewhat vague reason given me for the name. Probably the ‘ Grouper ’
of the Georgetown market and one of the Bashaws known in New Ain-
sterdam is identical. A “fish that eat barnacle ” of which I have heard
is probably, from the description of the big strong spine of the dorsal fin,
one of the Loricarias while Salmon Garfish have been named to me as
used fer food. Hoomab is considered distinct from Perai, and a curious
variant of the name Banja-man is Banja-mary. The local fishermen
stoutly avers that ‘ butter fish” is ‘‘ butter fish ” and nothing else, but in

50 Timehrr.

the case of mullet he admits some close connection or occasional confu-
sion with young Queriman. I may add however that considering the
difference in the size of the scales of Queriman, even when small, and those
of the fish usually called mullet it isnot easy to see how they can be
confused. Congo fish and Sea Congo fish the latter also known as Paree
are usually on sale in New Amsterdam, they do not appear in the
Georgetown list given above, but may be identical with some. The Sea
Congo caught on Corentyne Coast is often a very delicious fish, but in
New Amsterdam waters it seems to lose some of its delicate flavour.

Lukanani is practically never seen in this market, and ‘ Sardines’
and silverbait are not known by these names, but doubtless some of the
snall fish used by the people may be identical with the fish so marketed.

The Canje Creek of course swarms with Cuftum, Perai, Lukanani
and Jew fish. sometimes of enormous size. The three first named haunt
the higher reaches and are seldom caught near the mouth.

The Pacu is known as Family fish ; for what reason I cannot say.

Sharpnoses bear the name of Sword fish locally and Saw fish are
known as Comb fish.

SOME AXIOMS OF CORPORATE EDUCATION.
By Jas. AIKEN.

Two writers in recent numbers of ‘‘Timehri” have succeeded, in the
course of interesting articles, in presenting the history of the organisa-
tion of education in the colony from very opposite points of views. It
is characteristic of thought about education, not only here but the world
over, that opposite points of view are possible ; which merely shows
that the science of education is still in want of its Newton and its
Principia in which elementary laws shall be laid down authoritatively
and finally.

In the disputes between opposing schools of educationists about the
merits of Classical as opposed to Technical curricula in Secondary, and
Literary as opposed to Practical lines of teaching in Elementary Educa-
tion, we are reminded of the scholastic debates over the causal relations
subsisting betwixt the man and the pig, when a string links them
together and a goal of aspiration is postulated. When delivering an ad-
dress on “ Practical Aims in Education” recently, I was particularly struck
by the phrase “learning for its own sake” turning up in the remarks
offered by one of the teachers in my audience.

Perhaps no shibboleth has ever been responsible for more sloppy
thinking about education than this trite mascot of the conservative
school. It is supposed to be a complete answer to all advocates of a
rational system of teaching, which seeks to give full consideration to the
human subject 77 esse and in posse, the child what he is and what he shall
become. It assumes that a liberal education consists in acquaintance
with a certain range of facts and verbal exercitations which have, by
force of circumstances unguided by any very clear principle, come to be
regarded as constituting ‘ Polite learning. ” There is in it an echo of the
century or so in which the idea prevailed that, for a gentleman who in
Parliament had to deal with the administration of the acricultural, in-
dustrial and social development of a long-suffering body politic, the only
equipment needful was a pretty turn in riposting with Latin quotations.

When the history of learning in Europe is considered, however, it
will be seen that such curious phenomena as that mentioned are quite ac-
counted for by the growth under monastic conditions of the ideals by
which it was gov erned. For several centuries after the influx into
England of the Norman and his following of rough men-at-arms, it was
scarcely fashionable for a knight to be able to write his name. Naturally,
when these stout fellows of humble origin found themselves, by a for-
tunate sword-stroke, barons with unaccustomed manors, serfs and power
and a retinue of faithful retainers, cousins, brothers and fellow villagers,
for whom they had sent to their native hamlets, they retained for genera-
tions the atmosphere of the plough land or the smithy. The engaging

52 Timehri.

naiveté with which nicknames were turned into titles of honour so that
the descendants of Richard the strong bowman and Raymond the poor,
with no sense of the ludicrous, bore quite flauntingly the proud appella-
tion of Strongbow or Power, is sufficient indication of the uncouth
humour of the Conquest.

One can easily imagine how little the secular learning of the most
cultured people of the island they had conquered would appeal to the
lusty ruffians. The literature and music of Wales and Ireland, the
inanners gentle and refined of the princes and chiefs, to whom they found
themselves superior in the only values they recognised—those of armour
and warlike equipment, of which they had learned the use in France—
were, by the uncultivated Norman, not at all appreciated. Instead he
applied himself vigorously, according to his lights, to grasp by the strong
hand such things as he had use for and to destroy all else the appreciation
of which was beyond him.

On the other hand his scarcely depaganised superstition induced
him to stand in awe before the learning of the priests, when by chance
they possessed any, who accompanied the Norman’s banner blessed by
the Pope of Rome. It was in that age that the tendency of learning was
fixed, and the lines laid down upon which polite culture would, for ages,
run. When bye-and-bye kings took to founding Universities it was for
churchman’s learning they were endowed and it is not difficult in the
cloistered atinosphere of Oxford and Cambridge to trace still the tone of
inedizeval seclusion from worldly interests and practical life directly born
of the clerical scholarship for which those seats of learning were con-
ceived. Nor would it be other than a loss in some senses if the tradition
of meditative repose in these places should give way to the bustling
inethods of training needful to equip fighting men in Norman days or
inen of affairs of the present time. In a huge and very rich community
like the England of to-day there are numbers upon whom there presses
neither necessity nor inclination to enter the lists. Be their fathers
barons or brewers does not much matter, a cloistered refuge has a clien-
tele, just as it had of old. Under present social conditions all sorts of
men have their use and possibly some may be spared for cloistered
scholarship. That is the only sound argument I know of for the con-
servation of the ancient university ideal and, curiously, I have never seen
it put.

I have made this brief excursion into the origins of learning in
England because our view of things to-day is largely dominated by its
history. By a curious confusion of incidents with principles, the con-
servative school of educationist quotes the Greek method of culture in
support of their ideal, and imagines even that his ideas of pedagogy are
on lines similar to those which built up Athens and Corinth. The merest
glance at the considerations above given will show how utterly astray is
this notion. Greek education, as it is usually understood, was the educa-
tion of an-aristocratic guild and had the very definite and practical aim

we
oe

Some Axioms of Corporate Education.
of equipping its subjects for the business of the life of a governing and
warrior class, in the public assembly, law courts and battle-field. Musie,
eymnastic and rhetoric were no cloister studies but, in every one, the
student was hardening thew and sinew of body and mind for ‘contest in

various fields of activity. The Greek had no illusions about the education
of the peasant or slave either. He saw to it that he too was as
thoroughly trained as his master, but in a way suited to the particular
business in pottery, leather, stone, iron, silver or manuscript-making in
which he was to produce masterpieces which have been the despair of the
world to equal; neither Stoa nor Stadium was his schoolroom, however.
The Greek, in short, was distinctly commonsense in his methods of
education, and the fact that Greek literature has become a part of
University curricula does not by any means bring these codes into line
with Greek education, any more than the fact that Latin was a sort of
ancient volapuk makes it by any means the best of ancient tongues for
drawing out the humanities. For the matter of that had Arabic, for
example, happened along instead we should, in our classical studies, have
had an infinitely richer mine of learning than the, in most departments,
rather poor literary remains of the Latins offer, the merit of whose
rhetoric, drama, verse, and history is mostly in their pale reflection of the
excellencies of Greek makers.

It would, however, have brought our education system much
nearer into line with Greek methods of culture had we concen-
trated upon the cultivation or creation of a living native literature
instead of dead foreign ones. As it happened the Norman, by evil
communications in his Gaulish home, had lost touch with his own
native tongue and its sagas, while the Saxon, with whom he came into
contact in Eneland, seems never to have had the vivacity to produce
much in the way of literature. Worse still, the animosity of attack and
reprisal and difference of religious alleciance closed out his sympathies,
as we have seen, from the literature which did exist, especially that of
the Keltic races which might have supplied the soil element so important
in giving vital worth to a national culture.

Thus the way was left clear for ‘‘ Learning” to come to mean
“ Latinity ” and the struggle to begin between humane instinct and polite
tradition which has gone on from “Chaucer down to Mr. Kipling. The
struggle between various schools of education is just a phase of it, made
acute in these days by the pressing necessity of a citizenship efficient in
competition with other nations. The first condition for the attainment of
such efficiency is that the system of training should be racy—a natural
development of the powers natural to a race. With patience and deter-
mination it is possible to make a bear a dancing animal, but he'll dance
awkwardly however severely you train him. He is not much gifted that
way. You may try to make linguists of the people of South Britain and
have a certain modified success, but the Slav will beat him out of sight,
because he has the natural facility, which the mixed race we call the
English does not possess. The latter has other faculties quite as worthy

54 Timehri.

and useful which it is much more profitable to aim at developing. The
educational system that does not take account of native gifts is not
desirable. It follows from this that no system or code, however
excellent for a particular people, can be imported cut and dried
for application to a race of different character and under different
conditions of life. As our efforts in the colony have been mainly
on the lines of importing ‘cut and dried” the codes rather promis-
cuously evolved in the United Kinedam, it is just here we put
a finger on the radical defect of our system. When the first Council on
Education in 1850 reported that ‘‘ the system of education was defec-
tive and ill-adapted to the peculiar wants of the people” I have little
doubt their conclusion was absolutely sound, though it is reasonable to
suspect that in those days there was not very much system of any kind.
The pity of it is that the more we have organised and systematised since
1850, the more ‘“ defective and ill-adapted to the peculiar wants of the
people” has education become. The colony is not peculiar in this how-
ever. Oryanisation based on indetinite grasp of the elementary psycho-
logy of the subjects, and vague ideas of the objects of education has had
the same result elsewhere. A codish insalubrity has been a marked
feature of the Home educational atmosphere since Boards were invented.
That of course is not an essential fault of Boards, consisting for the most
part, so far as my experience goes, of worthy men who are quite anxious
to do their best, but of the want of a science of education which will
lay down laws for their guidance.

It is pretty clear that the more systematic official codes have become
the less effective they have been from the man trainer’s point of view.
That is doubtless because, under a less elaborate and comprehensive
wrongness of system. the spontaneous or instinctive exercise of faculty
had more chance. It may sound subversive of all law and order to say so,
but it is, I believe, true, that ia human affairs it is better to leave things
to nature, than under a mistaken theory to dragoon men into a uniform
monstrosity. Happily, in spite of thwarting influences, nature will out,
and it is to the palliative working of a hidden world spirit and not to
the official codes that we must attribute any good that has come of educa-
tion in the second half of last century. There are, however, cheering
signs that a definite movement has come into being with “ self-develop-
ment” as a watchword. As a writer in the “‘ Morning Post” some months
ago pointed out, the fact that the House of Commons had actually
discussed an educational principle, as distinct from a question of
apparatus, incidence of costs or control of education, is itself a sign that
the public is beginning to realise the existence of a right and a wrong
way of educating.

The pioneers of the movement have a big task before them. When
the whole system of examination tests as they exist at present ‘ external
results ” and ‘‘ mechanical obedience” which they abhor is overturned,
they must be ready to replace that system with something else.

Or
we

Some Arioms of . Corporate Education.

That something must stringently base its validity on particular
knowledge of the human factors it has to deal with.

The main questions to be dealt with will be ‘“ What in the given man
of young humanity to be cultivated, are the undeveloped capacities.”
“ What is the environment of which the best is to be made ” and ‘ What
type of development may desirably and economically be aimed at under
all the circumstances.”

Prominent among the capacities common to and distinctive of
humanity of all races there is one which has been sadly ignored in
education. That is the capacity of manipulation. It is of all other
things elementary, not only in the history of the emergence of humanity
but, I am disposed to think, in the development of mentality in the
individual. Yet you may search the Code under which we educate our
children in vain for a recognition of this fact. A distinguished man of
science the other day pointed out that an analysis of the University
records showed that the men whose names were prominent in the playing
fields and on the river held much more than a proportional place in the
honours lists of the schools. He goes the length of asserting, on the
basis of this and other facts collated, that mental and physical ¢ growth,
despite apparent exceptions, proceed pari passu in the average “human
development. Even though we may dispute this, there is very ‘much less
room to question the interdependence of manipulative power and the
faculties of observation, comparison, imagination, and that complex of
associated intellectual nervous and operative powers by which the grouping
of parts and application of known laws to some useful end is ordered.

It is a matter of common observation that the weaver, the gardener,
the wright and blacksmith show a much higher average of intellectual
power than clerks and storekeepers drawn from the same class of
society and if there has been a decadence amongst craftsmen in recent
years, it is due probably to the factory swamping handicraft.

It will be admitted by most people that but for the gift of making
implements, either the human race would have gone under in the struggle
for existence, or we should in this second decade of the Twentieth
Century still be spending our life in tree-tops, cracking nuts and catching
locusts. Certain it is that in a strenuous argument with a cave bear or
tiger, the finest periods of all the orators from Gorgias to Bright would
not for a moment compare in vital efficiency with a well made club.
More than this, the manipulative skill of a people broadly defines its place
in the scale of humanity. Greek culture is as inconceivable without
Greek arts and handicrafts as is Japanese civilization. The progress of
a race in arts and industries may be taken as a very fair index to its
brain convolutions.

Yet so vainly conventional is our conception of cultivated manhood
that it is not uncommon to meet with people quite proud of the delicate
refinement of a nurture that has left them taper fingers incapable of

56 ; Timehri.

performing the least complicated manipulative task. The development of
the “knut” or the “dude” or the “fop,” weird products of an
effete civilization as they are sometimes considered, is in reality merely a
bizarre expression of atrophied capacities, inevitable in a system of train-
ing in which the relation between hand and mind is ignored.

It is pretty clear that hand training should take a prominent place in
our Codes. At present even where an opportunity for this arises, as in
Agriculture or Nature study, so warped are the prevailing notions of in-
struction, that the attempt is made to teach these subjects largely from
a book.

Books of course may be made of use in most subjects if great dis-
cretion be exercised by the teacher, but the elementary school of the
future will see much less of them than does the present type; for, as
Herbert Spencer said nearly half a century ago, ‘“ Intellectual progress
is from the concrete to the abstract” while books are essentially an
abstraction from the concrete.

How easy would be the progress of the pupil who has dressed and
squared a piece of timber. from consideration of the concrete solid to
the meaning of inches and other standards of measure, areas, squares and
even cubes of the object actually in his hand. From this to the nature
and structure of wood, the tree and its place of growth, the class of plant
to which it belongs, the articles of use to which this timber may be put,
and from that to references in literature to various trees is all by way of
an easy sequence in which all the subjects of the codes, besides one or
two not there, are naturally taught; correlation of ideas, comparison in
respect of toughness, hardness, elasticity and so forth at the samé time be-
ing induced in the pupil’s mind. Or if he be set to dress a bit of stone and
finally polish it, a similar wide field is opened up. The places where the
stone is found, the rocks near it, some harder, some softer, some heavier,
some lighter, the buildings and works for which it is adapted, would
afford scope for reading, writing notes and making calculations which
would induce an interested activity of brain—the aim of every teacher
who understands his business. Here the mere knowledge gained is not
the sole consideration, it is the correlated activities induced that is im-
portant, though it is at the same time true that knowledge comes more
rapidly by way of the fingers than by any other sense organ. Even the
primary conception of that vital group of facts of first importance in the
art of living in a world of solid things—hardness, weight, conformation,
solidity—would scarcely have become known without them.

So much however have the fingers been ignored in school systems
that the ridiculous scholastic ideal of a class prepared to soak in know-
ledge is summed up in the preliminary command “ Arms folded.”

Let it be here remarked that all this has nothing to do with
“ Technical Education ” primary or secondary, nor am I proposing to intro-
duce Carpentry or Joinery or Blacksmithery or White smithery or Shoe-

Some Axioms of Corporate Education. 57

making or any other trade into the school. Even if that were possible in
this colony it isn’t desirable anywhere; because it isn’t the making of
Carpenters or Coppersmiths with which schools are concerned, but the
making of men and women, good and useful citizens. I would teach them
to use tools not to make their living with them, but because it is likely to
make them live better, and still more would teach them to use their
fingers without many tools in knotting, splicing, binding, netting, plaiting
every kind of every day material,—cord, fibres, bushropes, grasses, in-
eluding bamboo and so forth which grow around their doors.

In a sane scholastic system the three Rs. would find their natural
place, not as separate compartinents but as incidents in mental growth.
Abstractions with a definite relation to concrete things, necessary to their
consideration and comparison. <A greater burden would of course be
thrown upon the teacher, but then it would be taken off the pupil, whose
faculties would get a chance of developing themselves in a natural way,
instead of being cramped by an unnatural method of instruction. It
would also throw a greater burden on the Inspector. Docked of his tra-
ditional mechanical examination tests he would deserve and have our
sympathy. But though our aim is properly to make life and growth simpler
for the bulk of humanity the teacher and Inspector of Schools need not
be special objects of our solicitude, for after all as a distinguished medical
officer of the colony used to say ‘‘ Hospitals are not run for the benefit
of nurses but for the good of patients ” and schools in like manner are
intended primarily not for the benefit of the teachers but for the good
of pupils.

When we find Mr. Balfour in the House of Commons thus boldly
criticising present day methods: ‘‘ Examinations are really most soul-
killing institutions. | believe they put the human mind absolutely in a
wrong position with regard to knowledge.” The cheers with which his
words were received should be a hint to the official pedagogue that it is

time he reviewed his methods and tests, even if it entail some hard
thinking.

The lines on which examination in the future will run are probably
somewhat like those indicated by an experiment, conduct:d for the United
States Bureau of Education, by Professor Munsterberg, of Harvard Uni-
versity, on candidates for telephone and tramway services. He examined
the girls ‘‘ for memory, attention, general intelligence, space perception,
rapidity of movement and association. His methods justified them-
selves in the result for those at the top of his list succeeded best
while those at the foot were in actual service found deficient and finally
left the service.

An examination of this sort is a humanity test as distinguished
from the ordinary examination which at best shows only what a boy or
girl can remember, and gives no indication of what he or she can do.
Yet if schools are to be of any service it is surely in the preparation

58 Timehrr.

of the pupils for living and doing, as Herbert Spencer has said, that
their usefulness lies. In a Colony such as this where the inhabitants of all
races are, without exception, working people, and no leisured class exists,
there can be no question as to the type of preparation required.

The teacher is one who shows things to the pupil (from A.S. taecan
to show), instruction is the building up of a human being (from L. in
and strwo) and the pedagogue is one who leads a boy to manhood
(from Gr. puidos and ago) while Education (from L. ex and duco) is the
leading out of powers innate ; in other words development.

Even the most savage advocate of ‘ Learning for its own sake ” finds
himself driven to justify learning finally by its advantages for humanity's
sake, and it is probably due to the fogging effects of a vicious schooling
that he is able to convince himself that these very different propositions
are one and the same.

The humane activities which education postulates are grouped by
Spencer under five heads (1) Self-preservation (2) Self-maintenance ;
(3) Family life ; (4) Social life ; (5) Leisure.

The only justification for the expenditure of public money on
education lies in the fact that citizens properly equipped for these
activities are an asset of value to the State, and that, just in the measure
in which a citizen is deficient in these things, he is a nuisance, a menace
and an expense.

If the school is to justify its receipt of State or Colonial moneys by
diminishing the number of incompetents and increasing the number
of efficients, it must take account of these universal activities and
consider the surroundings amongst which they are to be carried on.
The elementary school cannot of course provide a full and complete
training, but it may lay a sound foundation on which a worthy humanity
may be built.

The attention of the pupil should therefore first be drawn to the
wholesome and harmful things in nature around him; The clever use of
air, water, fire, exercise, rest and food for the advantage of his life and
growth will properly occupy a prominent place in his early training.

No small part of the schoolmaster’s work in this department will be
the dissipation of wrong notions about air, water, insects and mammals,
such as that ‘mosquito worm vrow in day” “that butterfly snake
or yellow-tail is poisonous, that “ pimpla-hag shoot pimpla at you,” and a
host of other silly ‘‘nancy” stories. Then, in a colony such as this, self-
maintenance will be mainly concerned with the use of the abundant
opportunities an amazingly fertile soil and climate aftord. A closer
linking together of the Agricultural Instructor and the schoolmaster is
here indicated and a sensible code will make provision for that. I
venture here to make a practical proposal by which the whole system of

Some Axioms of Corporate Education. 59

education might be suited to the conditions of the colony in the course
of time.

There is at present a quite good “ Teachers’ Seminary ” existing in
the colony unsuspected by official educationists. I refer to the Experi-
mental fields and the Agricultural Apprenticeships under the Director of
Science snd Agriculture. Offer Second Class Teachers’ Certificates to the
apprentices recommended by the Director on completion of their course,
if they can pass a simple examination ir Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
up to Simple Proportion. If the apprentice has gone ereditably through
his Agricultural course, and has an ordinary equipment of literary
efficiency, he has exactly the training that is wanted for an elementary
teacher in the colony. The finger training, of which we have
spoken, will function in cultivating readiness of resource in mani-
pulating and adapting natural products to useful purposes, and in
preparing the pupil for whatever handicraft or profession he may
afterwards adopt as a means to a maintenance. Perhaps little can
be done under the heads of the third and fourth activities, in
the way of absolute training, but the healthy moral atmosphere
created around him by a clean man, supplemented by carefully
selected reading lessons most of which should be memorised as a
regular part of the school course would function in preparing for
the assimilation of a right attitude in social life. The first re-
quirement in a schoolmaster, who is daily in contact with young and
developing natures, should of course be a very high standard of moral
health and Christian character. Probably, on the average, a denominational
system of schools tends to secure this factor in humane influences better
than a purely civil oversight has ever done. At least it is evident that
the vagueness of outlook in respect to spiritual things, unfortunately
common in this age amongst men of secular pursuits, limits the choice of
civil officials: equipped for the organisation of the training of young
humanity. A statesman with a broad outlook on the relative values of
different human factors, even without the bias of religious sentiment, will
not ignore the way in which religion functions in the formation of that
type of character which goes to make good citizenship. The confusion
resulting from the existence of numerous religious sects conspires with
the official passion for uniformity of system, to tempt the puzzled
legislator to cut the Gordion knot by excluding religion from his school
code. This, however, is no solution of a difficulty which in reality for the
statesman as such, does not exist, at least until he has decided for the
ends of statesmanship, that point on which theologians have never yet
been able to agree, that there is one only absolutely desirable system of
dogma and ritual. It would then be his business as statesman to see that
this system and no other is the basis of training. Meanwhile his business
is to recognise religion as a factor in the fair round growth of a comely
type of citizen and to see that the best dispositions possible under the
circumstances are made, to allow that influence its cultural effect.
Just as in respect to technical training so in respect to becoming conduct,

60 Timehri.

the elementary school is to lay the basis, on sound general principles, of
an aptitude which will later be of avail in practical application to the
work and duties of the citizen in individual, in family, and in corporate
life.

It will be well for the educational statesman to bear always
very clearly in mind this dominant reason for corporate organisation of
education, that efficiency in living is a corporate advantage. The State
has no concern in improving the social status of the individual, nor in
enabling him to earn more, still less in opening a door for him to pass
from one Social class to another higher in the scale, but it has a concern in
increasing the aptitude of each individual for service within the social
economy. Confusion of these very separate and distinct ends has led to
many of the complications of educational systems now in vogue, and in
nothing is this confusion more evident than in the concessions of educa-
tional authority to the demands of the many for a curriculum in no
respect specially adapted to the production of general efficiency, even the
conventional value of which is, like the value of precious stones, dis-
sipated as soon as it becomes more than the possession of the few.

The local educational question may well be reviewed from the
platform of the principles we have been considering. The varying
race characteristics are further accentuated by varying conditions of
life which it is not in the power of the Government immediately
to change, but which it is in its power to ameliorate or the reverse
by suitable schooling or unsuitable. So far as native Indian schools
are concerned the present codes are absoluetly condemned by those
who know anything of the conditions in which the. life of the
Buck is to be lived. So far the result of white man’s organisation
has in his cas been simply negative. The codes have helped to
suppress the artistic faculties native to the race by ignoring their exis-
tence in the instruction given which, if it has an aim, is intended to
cultivate a literary cast of mind the materials for the satisfaction of which
are not to be found in the bush. Partly through ignorance and partly by
shirking the difficulties of a separate organisation the activities of vital
worth in a forest life are ignored, and absolutely irrelevant subjects,
absurdly inapplicable, industriously drilled into the innocent papooses.
There is for example no divine educational virtue in needlework that it
should shoulder out, in our school system, instruction in native cotton-
spinning, an art much more useful to the inhabitant of the interior By
a similar perversity the East Indian child with no aptitude for the Occi-
dental gamut, has vigorously pounded into him songs in a scale foreign to
his ear, with words generally so ridiculously exotic that they bear for him
neither meaning nor interest. You may succeed in changing his nice
native dress for nasty European clothing, but you can’t change his aural
apparatus. The hideous cacophony of the mixed school singing lesson
might convince even a tone-blind inspector.

The same criticism applies, so far as the words of the school songs
go, to their use for the children of all races in the colony. That nemesis

Some Axioms of Corporate Education. 61

of the talking faculty, verbalism, is in any case a baneful enough tendency
in humanity without laying broad its foundations in child instruction.
Rather should conservatism of words and care that to every word used
there shall be a concrete image in the mind, be the ideal of pedagogy.

On the other hand you have in music an educative engine powerful
in its influence on the negro, because there is in him naturally a facility
in this respect and the corresponding lively interest in its exercise. The
ditterent expressions of the faces of children of the ditferent races, when
engaged in this exercise is an object lesson for the educationist, if he

cares to take it.

The converse is true of drawing as an educational factor in respect
of the race differences of which we are speaking. The Buck and East
Indian child will here be found to be as prominent in facility as the uegro
child is lacking and, in their case, a sane educational system should look
to the exercise of this natural bent for an effect analogous to that of
music in the case of the negro.

Only at the cost of great losscan uniformity of treatment displace
recognition of differing racial gifts and disabilities.

It is impossible, even if I had the sufficient knowledge of the various
racial units which I do not claim, to go fully in this article through the
items of instruction. One grave oversight in all school systems i may
however in conclusion briefly refer to. While the senses of sight and
hearing receive more or less haphazard training, and the exigencies of
daily life look after the senses of taste and touch the olfactory sense, one
of the most valuable channels of knowledge, is absolutely ignored. The
first sign of grace in the framing of codes will appear in that which makes
some provision for education of this faculty, so vitally important as an
instrument of inquiry and prophylaxis. In those items of our school rolls
least removed from primitive conditions of life, the greatest facility will
naturally be found, and the education of the faculty will the more power-
fully function in their mental development.

I recognise that these considerations all point to differentiation of
standards and tests in respect of different types, a thing somewhat difficult,
it may be, to organize. Under the new method of assessing grants, it is
not howeyer so impossible as under that which it his replaced and, any-
how, no amount of trouble or difficulty is an argument for the mainten-
ance of what is irrational and subversive of those benefits for which the
colony expends its grants.

Finally a word to the Board of Education. Its deliberations will be
much more serviceable to the community when it turns its attention to
questions fundamental in reasonable code building, and has less pre-
occupation in finance of buildings, payment of teachers and control of a
system which in the past has been pretty nearly useless from the Econo-

62 Timehri

mic and Humanitarian point of view, in the presentis no better, and in
the future if it be not mended is likely to be worse, in proportion as we
lag behind the amendment going on elsewhere.

‘wow It is time enough to seleet your carpenter and arrange about his
payment when you have got the plan of your house laid down, and the
opposite order of events, common in colonial undertakings, dees not
recommend itself by any architectural evidence.

Oe

®

eerEW JOTTINGS OF MEMORIES EXTENDING
OVER 41 YEARS IN BRITISH GUIANA.

By Unric R. WHirr.

My home was in London, but having been taken seriously ill in
Liverpool, on regaining health my father said he would rather that I
should not be so far away. I was destined to go still farther.
On looking for something to do in the Great City, a friend of
my father’s asked if I would care to go abroad. Without hesita-
ting at all, I said yes. I left London in a severe snowstorm in
the good barque “ Crystal,” commanded by Captain Scott, a typical
oldtime Scotsman, on March 20th, 1872, my fellow passenger being
the late Mr. C. P. Barnes, who for many years and up to the time
of his death was employed by Messrs. Booker Bros. & Co. We were
coming out together to the late Mrs. Margaret Burns, a worthy lady
merchant of the ancient town of New Amsterdam, Berbice, and mother-
in-law of Mr. Justice Atkinson Passing through the Bay of Biscay on
Good Friday we had a very narrow escape of being wrecked. Owing to
the vessel being new (it being her maiden trip) the strain on the rigging
was so great, it became badly loosened so that the masts were very
nearly unshipped. Not until the storm was passed though did we know of
the greatness of our danger. In making taut all the shrouds, 4 or 5 feet
of the slack had to be taken in—*“ All’s well that ends well.” The balance
of the voyage was very enjoyable with the exception of a few days calm.
After a run of 44 days, when we were just beginning to get short of food
and water, we ran up the Berbice River under full sail, at mid-day on what
appeared to us one of the most beautiful days possible, it being typically
tropical. The view of New Amsterdam from the river certainly is far
more beautiful than that of Georgetown. After landing, the comparison
would be invidious.

After coming to anchor, good old Captain Scott took us ashore to
what was to be our abode for a time. The cordial and hearty welcome
given us by Mrs. Burns made us feel at home at once, giving us the
assurance that it would be our own fault if we missed too much our over
seas home. The results fully carried this out for in Mrs. Burns we
found a warmhearted, motherly woman.

Just before arrival there had been a very severe drought, drinking
water having to be brought from up the river. Our first evening
indicated that it was coming to an end for on that occasion there was a
deluge of hardbacks, that made it very difficult to take our dinner. We
should have been very much alarmed but for the assurance of Mrs. burns
that they were harmless; all the same they were a very great nuisance.
I have never seen them so numerous since, and in Georgetown they are
by no means such a nuisance as in Berbice. Monday the rains set in,

64. Timehri.

seeming to us as if the flood gates of heaven had suddenly been sprung
open ; tropical rains being a novelty tous. The rainy season continued
well into July. Coming out as we did without any preconceived ideas,
Berbice being a Terra Incognita, everything was delightfully novel, es-
pecially the beautiful foliage and the different types of people and
their costumes. Before leaving the subject of pests I must not forget
the mosquito for which Berbice took the palm both in numbers and
quality which I will illustrate by a story or two that I heard shortly after
my arrival.

Up at Skeldon some men were inside a boiler repairing it, the
mosquitoes being very numerous and strong the men clinched their
stings on the inside, on which they flew away with the boiler, men and
all and have never been seen since.

Another is that of two Captains, Americans of course, who on meet-
ing in New Amsterdam were relating their experiences. The first said he
passed through a black cloud A ing cleared which, he found every
stitch of canvas had disappeared. “Qh !” said the other, “ that accounts
for it; I passed through that same cloud and every mosquito had on
canvas breeches.”

Yet one more. ‘Two sailors sleeping ashore, finding the mosquitoes
troublesome drew the sheets over their heads. One on looking out said,
‘Tsay, Bill, it is of no use for they for looking for us with lanterns” He
had seen some fire flies.

Another thing that strikes the newcomer, is the whistling frogs. <A
friend (also a new comer) for whom we were waiting got very much
annoyed, repeating that he was coming. Hearing the frogs he thought
we were whistling for him.

Having a difference of opinion with Mr. burns, one of the quaintest
little Irishmen that I have ever met, though as goodhearted as you make
them, I left Mrs. Burns and joined Mr. Wreford, father of Mr. Wreford,
F.R., a merchant in Berbice, who was manager of Mr. Bridges’ Grocery
& Hardware Store. Later I took charge of the Wharf and Saw-pits. Mr.
Bridges was an Estate Proprietor and Agent, later on Administrator Gene-
ral. My fellow passenger, the late Mr. C. P. Barnes, having left to join the
good old firm of Playfair & Co., I soon followed. He soon after left there
to go into Booker Bros. & Co.’s Office, where he remained until he died.
I remained until the firm dissolved partnership with Mr. P. P. Fairbairn.
Some of my happiest days were spent under two of the most kind and
upright men one could wish to meet with, viz. :—Messrs. Donald Currie
and P. P. Fairbairn, types of employers not met with to-day, I am sorry
to say. In those days we lived over the store and were treated by Mrs.
Currie and Mrs. Fairbairn, whichever was in residence at the time, as if
we were sons. After dinner each one of us in rotation had to read a
chapter of the Bible and also a prayer, evening by evening. Unless we
had special permission, we had to be in by 10 o'clock. If they had
friends of an evening we were expected to be present. At one end of the

A Few Memories Extending over 41 Years in British Guiana. 65

building was a_ billiard and sitting room and at the other end, the
resident partner's quarters.

There were 6 or 8 of us Home hands, amongst them being A. K. F.
Dunean, James Stuart and Peter Stewart. When Mr. Currie left the
tirm to start his own business near the market, known as Donald Currie
& Co., he took the two Stuarts with him. A. K. F. Duncan left and
later on joined Smith Bros. & Co. Messrs. Smith & Gibson, who made
Smith Bros. & Co., were also with Playfair & Co., but before my time,
commencing business where Donald Currie & Co. is now. They had _ to
give way for Mr. Currie to open his own business, in course of time
acquiring the premises and business for themselves.

In 1877 I went Home to get married. During my absence Mr.
Fairbairn lost his brother, consequently shortly after my return, I was
made Chief Clerk of the main business. Mr. Duncan having left, it was
thought advisable to close down the branch known as the Granite Ware-
house, now the Bon Marché, of which I was in charge, it being too near
the chief store. Later on, when Mr. Fairbairn severed his connection
with the firm and it was necessary to cut down expenses, I had to find
other quarters also. In the following year, and up to the present, a
peculiar degree of unfavourable circumstances seemed to dog my
footsteps.

In the earlier years of ny experience several firms, amongst thein
being Paisley, Templeton & Co., Playfair & Co., and Booker Bros. & Co.,
boarded their Home hands and it can be well imagined what lively rollick-
ing times there must have been, with so many hale, hearty young men
about the streets after dinner. In those days it was a rare exception to
meet non-drinkers, even those who came out as such very soon followed
the custom, generally having a pretty hard time of it until they fell in
line ; so that what with natural and unnatural spirits, it can easily be
seen what would happen. Then Mr. Bobby (who at that time was a
policeman, not a semi-military creature) very discreetly was non est when
a band of these young sparks made their appearance, and if by any
chance at all, one of them, more venturesome than usual did show up, he
was promptly turned upside down. No Police Court case followed next day.

Mr. Bobby in his generation was by far too wise, knowing full
well which side his bread would be buttered on. As for stray hand-carts,
etc., seen at the roadside after dark, it was deemed that they needed a
washing, so forthwith into a trench they went and woe betide the owner,
if he dared to protest for in he went also a sadder but wiser man. All this
has passed away and now young men either club together and go into
diggings or into one of the now numerous Boarding Houses. So changes
take place, the old giving away to the new, not always, one is very much
inclined to think, for the better. I could wany a tale unfold of eccen-
tricities of employes, clerks, etc. It may be as well, however, to drop the
curtain on them with one exception. History always repeat itself, and just

66 Timehri,

as weare having dull times at present so it was in previous years. Such
being the case on one occasion, Mr. Irving having to go to Venezuela to
collect accounts, Gt has been said with a revolver in his pocket) his
partner, Mr. McArthur, closed the store, telling the clerks to go home for
a week. Mr. Irving, returning before he was expected, had to scour the
country to get back his hands and so their holiday was spoilt.

One great and very useful institution, when a fellow was going on
his well earned holiday, was the raffle. Then the clans right royally
gathered together from all quarters, and when the serious part of the
atfair was over, singing, etc., took place until the wee hours of the
morning. I never remember seeing any serious unpleasantness at any of
these functions. Jokes against each other always were taken in good part.
Those raffles were really of great benefit to many a young fellow about
to return to his native land and the call was always responded to
cheerfully and willingly, there being no difficulty in getting paid for the
chances, which eenerally were $5 or $10, the ‘motto being * To-day for
you, to-morrow for me.”

In the seventies the arrival of steamers was quite an event. Indeed
it was a fine sight to see the Harbour full of sailing vessels, some of thei,
especially those consigned to Thos. Daniel & Co., remaining very often
for months waiting on a cargo of sugar. We iniss too that fine fleet of
ships that used to come to Sandbach Parker & Co., and also those
to A. W. Perot & Co., and, above all, that old veteran Captain White.
At that time the Y.M.C.A. used to hold services each Sunday afternoon
on board one of the vessels, going off in their own boat, which they had
acquired from the Police Department, manning it with their own
members, one of whom addressed the sailors, when unable to procure a
clergyman ; sending off on Saturday their Bethel Flag. Now it is nearly
all steamers, that rush in and out with feverish haste as if trying to
race ood old Father Time. One wonders what next.

The Mayors of the City that I have known all, without exception,
have been worthy holders of their othce. I may be pardoned for
referring to a few :—

Messrs. Drysdale, whose nemory is kept green by the naming of a
miserable little alley after him ; For shaw, by a clock opposite the Royal
Agricultural and Reading Rooms; and Murdoch. ‘These have passed away
but neither they nor their work have been forgotten. The others too have
done yeomen service, each one in his own turn initiating some scheme
for lmprovelment, and they have been backed up ably by their late Town
Superintendent, Mr. Luke M. Hill, and by the present holder of the office,
Mr. W. F. Laurie Thomas. Those of us who go about the City and in
and out of every street cannot but be struck by the steady progress that
has been and is still going on. One serious blunder has been made, in
filling up these trenches which gave Georgetown the name of the Venice
of these regions. They were unsightly sometimes because they were
neglected, but they might have been made beauty spots and still have

A Few Memories Extending over 41 Yeurs in British Guiana. 67

remained a benefit to the City, their expanse of water, in the dry season,
adding the necessary moisture to the surroundings by evaporation, Mos-
quitoes would have been drawn to them and destroyed by the fishes in
the trenches. Thomas and Carmichael streets are not filled up yet, why
not let them be improved and kept full of fresh water? Barring this
blot, the rapidity of the improvement makes one wonder, what next.
Seenstow n, Bourda and the Botanic Gardens I have seen evolved out of
wild bush. The two first by Mr. L. M. Hill, and the latter by the late
Mr. John Brummel, then Sheriff of Georgetown, to whom a memorial has
been erected in the shape of a bandstand in the Gardens. But absolutely
nothing has been done to mark the good work done by Mr. L. M. Hill.
Must we wait until he passes to the oreat majority ? That fine old
gentleman Mr. Jacobus Hill, Town Clerk, still looks down on us when we
enter the C ity Hall, by mistake called the Town Hall, an oil painting having
been placed there as a memorial. That grand old Planter, William Russel,
is also remembered by a bust opposite the steamer stelling, on account
of his success in supplying Georgetown with water. But for him what
should we have done during the longest drought ever known? Mr. P. P.
Fairbairn, one of the most upright eentlemen the Colony has ever
known, has been honoured by a stained glass window in St. Andrew’s
Church. I remember when the Town Council Offices were over a little
shop where the B.G. Mutual Building is now. The new Town Hall is a
landmark of local talent, the architect being the late Rev. Father Scoles,
and of local workmanship. It is a building to be proud of, but unfortu-
nately it is by far too small at the present time, another illustration of
how we are progressing. The b.G. Bank has always been the fine
building it still is and of really good workmanship. The Colonial Bank
was in a pokey little place until replaced by the present commodius
building.

In former days we had no tram cars and very few decent cabs, until
Messrs. Stewart (of Playfair & Co.,) and Russell (of Booker Bros.,) put
improved ones on the road, even importing two Hansom cabs. These
were found to be too heavy and cumbersome, sc were soon taken oft. |
wonder what has become of them’? Still we got along allright, and the
old gives way to the new, for we must march with the time, it being a
case of Rush ! Rush ! Rush ! in these days, everything having to be done at
fever heat. Just a few shabby cabs ; then mule driven trams and now elec-
tric cars, to be followed by aerial flights. When the much patronized
trams first made their appearance it was said that it meant the death-knell
of the cabs, but it has not been so, for as each improved method of
travels has taken place, the numbers of cabs has increased.

For a great number of years there was little or no public spirit im
this Colony, the late good old Mr. Bascom, of Cove and John, being one of
the first in the legislature who seemed to see what was coming. The
Planters then were the dominant power. But this is a dangerous question
to touch on—it being alinost impossible to make them see that one can

be with thein up to the hilt and yet see some of their shortcomings. [

OS ; Timehri.

will leave it to those who come later on to say whether it has been for
the Colony’s best interest that it was so or not. One thing I must add
and that is, it is a pity the Colony does not seem able to exceed its
100,000 tons a year. Would it could be a million ?

I am proud to say that I did my little in helping to bury that
antiquated, but in its day very useful, old lady, the College of Keizers
and to bring about a greater measure of public spirit, let us hope a
healthy one. With Messrs. Straughn, Hinds and others, I took part in
the erly days of the Reform movement, Messrs. Straughn, Hinds and
inyself being a deputation who waited on Mr. Watt, M. P., when on a
visit to Sir Henry Turner Irving.

Of Governors my experience has been that we have had good, bad,
and indifferent—very few good or bad, but more indifferent. Amongst
the first class, towering head and shoulders above them were Sir Henry
Irving, Sir Alexander Swettenham and, we hope, one who will top the
list, our present Governor—each of these being imbued with a desire
in every way to further the real interests of the Colony. Lord Gormanston
was also a good man. ‘The one great evil this Colony has suffered from
has been the sending of men here merely to qualify for their pensions,
their principal occupation seeming to be how to increase the official statf
and swell the Pension list.

Sir Henry Turner Irving was the first Governor to tackle the Gold
Industry with all its possibilities, but it has by no means yet been made
the most of, owing to many preventable causes, among them being in
some cases the putting of unsuitable men as gold officers and of allowing
alcohol to be sold in the bush. Another blunder has been the encourage-
ment of *‘ Pork-knockers” under existing circumstances. I wish it to
be clearly understood that I am not against ‘‘ Pork-knockers ” if under
proper and suitable control or under certain conditions. I have not time
in this paper to explain my meaning more fully as it would be a subject
sufficient in itself to form a paper similar to this. But to return to our
Governors, Sir Alexander Swettenham, who followed Sir Henry Irving,
desired to open up the Hinterland, showing full well what he would have
done if he had not been called away by far too soon; yet some of his
work still seems to live and is likely to be carried on to a successful issue
by Sir Walter Egerton, if we, in our usual apathetic, pessimistic grum-
bling spirit, do not hamper him too much.

In referring to these three especially, | do not for one moment
mean to say that a// the others have been of no use, by no means, some
of them good worthy old gentlemen, as | have already said, unfortunately
seeming to be imbued with the one idea of increasing as much as possible
the Civil List until it has become a huge Octupus, growing and growing
and growing, until one wonders w here it willend. It would not matter
if the welfare of the Colony increased in the same ratio. There can be
little doubt that with judicious amalgamation of some offices and better
and more faithful work of ALL officers though undoubtedly there are some

A Few Memories Extending over 41 Years in British Guiana, 69

of them, who really do work hard and conscientiously, and with a trifle
longer hours, the Civil List could be easily reduced. Many Public
Officers have really so little to do that they find time hanging heavy on
their hands, lack of sufficient work making them so ill—that they go on
long leave. Some years ago in the eighties I think, I tried hard to get
the early closing movement started, but could not get my fellow clerks
interested, each seeming to be afraid of his ownshadow. Iam _ thankful
to see that the seed then sown has at last taken firm root..

During my forty-one years I have seen a vast army pass on before,
some have crossed the borders, to the great unknown (the larger number)
some have gone away, perhaps for their own good, but in some cases for
the Colony’s good. Who can tell?’ By the way the latter class
unwittingly often give the Colony a bad name as naturally, if wrecked
in health and they were asked, ‘‘Oh where have you come from ”
they would reply * Oh that horrid hole British Guiana,” carefully omitting
to mention why to them it was horrid. <A healthy man is never
asked where he comes from and so poor Guiana finds it difficult to make
it believed that it is by no means as bad as it is painted, making it
imperative that we should in season and out of season judiciously and
profusely advertise ourselves.

Amongst ae great army of those who had passed away in New
Amsterdam are: The Rev. Duff (father of our late Immigration Agent
General) a fine ‘old stately typical Scotsman ; the Rev. Thos. Dalgleish,
of the London Missionary Society, who was honoured and revered by all
classes and denominations. Amongst those whom he trained and left
behind and who is still with us is Dr. London. Old Britton, proprietor
of the Strand Hotel, as fine a type of a black gentleman as one could
wish to know, whom to see on his great white horse and with his wide
Panama Hat was to make one think he was some great General. Drs.
Hackett, Crammer (father-in-law of the late Dr. W allbridge), Altham and
Alexander were of the good old types of doctors. The last is said to
have had a Pepper Pot that had been kept going for over 30 years; its
wire mesh cover being fastened with a Padlock, the key of which the
good old doctor kept. in his pocket. Then there was Henry Katz
Davson, the first native of British Guiana to be honoured by being
knighted, the worthy son of a worthy father, whose sons (sons of the
soil) must feel proud that their father was so honoured and in remem-
bering how their grandfather built up such a large business.

I must not forget Mrs. Burns, familiarly known as ‘ ‘Magoie Burns ”
as good hearted sl as kind a lady as one could wish to know, who by
Bee shrewd business ability, built up a large business and became in her
day the largest property owner in New Amsterdam. As an illustration
of her large heartedness, when at one time the butchers raised the price
of beef, she, having a cattle farm up the Corentyne Coast, opened a
Pather S Peal; in the market and undersold, only Sede ais when they
gave way. She had none of that false pride too much seen to-day. I have

70 5 Timeh ri.

myself seen her returning from the market carrying a bunch of plantains.
Of course there were many more such as Silvanus Wreford, Robert
Samuels, ete.. but I must pass on to some of the City men.

Bishop Austin from all points of view tops the list. closely followed
_by the two Roman Catholic Bisheps, both tine men, Archdeacons Wyatt,
Castell, Austin and Farrar, Revds. Slater, Glasgow, Foreman Pottegrow,
etc., etc., each of them worthy of more notice than I am able to give them.
James Stewart, Peter Stewart, P. P. Fairbaira, James Thompson, The
Bookers, Drs. Manget, Cameron (who’s panacea for all ills, especially for
Booker’s clerks was magnesia mixture), Hutson, Wallbridge, ete., and
innumerable others equally worthy of notice. These memoirs would be
incomplete if | were to leave out the late James Veecock, the greatest
Shakesperean scholar that this Colony has even known, who could repeat

almost all his plays without a book, it being a treat to hear him suitably :

delineate each character. His histronic ability and elocutionary powers
were of a very high order. He, with a few others, helped to build up and
keep alive for several years the late Demerara Dramatic Club, bringing out

all the best talent, it being no uncommon thing to hear it said that such .

and such a play was better produced and ‘staged than when done by
some travelling company. Nothing was too ambitious for the D.D.C.
to put on, as they spared no expense to get perfection ; but for petty
jealousies, the usual thing with amateurs, it might still have been alive.

Music was represented by the talented Mr. Colbeck, who was too
advanced for his time, still his good work is bearing good fruit to-day.
He was ably assisted by a great number of gentlemen amongst them
being the late Rev. W. G. Austin (at one time Inspector of Schools).

Mr. Cahauc, known as Charley Cahauc, built the Philarmonic Hall, a
Bijou Theatre, he always bemoaned the lack of interest taken in real
talent as compared with that manifested in dancing dogs or the like.
A great deal could be said of this old gentleman and al/ to his credit.
These are but a very few of those I have known.

I might speak of Judges, Magistrates, Lawyers, etc., ete., ete.
For instance Chief Justice O'Malley who on one occasion when
walking through Queenstown Ward saw some shirt tail boys playing at
cricket, quarrelling. When he interfered the boys, not knowing who he
was, used by no means polished language : telling him to mind his own
business, which he promptly did, saying it served him right. Magistrate
Seon, who on one occasion was summoned by his cook ‘for abusing her
went into the dock, pleaded guilty, returned to the Bench, gave himself
a lecture, fined himself and went down stairs and paid it.

Of Lawyers there was “ Old Imlach,” as good and as honest a Lawyer
las it is possible to know. On one occasion he made a bet with some
adies that he would walk to business with a ‘“‘ Check a bit” on his head,
which he carried out, for | saw it myself, holding his head as erect as
possible and looking neither to the right nor the left. He suitably re-

PO time

A Few Memories Extending over 4l Years in British Guiana. 71

turned any remarks to those who on passing made reference to him. His
quaint and by no means ¢nwudible inuendoes when in Court, as Crown
Solicitor, of course were not heard by the Bench. Lynch, Dargan,
Cunningham and De Souza were all men of mark, the last being a martyr
to his convictions, meeting with a very sad end, not being allowed to
follow his wife’s body to the burial ground, she having died when he was in
prison. ‘This so preyed on his mind that not being strong he died before
he accomplished what he attempted. One more of them I must not for-
get namely that cleverest of all our Lawyers in Dutch Law, Dr. Belmonte.
He was a bit excitable and emphatic in trying to drive home his points,
often standing near the Judge’s desk. On one occasion, having failed to
carry his point by all other sources, he took up his Voet (pronounced foot)
shaking it before the Judge, said he would give him his * foot.” receiving
the reply, it is said, ** If you do I will give you my fist.”

Going over a period of 41 years, of course | am aware that there
are innumerable names that I have left out, and also many incidents,
humorous, pathetic and tragic that I might have referred to, such as the
two riots, the terrible boating accidents, ete., ete., my only apology being
that I have already made this paper by far too long. | claim no literary
ability feeling that my attempt at writing these memoirs is very crude
and very incomplete. Tracking up old memories has made me somewhat
sad, for there are very few left of those whom | knew as young men.
It makes one feel lonely. to remember how many have gone beyond
recall while I am still left. Why ?

Of course in a subject like this so much could be said and so much
is better left unsaid, that I have felt it very difficult indeed to put my
thoughts (without any references before me) together in such a way as
to give pleasure without offence ; it being merely a few disjointed jottings
of a few memories extending over a period of 41 years in a land of
promise which bids fair some day (let us hope soon) to be a land literally

flowing with milk and honey.

I must before closing pay a high tribute to the Colony, as being by no
means one of the worst places on earth, believing that for those who take
care of themselves, taking plenty of exercise and leaving alcohol severely
alone, good health will follow. Coming out here “4d years ago in
very weak health and not having been away from the G olony for 36
years and having kept undoubtedly 2 ood health, I speak volumes for the
Colony. I often say that the Government ought to subsidize me to
demonstrate abroad that this is really a good colony to live in. I still
hope to live lone enough to travel to the frontier by Railway, the sooner
this is built irrespective of whether Brazilians will use it or not, the
sooner will British Guiana become one of the brightest jewels in’ the
British possessions.

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A NEW SCHOOL.

By EtTHeL M. MINETT.

At a time when our high rate of infant mortality, and the possible
remedies suggested, are receiving attention in all minds interested in the
health of our colony, it may be of interest to review some of the methods
in use in other countries for the improvement of infant welfare.

Each country has its own special difficulties, in climatic or industrial
conditions, the degree of civilisation and education of its people, and its
capacity for support of increased population, but taking the rate of infant
mortality in various European countries, it is found to be lowest in purely
agricultural countries, such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, higher in
industrial countries such as France and Austria-Hungary, and highest in
Russia, where the great mass of the peasantry is still in an uneducated
and poverty-stricken condition.

Jamaica and Ceylon, with hot climates, come high in the list, while
Australasia has, possibly by means of its energetic legislation, succeeded
in bringing its infant death-rate to a level equalled only by the purely
residential or agvicultural centres of England—a rate of only 60 to 90
deaths per 1,000 births, while we in British Guiana lose yearly about 230
to 280 of every 1,000 born

If statistics of the causes of death in infants of under one year be
noted, the same two causes will be found to head the list in almost every
case first, diseases of the alimentary tract, and second, diseases of the
respiratory tract. This means that neglect or ignorance of proper feeding
and proper protection from changes of temperature are responsible for by
far the greater proportion of infant deaths. This applies not only to
Kuropean countries, but even in higher degree to tropical countries, where
the epidemic diseases peculiar to early years of life, such as scarlet fever,
diphtheria, whooping cough, and measles, are almost negligible in their
fatal effects.

These, then, are the chief evils against which a campaign must be
carried out.

Infant welfare schemes fall usually under three heads :

(1) The forcible removal of causes or conditions leading to these
evils.

(2) The prevention or amelioration of the results of these causes
or conditions.

(3) The education of public opinion, to lead in time to the volon-
tary prevention of these evils, and to the removal of their
causes.

14 Timeh rl.

Where possible, the first is the best and most scientific method, but
force can be applied only by Governments, and legislation does not begin
and end with the passing of laws ; a constant watch must be kept upon a
population to punish the evasions of those laws, and this necessitates an
expensive staff of visitors, overseers, inspectors, and clerks, which no
country is likely to be able to maintain for one branch of health reform
only.

Legislation in other countries has been directed to the improvement
of the condition of mothers working in factories ; the registration and
inspection of persons taking for hire the care of infants; tha care of
illegitmate children ; and the compulsory notification of births.

In most countries factory work is debarred to mothers within a
month before or after confinement, but by recent inquiries among the
wo: king women of England it has been found that the enforced rest has
been coupled with semi-starvation from lack of wages at the time most
needed, and that the infant mortality has not decreased to the extent that
was hoped for by tho e framing the laws.

Spain has a special provision for factory workers nursing their caild-
ren, of two half-hours a day off work, wih no wage-deduction,
to enable the infants to be naturally fed; and in many Parisian and
Roman factories a smal] créche forms part of the women’s buildings,
allowing the working mothers to feed their children on the premise.

In Australia the inspection of persons taking infants to nurse for
hire is extremely stringent, licences being issued, and periodical inspec-
tions made to see that the infant is receiving the care and attention
necessary—a form of legislation that might with great advantage be
brougat into force here, when the number of children definitely or indefi-
nitely ‘boarded out” is enormous—and the choice of persons, respon-
sible for the upbringing of the children, of the most haphazard description.
England has been behind hand in this type of infant care, for only so late
as 1910 was the notification of the receiving of infants for hire made
compulsory.

In Hungary, the ‘children of the State,” mostly illegitimate, are
provided for in temporary ‘asiles’ from which they are boarded out
either with their own mother or foster-parents, and when older, trained
for agriculture, trades, or domestic service, the State finding the benefit
in the lower death-rate and subsequent increase in healthy population.

Victoria assumes care of boarded-out children. Ifa month’s payments
to the foster-mother fall in arrears the children then pass into the
charge of t.e State Neglected Children’s Department.

Roumania has perhaps the best scheme for the care of fatherless
children, started by private enterprise, now aided by grants from Local
Authorities. This is an institution where the mothers are received, with
the infants—an improvement upon most ‘ Rescue Homes” where the

Or

A New WNSehool. Tv:

children are regarded as encumbrances, and too often left to the care of
incompetent persons—and trained in various occupations, at the same
time having the care of their own children. By the time the children is
two years old, the mother is ready for some wage-earning occupation, and
the child has had a good healthy start in life.

In Leipsig a system of voluntary visiting of these illegitimate
children, aided by the local authorities, is successful in compelling 90 per
cent of ths fathers to contribute to the upke2p of the children.

Possibly with the example of other countries before us, British
Guiana may one day devise some means of dealing with our great problems
of the care of illegitimate children, the deaths of whom form about 707
of our total infant mortality.

Legislation for the supply of pure milk for children is now in force
in most countries, and the ery went up some years ago for municipal or
charitable milk depdts for infants, whereby a pure supply could be
assured. Experience of these in England has shown that if thoroughly
carried out, with sterilisation and individual supply, this is a most
expensive scheme, and in most towns it is now realised that legislation
for the improvement of the whole milk supply, strictly enforced, is of
more general value.

The provision of a well-known pure supply has been found to
discourage breast-feeding, ignorant mothers believing that what is
municipal must be best, and thersfore hastening to wean their infants in
order that they may reap the benefits of the “ pure supply.” This was
found in St. Pancras, the pione:»r district in schemes for infant welfare,
and the return of the authorities to insistence on breast-feeding met with
more succe:s in decreasing the mortality than the best organised centres
for milk supply.

Dr. Buchan, the Medical Officer of Health of St. Helens, the first
town in England to institute a milk depot, recently insiste |, at a conference
on Health Promoting Institutions, that “Infant Milk Depots, like fever
hospitals, must work solely for their own extinction.” They are to be
regarded merely as a temporary measure, and it is questionable whether
their success warrants the expenditure of the amount of money necessary
for their upkeep.

St. Pancras, under the guidance of the late Dr. Sykes, was the first
to start a ‘School for Mothers,” a scheme which, from its inexpensive
beginnings, and success in all districts where the example of St. Pancras
has been followed (over 80 of the -‘ Schools ™ are at present working in
Great Britain), seems to be of most use in the education of the mothers,
which in time we may hope “will lead to the voluntary prevention of
these evils, and to the removal of their causes.”

76 Timehri.

It was early recognised that the assistance of milk depdéts, lying-in
charities, maternity insurances, and the like, while helping those imme-
diately concerned, yet had no appreciable influence on the general infant
mortality, but that some educational scheme would be necessary to reach
the greater bulk of the women, mothers present and future of the nation.

France, ever foremost in realising the value of increased healthy
population, began in 1906 her “ Consultations de Nourissons,” first in
connection with the maternity hospitals, later as independent under-
takings.

To these were brought infants and mothers who had left the hos-
pitals, and records were kept of the infants’ progress, regular weighing
heing a special feature, while the mothers were given advice as to
simple rules of health and encouraged to nurse their babies. The spirit
of competition was fostered by prizes for well-cared-for babies, and
directions given as to necessity for attendance at hospital or other
medical treatment if signs of disease were discovered.

On these ‘“ Consultations” the ‘School for Mothers” was based,
infant consultations were held once a week, and the attendance of
mothers increased gradually, most of them finding that a little help in
the choice of food, bottles, and clotbing, meant a great saving in
expense, and a oreat improvement in health of both parent and child.

In 1912 the fifth annual report of the St. Pancras ‘‘ School” gives
330 mothers in regular attendance, and 1,550 visits had been paid during
the year, while two more schools have been opened in or near the
district to meet the needs of the mothers.

The undertaking is not in any sense a charity, though charitable
branches, such as free meal restaurants, prizes for baby shows, cookery
and dressmaking classes, ete., have been gradually added—the mothers
are given advice “only, first at the school, and later by visitors attached to
the school, the main object being to educate the mothers in infant care,
while leaving the responsibility for the health of their children wholly in
the hands of the parents.

In connection with the School there is a Mothers’ Provident Fund,
where mothers deposit small sums per week or per month during pree-
nancy, the total being used for the benefit of the child later on. Simple
teaching is given to expectant mothers, and there is no doubt that the
scheme is an unqualified success.

It may be said that the conditions of infant life here are entirely
different to those of an overcrowded district of London, but the main
factor in the waste of infant life is the same—ignorance. Factory
legislation we do not need—milk depdts we cannot at present afford—
but education we must have if we are to supply the colony with healthy
citizens in the next generation.

A New Sehool. ae

The School for Mothers, begun bere as a branch of the Society for
the Protection of Children, is but in its experimental stage, time alone
will show whether it will succeed here as the parent institutions have
done in England, but it is at least an attempt to help the mothers in
the training of healthy children, and to reach the ideal set by the English
Board of Education in its recent Memorandum, ‘If girls and women
could be taught how to take care of infants, we might hope to diminish
not only the high rate of infant mortality, but also the large amount of
uanecessary ill-health and suffering caused by neglect in infancy and
childhood.”

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DEVELOPMENT AND TAXATION.

The important question ‘‘CGan the colony be developed without
increased taxation” was discussed at the regular meeting of the Royal
Agricultural and Commercial Society on 25rd July. His Exeellency the
Governor, Sir Walter Egerton, K.C M.G., presided after the preliminary
business had been com pleted.

The acting President of the Society, the Hon. J. J. Nunan, opened
the discussion, his views on the subject being as follows :—

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.

Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen :—-I think the Society ean
congratulate itself on the presence of Your Excellency this afternoon.
The subject of this discassion was arranged by the President before he
was compelled to leave the colony on business, and on accepting the acting
presidency I did not feel at liberty to alter it, and indeed saw no reason
why I should do so. Some friendly remark appears to have been
occasioned by the announcement that a Governmeat officer would be in
the chair, but the founder of this Society in 1836, Dr. Campbell, was a
Government officer, and so are some of our most active directors. It will
be a bad day for this or any other colony, when officials cease tu take an
interest in public matters, either regarding themselves as pariahs and so
beneath the privileges of ordinary citizens, or else like the gods of the
Epicureans lifted above all worldly cares to an atmosphere where no sound
of human sorrow mounts to mar their sacred, everlasting calm. There is
a very wise regulation which prevents them from taking part in political
discussions or indulging in public criticism on matters of administration,
but the very same regulation endorses their right as British citizens to
deal with matters of public interest. In so doing they will be supposed
to act with discretion and in no sense can their action bind the Govern-
ment. I do not know of any matter of such absorbing public interest as
the future development of this great, this ancient, this side-tracked colony,

_ hor any time more urgent than the present, for the carefal consideration

of its problems by all classes of its citizens. We are face to with a falling
sugar and balata market and the collapse of the New Colonial Company
does not increase the prestige of our staple as a form of investment.
Nothing much can be hoped from the rice crop on the Corentyne and the
West Coast of Berbice owing to the effects of the drought on the Coast
savannahs. Our timber possibilities are still in the region of nebular
hypothesis for the hope of seeing a market test applied to them on the
largest scale which so many of us entertained when I last addressed you
in October has vanished like the delusive hues of a rainbow. A
considerable sum of money has been circulated in Water street owing to
the gold rush to Pigeon Island, but only at some risk to the labour
supply for the coming sugar crop. Finally the East Indian indenture
system which has given us two-fifths of our population can no longer be

80 Timehri.

regarded as a certain aid for the colonization of the colony. We are face
to face with new conditions in India and elsewhere, and may at very
short notice have to accommodate ourselves to the task of solving our
labour problems on other lines.

Cassandra was not a popular prophetess especially in her own
country and we are all alive to the truth of the saying that you cannot
argue with a prophet, you can only disbelieve him. Still without
prophesying or pulling too long a face, it must be clear that the immediate
outlook is not as cheerful as we should like. It only remains to consider
whether we shall sit with folded arms and murmur ‘ Kismet” or whether
like cur predecessors in this colony, like our fellow citizens all over the
British Empire, we shall put our trust in God and boldly go forth to face
the difficulty rather than stay at home and succumb to it.

TALK WITHOUT ACTION.

If the development of this colony could have been brought about by
discussion and advice it would be one of the most progressive parts of the
world. But the talk goes on, goed intentions are formed and nothing at
all comes of it. Year after year we tread the same weary round, hope
deferred making the heart sick. The climate is conduc ve to a life of
contemplation. Genuine capitalists seldom visit us and leave our
possibilities to the chances of the adventurer or the adventurous. I am
inclined to think they treat us as the Rajah of the musical comedy treated
another slumberous land :-—

‘‘ Peace, peace, leave them in peace,

For the weak must be ruled by the strong
And the axe and the knife

Are no longer at strife

In the beautiful Valley of Bhong.”

There is a danger of our drugging ourselves with advice and hopes
without taking the advice or translating the hopes into concrete realities,
and I doubt whether anybody whose advice is neglected will make the
ineffectual protest of Ahitophel to call attention to that neglect My
recollection is that Ahitophel, finding his advice flouted, saddled his ass
and went away unto his own country and put his house in order and
hanged himself and was buried with his fathers. My scriptural infurma-
tion does not reach so far as knowing what happened to Hushai the
Archite whose false advice was more pleasing to Absalom. King David
no doubt considered whether he should hang him or make him a captain
in Israel. Without irreverence I trust he hanged him.

But lest I be tempted myself to imitate Ahitophel and, as IT have
no desire to share either the punishment or the reward of Hushai the
Archite, I intend not to occupy your time by giving any advice at all.
I will myself set out the subject of discussion, mention a few facts, and

formally put before you the opinions of people who have a better right to
be heard than I.

Development and Taxation. 81

THREE WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT.

The question for discussion is whether the colony can be developed
without imposing fresh burdens of taxation upon the citizens. It seems
that this is only possible in one or all of three ways, first, by retrenchment
and the devotion of our economies to opening up the country, secondly,
by formulating and carrying out schemes remunerative from the outset,
and thirdly, by securing the introduction of outside capital to carry out
independently a constructive policy of which we should reap the benefit.

I use retrenchment in the widest sense. In its narrow sense it is’ a
very popular policy at all times and a favourite electioncatchery. Those
who use it are seldom able to point out methods where it can be applied
without a corresponding loss of efficiency. Rough surgery can be prac-
tised by anybody who has a butcher knife but the dithiculty is to prevent
the patient from being mortally wounded or bleeding to death. Even
when the knife is scientifically applied as had to be done during the
Swettenham-Ashmore regime to save the land from bankruptcy, much
may be pared off which either can never be replaced or which has to be
built up again piecemeal when the delusory character of the economy is
realised. In this regard I think I need only refer to the abolition of the
Administrator General’s Office. It has had to be reconstructed step by
step and what this colony has lost in revenue from its abolition owing to
the absence of any proper supervision of the administration of estates
must amount to a very considerable sum. The abolition of the flourish-
ing Government Savings Bank the oldest British institution of its kind is
another instance Howev er, there is no doubt that our legal equipment
at all events is redundant ‘and overweighted for present requirements.
I am glad to say that His Excellency has approved of my proposals for
abolishing the Limited Jurisdiction and, while providing for an in-
dependent local Appeal Court, for enabling the bench to be reduced by
one Judge. Iam glad to say too that Their Honours individually have
expressed themselves in sympathy with such a scheme. It will give each
Judge the full powers of a Supreme Court Judge and do away with the
anomaly of three Judges being necessary for all cases affecting sums over
$2,500. Other proposals for reducing the cost and number of the legal
branch of the administration are being considered by His Excellency.

This is an instance of retrenchment in the narrower sense, but there
is also an economy to be practised in the health and fitness of the human
machine, in the lives of men, and especially in the lives of babes and suck-
lings. It is a relief to think that our splendid public health regulations
are being put into force with a system and determination which has never
been surpassed before, under the inspiring influence of His Excellency and
Surgeon General Godfrey and with the scientific knowledge which Drs.
Wise, Rowland, Ozzard, Ferguson, Minett and Wishart have been able
to furnish. In connection with this work of public health it would be
unfair to overlook the name of Dr. Law who, with our indefatigable Sur-
geon General, kept the flag flying in spite of the hostility of the unedueated
and the indifference of those who ought to have known better. ‘The results

82 : Timehir.

are seen already in the returns of births and deaths. In the past no
settled colony has been more lavish and reckless in its expenditure
of flesh and blood. While East Indians and Barbadians have kept
pouring in our population has gone up only some five per cent.
in twenty years while Trinidad which has only one forty-fifth ~
of our area has increased fifty per cent. in the same time and
has now beaten us in the race for population. Yet people complain
of taxation here which is less than ten dollars per head and raised
almost wholly in Customs duties, while in ‘Trinidad it is about
sixteen dollars per head and that island has a much larger public
debt. The figures of expenditure are £959,000 as against our
£588,000. Our public debt on analysis is fouud to be a mere trifle and
would be borue as lightly as a flower if it were ten times that amount,
provided always that the colony were clearly on the up grade. As regards
the mouey value of human life there is an interesting article in the
‘Transaclions of the Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’ for
May by Dr. Thomson in which the subject is dealt with. The capital
value of a human life, according to the hygienists, varies according to age
depending as it does on the two factors of earning capacity and
expectancy of life. How much does a person earn and how long will he
live? The answers will enable us to state how much he is worth. If
this estimate of the money value of a human being to his family or to
society be applied to any considerable population, says the writer, the
figures reach enormous proportions and if we estimate the money loss
which results from premature death or disability from disease or accident
the amounts are much greater. Expenditure here in preventing the
spread of malaria or tuberculosis or typhoid or in stopping the modern
massacre of the innocents is not alone retrenchment in its most states-
manlike form but is a great work of constructive policy.

There is another field where this policy of retrenchment can be
effectively applied and here I can speak with some technical knowledge
and in much of what I say | believe I have the much-abused legal
profession with me. I refer to the law and the practice of the law. A
great deal of intellectual force and a great deal of time and money
are wasted in this colony owing to the uncertainties and _ the
inediwval or cingue cento accompaviments of both the one and
the other. Capital will always look askance at a place where the
law is uncertain as it has no love of law-suits and English investors
at all events shrink aghast when told that a transport is not a document
of title in any English sense, and that contract and sale of goods have
different meanings in our law from the English conception of them or
that nothing but the praiseworthy ingenuity of the local Judges can give
them anything like the same significance. Fortunately the Common Law
Commission has got through a great part of its labour and has already
reached the report stage.

Although I do not wish to anticipate its findings, as its chairman I
may say that the result, if accepted by the Executive and by the Colonial

Development and Taxation. 83

Office, should be to take the commercial law at all events out of the region
of nebular hypothesis.

I personally trust the larger hope that we shall codify what we
require and abandon the rest of our present colonial law. We are now on
the eve of the third reading of a Company and Insolvency Law, and a Sale
of Goods Bill, Bills of Sale Bill and other useful Bills on English lines
(where possible identical with the English legislation) have been already
drafted. I hope married persons will also get the rights in intestacy of
which they have been deprived and which they have suffered for some
years in patience or in ignorance of their fate. The only place where they
are treated as badly by the law is Quebec and even there a movement for
reform has arisen. If an English girl arrives in the colony and marries
and has the misfortune to lose her husband she will probably not be
consoled for his loss by finding that she may be entirely a stranger to
his estate and be penniless even if he were that rarissima avis a
British Guiana millionaire.

As regards the process of ascertaining what the law is and the pro-
cedure for giving effect to it there is also some room for reform and
economy.

In keeping up the distinction of the two branches of the legal
profession—Barristers and Solicitors-—-we are indulging in a luxury,
which some of the largest colonies have not been able to aftord. It isa
well-known fact that our Barristers are compelled by local conditions
to do Solicitor’s work and that it has been found impossible to compel
the strict observance of the etiquette prescribed at Home. This practice
received some recognition in the Legal Practitioners Ordinance of 1897,
which provided that a Barrister acting as a Solicitor shall, in so far as he
practises, be deemed to be a Solicitor within the meaning of the section
and consequently an officer of the Court. Any question as to what
constitutes practising as a Solicitor is to be decided by rules of Court
to be made for determining what constitutes such practice. Such rules
were made in 1908 and everybody has forgotten ali about them.

It would be much more satisfactory to have the position of legal
practitioners as constituted by local practice frankly and openly recog-
nized and one general body of advocates formed as in some other British
possessions with all the rights of general practitioners. It would lead
to a considerable reduction of the cost of legal proceedings, although no
doubt a division of Court and office work would be inevitable in important
matters. One member of the firm would do the office or purely Solicitor’s
work and the other would do the Court work either alone or assisted by
his partner or by some other member of the united profession.

In the Leeward Islands by an Act of 1880 the right of Barristers to
practise as Solicitors is expressly authorised but they are thereupon
subject to all the liabilities which attach by law to a Solicitor. I see no
difficulty in the way of the adoption of the Leeward Islands Act in this

84 Timehri.

eolony and of providing for vested interests. I think such a course would
greatly improve the position of the profession as a whole. I hope to be
able to call a meeting of the profession before long to consider this and
other matters affecting their interests as a body. Its members have
the fullest right to be consulted on the practical effects of any such
proposal. The position was set out in 1897 by Their Honours Judge
Atkinson and Judge Sheriff, when the present Legal Practitioners
Ordinance was before the Court of Policy.

‘In the early days there was indeed a time when all the practitioners
were practitioners at large without distinction and the change was
probably made at the instance of or in the interest of the barristers who
came to the colony. We are not at all sure that it would not be well
now to abolish the distinction. It would be a boon to parties who are
poor and who are now compelled in certain cases to employ a Solicitor
and retain a Barrister as well.

Be that as it may the Barrister here is in reality a general Prac-
titioner and not a Barrister in the English sense at all or at any rate in
anything more than his exclusive right to appear in the higher Courts.”

RaILways LABOUR AMD COLONIZATION.

Schemes remunerative at the outset or the methods to be adopted to
influence the introduction of capital cannot be dissociated from the
railway problem, the labour question and projects of colonization,
irrigation and drainage. I will first: refer you to the remarks of our
learned Chief Justice, Sir T. C. Rayner, on June 9th, at a luncheon given
in his honour at the St. Lawrence Hall, Montreal, under the auspices of
the Canadian West India League at the Canadian Club. Sir Crossley
propounds the railway conundrum as follows :—

If we are to go ahead, it is generally conceded we must have a
railway to the interior. We have any number of rivers, but unfortu-
nately there is great difficulty in navigating them because of cataracts
and falls. Many of our leading men claim we should have a railway right
through the country to Brazil. Certainly if we had that, we should tap
a country of the most fertile description.

Just to give one instance of what this might mean to us. In our
back country we have thousands and thousands of miles of rolling
savannah lands, precisely similar to that on which the great cattle herds
of the world are raised and fed. We have cattle being raised there now,
but uwing to the absence of railway communication, ‘which necessitates
their having to be taken over the Brazilian frontiers to Manaos to find a
market, it is generally agreed that the present numbers bear absolutely
no comparison to those that our lands enable us to raise.

To you gentlemen here—fellow Britishers I would rather say
(applause )— possessed as you happily are of an exchequer that is literally
swimming over with money—yes, even surplus money, the problem of

————

Development and - Taxation. 85

building such a much needed line would present no difficulty. With us,
unfortunately, this is not the case. With our small population taxation
has reached the limit, or has pretty nearly reached it anyway. While
we are quite willing to vive grants of land, no one seems to be willing to
make a railway simply in return for land. No one, leastaways as yet,
has proposed to build it without some kind of guarantee from the
Government of payment of interest on capital expenditure. The problem
therefore is, whether the colony can afford to pay the guarantee required.
The settling of that question can be no light one for those on whom the
heavy burden of Government falls.”

When however, we find men, so exclusively associated with sugar
as our good friend Mr. Charles Sandbach Parker, the Managing Director
of the Demerara Company, engaged in endeavouring to find a way, the
problem cannot be given up as hopeless. At the West Indian Agricul-
tural Conference last year, Mr. Parker and his fellow representative
of the West India Committee, Mr. Davson, held more than one consulta-
tion with the delegates frcm this colony of whom I happened to be one
as President of this Society and when I saw him in London in December
and January, he was already a long way advanced from the position
of non possumus which the non-resident proprietors are sometimes
accused of adopting. Mr. Parker, in an address given on March 15th at
a City luncheon given by the Royal Colonial Institute, thus summarises
his conclusions :—

(1) Surveys should be at once undertaken for construction of a rail-
road to open up a tract of land suitable for settlers at the point nearest
to civilisation, bearing in mind the ultimate object of a trunk line to
Manaos. I understand $20,000 has already been voted by the Combined
Court for this purpose. (2) A group of capitalists, English or Canadian
if possible, or American, should be induced to undertake the construction
of the railway by a guarantee of interest for a certain number of years,
liberal grants of land, free import of materials and freedom from taxation
for a term of years. (3) It should be stipulated that they import their
own labour and undertake not to interfere with the present labour re-
quirements of the colony. (4) Governments of Italy and Portugal should
be approached with a view to ascertaining whether they would give
assistance by way of a joint subsidy to steamers to bring families of
settlers at special rates (5) The labour supply available for sugar and other
coast agricultural industries should be augmented by increased imports
of East Indians. ‘This ought not to fall entirely, as now upon the sugar
industry, and I would suggest that the Government pay compensation to
the sugar estates at so much per head for all labourers who, at the
expiration of their five years’ indenture, leave the sugar estates for other
employment. ‘The present initial cost, paid by the sugar industry, of
immigrants is about £15 per head, of which £1 10s. is for half-cost of
their return passage to India plus acreage tax 6s. 3d. per acre per annum
on all land cultivated in sugar, which works out at about £26 a head, to
which must be added expenditure on quinine and hospital treatment

86 Timehri.

during their early years in the colony. I cannot assess the sum to be so
paid, but if the principle is admitted, the amount would be easily settled,
half the total cost, say, £13 per head, would appear to be a fair basis.
(6) The Imperial Governmeut sould be asked to assist development by
contributing towards the cost of introduction of families of settlers by an
annual grant, similar to that recently given to the Sudan. (7) An effort
should be made to interest capitalists so as to enable them to secure some
of the labour which will be set free by the completion of the Panama
Canal in 1914-1915. (8) Arrangements should be made for the comfort
of settlers on arrival by the establishment of Government rest-houses in
suitable spots, which would offer a home to settlers, on their first arrival.
(9) Inducement to capitalists to invest in sugar production would increase
the wealth of the colony and provide part of the means for development
of the interior. (10) Development must be gradual so as to avoid too
great a strain on tie Colonial resources.

In July, 1912, a writer in 7imehri thus deals with the question of
ways and means :—

The Hon. George Garnett, in his address at the Town Hall at the
general election, mentioned £3,000 a mile as his estimate. I am inclined
to fix £4,500 as closer to the real sum. I do so while realising that
there are virtually no engineering difficulties except the inevitable bridging
of the Esssequebo. We “have moreover none of the unhealthy conditions
of other tropical countries. The death-rate of our balata industry is not
even one fer cent. I believe that a railway tapping the savannahs and
aiming to link up with a line from Manaos would barely exceed 300
miles in length and could be built of a metre gauge for 14 millons sterling,
the lengths ‘mentioned in the debate being excessive. I also believe that
even if the entire amount of any cuarantee ever likely to be demanded by
business men or given by a business Court were called upcn from the
colony it would be defrayed under an amortization scheme by a maximum
increase on our present burdens of taxation of five per cent. There would
be no need to fund the debt until it became due, (if it ever became due
at all), by annual deficits, and payment of any guarantee for fifteen or
twenty years could be spread over fifty or sixty. ‘here is no reason why
posterity should not pay a reasonable proportion of the cost of our work
in providing them with a modern state in which to earn their livelihood.
Borrowing from the able rhetoric of the First Lord we may ask :

“What shall a colony have in exchange for it soul? A cheaper gin or
whisky swizzle ?

Such estimates, however, must be merely a working hypothesis
pending a report by skilled engineers after an exploration survey and.after
consideration of the present cost of materials and labour, which varies from
year to year. The most important recent factor in the local railway preb-
lem has been the formation, on the invitation of the Hon. George Garnett,
of a Railway Joint Committee by delegations from the Chamber of Com-
merce, the Planters’ Association, the Royal Agricultural and Commercial

aa O74

Development and Taxation. 87

Society and the Balata Association to study the question. The members of
this Joint Committee are pledged to no particular scheme, not even to the
acceptance of the principle that a railway would open up anything at all,
and its personnel is well known t) be representative in every sense of
the mercantile and agricultural communities (sugar being especially safe-
guarded) and to be naturally conservative in leaning. The scheme in-
volves the formation of a sister committee in London of proprietors and
others to advance the interests of the colony in regard to this question,
while ensuring all p-oper precautions. This may be the present Demerara
sib-Committee of the West India Committee or may be a body less ex-
clusively representative of sugar, for the fact (for which I can suggest no
remedy) that Mr. Mewburn Garnett is almost the only non-sugar repre-
sentative of the colony permanently resident in London, exposes the
West India sub-Committee to such a criticism. The Joint Committee
will be prepared to give any necessary information to properly accredited
individuals or syndicates who may desire to institute negotiations and
will be ready to give assurances of a fair consideration of any proposals
and, if they are found to have a business basis, of active assistance, to
secure a full enquiry at the hands of the Government and the Legislature.

The theory of the Committee at least is sound and should re-assure
any nervous sections of the sugar interest that no proposal involving
increased taxation upon that harassed industry or a diminution of their
present labour supply will be accepted without full provision for their
special case. To this the industry is fully entitled as that with which the
very existence of the colony is connected.”

Since then the chief motive force of the Joint Committee in
question, which held its meetings in these rooms, has gone with the
lamented Hon. George Garnett, one of our Directors. I believe the Presi-
dent hopes to be able to revive its dormant energies and will not lose
sight of the subject during his visit to England.

Mr. Parker thus advances the claim which this Society has so often
made that we must be treated not as a half-derelict island in the South
Seas (where some people think British Guiana lies) nor as a small sugar
island in the West Indies (which Demerara is dimly known to be) but as
a great continental possession of Great Britain as capable of develop-
ment by intelligence, industry and capital as any part of South America.
The actual amount unexpended of the $20,000 voted in 1910 for a
railway survey to Kaieteur is only $4,374 but there would be no difficuity
in securing an adequate vote. Your Excellency has made public your
intention of visiting the Rupununi in September, in company with an
experienced railway engineer so that part of the scheme is in a fair way
to realization. The survey has at least made clear the fact that a
tourist railway to Kaieteur is beyond our present resources. No doubt
it has also increased the limited geographical acquaintance which many
people possess of the colony in which they were born and bred or in
which they earn their living. The fact that the Combined Court ever

88 Timehri.

thought such a scheme feasible shows how limited the original stock of
knowledge was, but it is too late for reproaches now. Nobody who ever
studied the question expected anything but the actual result The possi-
bilities of a metre gauge line starting from Georgetown passing up the
right Bank of the Demerara River crossing the Essequebo on the ledge of
rock near the Siparuni mouth and reaching the savannahs by the Burro
Burro river valley in touch with the contemplated Brazilian line from
Manaos, are quite another subject of investigation. But pending the
ascertainment of the data we can only speculate.

With these preliminary observations I now declare the subject open
for discussion, viz.: ‘‘ Whether the colony can be developed without fresh
taxation.” I hope the speakers will remember that the Government alone
cannot do everything and that it is only by the loyal and friendly
co-operation of everybody in the colony, Government, Legislature and
people, that our problems can be solved. I may mention that an increase
of our present revenue by seven per cent. from any cause would mean a
return of something over £40,000 or enough on a ‘normal or even on the
present market, to secure a dey elopment loan of one million sterling.

THE DISCUSSION.

His Excellency: 1 am sure we shall be glad to hear the opinions
of any person on this most important question. JI see many well-known
faces of prominent citizens here. I hope we shall be able to hear their
views.

Mr. E. G. Woolford, who was received with applause, said it was
characteristic of the acting President, so early after his occupation of the
chair, that he should so quickly vitalise the affairs of the Society
by the debate of a subject which was pregnant with interest to every
member of the community. It was sadly characteristic of the apathy
displayed in the colony with regard to public affairs that no one had
ventured to speak upon the subject. He had also gathered in his small
experience that there were a good many in the community who were
always willing to say: ‘Let the colony be developed,” ‘ Advance
Guiana,” and to use similar catch phrases; but very few were able to

suggest the means by which that development could best take place. For -

his own part he would take this opportunity of calling attention to the
system of taxation that prevailed. He regarded it as unfair, unjust and
inequitable to what he might term the submerged tenth of the co'ony.
He considered that whilst as inhabitants of the colony they should all
try to further in every possible way its progress and development, they
needed to recognise that it could not be obtained without increased
measures of taxation, having regard to the limited nature of the popula-
tion. And in the absence of any grand colonising scheme, in order to pay
for the additional expense attendant upon any large development of that
character, such as a railway project,-it meant that the present population
would have to bear the burden. It was with regard to that statement of
affairs that he would direct His Excellency’s attention. In his opinion

ave

———

Development and Taxution. 89

the system of taxation in the colony was much too indirect in its nature.
No thinking individual in the community would sanction an increase
either of the ad valorem or the specific duties. The ad valorem duty,
it might be urged, fell equally on all classes, but all classes of the
community could not equally contribute to it; and so far as the specific
schedules were concerned the experience of every political economist
taught them that the higher prices were advanced of the commodity the
more restricted the consumption became. In this respect if they
advanced the price of the cigar of the average citizen who belonged to
the better class he would restrict his consumption or probably cease
taking it altogether. So with regard to both schedules being put on an
equal basis he could see no hope of extending the important duties in
that way. Fresh fields had therefore to be sought out.

IncomME TAX.

He had in his humble way indicated a means by which that could
best be achieved—the imposition of an income tax, which did not
necessarily mean the reduction of one’s income, but the arrest in a large
measure of those huge sums of money that find their way out of the
colony for the development of other places when they needed that money
themselves. He felt perfectly convinced that it would stop the export of
capital and place the colony in a better position to look after its own
affairs. For any practical scheme by which the colony would progress
it was imperative also that they should have a sturdier type of labour.
Further there must be the settlement of the people on the Jand; and in
order to relieve any possible drain on the colony’s reserve he suggested
the advisability of issuing currency votes, not necessarily bearing interest
but at any rate redeemable in a short space of time. These notes should
be made legal currency. It was the duty of every citizen to assist the
Government in the colony’s development, and with these notes he
suggested the Government would always be in the position of having a
certain sum of money readily available for the development of the colony’s
resources. Whether this development proceeded or not, if ever it became
necessary for properly controlling and extending the machinery of
Government, he hoped His Excellency would set his face against any
increase in the form of indirect taxation. He gathered that the Govern-
ment were at present considering some schemes having for their object
the development of the colony. That might be a very admirable project,
but if the present population was to bear the burden he hoped some
scheme such as he had indicated would be initiated, so as to relieve the
general mass of the inhabitants of any increased taxation.

PossiBnLi ECONOMIES.

Mr. G. Russell Garnett said that they required to know what was
meant by development, whether it was to be gradual or rapid, whether
development of the interior or development of the coast lands of the
colony, or both, because a great deal depended on what they were going
to do. (His Excellency: Hear, hear.) If they were going to develop

90 Timehri.

they could not take on all that and not increase taxation. For his own
part, he would answer the question in the affirmative if it was a question
of gradual development. The Chairman mentioned that there were such
things as narrow economies, and referred to the time when Sir Alexander
Swettenham was here and enforced certain retrenchment which he said
led to disastrous results in one department. But the fact was on record
that in one year while he was here the expenditure of the colony was
under $2,500,000. This year they should be spending very nearly
$3,000,000, a difference of about $500,000 more being spent now than
in those days, so that it could not be said very substantial economies could
not be effected ; he was quite satisfied that they could be. They had a
highly elaborate Government system which was in his opinion far too
good for the place. As an instance, he would mention just one thing.
In almost every portion of the colony there was a doctor, magistrate,
immigration agent, police inspector, and commissary. In other coun-
tries—he thought His Excellency would bear him out—most of these
duties were undertaken by what was known as a district commissioner.
Such a thing he had no doubt, cou'd be established here and would save
employing four men to do what one man could do perhaps. He got
most disliked in the Combined Court for suggesting that a good deal
might be knocked off the medical department not in the way of sanitation
or the money being spent on improvements to save child life and so
forth, but there were many ways in which he thought the service ws
run too extravagantly. Economies could be effected, and supposing they
only mavaged to economise to the extent of half that $500,000, there
they were, the thing was done. With a saving of the difference he
pointed out between the expenditure at the time he referred to and now,
a large amount of capital would be raised to do gradual development
with. One of the best forms of development was to induce people to
rome and settle in the colony. They wanted to increase the seople in
the place. The population was a miserably small one and they could not
go on piling up the cost of carrying on the colony on the backs of those
few people here. If there was double the number the colony would be
doubly prosperous. His own belief was that if a scheme could be
workei out and surely it could be, by which the Government assisted in
introducing thousands and thousands of people, development would come
of its own accord. They would not then want to think about raising
taxation.

WorRKING MAN’S PARADISE.

He did not think Mr. Woolford had looked up the statistics as
regards the cost of taxation on the submerged tenth. If he did, he
would find that the Customs duties paid by the working classes were
very small. He would be surprised to find how much per head was
paid by each labouring man. He was wrong in stating that taxation
there was oppressive on the contrary, he thought everybody would admit
it was rather a paradise for the working man. The question of develop-
ment was avery big one, consequently he was surprised to find that

POP ecs sh oe

Development and Taxation. . On

people should be chary in attacking it. After all it might end in talk,
but no harm would be done by airing the subject. He saw several
gentlemen in the room who had com= to speak no doubt. They wouid
all like to hear their views and he thought everybody who had ideas
should put them forward.

THRIFTY POPULATION WANTED.

Mr. L. P. Hodge said there were many ways in which the resources
of this colony might be increased. He thought the old members thought
that taxation would not increase the colony’ s resources, but apart from
that he would suggest other ways from which he thought the colony
would derive benefit. First of all, there was the question of population.
Population could be increased, and the proper way was by marriage.
(Laughter.) In conclusion he said that a healthy, industrious and thrifty
population was essential before the colony could embark on a highly
important scheme which was very much needed.

More IMAGINATION WANTED.

The Hon. C. F. Wieting, who followed, expressed the view that the
colony could not b: developed without extra taxation, at any rate for the
first few years. For it to be otherwise people must come and introduce
capital. A lot of people did come and spend money but it was other
people’s money and the colony was no better off. (Laughter.) To his
mind the question should not be: Could the colony be developed without
extra taxation, but could it. be developed at all? It seemed to him thet
they were worrying a great deal as to how they were going to find
interest on capital when they had not made up their minds in what
direction they were going to invest. He did not think the finding of
interest on capital should be an impeding factor to development. When
in London a year or two ago he was told that what was wanted in this
colony was a little more imagination. Rapid strides had been made by
other countries around them, such as Brazil and the Argentine, and the
latter had so much money that they could pay £20,000 to £25,000 for
Derby winners. He did not himself believe that anything would ever be
done here unless they were willing to take considerable risks. ‘They
would talk and talk and do nothing unless they made up their minds to
take big risks. They would never do it by spending a million dollars on
topographical surveys. His point was that if they made up their minds
to go in for development the question of interest should not be an
impeding factor. It was only by development that they would ever
reduce taxation at all.

THE GOVERNOR'S VIEWS.

His Excellency, who was accorded a warm reception on rising, said
the subject that had been spoken about that afternoon was, he thought,
oue that had occupied the minds of the population of British Guiana for
very many years, and probably more during the last eighteen montbs

OF i. Timehri.

than at any previous period. That was the question of development of
the colony. When they spoke of development of this colony he believed
they generally meant the development of the interior, but he quite agreed
with Mr. Russell Garnett when he said they should not forget the coast-
lands and their development at the same time. This colony was a very
big one. They had the population concentrated in a narrow fringe along
the coast. They spoke of a population of three to the square mile but,
really, it was much more than that because practically all the population
was on this narrow belt of coast-land and they were living in that narrow
belt under very artificial conditions. ‘‘ You cannot cultivate your land
until you empolder it” proceeded His Excellency. ‘ You have got to
provide for letting out the water into the sea and at the same time you
have got to provide for pumping it in from the interior. Now you have
all grown accustomed to that here. You are not frightened at these
burdens and you are willing to go on living in the coast belt and culti-
vating in that manner, but when you try to induce people from outside
to come here that is a very different matter. The writer of this very
interesting paper this afternoon spoke of the gold rush in the Pigeon
Island district as having drawn away labour that is wanted on the Kast
Coast. Doubtless that is so, but he forgot to mention that if you goa
little further along the coast you find hundreds, possibly thousands, of
people crying out for work and crying out for work so urgently that I
have had to hurry on the construction of a road in order that some of
them might find employment.

PLENTY OF LABOUR.

“There is plenty of labour in the colony,” pursued His Excellency,
‘but it may be attracted from one district where it is wanted and, if that
is so, the remedy is not the importation of labour from elsewhere but the
attraction of labour further along the coast. I do not quite share the
pessimistic view regarding the present year’s rice crop and the possible
disappearance of sugar cultivation. I have heard so often that rice
crops are an absolute failure and I have so often had the great pleasure
of going in harvest time to the same district and finding the crop was all
right. I sincerely trust that the shortage of rain in Berbice, which has
delayed the planting, may be only a temporary shortage and that in the
autumn the people there will reap a decent crop. One company in sugar
may fail to make sugar pay, but I have sufficient confidence in the East
Coast lands, which seem specially designed for sugar cultivation.
I have confidence enough in them to believe that sugar cultivation
will continue and that it will continue to be profitable where it
is supported by adequate capital. Poor companies cannot engage
with success in sugar cultivation. I agree that if we are to have
development, we must have rigid economy, and possible retrench-
ment in the public administration. I only hope it may be my
good fortune to have reasonable schemes of economy and retrench-
ment placed before me, and if I have them, I will certainly do what
I can to have them carried out. We should look to development

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 113

The basal 2 teeth on the femora are separated by double the distance the others
are from each other ; the 2nd from the base is smaller than the others ; the
3rd and 4th are the longest ; all are oblique. Pro- and mesonotum trans-
versely rugosely punctured ; the scutellum closely reticulated ; its apex in
the middle behind the apical keel depressed, bordered laterally by 3 or 4 keels.
Pro- and mesonotum thickly covered with black, the scutellum and meso-
notum with longer white pubescence. Pro- and mesopleure smooth, the
latter with 2 oblique furrows, the lower one the longer ; both strongly striated.
Abdominal petiole twice longer than wide ; the abdomen as long as the head
and thorax united ; gradually narrowed trom the middle to the apex. Female.
Length, 9 m.m.

Heptasmicra lycaene, sp. n.

Yellow, the mesonotum and scutellum slightly darker coloured, the
antennal scape above, the flagellum, the centre of the hollowed central part
of the front, the black extending shortly behind the anterior ocellus, the
occiput, a large roundly bifurcated mark, united at the base by a narrower
line and united to the scutellum by a still thicker line, slightly narrowed at the
base ; a wide transverse line at the base of the scutellum, a line down the
sides of the latter at the base, narrowed above, and not reaching tothe top,
a mark on the inner side of the outer lobe, becoming gradually widened to
shortly beyond the middle, then narrowed towards the apex, a longish tri-
angular mark in the centre of the scutellum, the narrowed end at the base,
the apex rounded, the depressed base of the mesopleure, a large transverse
mark, narrowed inwardly, on the outer side of the 2nd abdominal segment
and lines on the apices of the 3rd, 4th and 5th, widened on the outer edge
and united down the middle by a narrower line, the whole of the 6th, the
apex of the hind coxe, the mark narrowed in the centre, a line, 4 times longer
than wide, narrowed at the base and apex on the outer side of the hind femora
above, nearer the base than the apex, a large mark, between the basa! 3 teeth,
extending across to the middle, where it is slightly narrowed towards the
middle on the inner side, a smaller, wider merk, widened and rounded above,
an oblique squarish merk on the apex on the inrer side and a semicircular
one at the base below, close to the teeth and the basal and apical fourth of the
hind tibiz, black. Femoral teeth longish, stout, the basal 3 slightly smaller
than the others. Apex of scutellum broadly rounded. Metanotum regularly
closely areolated ; there are 3 rows of arew ; there are 2 large central, wider
than long, on the 2nd row ; narrowed at the apex in the centre ; this inden-
tation is closed at the apex by a keel; it is followed by a large, wider than
long, area. Abdominal petiole short, twice longer than wide. Male. Length,
6-7 mm.

- Bred from Lycaenid, Tmolus palegon.

Heptasmucra curvilineata, sp. n.
Reddish yellow, the flagellum cf antenne black, fuscous below the lower

part of the occiput, the basal three-fourths of the central lobe of mesonotum,
a semicircular mark on the lateral! lobes, narrower than the outer part, a

114 Timehri.

transverse line, transverse at the base, rounded at the apex, next to the scu-
tellum, a transverse line, rounded at the apex, before the apex of the scutellum,
an obscure line at the base of the metanotum, a broad curved line on the basal
half of the hind cox. nearer the outer than the inner side, a curved line on
the lower part of the hind femora, commencing at the middle of the basal
2 teeth and extending to the apex, the apices of the teeth and the under side
of the hind tibiz with the spurs, and distinct bands on the apices of the basal
4 abdominal segments and the apex of the ovipositor, black ; wings hyaline,
the nervures pale fuscous. Female. Length, 11 m.m.

Basal femora! tooth long, thin, curved, the 2nd minute, widely separated
from it, the others irregular, the 3rd slightly smaller than the apical 4 which
are of about the same size. Apex of scutellum projecting into a leaf-like
plate, the apex of which is broadly roundly incised Metanotum with 2 large
central hexagonal arez ; a small hexagonal one on the sides at the base ;
there is a rounded keel at the base, at the apex of the large aree at the inner
sides of which, shortly beyond the middle, are 2 short broken keels. Abdo-
men not much longer than the head and thorax, the petiole not much longer
than wide. Basa! slope of pronotum pitted with shallow punctures, the apex,
mesonotum, and scutellum umbilically punctate—Propleure smooth ; the
base of the mesopleuree smooth, the depressed centre closely striated, the
apex and the metapleure umbilically punctate.

Ceratosmicra flavesceus, sp. 0.

Pallid testaceous, the face, pronotum, sutures of mesonotum, basal halt
of scutellum and the pleure, paler, more yellowish in tint ; the dilated part
of the abdomen rufo-testaceous, wings hyaline, the nervures fuscous ; the
femoral teeth black, the basal bluntly triangular; they are about 13 in
number, the apica! closely pressed together ; there are no area on the meta-
notum ; it has a not very clearly defined, central keel and a curved one
round the apex: on its sides is a broad keel, dilated at the apex, followed
by a broadly rounded tooth. Abdominal petiole more than half the length
of the thorax, not quite so long as the rest of the abdomen and about two-
thirds of the length ot the hind coxe ; abdomen as long as the thorax.
Smooth, shining, sparsely covered with 2 white pubescence. Male. Length,
3 m.m.

The middle of the antenne reaches to the ocelli ; the apical half is thicker
than the lower and is dilated towards the apex.

Ceratosmicra ? variventris, sp. P.

Black, the antennal scape, a broad line, narrowed above and below—more
acutely and loncly above than below—on the inner orbits and the abdominal
petiole vellow ; the rest of the abdomen and the legs red, the apices of the 4
anterior coxe and femora and the base of the femora in front pallid yellow.
the tarsi testaceous, the hind tibiz fuscous, dark testaceous on the bass! half;
there are 16 or 17 short black femoral teeth. Abdominal! petiole half the
length of the thorax and two-thirds of the length of the hind coxe. Wings
hyeline, the ne: vures black. A stout reddish kee! runs down from the lower

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 115

pait of the front to the clypeus, it becoming narrowed below, the clypeus,
labrum and mandibles dark red. A stout keel runs down the basal half ot
the metanotuim in the centre ; it then bifurcates to the outer edge of the apex ;
the inner half of the base is shegreened, the outer edge bears stout irregular
transverse strie. Female. Length, 5 m.m.

Thickly covered with short white pubescence. The vertex, sides of
front and the face strongly, but not closely punctured ; the frontal depression
finely, closely transversely striated. Basal slope of pronotum transve.sely
aciculated, punctured sparsely round the edges. Mesonotum and scutellum
strongly, closely punctured ; the latter gradually narrowed from the base
to the apex; its sides furrowed. The sides of the metanotum are broadly
rounded, withovt teeth. Propleure aciculated, the upper he!lf depressed,
finely, closely striated at the apex ; there is a longish oval fovea on the lower
basal part. Mesopleure raised toa point in the centre, the basal slope smooth,
the apical with oblique irregular striz, the top at the base and the lower part
at the apex with short striz, the top with the striz more regular and distinct
than the lower edge; the centre below forms a triangle and is strongly
punctured.

This is not a typical Ceratosmicra, the metanotum not being toothed
laterally, nor is the antennal scape dilated above. The latter is long, slender
and extends clearly above the top of the vertex.

Sayella quadrilineata, sp. n.

Pallid yellow, the ocellar region, occiput except at the eyes, 3 broad lines
down the mesonotum, the central of equal width, a line, slightly narrower
than that on the middle of the mesonotum, down the middle of the scutellum,
a narrower line round the base of the metanotum, the lower parts of the meso
and metapleure broadly, and the apex of the 2nd and the whole of the fol-
lowing abdominal segments, black, the black on the abdomen of a deeper
tint than on the thorax ; legs: the 4 anterior whitish yellow, the femora
slightly infvscated in the middle, the hind legs rufo-testaceous, the apical
fourth of the coxe, an irregular spot on the outer, apical part of the
femora, the base and apex of the tibiae, and the tarsi whitish yellow ;
the femoral teeth small, black, about 16 in number, the basal about
twice the size of the next. Parapsida! furrows deep. Apex of scutellum
broadly rounded. Base of metanotum with a moderately broad striated
belt, the strie stovt and clearly separated ; this is followed by a
row of small are, those in the centre square; the outer of these not
clearly separated ; next, on either side, are 2 arew, the outer the larger,
rounded on the outer side, the inner much narrowed towards the outer,
apical side ; next are 2 larger aree, the inner, or central much the larger,
twice longer than it is wide at the apex, the base gradually rounded to a
point, projecting into the 3rd row of arew, the outer is large, as long as it
is wide at the apex, which is rounded inwardly. Metapleure widely, irregu-
larly reticulated. Abdominal petiole nearly as long as the thorax and almost
twice the length of the rest of the abdomen ; it is dilated beyond the siddle,

116 Timehri,

the apex itself being narrowed, its base below is bordered by two triangular
teeth. Wings hyaline, the nervures pallid. Male. Length, 3 m.m.

Apex of pronotum, mesonotum and scutellum closely reticulated-punc- —
tured ; the middle lobe in the middle more or less transversely striated.
There is an oblique depression, widened below, in the middle of the propleure.

Bred from the larva of a plume moth (Pterophorid.)

PERILAMPID &.

Perilampus caeruleiventris, sp. n.

The frontal depression, cheeks, face, clypeus malar space outer orbits,
the meso-metapleure the sternum dark blue, the back of abdomen ofa still
darker blue, its sides and ventral surface of a brighter blue than the head ;
the sides of the front and vertex brassy firey red ; the pronotum, mesonotum
and scutellum closely, regularly reticulated, the depressed part of the reticu-
lations dark blue, the borders of the reticulations of a dark purple, the meso-
notum at the apex smooth, dark purple on the inner half of the middle lobe.
Pleuree smooth, 2 wide crenulated border on the base of the propleure ;
the base of the propleure reticulated, the apex near the middle with 3
irregular fovese ; a curved line of large fovez on the base of the mesopleure ;
there i Is a cur ved, crenvlated furrow on the apex, angled towards the middle
on the apex ; the upper part is narrower and much shorter than the lower ;
there is a wide furrow on the upper two-thirds of the base of the metapleura
formed of fovea, and there are foveee on the upperapical part. The scutellum
is a little longer than it is wide at the base ; the sides and apex are margined
below ; on the sides of the base is a large smooth triangular space, the nar-
rowed ‘end on the inner side. The abdomen is sparsely. covered with white
hairs. Legs (especially the tibize) densely covered with white hair.

EUCHARIN &.

Kapala cuprea, sp. n.

Dark coppery, the dilated apex of the abdomen dark blue, the antennwe
fulvo-testace ous the legs, except the coxe, pale testaceous, the outer apical
half of the mandibles dark rufous, the palpi ye testnceous wings hyaline,
the nervures, dark fuscous. Male. Length, 5

Face and clypeus with violaceous tint ; the centre of the face roundly
raised, smooth ; the clypeus smooth, with a large oblique fovea on either
side above ; the sides of the head from the edge of the occiput to the malar
space obliquely striated, the strie strong above, becoming gradually finer
and closer below where they curl round the eyes. The antennal rami are
deasely covered with short fuscous hair. Malar spsce a little longer than the
eyes. Middle lobe of mesonotum strongly longitudinally striated, the striz
uniform and clearly separated ; the outer lobes much moe finely striated
at the base and on the inner side, the rest smooth. Scutellum strongly, closely

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 117

longitudinally strieted ; the metanotum more finely and closely than it ;
the strie on the forks stronger and curved ; the space at the apex between
them has 2 stout keels on either side and a finer roundly curved one at the
apex ; there are some broken keels between . The central part or the lower
region of the metanotum is finely, closely punctured . Upper part of pro-
pleure densely covered with a longish white pile ; below is a stout curved
keel, with a curved depression above ; on the upper central part of the meso-
pleuree are some fine curved longitudinal! striz ; below are 2 long upper and 2
shorter lower keels. Abdominal! petiole twice the length of the hind coxe.

Holcokapala, gen. un.

| Female. Antenne short, stout, 10-joited, the 3rd, 4th and 5th antennal

joints longer than wide, of equal length ; the last conical, longer than the pre-
ceding. Mesonotum transversely striated ; the scutellum smooth, a wide deep
_ furrow, widened towards the apex ; the processes stout, extending close to the
apex of the abdomen, curving and converging at the end. Metanotum with
an oblique slope, smooth. Abdominal petiole abovt 3 times longer than wide
and as long as the hind cox. Apex of clypeus margined, transverse, the sides
rounded ; the sides above are foveate. Malar space as long as the eyes.
Ocelli in a line. Head striated above ; it is bare ; the thorax pubescent ;
parapsidal furrows distinct ; the middle lobe of mesonotum has a shallow
furrow down the middle. Pleure almost smooth.

Comes near to Lasiokapala, which has the head and scutellum processes
smooth, the latter long and extending beyond the apex of the abdomen.

Holcokapala striaticeps, sp. n.

Black, the mandibles, antennz and the 3rd and following segments of
| the abdomen rufo-testaceous ; palpi dark testaceous ; legs, except the coxe,
| yellowish testaceous ; the basal part of the abdomen has a blue tint; wings
_ hyaline, the nervures pale testaceous. Female. Length, 4-5 m.m.

Sides of front and vertex finely closely longitudinally striated, the striz
_ curving outwardly below, the strie on the malar space stronger, somewhat
_ rounded and transverse, the outer orbits longitudinelly striated. Basal part
of mesonotum strongly imegularly striated, more closely and regularly on the
_ base than on the apex; the apical part is smooth as is also the scutellum.
_ The processes are stoutly striated from the base to the apex. Metanotum
_ smooth, its sides bordered by keels which roundly curved and unite at the
bottom below. Propleure excavated, bordered by a rounded keel near the
| top. Mesopleure: irregularly weakly longitudinally striated ; the lower epical
part !s much more finely and regularly striated ; the mesosternum is bordered
by « weakly crenulated furrow, and there is a vertical one on the base of the
apical fourth, commencing near the top. Metapleure irregularly reticulated.

Dicelothorax parviceps, sp. 0.

Black, the 2nd and 3rd segments of the abdomen tinged with violaceous ;
the mandibles, antenne and the greater part of the 4th and following ab-
dominal segments ruto-testaceous, the apical helf of the femora, tibie, tarsi

118 Timehri.

and a narrow line on the inner side of the scutellum process whitish testaceous ;
the basal half of the femura tinged with fuscous on the outerside. Wing
hyaline, the nervures fuscous. Female. Length, 4 mm.

Head opaque, coarsely shagreened, the sides of the vertex almost reticu-
lated ; frontal depression moderately wide and deep, the sides keeled, the
top rounded, enclosing the front ocellus. Temples short, the occiput oblique.
Malar space distinctly longer than the eyes. The head is short and is clearly
narrower than the thorax. Prothorax smooth, the upper apical part of the
propleure with a few obscure striz ; the base with a sharp slope, margined
round the edges, narrowed to a point above. Mesonotum striated, the striz
clearly separated, the top depressed in the centre, smooth, obliquely nar-
rowed from the top to the middle, where it is deepest. Scvtellar process
extending to the apex, of the 3rd abdominal segment, of equal width to the
apex, which is oblique; they are closely, strongly regularly longitudinally
striated, are slightly depressed in the middle above. Metanotum smooth,
the sides keeled, a stouter keel down the middle, it has a straight, oblique
slope. Abdominal petiole twice the length of the hind coxe.

The form of the scutellar process is different from what it is in the type
of the genus—platycerus 4shm., Mem. Cairn. Mus. 1, Pl. XXXV., f. 3,—it
being in that species much wider, bulging out in the middle and rounded at
the apex, not oi equal width and obliquely truncated at the apex. There
seems to be also a radical difference in the relative lengths of the antennel
joints, but I am not sure that I understand the description given

TORYMIN 2%.

Torymus guyanaus, sp. Ni.

Antennal scape fulvous, the flagellum black, the basal joits fuscous.
Head green, tinged with blue on the top and outer orbits, covered with short,
white pubescence. Mandibles dark fulvous, the teeth black. Face covered
with iound, distinctly separated large punctures ; sides of front finely closely,
irregularly striated. Vertex aciculated ; a distinct, clearly defined furrow
runs down, slightly obliquely on either side of the middle, to the antenne.
Prothorax finely distinctly aciculated, broadly purple in the middle, the base
and apex green. Mesonotum green, the base and apex largely purple; the
parapsidal furrows distinct ; the central division coaisely aciculated, the
lateral lobes finely reticulated, more strongly on the apex than base.
Scutellum closely aciculatcd, the basal three-fourths with scattered
punctures—Pro-and mesopleure aciculated, almost punctured, the
former largely purple above. Metapleure smooth. The pubescence

on the thorax is sparse and white. Abdomen mostly blue largely varie-_

vated with violaceous and purple tints. Four front coxe violaceous,
the middle blue at the apex, the hinder dark green ; all are closely distinctly
punctured ; the four front femora brown, testaceous at the base and apex, as
are also the trochanters, the hinder femora green, the base, apex and lower
side purple; the apex of the femora and the tibie testaceous, the hinder

~— ere

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 119

tibiae with more than the apical half fuscous behind, the apex fuscous all
round ; the tarsi are of a paler, whitish testaceous colour . Wings clear
hyaline, the nervures whitish testaceous ; they are very irridescent. Female.
Length, body and ovipositor, nearly 2 m.m.

The legs are densely covered with longish white pubescence : the sheaths
of the ovipositor densely with stiff black pubescence. The abdominal segm -
ments are fringed with white hair. The apex of the scutellum being smooth,
not punctured like the rest, makes this species almost a Syntomaspis, but on
the whole it seems to be a Torymus.

Syntomaspis loranthi, sp. n.

Green with brassy tints, the 2nd and following segments of the abdomen
dark violaceous, the antennal scape and the Ist joint of the flagellum dark
fulvous ; the fou: front legs rufo-testaceous, their coxe, trochanters and the
greater part of the femora fuscous, almost black, the hind coxe, trochanters
and femora green, the apex of the femora, tibie and tarsi rufo-testaceous;
wings clear hyaline, the nervures pallidtestaceous. Male. Length, 2 mm.

Head finely, closely reticulated, the occiput smooth. Pronotum in the
centre brownish, closely aciculated, a fine keel down the middle, the base and
sides with scattered punctures. Mesonotum strongly umbilically punctate,
clearly trilobate, the apex brassy. The basal part of scutellum less strongly
and more closely umbilically punctate than the mesonotum: the apical
div:sior in the middle finely closely punctured, the sides closely, rather
strongly obliquely striated, the iwo divisions clearly separated. Metapleurz
smooth. Upper part of propleure irregularly, strongly punctured, the rest
strongly aciculated ; the raised central part of the mesopleure closely,
distinctly punctured. Metapleure smooth. Abdomen smooth and shining.
Coxe closely, distinctly punctured. Bred from gall on “ bird vine” (Loranthus).

EURYTOMID.-%.

EURYTOMINI.
Eurytoma quianaensis, sp. n.

Black, covered with white pubescence, the antenne dark testaceous,
covered with white pubescence, the legs whitish testaceous, the femora dis-
tinctly tinged with rufo-fulvous ; the ventral surface broadly rufous ; wings
hyaline, the nervures whitish yellow, as are also the tegule. The metapleure
more densely pilose than the rest of the thorax. The hypopygium largely
projects, as does also the sheath of the ovipositor. Head and the thorax
above closely umbilically punctate, thc propleure finely, closely, longitudinally
reticulated. Basal part of mesopleur finely, closely reticulated, the apical
shining, smooth above, the lower part finely, closely striated, the apex crenu-
lated. Metapleure apparently alutaceous, but the sculpture almost hidden
by the dense longish hair. The epical two-thirds of the 2nd segment and the
following are aciculated and covered with white pubescence, especially at
at the apices. Female. Length, 2 m.m.

120 Timehrr.

The pedicle of the antenne is bare and shining, twice longer than wide,
narrowed at the base and thinner than the next, which is the longest and
two and a half times longer than wide, the others are shorter, longer than
wide. Parapsidal furrows distinct on basal half of mesonotum. only.

Eurytoma couride, sp. nu.

Black, the antenne, head, thorax and legs densely covered with white
pubescence, the antenne and legs rufo-testaceous, the tibie and more
especially, the tars’ paler, whiter than the femora, the apical ventral segments
piceous; wings hyaline, the nervures pallid testaceous Head and thorax
above closely umbilically punctate, the head more finely than the thorax, the
pronotum more finely than the mesonotum and the latter somewhat more
finely than the scutellum. Propleure finely, closely obliquely reticuiated, as
is also, but more finely and obliquely, the mesopleure, except at the base and
apex above, which are smooth and shining. Metapleure apparently aluta-
ceous, but the sculpture is hidden by the dense pubescence. Abdomen entirely
smooth and shining. Female. Length, 1.5 m.m.

Eurytoma leuconeura, sp. n.

Black, the head, thorax and legs densely covered with white pubescence,
the fore legs, except the coxe and base of femora, the m'ddle, except the coxe
and basal two-thirds of the femora and the hinder, except the coxe, tro-
chanters and the femora except narrowly at the apex, rufo-testaceous, the
hind tibize infuscated ; wings hyaline, the nervures and stigma white.
Male. Length, 3 m.m.

Head and thorax umbilically punctate; the orbits bordered by a row of
fovere. Propleure closely, coarsely aciculated, almost punctured; there are
twoor three fovee on the apex above. Basal half of mesopleure closely, finely
reticulated, bordered behind; the apex irregularly obliquely striated. Meta-
pleuree closely, rugosely reticulated. Abdominal petiole opaque, aciculated,
as long as the hind coxe. The hairs on the antenne are clear white and are
as long as the joints. Female.

Lisseurytoma, gen. nov.

Antenne 10-jointed the scape long, slender, extending above the head,
the annellus one-jointed, longer than wide, narrowed at the base, the apical
three joints slightly thickened, the 3rd and 4th subequal. Malar space about one
quarter longer thar the eyes, a narrow, but distinct furrow down it. Head
wider than the thorax ; occiput not margined. Ocelli in a curve. Prono-
tum three-fourths of the length of the mesonotum, wh’ch hes distinct furrows ;
the latter are placed near the sides so that the middle !obe .s much larger
than the lateral. Scutellum large, flat, longer than wide, not narrowed at
base and apex, a distinct furrow on either side of the middle. Metanotum
with a longish, rounded slope, irregularly reticulated. Abdomen shorter
than the thorax, longish ovate, the base broader than the apex which is
sharply pointed. Wings unspotted, the stigma branch of equal width, much
longer {han the post-marginal, which is very short ; marginal vein very long,

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 121

longer than the basal which is much thinner than it and runs into and above
its upper part at the costa. Hind tibize with two spurs—5th abdominal seg-
ment slightly shorter than the 4th; the thorex is at the most shagreened ;
the abdomen smooth and shining. The antennez are inserted well upon the
head, distinctly nearer the ocel!i than the mouth.

In the arrangement of Ashmead (Mem. Cairn. Mus. 1. 2€2). this genus
runs near to Xanthosoma. Its characteristic features are the smooth body,
long slender antennal scape projecting largely above the head, the large scu-
tellum of equal width and bearing two furrows, the long margina! and short
post-marginal.

Lisseurytoma mgricornis, sp. Nn.

Testaceous, the flagellum of intenna, tips of mandibles and apical joint
of antenne black ; wings clear hyaline, the nervures fuscous—smooth, shining
bare, except the flagellum which is covered with stiff longish black hair.
Antenne as long as the head and thorax united. Female. Leneth, 2 m.m.

Bred from pupe found in fruit of Cardiospermum halicacabum, Prob-
ably the host was one of the fruit feeding Diptera.

Bephrata maculicollis, sp. n.

Black, densely covered with white pubescence, the sides of the front,
the mark continued along the orbits to the middle of the top of the eyes, it
becoming gradually narrowed above, the face except in the centre, oral region,
the lower th ee-fourths of the outer orbits, malar space, mandibles except the
teeth, the prothorax, except three large marks on the pronotum, the central
extending from the base to the apex, the lateral not commencing at the base,
the abdomen and legs, fulvo-testaceous, the abdomen darker coloured, the
apical segments almost black, the coxee and femora are fuscous for the
greater part ; the tibiz and tarsi are densely covered with white pubescence ;
the abdominal segments are fringed with long white hair. Antennal scape
and the 2nd joint of flagellum testaceous, the rest black, brownish below ;
the 3rd joint about one third longer then the 4th . Wings hyaline, a large
fuscous cloud in the centre, extending to the end of the stigmal branch ; the
basal nervures black, those in the cloud fuscous ; the costa has the epical
third thickened, bullated at the end. Head and thorax coarsely umbilically
punctate, the punctures on the metanotum larger, forming reticvlations.
Malar space longer than the eyes ; the occiput margined—The lack central
part of the face is smooth, bere, shining and with a smooth keel down the
middle. Clypeus smooth, bordered by an obscurely crenulated furrow. Collar
Jarge, but shorter than the upper part of the head. Scutellum longer than
wide, the apex ending in two bluntly rounded projections. The sides of meta-
notum are broadly rounded. Female. Length, 8 mm.

The abdomen is compressed ; its base is broadly rounded above, pro-
jecting above the thorax ; from this raised part, becomes gradually nwrrowed.

122 Timehri. ~

DECATOMIN]I.

Decatoma couride, sp. n.

Black, the antenne, the sides of pronotum, slightly more broadly than
the black central part, which is somewhat narrowed at tbe base andthe upper
third of the propleurz, the mark on the latter longer at the base and apex,
through the black colour of the lower part projecting upwards In the middle,
yellowish testaceous, the four iront legs whitish testaceous, the two anterior
femora black entirely on the basal half ; above the black projects beyond the
middle, the middle femora are more broadly black, their tibie black, except
at base and apex ; hind legs black, the trochanters, base and apex of tibie
and the tarsi white ; wings hyeline, the stigma black, the other nervures
pale, the cloud oblique, three times longer than wide, fuscous. Female and
Male. Length, 2 mm.

Bred from galls on Courida leaves.

Head aciculated, the lower part in front from the middle of the eyes much
more strongly so, almost punctured. Pro-and mesonotum umbilically pune-
tate. Scutellum umbilically punctate at the base, the rest rather strongly
transversely striated. Metanotum irregularly reticulated. Pro-and meso-
pleure aciculated, the raised, central part of the mesopleure irregularly
striated.” Metapleure rugosely reticulated. Abdominal petiole in female 3
times longer than wide ; the abdomen smooth ana shining, shorter than the
thorax, The antennal pedicle is longer and thinner than the next four which
are more ovate ; the apical joints form a club.

Prodecatoma courida, sp. n.

Yellowish testaceous, three spots, the central the larger on the occiput,
an irregular mark, wider than long, on the mesonotum, a longish triangular
spot, the narrowed end at the base, on the centre of the scutellum, a trilo-
bate mark, the laterai lobes shorter and rounder than the central, which is
narrowed at the apex, black; wings hyaline, the nervures testaceous.
Abdominal petiole thick, about four times longer than wide, half the length of
the rest of the abdomen. Antenne short, about twice the length of the width
of the head, thickened towards the apex, the 3rd joint thinner and longer
than the others, one-half longer than the 4th, which is a little longer than wide,
the others, except the last, wider than long. Thorax above weakly umbili-
cally punctate; the metap!eurae irregul2rly reticulated densely covered
with white pubescence. Head almost smooth ; malar space three-fourths of
the length of the eyes. Female. Length, nearly 2 mm.

Bred from galls on leaves of Courzda. Abdomen shorter than the thorax.
Stigma testaceous, the nervures white.

Prodecatoma latilineata, sp. n.

Yellowish testaceous, a broad, blackline onthe vertex across the ocelli,
obliquely narrowed laterally, a broad line down the centre of the entire body,
broader on the mesonotum than on the metanotum and narrowed at the base

A

The Hymenoptera of the Georyetown Museum. 123
and apex there covering the top part of the petiole and extending on to the
sides of the rest of the abdomen, broadly so on the middle segments, the
lower part of the occiput and the base of the prothorax as well as a small spot
on the outer side of the hinder femora and almost the apical half of the hind
tibize and the apical joint of the tarsi are black. Antenne coloured like the
body, the apical half of the scape and the pedicle black above, the apical joint
fuscous the hairs about as long as the joints, white. Male. Length, 2°5 mm.

Bred from galls on leaves of Smlaz.

Face strongly, closely striated, the strie roundly converging towards
the mouth and extending on to the inner half of the malar space. The
rest of the head umbilically punctured, as is also, but more strongly, the
upper part of the thorax. Pro- and meso- pleure almost smooth, the meta-
pleure rugosely punctured, densely covered with white pubescence. Ab-
dominal petiole longer than all the rest of the abdomen and about half
the length of the abdomen. The pedicle of the antenne is transversely oval,
wider than long, there is a triangular incision between 3rd and 4th and the
5th and 6th joints, the 3rd joint is shorter than the 4th, the last slightly
longer than the penultimate. Malar space as long as the eyes, furrowed.

CLEONYMID &.

Lycisca rufipes, sp. n.

Antennal scape dark green, largely tinged with brassy tints, the flagellum
black. Head green, largely marked with brassy tints, the vertex and the
greater part of the front dark purple, the mark on the front narrowed below,
leaving a longish triangular spot it the orbits, its narrowed end above. Face,
clypeus and to a less extent, the malar space densely covered with silvery
white pubescence. Malar space about half the length of the eyes; a nar-
row, oblique brassy furrow outside its middle. Prothorax green, largely
brassy, a small purple spot on the centre near the apex. Mesonotum more
bluish in tint, the middle lobe dark purple. Scutellum firey red except for a
small greenish spot in the centre of the apex. Pleurz green, tinged with blue ;
the base and apex ot the propleure below brassy ; there is a large firey red
depression on the upper part of the mesopleure, gradually narrowed to a finer
point at the apex, the lower side broadly rounded. Basal slope of Ist abdomi-
nal segment green, the rest of it, the whole of the 2nd the 3rd—except for an
oval longish mark on the sides of the apical half the 4th witha large conical
mark, filling the segment except at the sides and apex, dark purple, the 5th
brassy, the 6th dark purple ; the basal ventral segment dark purple, the
others green except for triangular marks on the sides of the 3rd and 4th. Legs
red, the basal half of the hind tibie and the hind tarsifuscous. Wings hyaline,
a small cloud at the end of the submarginal and a smaller one at the end of
the stigmal ; the nervures black. Female. Length, 7 mm.

Strongly umbilically punctate, the thorax more strongly than the head
the scutellum somewhat more strongly than the mesonotum. Metanotum
areolated widely ; the central keel is straight, the two bounding it are roundly

124 Timehrr.

curved outwardly, making the are wider at the apex than at the base ;
outside them is a large semicircular area, its base as wide as the base of the
inner two united ; it is bordered by a narrower oblique area, which is nar-
rowed towards the apex and bears the oval spiracles at the base. Upper
part of the propleure punctured like the pronotum, the lower part finely
irregularly striated. Mesopleure strongly closely, but not umbilically pune-
tured, the upper part with a smooth, shining area, narrowed near the centre,
the base more sharply pointed than the apex; the mesosternum strongly
rugosely punctured, bordered laterally by a crenulated furrow. Basal slope
of Ist abdominal segment smooth, its apex and 2nd segment finely and closely
punctured ; the others much more strongly punctured ; the ventral surface
is not so strongly, nor so closely punctured as them. The edigus has two
long lateral processes, dilated at the apex. Male. Length, 7 mm.

Except on the face the pubescence is sparse. There is a distinct, nar-
rowed rounded projection on the lower part of the apex of scutellum ; it is
hollowed above and with a narrow furrow in the centre, and purple violaceous
in colour.

MoorELLA, gen. nov.

Antenne placed close to the mouth, the scape long, reaching to the ocell: ;
13-joited, the ap’cal 3 joints forming almost a club. Eyes large, converging
above. Ocelli in a large triangle, the hinder close to the eyes. Occiput
transverse, the temples, short. Malar space two-thirds of the length of the
eyes. Pronotum large, narrowed towards the base, the middle as long as the
mesonotum, which is slightly wider than long ; a narrow transverse line at its
base. Scutellum large, triangular, a curved furrow at its base, separating
the base from the main part. Abdomen as wide, but shorter than the thorax,
sessile. Four anterior legs normal ; the hinder very long, longer than the body,
the t*biz longer than the basal 3 jomts un'ted, compressed laterally, and
widened, the base narrowed, the top broadly rounded, slightly narrowed
towards the apex ; on the outer side they are hollowed, the hind spurs are
short, thick, the middle long almost as long as metatarsus ; the metatarsus
is not quite so long as the other joints united. Submarginal nervure long,
the marginal short and thickened forming a stigma, the post-marginal long,
becoming narrowed towards the apex, it is indistinctly defined compared
with the other nervures ; the stigmal branch is straight, oblique, of equal
width throughout ; there is a large cloud in the middle of the fore-wings.

The mesopleuree are bordered below by a broadly rounded furrow which
extends from the base to the apex ; the mesosternum has a wider furrow down
the middle. The abdominal segments are transverse; the hypopygium
longish, cultriform. The middle cox are not swollen or enlarged; the
anterior are larger and longer the single spur on the middle tibiz is about
three-fourths of the length of metatarsus. I can only, for the present,
refer this genus to the Cleonymide, but not to any of the tribes included in
that group. It may be referred to a new sub-family in it. The discovery
of the male may throw some light on its systematic position. The peculiar

a

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 125

structure and great length of the hind legs should make the genus easily
recognisable.

The genus is dedicated to Mr. Harold W. B. Moore, formerly of the Guiana
Museum, who has reared most of the parasite Hymenoptera described in
these papers.

Moorella fulviceps, sp. n.

Black, the head fulvous, the pronotum of a paler fulvous colour, the pro-
pleuree pale testaceous, the base and apex of the abdomen, the former on the
basal segment all round and the latter much more narrowly on the apical
white segment ; antenne testaceous, the scape paler, more yellowish in colour ;
anterior legs whitish, the coxe and trochanters of a clearer white, the middle
pair fuscous, the hinder black, the apical three-fourths of the Ist joint of the
tarsi, and the whole of the 2nd to 4th white, the 5th fuscous. Wings hyaline,
the submarginal nervure fuscous, the others black, a large fuscous cloud,
commencing at the stigma where it is narrowed and extends to the hinder
margin of the wing; the base is almost straight, the apex broadly rounded.
Covered with a white microscopic pile; smooth and shining, the apex of the
mesonotum and the scutellum finely, closely punctured, the latter with a few
puncturesinthecentre. Mesopleure opaque, bare, almost aciculated. Female.
Length, 1-5 mm.

The hind tarsi are one third of the length of the tibiee. The wings are
pilose and distinctly ciliated round the outer margin.

ENCRYTID A.

EUPELMIN &.

Phlebopenes albopilosellus, sp. n.

Metallic green, the lateral lobes of the mesonotum broadly dark purple,
the back of the abdomen broadly of a brighter purple, the centre of the front
below, the lower lateral part of the face, a line on the inner side of malar space,
the basal half of the scutellum, the parts bordering it, post-scutellum, the sides
of metanotvm and a large irregular mark down the middle of the mesopleure
dark indigo-blue the mesonotum in front. the plevree, mesosternum and sides
of abdomen with brassy tints ; legs black, the femora and more particularly
the hinder, green, the hind tibiee at the base with a white ring, as long as the
hind spurs. Wings hyaline, the centre of the anterior with fuscous streaks,
the nervures black. Female. Length, 11 mm. terebra, 24 mm,

Antennal scape dark green, narrowed to a point in the centre below,
distinctly keeled there. Face raised slightly in the centre, bordered by shal-
low furrows which converge slightly above ; finely, closely punctured, the sides
irregularly transversely striated. Front and vertex finely closely punctured.
The raised central lobe of the mesonotum is finely closely transversely striated;
the raised, basal central lobe is more strongly striated, especially on the sides
at the base; the scutellum finely striated, becoming stronger towards the
apex ; the outer edge of the mesonotum is raised into a keel, inside of which

126 Timehri.

is a stoutly crenulated furrow. Metanotum finely aciculated, almost smooth.
Basal third of propleure smooth, the apex above finely closely punctured,
below more strongly closely, obliquely striated. Base of mesopleure finely
aciculated, the base and middle finely striated the apex finely striated, bor-
dered behind by a narrow clearly defined crenulated furrow which extends
along the sternum to the apex. Basal half of metapleure smooth, the apical
finely, closely reticulated, the two parts separated by a smooth oblique
furrow. Mesosternum with a wide furrow deepest on outerside. On the sides,
the hind tarsi are dilated, becoming gradually thinner towards the apex ;
the basal joint is as longas the following two united ; thespurs thick, sharply
pointed at the apex, closely, thickly serrated below, the claws small, curved.
Mandibles tridentate, the apical tooth longer and sharper than the basal,
which are bluntly rounded of equal size.

Phlebopenes Perty is identical with Prionopelma West. It is a genus
well represented in the Neotropical Region and contains some of the largest

Chalcids.
ELACHISTIN 2.

Elachistus carinatus. sp. n.

Black, shining, the antenne testaceous, darker towards the apex, the legs
yellowish fulvous, the coxe and apex of femora with the fulvous tint brighter
redder ; the abdomen on the basal half broadly pale testaceous. Head and
thorax spars:ly covered with long white hair ; the legs densely covered with
white pubescence. Head and prothorax smooth, the mesonotum to near the
apex strongly closely, transversely striated. Scutellum finely, closely, dis-
tinctly punctuced, the ribs sides smooth and shining. Pleuree smooth the
propleare depzessed in the middle. The antennz are sparsely covered with
Jorg white hairs. Male. Length, 3 mm.

Bred from larva of Hawk-Moth.

The mesonotum has a distinct keel down the middle. Face broadly,
roundly keeled in the middle, not separated from the clypeus. Prothorax
prominent, narrowed, clearly separated from the mesonotum, which has
narrow, but distinct parapsidal furrows and a distinct keel down the middie.
Scutellum large, narrow at the base, bordered there laterally by oblique fur-
rows, the apex bluntly rounded. Abdomen short, ovate, flat, shortly, but
distinctly pedunculated. The short hind spur not quite so long as the meta-
tarsus, the longer as long as the basal two joints united.

CHALCIDID A.

EURYTOMIN &.

ei nel
Xenopelte, gen. nov.

Antenne 10-jointed, the last three forming an indistinct club, the pediocle
smooth, narrowed at the base, twice longer than wide, the others pilose, wider
than long; they are placed immediately over the clypeus, which is clearly

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 127

separated allround. Eyes large, oval ; the malar space as long asthe antennal
pedicle. Ocelli in a curve ; the hinder separated from each other by double
the distance they are from the eyes. Occiput almost transverse. The pro-
notum, scutel!um, and mesonotum of almost equal length ; there are com-
plete parapsidal furrows. 2nd abdominal segment very large, as long as the
head and thorax united. Post-marginal vein longer than the stigmal, sub-
marginal almost twice the lencth of the marginal]. Legs normal, pilose.

A genus of Hurytomini easily known by the very Jarge 2nd abdominal
segment ; it being, as regards the iength in comparison with the others, some-
what as in the genus Hunotus.

Xenopelte couride, sp. n.

Black, the legs pallid yellow, the femora and tibiz more or less infuscated,
the antenne tcstaceous ; wings hyaline, the nervures dark testaceous. Female.
Length, 1-1.50 mm.

Bred from galls on leaves of Courida. Head and thorax shiring, aci-
culated, the scutellum finely, closely transversely striated, its apex broadly
rounded, and with a distinct margin or keel ; the upper part of the head and
thorax covered with a microscopic white pile, which is denser on the meta-
thorax. Basal segment of abdomen raised, short, testaceous, the 2nd is finely
microscopically punctured ; the apical are sparsely covered with white hair,
the ovipositor is moderateiy broad and shortly protects; the abdomen is
longer than the head and thorax united.

In one example the coxee and abdomen are fvscous ; this may be through
immaturity

PTEROMALINA.

os

Afronea gen. nov.

Antenne 13-jointed, as long as the head and thorax, thickened towards
the apex, but not much and gradually so; placed shortly below the middle
of the face and of the eyes, which are large and parallel, neither converging
above nor below. Head large, clearly wider than the thorax; the occiput
widely roundly incised. Prothorax small, the apex transverse, raised. Meso-
notum short, wider than long, as long as the scutellum, without furrows.
Seutellum longer than wide, the apex rounded. Metanotum short, the basal
central part finely, closely striated, opaque, this part having a longitudinal
oval fovea on the outer edge ; the outer part is smooth, has an oval fovea
at the base and a triangular incision at the apex ; the apex is broadly roundly
raised in the middle and has a transverse fovea on the sides. Abdomen
sessile, shorter than the thorax; its 2nd segment is longer than the Ist and
longer than all the others united; the ovipositor shortly projects. The
submarginal nervure about one-half longer than the marginal; the post-
marginal one-fourth shorter than the latter and one-third longer than the
stigmal vein, which is oblique and dilated at the apex.

128 Timehri.

The wide head and mesonotum, the absence of parapsida! furrows and the
3 foveze on the sides of the metanotum are the characteristic features of this
genus of Preromaline.

Atronea laticeps, sp. n.

Head and thorax dark bronzy black, the vertex and front laterally tinged
with blue ; the abdomen bright bronzy black, the base, sides apex and ventral
surface bright metallic blue; antennal scape and pedicle fulvo-testaceous,
the flagellum black, densely covered with white pubescence ; legs yellowish
testaceous. the femora for the greater part black, the hinder more completely
so than the others. The head and thorax bear distinctly separated white
hairs, the head with them shorter and closer than the thorax. Head finely,
closely punctured ; the mesonotum and scutellum much more strongly reticu-
lated. Base of scute’lum wide, not much narrower than the apex ; the basal
furrow deep, transverse, the lateral oblique furrows narrower. Tegulz pale
testaceous. Female. Length, 1.5-2 mm.

“On a Syrphid pupa.”

Pro-and metapleure smooth, the latter with a large fovea down the centre
of the base, the lower part closely punctured ; the mesopleure closely reticu-
lated.

Pteromalus couride. sp. n.

Head dark blue, the pro- and mesothorax black, tinged with purple, the
metathorax green, the abdomen black tinged with purple, the base and sides
of Ist segment green, the green on the sides becoming gradually narrowed ;
legs yellow, almost white, the greater part of the femora black, more or less
tinged with fuscous, the cox black to near the apex; antenne with the
pedicle and scape yellowish testaceous, the rest darker testaceous, blackish
above, the pedicle pyriform, twice longer than it is wide at the apex, the 3rd
joint one quarter longer than the 4th ; the last three form a not very clearly
separated club: the antenne are slightly longer than the head and thorax-
united. Head closely, tinely punctured, more strongly on the vertex than
elsewhere ; the front bearing on the sides, white scattered hairs. Pro-notum
finely, closely, the mesonotum more strongly transversely striated, the striae
more or less intertwining ; those on the lateral lobes finer and forming almost
reticulations. Scutellum, finely, closely, reticulated. Metanotum shining,
smooth, the middle raised, bordered by keels, the sides (they are larger than
the central part) bordered by a keel which curves inwardly at the apex.
Wings clear hyaline, the nervures pallid testaceous ; the marginal and post-
marginal nervures are of almost equal length the stigmal branch fully half
their length, its apex triangularly dilated. Abdomen fully as long as the head,
and thorax united, from the middle becoming gradually narrowed to a fine
point the apical segments fringed with white hair. Female. Length, 1.5 mm.

Bred from galls on Courida leaves.

Ocelliin a curve, the hinder separated from each other by almost double
the distance they are from the eyes. Occiput almost transverse, the temples
very slightly developed.

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Musewm. 129

} RHAPHITELINI.

o
Oluspa, gen. nov.

Head wider than the thorax, the eyes large, longish oval, parallel, not
converging, widely separated ; the ocelli placed in a curve, the hinder on the
edge of the vertex ; occiput almost transverse, the temples very little developed:

alar space two-thirds of the length of the eyes. Antenne placed almost
inthe middle of the face, opposite the end of the eyes. The front is very
little depressed, the antennal furrow shallow, narrow. Antenne 12-jomted
the scape does not reach to the ocelli; the pedicle is more than twice longer
than wide, the ring joints narrower than it and half its length; the apical
jointsdonotformaclub. Pronotum distinct, clearly separated from the meso-
notum, which has weak, oblique furrows on the basal half. Scutellum large,
neatly one-half longer than wide, the base transverse, bordered in the middle
by a wide furrow; the apex broadly rounded. Metanotum keeled down the
middle ; the sides seei from above form large triangles. Abdomen sessile,
as long as the thorax, the apex narrowed toa sharp point Base of meso-
pleurze depressed to near the middle, the raised apical part with a triangular
depression above the middle. Legs normal; the spur on the hind tibie
distinct. Wings shortly ciliated round the edges, the marginal nervure
about one-third shorter than the basal, which is dilated at the apex ; the post-
marginal is slightly longer than the stigma! branch, which is a little dilated
at the apex. The front femora are thicker than the others, especially in the
middle. The clypeus forms a depression, rounded above ; the apex transverse ;
there is a keel in the middle of the face.

Belongs to the Rhaphitelini—I cannot refer it to any of the described
genera in that group. In Ashmead’s system it runs near to Rhaphitelus.
The occiput is narrower, more transverse and the temples less developed than
inthat group. the 2nd abdomina! segment is smaller being not much longer
than the 3rd. Characteristic are the ocelli placed in a curve on the extreme
outer edge of the vertex.

Oluspa albopilosella, sp. n.

Dark blue, the head and upper part of thorax darker, more bronzy in
tint, the back of the abdomen except round the edges dark bronzy ; the
antennal scape and pedicle rufo-testaceous, the rest of the flagellum dark
fuscous, densely covered with white pubescence ; the head and upper part
of pro--and mesothorax with the scutellum sparsely covered with -listinet
thickish white hairs ; legs whitish yellow, the four front cox blackish except
atthe apex, the hinder metallic blue, the four front femora largely fuscous
above and below, the hinder black, tinged with blue from the base to near the
apex ; wings hyaline, the nervures pallid testaceous. Female. Length 2.mm,

Bred from pupe found in fruit of Cardiospermum halicacabum. Head
finely, closely, regularly punctured, the occiput finely closely transversely
striated, the striz# roundly curved. Propleurze smooth, the depressed base of
mesoplewre finely, regularly, closely reticulated, the lower apical part more

130 Timehri.

finely reticulated, the raised upper part smooth. Metanotum smooth, the
outer edge finely aciculated—The colour on the top of thorax is_tolerably
uniform ; on the pleure the blue is largely mixed with violaceous.

The scattered white hairs on the mesonotum are very conspicuous;
the apical abdominal segments are fringed with white hair.

APHELIN#.

Triolynx, gen, nov.

Antenne placed nearly opposite the lower part of the eyes ; 8-jointed,
the scape not reaching to the middle of the eyes, compressed below, roundly
narrowed at the base and apex, the pedicle bare, shining, narrowed at the base,
twice longer than wide, as long as the following joint which, with the next, is
a little longer than wide, the following as wide as long ; the apical three form
a well-marked, clearly separated club, wider than and as long as the preceding
three joints united, rounded at the base and gradually narrowed towards the
apex. yes large, oval, pilose ; the malar space as long as the antennal
pedicle. Ocelli in an equilateral triangle. Clypeus narrowed in the middle
the sides roundly dilated. Occiput transverse ; the temples very short.
Parapsidal furrows complete, curved. Scutellum nearly as long as the meso-
notum, transverse at the base, roundly narrowed towards the apex, twice
longer than it is wide at the base ; there is a distinct furrow down its middle.
On the lower part of the mesopleure is a clearly defined longitudinal furrow,
which is placed higher up at the base than at the apex. Marginal nervure
twice the length of the basal ; the stigmal branch much shorter than the post-
marginal; 2nd abdominal segment as long as all the following united, the
apical two gradually narrowed to a blunt point.

The pronotum is half the length of the mesonotum ; it becomes gradually
widened towards the apex. The head is wider than the thorax ; the abdomen
is slightly longer than the thorax ; the metapleure at the apex project into a
triangular point. Tibize unarmed.

Belongs to the Aphelinine, tribe Aphelinini. It cannot well be con-
founded with any of the described genera ; the clearly defined, three-jointed
antennal club, the hairy eyes, very long marginal nervure and the furrowed
scutellum are four points which should enable it to be easily recognised. In
Ashmead’s Arrangement (Mem. Cairn Mus. i, 345) it runs close to Aneristus
How.

Triolynz clavicornis, sp. n.

Blue, the head darker coloured than the thorax, the 2nd and following
segments of the abdomen black, the antennal scape pallid yellow, the flagellum
densely covered with longish white pubescence, the legs pallid yellow, covered
with a white pile, the cox blue. Wings hyaline, the nervures pallid; the
edges ciliated, the ciliz longer on the base of the costa. Female. .Length,
2 mm.

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 131

Bred from Limacodid, Phobetron hipparchia.

Head closely, not very strongly punctured, the vertex sparsely covered
with longish black, the front with shorter white hair. Thorax: the pro-
notum almost smooth; the mesonotum and scutellum closely, regularly
distinctly punctured, the scutellum slightly more finely than the mesonotum,
the pleuree smooth and shining as is also the metanotum, which has a wide
rounded keel down the centre, bordered by wide, deep furrows, rounded on
the outerside.

ENTEDONIN A.

TETRACAMPINI.

Akonda, gen. nov.

Antenne 10? jointed, placed immediately over the clypeus and below the
eyes, the last joints forming a club. LHyes pilose, the malar space one-third
of their length, obliquely narrowed to the mandibles. Temples short, roundly
narrowed. Ocelliin a wide triangle. Pronotum distinct, roundly narrowed
to the base. Mesonotum with the parapsidal furrows only indicated
on the apical half. Scutellum large, wider than long, transverse at the base,
roundly narrowed at the apex. Metanotum semi-circular, large, the sides
margined, a finer keel down the centre. Submarginal vein short, narrow,
thickened at the apex, one-fourth of the length of the margiual, which is
longer than usual ; post-marginal very short, the stigmal is as long as the
latter, placed close to it and dilated at the apex. Ist abdominal segment as
long as the following united, broad at the base, longer than it is wide at the
apex, cup-shaped ; the other segments become gradually narrowed to the
apex, and are of about the same length.

The flagellum is stout, the joints wider than long, but not much, the
scape distinctly narrower than it. The lower part of the mesopleure is widely
depressed.

Belongs to the Tetracampini and comes, of the known genera, nearest
to Tetracampe, from which it may be known by the pilose eyes, more sessile
1st abdominal segment and much shorter post-marginal nervure.

Akonda hipparchia, sp. n.

Blue, the apical half of the abdomen (from the apex of the Ist segment)
black tinged with violaceous, the antennal scape and the legs whitish yellow,
the cox blackish blue ; antennal flagellum black, pilose ; wings hyaline,
the nervures pallid testaceous. Sparsely pilose, smooth, except the meso-
notum which is finely closely reticulated. Female. Length, 1 mm.

Bred from Limacod Phobetron hipparchia.

132 Timehri.

PROCTOTRYPID.-®.

SCELIONIN &.

Trissolcus metallicus, sp. n.

Head and thorax dark or bright metallic green or blue, the pleure vio-
laceous, the front, vertex and occiput mostly black ; the basal half of the
dorsal surface of the abdomen and the ventral surface, except at the apex,
rufo-fulvous ; antennal scape fulvous testaceous, the flagellum dark fuscous,
almost black ; legs fulvous testaceous, the base paler coloured ; wings hyaline,
the nervures testaceous ; the apex is distinctly ciliated and the surface is
pilose ; when folded along the back they extend the length of the abdomen
beyond its apex . Abdomen sessile, broad at the base—broader than the
thorax—becoming gradually narrowed to a blunt point at the apex. Female.
Length. 75 mm.

“ Kgg-parasites,”’ but it is not stated to what order of insects the eggs
belonged.” Probably they were Hemipterous, as some species of T’rissolcus
have been reared from the eggs of bugs.

Antenne as long as the body, slightly, gradually thickened towards the
apex ; the pedicle is narrowed towards the base and is twice the length of the
2nd. the following five or six are longer than wide, the others wider than long.
Smooth, shining, sparsely haired ; parapsidal furrows fine. Scutellum large,
flat, almost semi-circular. The eyes are very large, converge slightly, but
distinctly at the top, where they are separated by about the length of the
basal two joints of the flagellum united.

Telenomini.

This group consists of minute insects which lay their eggs in those of
others, chiefly Lepidoptera and Hemiptera.

Phanurus longiventris. sp. n.

Black, shining, the antennal scape, pedicle and legs rufo-fulvous ; wings
hyaline, the nervures pale fuscous, ciated ; the antenne in both sexes densely
pilose, the pile longer in the male the antenne in female shorter, in
female longer than the body; the last five joints im female thick-
ened, forming a not very distinct club, the basal three joints of flag-
ellum (3rd-5th) longer than the others. Head smooth, shining, the
ocelli forming a large equilateral triangle, the hinder placed close to
the eves. Mesonotum opaque, closely punctured, its apex closely striated,
thickly covered with white pubescence. Scutellum more shining, almost
smooth, the apex with acrenulated furrow. Metanotum short. Abdomen
nearly three times longer than the head and thorax united, its base raised into a

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 133

large, oblique, rounded tubercle, its sides closely strongly striated, the stria
curved roundly; the base of the 2nd segment has a striated border ; it is
much longer than any of the others, twice the length of the Ist. The abdomen
becomes gradually narrowed to a fine point.

The male is similar, diftermg only in the longer, non-clavate antennae
and in the shorter abdomen which 1s as long as the head and thorax united,
it is broader, not narrowed to a point at the apex, but forming a longish
oval. Female. Length 2.5, Male 2 mm.

The specimens are labelled “* Bred from egg-sack of mantis ¢” If correct
this would be a new host, for the group-species of other genera ere known,
however as parasites in the eggs of Orthoptera.

Telenomus pulchricornis. sp. n.

Black, the antennal scape and the basal four or five joints of the flagellum
rufo-fu' vous, the legs pale rufo-testaceous, the wings hyaline, the nervures pz'e
testaceous ; the apical five joints of antennz form a distinct club, thickened
wider than long, the joint at its base narrower, more transversely ovate, wider
than the joint at its base. Head smooth and shining, distinctly wider than
the thorax. Eyes large, parallel. Oce!l: in a wide curve, the hinder placed et
the extreme edge of the vertex, touching the eyes. Mesonotum opaque
closely punctured, thickly covered with short white pubescence. Pleurz
smooth, shining, the zapex of mesopleure crenulated. Ist abdominal segment
strongly striated the tese of the 2nd with a narrow crenulated border, the
abdomenis flattened, bro>dly ovate, not much longerthan the thorax. Female.
Length, a little more than 1 mm.

Antenne thickly covered with white pubescence Looked at from behind
the mesonotum is seen to be striated at its apex. Scutellum very smooth
hare and shining, margined behind by a crenulated border, just before its
apex ; post-scutellum continuous with this, opaque, finely rugose. The Ist
funicular joint twice the length of the pedicle; the flagellum twice the length
of the scape.

The specimens are marked as being reared from eggs of “* plant bug.”

Telenomus dilophonote, sp. n.

Black, the apex of coxee narrowly, trochanteis, base and apex of tibie
and the tarsi whitish yellow; wings hyaline, the 1ervures pallid testaceous.
The antenne are not quite black, having a fuscous tint, the apical joints,
forming the club, ere clearly separated, the base! one smaller than the others,
the apical conical, the others wider than long, the basal 32 joints of the flagel-
lum longer than wide, the others shorter, as wide as long. Smooth shining,
almost bare; the eyes large, projecting. Abdomen longish ovate, longer
than the thorax, its basal segment slightly wider than long, striated, the
segment entirely smooth. Female. Length hardly 1 mm.

134 Timehri.

Probably the amount of black on the legs varies. The apical joint of
the tarsi may be black. Bred from eggs of the hawk-moths, Dilophonota ello
and Anceryx caicus.

Telenomus atripes, sp. Nn.

Black, shining, the knees and tibize and tarsi testaceous, the apex of
tibiz infuscated, the rest of the legs fuscous rather than black, the antenne
dark testaceous, the apical four joints forming a not very distinct club, the
basal three joints wider than long, the apical conical, longer than wide, the
pedicle almost twice longer than wide, narrowed at the base, the middle joints
are slightly wider than long, transversely oval. Wings hyaline, the nervures
pale testaceous; the edges are distinctly ciliated. Female. Length, 3 to
2? of mm.

Bred from eggs of a Noctuid (“‘ cutworm.’’)

Head distinctly wider than the thorax, which is longer than the abdomen.
The colour of the legs varies, they may be almost entirely black ; the fuscous
runs into black.

SCELIONINI.

Macrotelia erythropus, sp. n.

Black, the legs red, the antennal scape of a slightly darker red, the apex
slightly and narrowly blackish, the 2nd and 3rd joints piceous, the 4th and
5th of a darker piceous colour below ; wings clear hyaline, the nervures pale
fuscous, the stigmal branch more than twice the length of the marginal.
Abdomen one half longer than the head and thorax united, the lateral keel
stout, shining. Mesonotum with a furrow down the middle ; this furrow is
wider at the base, through the sides being obliquely sloped. Scutellum
bordered by oblique, clearly defined furrows and with a triangular fovea
in the centre of the basal half. Tegule piceous. Densely covered with
white pubescence. Sides of apical abdominal segment projecting into long
spines above. Male. Length, 4 mm.

A stout keel runs down from the ocelli and is continued down the sides
ofthe frontal furrow ; itis bordered on both sides by three stout oblique keels.
Centre of vertex irregularly finely rugose ; there are three stout oblique keels
on the sides, the lower sides curved. Eyes margined. The outer orbits on the
inner half with two rows of fovee formed by stout keels. The occiput margined
with a crenulated border on the innerside. Pronotum smooth, the apex
margined by a keel which runs down the plevre shortly behind the middle,
the upper (and longer) part there being roundly curved. The upper apical
part of the propleure is coarsely reticulated bordered below by a rounded
keel ; inthe centre of the lower part are 2 keels, dividing it into four parts.
There is a keel down the centre of the mesonotum, the parts on either side of it
being depressed. Base of mesopleure stoutly, longitudinally striated. Post
scutellum bordered by stout curved keels ; the part on either side crenulated
stoutly and bordered by a keel ; the base of the metanotum is bordered by a

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Musewm. 135

stout keel, roundly curvedlaterally ; it forms on the sides with the keel at the
the post-scutellum a longish triangular area, the narrowed end on the inner-side
The lower part of the mesopleure is bordered by a stout keel which commences
at the base higher up and is there roundly curved ; there is a row of irregular
fovee down the apex.

Hadronotus leviventris, sp. n.

Black, the antennal scape, basal two joints of flagellum and the legs,
except the coxe, rufo-testaceous ; wings hyaline, closely ciliated, the nervures
pallid testaceous. Female. Length, 1.5 mm.

Bred from eggs of plant bug.”

The apical five jomts of the antenne form a stout club, clearly separated
from the basal joints, its four basal joints are wider than long, the last thinner,
longer than wide, conical. Head clearly wider than the thorax ; aciculated
opaque, with scattered punctures. yes large, projecting, slightly converging
above. Temples very little developed. Occiput broadly, roundly incised.
Ocelli in a wide curve, the hinder close to the eyes, the central in the middle.
Frontai uvpression deep, of equal width, closely somewhat strongly striated.
Malar space longer than the eyes, roundly narrowed below. Mesonotum on
basal two-thirds closely reticulated-punctured, the centre of the apical
third bordered by furrows, irregularly, weakly striated and somewhat
reticulated. Scutellum coarsely reticvlated. There is a wide crenulated
border on the base of the metanotum, the rest of which is irregularly reticulated.
Base of propleure depressed, striated. There is a curved striated border
on the base of the mesopleurze, bordered by keels. Metapleure irregularly
reticulated, more closely at the apex than at the base. Base of abdomen
closely crenulated margined at the apex by a keel; this is followed by a
crenulated depression. The abdomen is shorter than the thorax, it is flat,
longish oval ; the 2nd segment is larger than the otheis, wider than long,—
and longer than all the following united ; the sides and apex are fringed with
long, white hairs. Mesonotum densely covered with short white hair.

DIAPRIIN.

——

SPILOMICRINI.

Hoplopria, Ashm.

I refer two species in the collection to this genus. They are very
different in structure, but the male fits in with Ashmead’s descriptive
of the male the only sex he describes, The Guiana female has
13-jointed antenne, which have a 5-jointed club; the base of the
thorax is roundly narrowed, not transverse ana forming a clearly separ-
ated collar as in the male; the parapsidal furrows are wide ; there are 2
longish oval fovee at the base of the scutellum, the abdominal petiole
is about 3 times longee than wide and is strongly keeled above and laterally
below. The collar, metathorax and abdominal petiole are thickly covered

136 Timehri.

with white pubescence. The temples are longer than in the maie and are
slightly, roundly narrowed. H. curvispina may form the type of a new genus ;
the narrowed transverse thorax and with it clearly separated, by being nar-
rowed, from the mesonotum is difterent from what it is in the other genera,
in which the base of the thorax is roundly narrov.ed.

Hoplopria curvispina, sp. n

Black, shining, the greater part of the 2nd ventral abdomine] segment
ruto-piceous, legs of a darker rufo-piceous colour, the thickened part of the
hind femora and the hind tibie and tarsi fuscous, the head and pronotum
sparsely covered with longish fuscous hair: the metapleure, metanotum and
petiole densely covered with long white pubescence, wings hyaline, slightly
tinged with fuscous, highly iridescent, the nervures black. Post-scvtellar
spine large, broad at the base, the upper narrowed part thinner, but stout,
curved, the apex with the lower part forming a broad, rounded curve. Face
below the antennz forming in the centre a flat plate, gradually roundly nar-
rowed to a sharp point at the apex, its centre slightly dupressed ; from it a
keel runs down to the clypeus, its apex triangularly dilated. Occiput trans-
verse, stoutly margined. Base of thorax transverse, nerrowed, forming a
distinct collar ; from it tothe tegule the mesonotum is roundly curved inwardly.
Parapsidal furrows deep, complete and scutellar fovee large, deep, longi-h
oval. Spine long, triangular below as seen from the side, dilated, the spine
above curved. behind forming a semicircule with the lower part. Pleure
broadly margined below, the keel on the propleure stouter than on the meso-
pleure, the hinder half narrower than the anterior. Abdomine! petiole about
four times longer than wide of equal width, shorter than the 2nd segment ; the
rest of the abdomen forms an elonagted oval. Antenne as long as the body,
hardly tapering towards the apex, densely covered with short stiff blackish
pubescence. Abdominal petiole keeled laterally above and below and with
2 keels down the centre, the lower of these being stouter then the others.
Male. Length, 3 mm.

The 3rd antennal joint !s about one quarter longer than the 4th and is
as long as the scape.

Hoplopria picicorns, sp. ni

Black, the basal eight joints of the antenne dark rufo-testaceous, the base
ofthe scape blackish, the apical five joints (forminga club) piceous ; the scape
bearing longish white hair, the flagellum more densely covered with shorter
white pubescence ; the greater part ofthe 2nd and 3rd ventral segments piceous
ous ; legs dark rvfo-testaceous ; wings not very clear hyline, the nervures
dark testaceous ; the edges are fringed with long hair; the wings are pilose
and very iridescent Head sparsely, the collar more densely and the meta-
thorex and abdominal petiole still more densely covered with long white hair.
Female. Length, 3 mm.

The basal two joints of the flagellum are twice longer than wide, the 3rd,
4th and 5th about one-half longer than wide, these being all of eque! width,
the 6th longer than wide, oval, the next thicker, narrowed at the base, the

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Museum. 137

basal four joints ofthe club are wider than long, the basal joint longer than the
others compared with the width, the last is longer and conical. Smooth and
shining. Parapsidal furrows distinct a transverse furrow at the base of the
scutellum, which at the base, bears two longish oval fovee. Post-scutellar spine
prominent, its base roundly curved, the apex curved at the top, the rest with
a longish straight, oblique, slope, which extends to near the apex of the metez-
notum. Abdominal petiole more than twice longer than wide, a stout keel
oa either side of the top and another down the sides. The lower part of the
pro- and mesopleure is bordered-by a stout keel; down the middle of the
metapleure are two curved keels, the two united by striz ; below and above
them is a more irregular keel. The legs-bear erect white hairs, the hind
femora have the apical half clavate, much thicker than the basal.

END OF HYMENOPTERA.

(Since the last instalment of the Hymenoptera was published we have
received the news of Mr. Cameron’s sudden death at New Mills, Derbyshire,
on the Ist December, 1912. His age was 65 and for forty years he has been
known as a specialist in Hymenoptera. His earliest descriptions of new
species were published in the Transactions of the London Entomological
Society in 1876 and following years. Mr. W. F. Kirby in his list of Hymen-
optera in the British Museum, Vol. 1, 1882, said :—

“T have to thank Mr. P. Cameron, of Glasgow, for types of several of
his new species of Tenthredopsis.”

In 1882 he commenced the publication of a work in four volumes, entitled
“ British Phytophagous Hymenoptera.” ‘This was issued by the Ray Society
and is an authority for the class of insects dealt with. This was followed
by the Hymenoptera section of the Biologia Centrali-Americana. The fact
that he was selected as one of the specialists on this monumental work proves
that his reputation in Hymenoptera was very high.

Of late years he was known throvghout the world. His willingness
to help was so conspicuous that many Museums and trave'lers sent him their
collections. In a bibliography of Hymenoptera for the two years 1906-7 he
is credited with thirty papers in journals published in England, Scotland,
Germany, United States, South Africa and Ceylon. Every specialist took
account of his work and it is interesting to note that Prof. Chester Bradley,
of Cornell University, connected his name with an Evaniclla, collected at
Bartica by Mr. R. J. Crew. E. Cameroni was one of several new species
described in a paper entitled ““ The Evaniide ” published in the Transactions
of the American Entomological Society, June, 1908.

By connecting the name of the late Rev. W. Harper with one of our new
species he brings to mind the fact that Mr. Harper contributed to “ Timehri ”
in 1888 a paper on The Beetles of British Guiana ; he also wrote on Lepi-
doptera for the “ Argosy.”)

eit

PRESIDENTS INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

JANUARY 29TH, 1913.

The President expressed his desire of saying a few words about the
position of the colony. The past year had been one which increased
their debt. He did not think that much to be wondered at when they
considered the alterations which had been made in the building and the
extra amount of comfort that had been provided for the members and
associates. Consequently, as he had already said, they would have to
go in for retrenchment. With regard to the Journal, he sincerely hoped
that all the members and associates would try and buy copies. It was
exceedingly interesting; it was more than that, it was exceedingly
useful and during the last year many copies were sent abroad to various
institutions with similar objects to their own and he felt sure that when
those institutions recognised its usefulness they would ask that they be
provided with one regularly. He hoped that it would help to advertise
the colony.

Last year was a year which he thought very few of them would
forget. It was a disastrous year, so far as agriculture was concerned,
on account of the severe drought, a drought such as had never been
experienced during the lifetime of anyone living in the colony to-day,
and he sincerely hoped that they would not see such another drought
for many years to come, if at all. It affected not only agriculture,
because as they were aware if agriculture was affected it affected the
general business of the colony, less money was circulated in the city and
fewer importations were made. This year he hoped that, as the ground
was said to usually benefit by a drought, the yield from the cane-fields
would be larger than in previous years, and thus help on our sugar
industry.

The rice industry, he hoped, would also do better this year than
last and he hoped that we had seen the end of those experimental com-
panies which had come to this colony, started, only lasted for a very
short time and then went away. Companies of that character did far
more harm than one imagined. They destroyed credit and also destroyed
the belief in the colony as a good ground for investment. He hoped that
during this year changes would take place which would prove beneficial
in every way to the advancement of the colony. They had been waiting
for a long time to see this advancement ; in fact he did not know of any
other colony he had visited which lived more in hope than British Guiana.
But ‘‘ Hope deferred, maketh the heart sick,” and he was sure the hearts
of the people must be sick of the weary wait. However, he believed
that had all been changed. They were going to blossom out into a
beautiful colony; well drained, well irrigated, with fine means of
transportation and everything they could possibly want. He did not

140 Timehri.

say that he expected to see it all, but he expected to see some of these
improvements. He remembered in that very room listening to an address
by Sir Cavendish Boyle, when he told them that he could stay there and
look with his prophetic eye, away over to the large savannahs between
here and Brazil and see them covered with happy homesteads, and large
factories in which the animals reared on those savannahs were reduced to
Bovril or tinned meat. They were still hoping to see that. He believed
that a good many more people had gone into the interior since then.

He hoped the time was not far distant when they would have
Georgetown within a few days reach of Buenos Ayres and perhaps go
there to see the Races. But outside of the sporting inducements in
Brazil there were good inducements there in other ways. They had been
hearing for a very long time of a railway to Brazil, but up to now they
had not got it. At the present time there was a gentleman in the colony
who represented a very good engineering firm and a financial firm too in
the Homeland, and he was here with a view of placing before the
Government a scheme, or schemes, for the construction of railways in the
interior ; it would be for the Government to say whether they would
entertain those proposals and whether they were worthy of credence, or
worth being looked into, and if so then they could place them before the
Court. Nobody was coming to British Guiana for their health or for
philanthropic purposes and they expected to get something for their
work. So far as he understood the firm in question desired to
give us good value for what we allowed them. In case of a
question of guarantee by the Government, he believed the guarantee
they asked would be a fair one. To-day they would not expect to raise
loans at 347 per cent. with consols at their present price ; consequently
they would-have to pay more than would have been paid a year or two
ago. A railway to the hinterland without going to Brazil, would take a
very long time before it could be productive. But in the event of a
railway being run to Brazil arrangements could be made with the Federal
Government not to put prohibitive duties on articles passing over the
border. If they were going to get articles from Brazil for exportation
then they would have to make necessary harbour improvements.

Harbour improvements and railway construction must go along
side by side. They would require a large amount of money which
could not be taken from the Colony chest, but must be raised
by loan. The Panama Canal was now about to be opened and
great preparations were being made by all the colonies. He did not
know whether it would prove all that was expected of it, but they at
least ought to benefit by it, and it behoved them to be up and doing, and
not to sit with their hands in their laps. France had arranged to have
harbour improvements in Martinique, and the Danes were at work
improving the harbour at St. Thomas. They ought not to lag. They
must hold their own. They had sat too long with their hands folded.
Then if they were going to build a railway they must increase their
labour supply and not take the labourers from the estates. There was a

President’s Inaugural Address. 14]

good chance of obtaining mechanics from the Panama Canal, as the works
were being closed down. Now was their chance to secure them. If
they lost this opportunity he thought it would be a long time before
another such would occur. There had been many lectures given during
the past year and he hoped to be able to arrange for some more during
the present year. Mr. Rodway had been giving some lectures to the
children—Chats about Guiana—and he proposed to continue them. His
next was to be about the ups and downs of the industries of the colony.
He would like to hear it, but he thought it might be painful, there would
be more downs than ups.

He thought the Society owed a great debt of gratitude to Mr.
Nunan, the late President, who, he assured them, was not at all
responsible for their financial position, which, on another occasion, he
had described as a very healthy sign, because it showed that although
they could not get money they could still spend it. He thought it was
the same with the colony; it could not get money but it spent it. He
again urged the members to do all they could for the Society. He
referred to the Agricultural Committee and said that he proposed to call
it together in the near future and let them elect a chairman, and then
would formulate plans for the future. He again asked the members for
their assistance.

The Society’s debit balance on June 30th, 1913, was $188.33 after
defraying the large special expenditure of extension and renovation.

—(ED.)

,

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.

Meeting December 30th, 1912. Elections reported.—Members.—
Messrs. P. W. Morley and J. A. Luckhoo. Associates.—Messrs Jose A.
Gomes, John Holiday, P. A. Duggin, J. C. Millar and P. C. Cox; Lady
Subscriber.—Miss B. Jackson.

The Office-Bearers for 1913 were duly elected.

The Vice-President gave a short resumé of the Society’s work during
the year.

Meeting January, 29th 1913. Elections reported.—Associutes.—
Messrs. G. W. Thornett, John Carto, Karl Hayley, J. G. Gray, Thos. A.
Phillips, (Revs.) Harold M. Yates and William E. Giddings; Lady
Subscriber.—Mrs. Simpson.

The Honorary Treasurer’s Statement for 1912 was laid over and two
Directors appointed to audit the accounts. Owing to the necessary
special expenditure in the improvement of the Society’s premises and in
modernising the Library a debt of something over $1,000 had been
incurred which the President believed would be soon cleared off. Part
had been incurred in widely circulating the Colony Volume of Timehri
for the purpose of advertising the colony. Until the balance had been
restored the Society would be averse to special expenditure.

Certain obsolete by-laws were proposed for revision at the next
meeting.

The President gave an opening address on the conditions of the
Society and the Colony.

Donations ; to Library—S vols. books from the Bishop of Guiana ; to
Musewm—autograph letters of the Duke of Wellington from Mr. 8. G. T.
Bourke and Rose wood and Rose oil from M. Prevot, Cayenne.

Meeting, April 16th, 1913. Elections reported._—Member.—Mr.
Colin Rees Davies; Associates.—Messrs. Jas. Goulding, R. L. Hunte,
Wm. MacFarlane, Reginald Lewis, Gerald Ambrose and G. H. F. Bennett,
Lady Subserithers.—Misses W. M. Phillips and J. McKay.

The President spoke of the death of three prominent members, Mr.
B. Howell Jones, Hon. George Garnett and Dr. F. H. Anderson. The
Secretary was desired to forward letters of condolence to the families of
the deceased gentleman.

The Honorary Treasurer’s Statement for 1912 having been audited
and found correct, it was adopted.

By-laws | and 4, Chap. VI., and 1 and 2, Chap. VII., were amended
and 3 to 9, Chap. XII., rescinded.

Donations: to Iabrary.—Eigenmann’s Fishes of Guiana from Mr,
B. S. Conrad, 12 vols. books and 12 periodicals from Hon. J. J.Nunan ;
to Musewm.—29 insect pests from Mr. G. E. Bodkin.

144 Timehri.

Prof. L. S. Austin read a paper on Economics of Gold Mining. His
Excellency the Governor spoke of the value of the paper and the President
called attention to the difficulties of gold-mining. A hearty vote of thanks
was unanimously accorded.

Meeting, July 30th, 1913. Elections reported.—Members.—Rev. D.
Duftus, Messrs. Michael A. Esch, and C. K. Bancroft; Associates,—
Messrs. F. J. de Freitas, H. 8. Cox. A. Mitchell, A. G. Bowers and H. P.
Weber; Lady Subscribers.—Misses Clara Smith, Effie Newsam and E.
Fernandes.

The Vice-President (Hon. J. J. Nunan) spoke of the services to the
colony of Sir Charles Cox, and of his intention to have that gentleman
proposed as an Honorary Member.

Mr. Nunan said ;

“Last July, when Sir Charles Cox who had been Vice-Patron of this
Society during the eleven months of his last acting regimé as Governor
was going on leave the fourteen directors of this Suciety presented him
with an address of which a framed copy now hangs over the principal
entrance. Part of it read as follows :

‘The members of the Society have fully recognised the unassuming
devotion to public duty, the unobtrusive industry, the well-balanced
judgment and the marked administrative capacity which you have
brought to the problems of Government. Of such problems you have
had your full share and we feel that the colony owes a great deal to your
wise and effective administration in 1906 and in 1911-12, periods of
trial which are fortunately infrequent.

‘The catalogue of your services would be a long one and we are
confident that as the years pass their permanency will cause them to be
appreciated more and more. We rejoice that they should have been
rendered by one who, a West Indian born, has been brought up from
his school days here in our midst, who enjoys the individual respect and
regard of all our citizens, and whose success furnishes an example and
an incentive to every member of the Colonial Civil Service.

‘We can only conclude by wishing you and Mrs. Cox a pleasant
voyage to the Mother Country, an enjoyable holiday after having so long
and so creditably borne the burden and heat of an administrative
interregnum, and a safe return to the colony, which looks to you for
many further years of such services as can only be performed by one of

your mature experience and of your profound acquaintance with its
needs.’

Unfortunately, the colony is losing him at a time when it can least
afford to forego the services we had hoped for. But the doctors have
told him that a further struggle to render them, for the struggle was
valiantly made, would mean his death-warrant. We are sorry to see
him go and feel it as a personal loss. He was a strict observer of the
constitutional rights of the citizens of this colony, both in the letter and

Yr

Proceedings of the Socvrety. 145

the spirit and noboly was more unlike an Oriental satrap in his
administration. Yet we all felt the steadying effect of his control during
the troubled season which followed the riots in 1906 at which time I first
became associated with him and learned to love and respect him.

It is some consolation to think that the Colonial Service is not
unfruitful in officers of his type who are proud to make the boast of the
great hero king, Henry V.:

‘This is the British not the
Turkish Court

Not Amurath to Amurath
succeeds

But Harry Harry.’

I have great pleasure in giving notice of my attention to propose
Sir Charles Thomas Cox, K.C.M.G., as an honorary member of this
Society.

A letter from Mrs. Garnett was read thanking the Society for their
kind sympathy with her in her great loss.

The Vice-President introduced the question ‘Can the Colony be
developed without increased taxation? His Excellency the Governor as
Chairman called upon members to give their views and in response Messrs.
E. G. Woolford, G. Russell Garnett, L. P. Hodge and the Hon. C. F.
Wieting spoke on the question. His Excellency the Governor concluded
with an interesting outline of the course to be taken in developing the
Colony and of the difficulties to be encountered.

CHATS ABOUT GUIANA.

November 29th, 1912. The second, entitled “Old Times” was
delivered to a large number of school children and some members of the
Society. Mr. T. A. Pope, Vice-President, occupied the chair. The
lecturer spoke of the difference between the conditions in town and
country in early times and compared them with the present. Special
reference was made to the sanitary arrangements, roads and drainage of
Stabroek and the growth of Georgetown. A series of lantern slides gave
views at different periods commencing with native Indian villages and
coming down to about fifty years ago.

February 6th, 1915. The third entitled ‘“‘ Ups and Downs,” being
without lantern illustrations, did not attract such a large audieace. The
President, Mr. J. 6. Laing, occupied the chair. The lecturer surveyed the
course of trade and settlement from the beginning, the rise and fall of
Indian trade, cotton, coffee and sugar. The prosperity of the colony had
been mainly due to capital and labour; when these were deficient no
progress could be made. Prices naturally made differences in the profits;
sugar survived when the low prices of cotton and coffee put these in the
backeround. Two diagrams illustrated the “chat”; one showed the
districts cultivated at different times, the other three centuries of ups and
downs.

APPENDIX.

His Excellency’s visit to the Rupununi savannahs has revived many
of the anticipations of developments which his arrival in July, 1912,
aroused among the people of this colony. Some of the articles in this
number and most of those in the two special numbers which make up the
Colony Volume show the nature of these anticipations as regards coloni-
zation, irrigation, drainage and railway construction. As the reception
given to His Excellency by this Society was the most comprehensive
demonstration of the Colony’s welcome to the new régime we are
acceding to the expressed wishes of many of our readers by publishing
an account of it which would otherwise be inaccessible except in a news-
paper file. We are indebted for it to the columns of the Daily Argosy.

R. A. & C. SOCIETY CONVERSAZIONE.

SIR WALTER AND LADY EGERTON AT SUCCESSFUL
FUNCTION.

GOVERNOR’S SPEECH OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO SOCIETY.

The Rooms of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society were
the scene of a brilliant function on Wednesday evening, July 10, 1912,
when a conversazione in honour of Sir Walter Egerton, the new Governor,
and Lady Egerton was held. There was a large and influential audience,
and the proceedings were characterised throughout by the most cordial
spirit, the good feeling shown towards the distinguished guests of the
evening being particularly noticeable.

For the occasion the Rooms and the Museum were specially illumin-
ated, and outside the building the words “God Save King George V.,
our Patron ” were picked out in dazzling electric lights.

When His Excellency and Lady Egerton, attended by Lieut. Napier,
the Governor’s Aide-de-Camp and Private Secretary, drove up, there was a
large crowd of people in the vicinity of the premises, and they gave Sir
Walter round after round of hearty cheers.

On entering the Lecture Hail His Excellency was cordially received
by the audience, and the National Anthem was played on the pianoforte
by Mrs. Stephenson.

Among those present were the Bishop of Guiana and Bishop Galton.

After a short musical programme. His Excellency and Lady
Egerton were introduced to the assemblage by Mr. J. J. Nunan, Solicitor
General, the President of the Society, in the following speech :

148 Timehri.

PRESIDENT NuUNAN’S ADDRESS OF WELCOME.

Your Excellency Sir Walter Egerton, Lady Egerton, My Lords,
Ladies and Gentlemen,—The principal object of our meeting here this
evening is to enable the members of this historic Society to receive Your
Excellency and Lady Egerton and to wish you both a hearty welcome to
the colony.

The unprecedented manifestation of feeling which your arrival has
already called forth from the community will have convinced Your
Excellency that at the outset of your administration you have the good-
will, the sympathy and the support of everybody in British Guiana.
These are good auspices for your régime and we believe that you will
retain them undiminished to its close. They will have convinced you
that your efforts for the colony and for the Empire of which, to use the
words of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, it is an undeveloped estate, will not
be met in any quarter in any hypercritical or carping or niggard spirit.
The public opinion which is growing here into no negligible force will
take care of that.

Whatever failings our people may have, ingratitude for services
rendered and lack of generosity for honest attempts to render service are
not to be included. Our people, on the other hand, are very shrewd and
rapid judges of character, and in the very short interval since your
arrival have decided that if this neglected imperial asset is not soon to
resume the march of progress the fault will not be in our stars but in
ourselves. Your Excellency has very rightly reminded anybody who may
wish to shift upon the shoulders of the administration the whole burden
of the primal curse attending the inheritance of Adam, that,

“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
Which we ascribe to heaven. The fated sky
Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull,”

But this colony expects to find in you an impartial and fearless
leader, to receive from your government a ringing watchword of progress,
and to secure with your aid the fullest consideration of all its legitimate
ambitions.

In your stupendous task Your Excellency can always count upon
the active support of this Society. Just now it is renewing its mighty
youth and is making an effort to live up to the traditions of those times,
more fortunate in some if not in all respects than ours, of which the
memorials are borne in honour upon its walls. Its memories are going
fondly back to the days ot W. H. Campbell, Writer to the Signet, the
learned and patriotic Scotsman who founded it in 1844, to the days of
William Russell, who tapped the savannahs to supply the city and coast
and river-side by one of the most interesting hydraulic feats accomplished
outside of Egypt or Colorado,

Appendia T. 149

They are going back to the days of many other enlightened, scholarly
and public-spirited citizens of its fellowship, who in any public cause re-
sembled those ethnic progenitors of so many of them, who made that
proud reply to Alexander when he met them by the Danube or on the
Dalmatain Hills more than two thousand years ago ; who said that they
had no dread except that the sky might fail, that is to say, if I read the
old Greek historian aright, that they feared not the face of man but only
the anger of the gods. Those elders and pillars of the Society believed
in this country of British South America. They were born in it or they
made it their home. They were no rootless colonists of alien earth.
We of this Socicty also believed in its certainty of happier fortunes
and look to the day when under new conditions and ever-increasing
number of those who earn their bread in this fair land, with its genial and
healthy, even if ou the coast somewhat relaxing climate, will regard it as
their home and as their home adorn it.

Your Excellency has been kind enough to mark your recognition of
our past work and of our possibilities of usefulness in the days that are
to come, by accepting the office of Vice-Patron. At his accession His
Most Gracious Majesty King George V. extended to us the high privilege
of his patronage, following the example of King Enward VII. and of
Queen Victoria, and indeed he has no more loyal subjects than in this
colony, which treasures remembrances of his visit as a boy. Our Society
has no narrow elective foundation, no restricted racial franchise. It
includes not alone every leading planter, merchant and official in the
colony but many gentlemen of the Northern and Southern European and
American peoples, of the African, the coloured, the East Indian and the
Chinese races and even if our actual roll of membership at the moment
cannot show the name of any native American Indian, one of the most
useful and reliable officers of our Museum is of the blood of the more
ancient sons of the soil. It was from this vigorous stem that the
Chamber of Commerce, the Planters’ Association, the Agricultural Board
and many other public institutions took their origin, and the stock to-day
is no barren stock.

Ip concluding by bidding you both a hearty welcome in the name of
the Society I can only express the hope that your stay here will be as
happy as you can wish and that we shall often see you in our midst at the
numerous gatherings which are held within these walls where you will
always be assured of a cordial, a respectful and loyal welcome.

THE GOVERNOR’S SPEECH.

In reply, His Excellency, whose clear, musical voice was heard
distinctly in all parts of the hall, said :—

Mr. Nunan, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,—It is always very
pleasing to be received so cordially as my wife and I have been to-night.
We know that, at any rate, in this audience our limitations are recog-
nised. I promise you that we will, both of us, do our best to help

150 Timehri.

forward the progress of this colony and aid, so far as we can, in its
amusements as well as in its work. (Applause.) But I think that in
the warmth of our reception to this colony there is something rather
saddening. so far as the lower classes are concerned because it was borne
in upon me when I went to visit some of the suburban districts that
the people there seemed to think that there was no limit to what
was going to be done. (Laughter.) I don’t know who is responsible for
that. I certainly am not myself. (Laughter.) If there is disappoint-
ment let it be put on the heads of those who brought it about. (More
Laughter.)

You are a very ambitious Society. I think it would have been
sufficient for most societies to have either represented agriculture or to
have represented commerce. You have chosen to represent both—(laughter)
—so that you almost represent the whole of the colony. I don’t wish to
decry the mining industry, but after all, the backbone of any colony
should be agriculture and commerce, and I should think that if British
Guiana has had a fault in the past it was in having put all her eggs in one
basket. It is your duty as a Society to prevent that in the future, and
to induce people to put their eggs into many baskets, and I ain glad to
see that there is another growing industry in the colony, and that is the
industry of rice-planting. If you can only get the people to take that up
as a peasant industry it ought to do a great deal for the country. Ido
not profess to be a wise man—but I come from the East. (Laughter.)
In the East the rice industry is certainly the backbone of India, China
and the great Malaya Archipelago, and I don’t see why it should not be
the mainstay of the people, at any rate in this country.

These are not the days when wealth, or even a living, is made easily.
They are days of competition, and you want a society such as this to
impress upon the people the necessity of- advancing with the times and
adopting new methods in order not to linger behind in the way of progress.

You have all heard of the hard times of the sugar industry, and you
know the way in which that industry bas been maintained. It has been
by having new methods and new machinery introduced that the industry
has been kept in the forefront of progress. (Applause.) It is your duty
as a Society to introduce new products to the notice of the people, new
methods of growing and preparing these products for the market, and I
hope that together we may be able to do that very useful thing.
(Applause.) You have, I have noticed with pleasure, recognised the very
great importance of progress in agriculture, and the Legislature have not
been niggardly in providing funds for agricultural experiments, if I am to
judge from that very fine, large Botanic and experimental garden which I
have had the pleasure of making a personal inspection of and of which I
hope to make a very much more minute inspection along with its energetic
and skilful Director.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have, on behalf of my wife and myself, to
thank you for the very cordial reception you have given us, and I only

Appendix TI. 151

hope that Mr. Nunan may be right when he says that when we go away
we may not have disappointed you. (Applause.)

A specially interesting part of the programme was then proceeded
with, numerous beautiful lantern slides of scenes in Georgetown and
places on the way to Mount Roraima, by way of Wismar, Rockstone and
Kaieteur Falls, being shown. The pictures, which were from photos
taken by Sir Crossley Rayner (Attorney General) and Professor Crampton,
of the American Museum of Natural History, were breezily described by
Sir Crossley.

Thereafter the programme was resumed. It was sustained admirably
by Mrs. J. B. Cassels, Miss Stephenscn, Miss Downer (New Amsterdam),
and Mr. H. Hill (vocalists), and Mr. Allan Webb (violinist), with Miss
Nellie Simpson as the accompanist.

To these artists and to Sir Crossley Rayner hearty votes of thanks
were accorded, on the motion of the President.

The conversazione proper then took place, an hour being very
pleasantly whiled away in social intercourse.

The whole proceedings passed off most successfully.

APPENDIX II.

Correspondence.

September 15th, 1913.

Sir,

In my article “ Railways Ten Years After” which appeared in
your Special Colony Number for July, 1912, there was a short digression
on the following theme: ‘‘ We are treating the symptoms of our disease
and not its cause. This colony in its struggle for life is not stripped for
action.” ‘It is useless to hold the executive to blame in what is virtually
a self-governing colony. The Combined Court has called the tune.” It
referred to the consumption of the colony’s resources in unproductive
institutions, official and unofficial, steadily increasing in number, suitable
to the four mile radius from Charing Cross but too expensive for an
undeveloped and stationary, a poor but ambitious colony. They had
grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength but had con-
tinued to increase with our diminution and waxed fat on our decay.

Incidentally the Borstal System as a supplement to Onderneeming
School was referred to among other institutions by way of illustration of
the ruling fads of the hour. I regret to learn from the Press of last

152 Timehri.

month that some at least of the members of a Committee appointed to
look after the interests of the inmates on discharge resented the reference.
I should be sorry to believe that any harm could accrue as no reflee-
tion was intended on the work of the Committee nor on that of the
enthusiastic and worthy Superintendent of Onderneeming, Mr. Sydney
Bayley. The work of reformation in any form has my _heartiest
sympathy. That it is a thankless and almost hopeless task under
present local conditions is an individual opinion. It happens, however, to
be shared by more than one of the Committee, who, I presume, only
differ from me as to the advisability of openly saying so. In justice to
the critics of the article I think it only fair to quote the official report
for 1911-1912 by Professor Harrison on this subject :— 3

“An enquiry has recently been made as to the number of discharged
inmates that after leaving the institution have relapsed in their behaviour
as judged by the records of convictions before the magistrates. Out of
one hundred lads who left the School between November, 1907, and
August 1912, fifteen have subsequently committed themselves. ‘lhis
indicates that &5 per cent. of the discharged inmates have not committed
themselves and it is a fair inference that the training given to those lads
at Onderneeming has been of benefit to them and to the community at
large.”

If any considerable proportion of the 85 per cent. who have kept out
of gaol for periods ranging from one to nearly five years can produce
good conduct reports from employers for those periods I should be glad
to reconsider my opinion. Perhaps the next Onderneeming report will
supply this information as the employers have not appeared in print. For
1912-13 the record is still better. Of fifteen boys released only one went
to prison during the year. A second was transferred as ‘ apparently
irreclaimable whose influence was felt to be harmful to the other
inmates.” It is satisfactory to note that the effect of the corrupt inftu-
ence of vicious boys on each other is not ignored.

At the meeting in question it was proposed to alter the name of the
Committee as the Borstal Institute had been shut down as a failure.
Evidently the criticism that it was a useless and costly concession to
that sentimental philanthropy which is producing its own Nemesis in
the vast increase of crime in England, has been found to be borne out by
the facts.

The digression concluded :—

‘“‘ Laws and regulations, the enforcement of which we resent, have
come to be regarded by our people as progress. Quid leges sine moribus ?
Surgeon General Godfrey works hard and does his manful part, but he
and his staff are as a voice crying inthe wilderness. Our public health
system is on paper, our infant mortality appalling, our population station-
ary and but for immigration declining, and the moral condition of the

Appendia III. 153

masses is what is to be expected where no serious attempt has been made
to erect a social system in place of that which slavery destroyed.”

In your address Mr. Editor, as Acting President of the Royal
Agricultural and Commercial Society, last month at which His Excellency
was present you mentioned this passage and stated that Dr. Godfrey
could not longer be called a voice crying in the wilderness. Owing to the
interest of His Excellency the attitude of the community on publie health
questions had been altered since the article appeared. Mr. Harcourt’s
generous reference at the Corona Club dinner to Dr. Godtrey’s work also
shows the new state of affairs. As the writer of the article Iam glad to
endorse your remark. I should be equally pleased to see the acknow-
ledged industry and capacity of Professor Harrison and Mr. Bayley
crowned with success at Onderneeming.

The limitations of time and space do not allow me to deal with the
subject as a whole but I trust you will allow me the hospitality of your
columns in your next number for an article on “ Prison and Reformatory
Systems among Mixed Races in the Tropics.”

fai, 0,
Yours faithfully,
The Writer of “ Railways, Ten Years After.”

To the Editor-in-Chief
«“'Timehri.”

APPENDIX III.

THE DEMERARA ‘BAR.

Extract from Baron Siccuma’s Report 1879-1912.

(The original report to the Government has been republished by the
West India Committee to which the thanks of the Colony are due.
A commentary by Baron Siccama dated August, 1912, is attached.)

The rivers of Guiana drain only from plains or gently rolling hills
overgrown with vegetation, and their clear though discoloured fresh
water is only contaminated where the inflowing tide carries up the fine
sea mud.

The clay found in the plains in long reefs or patches was therefore
not brought down by the present existing rivers, but was deposited as

154 Timehri.

detritus from lands now submerged, and the alluvial plains of Guiana
were made by the ocean.

The sea margins that one finds nearly parallel to the present shore,
as far as they consist of clay, were the action of the ground wave
rolling from the north-east on the shoaling mud bottom warping up
banks that at last reached the surface.

The rivers only bring down sand and seem to deposit it chiefly
parallel to their fairway and at their sides. The Corentyne and the
Essequebo carry more sand than the Berbice and Demerara as evinced by
the conformation of the shallows at their mouths.

Between these banks and the old shore lagoons would be formed,
which, receiving the drainage from higher grounds, and intersected by
rivers also adding their detritus and decayed leaves, would soon be
covered with vegetation.

If the Atlantic waves at present were higher than they are, the same
thing would occur again, and a new reef would form outside. As it is,
the foreshore does not slope evenly, but undulates slightly, following the
shore line. The water rising with the tide, and receding with the ebb,
has a levelling tendency, however, and where it has the greatest velocity
keeps the bottom deepest, in ratio of the quantity of water flowing over
it. It is therefore important that the greatest possible volume of water
should enter the estuary and flow out of it, and therefore the entrance
should not be narrowed, and it is to be regretted that the last extension
of the Best groyne should have been made to bear so much to the east.
The encroachment of the stellings on the river has also a pernicious
effect, as they act as so many silt catchers. They ought to be replaced
by a continuous quay. At all events, instead of extending them any
further, a limit line should be decided upon so as to form a straight line,
and a channel could then be dredged so as to allow large ships to lay
alongside these stellings.

As groynes have but a very local effect, it can hardly be expected
that the east Best groyne would have deepened the bar. This bar is
not what is generally understood by that word, that is, a bank in a river
mouth formed by the river carrying down its own detritus and depositing
it where it comes in contact with the open sea. What is called the bar
here is really a deeper channel through the mud flats of the foreshore
caused by the sea flowing in and out of the estuary.

In comparing the soundings of 1835, 1870 and 1879, on the bar,
this has diminished in depth during the first period from 11 feet to 9 feet,
and since 1870 to 84 feet, but has become wider. Whether the low
water-marks of the different years were the same is difficult now to
determine.

The stronger blowing of the N.E. trades than for some time
previous, casting up more inud, are very likely the cause.

Appendia TTI. 155

If it be intended to improve the bar by extending the Best groyne,
this ought to be extended till the depth actually wanted alongside is
reached, and in imitation of what is observed in nature, in direction
opening up against the tide current. To obtain, however, a deep
channel over the bar, dredging along this side of the jetty will have to
be resorted to. The scouring of a new channel without it is at best
hazardous and uncertain, even with a sandy bottom, and in many cases
impossible, particularly in clay and silt, like in this case.

By laying a training dam in a direction so that it lies at an angle on
the inflowing tide current, this will be deflected and led by it, and in
that way keep the channel open. If no such training dam is made the
incoming current and the draw of the Essequebo east mouth will sw eep
across the channel and tend to fill it up. On the outer edge of the bar
this current exists during the whole flood time. Nearer the shore a set
to the west is also perceptible after half tide, as then the Boerasirie
channels begin to draw. This tide current is what has very possibly
been mistaken for a littoral current, and to this the damage of the
“ Haarlem ” front was ascribed. It has, however, always been at least
two miles to seaward of the coast in front of ‘ Haarlem.”

The draw of the Boerasirie channels is only perceptible about
“ Uitvlugt ” and ‘ Leonora,” and there exists only slightly and without
attacking the coast-line.

For the reasons here above given, it is therefore advised that: Ist:
The Pouderoyen vroyne be not further proceeded with, and that also the
eroynes on the sea wall should remain without further repairs, except
the C groyne at the Fort, which should be strengthened. On the river
front a ‘‘ pierre perdue ” protection will be more effectual than a groyne.

2nd. That the lines of stellings alone the City waterside should be
replaced by a continuous wall, as much as possible parallel with the fair
way. If it is made to enter too far into the river at the Southern end,
it would divert the scour from the frontage of ‘ Ruimveldt” and
“ Houston ” and form a dead angle at its southern extremity. In the
immediate future, however, a line should be decided upon beyond which
no stellings ought to be extended. Along this line and to the west of it
a continuous deep channel should be dredged so as to allow of deep-
going ships to approach the stellings. The site at present occupied by
the Civil Engineer’s wharf and adjoining lots would offer great advan-
tages for the construction of a basin for Mail Steamers.

3rd. That the east Best groyne be extended from the end of the
stone work due north to abreast of the groyne at the Fort, and then
curving gradually to the east till it lies in a direction 40 deg. E. of N.,
and then in a straight line till it reaches 20 feet of depth at low water,
so as to lie scooping on the rising side.

At Lusignan spit is at present forming, this seems to be the limit
of the slewing change of the channel to the east, and the proposed
direction of dam will leave sufficient room for the entrance to the fairway.

156 Timehri.

It is further proposed that along the east side of this training jetty
the bottom should be dredged to 20 feet at low water, over a width of
250 feet, as this is believed to be a depth practically sufficient for the
port. The ruling depth of the Suez canal is 25 feet, and 30 feet in the
harbours.

The new canal of Amsterdam is of about the same capacity, but
here the greater depth could only be gained at an increase of cost which
the circumstances would not warrant. No second groyne is thought
necessary, as it is believed that with one training dam the scour will be
sufficient to keep the depth, aided by occasional dredging, and as a
narrower channel would interfere with smaller craft beating out. The
total length of this dam will be about 11 miles, but if constructed of
branch mattresses in the manner as now executed in the Mississippi
mouth and at Charleston, the abundance of that material in this Colony,
leads to expect that the work might be done for a possible sum.

By utilizing the dredging of the channel, and building deep mattresses
with pockets or gang boards, to be filled with this mud, two berme
dikes with their top to low water can be laid, between which again other
dredging material can be deposited, and the whole covered again by hand
laid fascine work till the height of two feet above mean high water of
spring tide be reached. The slopes of 15 to 1 must also be covered by
rubble. By this mode of procedure it is believed pile work may be
altogether dispensed with, relying only on dead weight. Old hulks may
also with advantage be used.

A refuge harbour at the head of tugs and pilot boats will be useful.
It may be advisable to begin at the sea end, so as to oppose the finished
end to the direction of the sea waves. In beginning from the shore, the
unfinished work being always opposed to the sea, would occasion much
loss of time and material. An opening may be left some where near the
West Bank to accommodate the Essequebo traffic wishing to enter the
river. The silting up on the west side will, however, be very rapid, and
therefore this opening will only be of temporary use.

In the estimate hereto appended the work is approximately esti-
mated at $3,000,000. It is, however, possible that by a judicious selec-
tion of dredging plant, and a cheaper mode of fascine work than hitherto
usual, this amount may be diminished. The outlay may seem a large

one, but the importance of the object renders it imperative that it should
be considered.

At present the entrance to the port is inadequate for the character
of the shipping frequenting it, and is tending to become worse. Witha
depth at low water of 20 feet, the port of Georgetown will be the finest
in the West Indies. The largest merchant ships and steamers now afloat
will be able to enter, and should a greater depth in after times be found

necessary, nothing in the system herein projected will interfere with an
enlargement of the channel.

Appendia TTT 157

For the present a width of 250 feet is deemed sufficient. The
channel in the improved Mississippi South Pass was at first stipulated
to be 300 feet wide aad 30 feet deep under ordinary high water, but
since the contractors have been bound to 250 feet only, as this was
considered enough.

Should, however, the outlay to obtain 20 feet be too great, and a
depth at low water of 15 feet be thought enough, a training dam on the
same principle as above described should be laid to that depth at sea. The
direction of this dam should, however, be more northerly, as in the 15
feet depth the current sets more southerly than further out, and the full
advantage would not be taken, splitting the stream instead of intercept-
ing it, by laying the dam, too parallel to the direction of the current.

It is estimated that this work will amount to about $1,700,000 with
a total length of dam of 16,000 yards, and the same width of 250 feet
for the channel.

The works at present being carried out in the Mississippi and at
Charleston may give experience to cheapen the work here proposed, and
it is thought advisable not to enter into further d >tails till investigations
have shown whether the knowledge gained on the latest hydraulic works
in the United States can lead to an improved and a simpler mode of
construction.

H. SICCAMA,
M. Inst. C.E. Govt. Hydr. Engr

Georgetown, Demerara, 31st December, 1879.

Since the foregoing report was made many changes are noticeable.
On Bouchenroeder’s map of 1802, the centre line of the fairway from the
Demerara river lies in a direction 8 degs. East of True North, with
depths on the bar of from 9 to 11 feet. On the chart of 1872 the fairway
over the bar lies in a direction 39 degs. East of North, with greatest
depths of 8 to 84 feet. On the chart as amended in 1888 the line of
deepest soundings of 8 feet lies 58 degs. Kast of North.

On the chart of 1872 the position of the Lightship is shown due
North of Cumings Lodge on the Demerara East Coast; on that of 1888
this position lies due North of Montrose, a mile and a quarter further
East ; while in 1891 the Lightship had been again moved in an easterly
direction but a little further inshore as the 3 fathom line had approached
the mainland.

These changes are related to similar changes in the Essequebo
River. On Bouchenroeder’s map the greatest depths to enter the river

158 Timehvi.

are shown in a pass between Tiger island and the mainland with sound-
ings of 20 to 26 feet. In 1888 these were 12 feet.

In 1802 in the East pass of the Essequebo the depths of the bar are
8 feet, in 1888 these are 15 feet and the line of deepest soundings lies
south of the Sugar bank, which continues to extend eastwards with a
tendency to unite with Dauntless Island and the banks between these
two, while the Red banks or Blue Jacket banks are slewing round to the
south at their eastern parts.

All these changes show that the tide comes up from a more easterly
direction and that the current entering or leaving the Essequebo flows
partly over the Demerara bar and is the cause of this shallowing.

The deeper water out at sea is the cause of the waves running up
higher on the Georgetown seawall than formerly. No information is at
hand whether the spring-tides are now higher as shown on the scale at
P.W. stelling in 1879. It may be that the seawall laid in 1882 has
settled and wants raising.

As regards the estimate of 1880 this wants revising as the prices of
labour and materials have considerably risen. On the other hand new
methods of work and better machinery for dredging are obtainable so
that in a round sum the estimate of $3,000,000 for a leading dam and
channel to the 3} fathom line will not be far out. The general direction
of the dam can remain as proposed in 1879, except that the part between
the shore and that further out should be laid in a curve of greater radius.
Then, it is worth considering whether the use of concrete or fero concrete
would be advisable from an economical standpoint. But this requires a
serious study and a great deal more information of all sorts than is at
present available.

The better to explain these remarks, a copy of the chart laid over
with the report of 1879 is hereto annexed with the changes in the sound-
ings obtained from notes made in 1891. On it is marked an amended
proposal for the leading dam to be laid in the same direction but a little
further to the North-West which will give a better entrance to the river
and showing a gap or side opening for traffic to the Essequebo and
islands.

Definitive plans can only be made after a thorough investigation of
the present condition, but in principle the scheme of 1879 can be
followed.

H. SICCAMA,
M. Inst. C.E.

THE HAGuE, August, 1912.

OF

iiae Royal Agricultural

AND

Commercial Society

OF

BRITISH GUIANA.

J. CUNNINGHAM, Editor

REV. J. AIKEN, M.A., Assistant Editor.
Mob tll. .¢2hird Series), t915.

——_—~+o—_—__

Hemerara :

“ THE ARGOSY” COMPANY, LIMITED

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

a.

FOREWORD ... .. Le rs ae

A RaILwAy AND HINTERLAND DEVELOPMENT—By Sir Walter
Egerton, K.C.M.G.

‘“'TIMEHRI” AND DEVELOPMENT—By Rev. J. Aiken, M.A.

RaILways, TWELVE YEARS AFTER—By Joseph J. Nunan,
LL.D., Attorney General

SoME CONTROVERTED Pornts oF LocaL LAW wITH RESPECT
To Leases—By L. C. Dalton

THE SEA DEFENCES OF BriTIsH GuIANA—By H. Siccama

THE MUNICIPALITY OF GEORGETOWN—By Luke M. Hill, B.E.,
M. Inst. C.E.

THE Municipality oF NEw AmSTERDAM—By J. Van Sertima

West Inpran Law anbd AppEALS—By Joseph J. Nunan,
LL.D., Attorney General

CHARLES WATERTON IN DEMERARA—By James Rodway
THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA—by Archdeacon Josa

THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN RAcES—By His Honour Mr.
Justice Russell, LL.B., Trinidad

Forty Years’ Lire in TropicaL GarpENs—By Eleanor S.
Waby

THE CONVERSION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CoLony TIMBER—
By H. A. Wishart...

A LIST oF THE INSECTS AFFECTING SUGAR-CANE IN BRITISH
GuUIANA—By Harold W. B. Moore

Some CoLony Brrps—By Rev. Charles B. Dawson, S.J., M.A.
(Oxon:) ...

THE West INDIES: THEIR COMMON INTEREST AND IMPERIAL
Aim—By E. R. Davson

REMINISCENCES OF DEMERARY—By Mewburn Garnett
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Our LATE PRESIDENT

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Development and Taxation. 93

by means of profitable schemes that will pay at once. Well, there is one
way I think which that could be done, and that is by carrying out
judicious irrigation of suitable portions of the coast lands. We have
asked and the Combined Court has granted the money,* and I have
asked the Secretary of State to select an experienced irrigation engineer
to advise on such schemes, but they are evidently not to be picked up in
the hedgerows, for the Secretary of State has been searching for six
months and has not yet found a man. May we take that as a happy
augury that he is taking great care in the selection, and ultimately we
shall get a very good engineer.”

SAVING OF LIVES.

Mr. Nunan spoke of another way of retrenchment and it was a very
important way, and that was in the saving of lives. Every life that died
unnecessarily in the colony was a great loss ; it was a loss of capital and
they must try to reduce the death-rate and there was one encouraging
thing about reducing the death rate, that wherever they were successful
in reducing the death-rate they increased the birth-rate. At any rate
that was the experience so far in tropical countries although in recent
decades it had not been the case in Europe. The results of the census
of 1911 came, he thought, rather as a shock to the colony. For reasons
of economy for 20 years no census had been taken and it was found that
there had been little increase during those twenty years. But he did not
think that they quite got at the real causes of the unsatisfactory total.
He believed that a good many people left the colony to seek a living else-
where. He at once asked that question whether it was not so, and he was
surprised to find that no one could answer it because no statistics were
kept of immigration and emigration. He thought they had noticed that
those statistics were being kept and as far as they had gone the figures
seemed to show that a good many more people left the colony than came
into it. He was leaving out East Indian immigration of course. Now,
as to the question of development without taxation and as to the question
of taxation itself. He must say he did not look upon the system as
enforced here as perfect and he thought that on some points it did press
unduly upon the lower classes. He was still learning in this colony and
he did not venture to give any concrete instance at the present moment,
but he had been thinking ever the matter. 7

HicH TAXATION.

There was also a very prevalent belief that this colony was very
heavily taxed per head cf the population. Well, it was very heavily
taxed indeed, in the way of Customs duties, but not in other directions.
He had had three distinguished Dutch visitors lunching with him that
afternoon and one of them remarked to him ‘ Your Customs taxation is
very high.” He said “ Yes, it is, but there is very little behind it,” and
the visitor said, ‘‘ Have you no income tax?” and he said, “ No, we have
not,” to which the visitor replied, “‘Then I don’t think your taxation is
high.” That was the way an outsider looked at it. Well, he should be

94 Timehri.

very loth to say that they could carry out a large scheme of development
like the building of a railway to the far interior without an increase of
taxation, but he hoped that such increase would be only for a term of
years, and if he ever felt in the position of laying such a scheme before
the public he should point out t» them that the carrying out of any such
scheme would open up new avenues of employment and the prospect of
much more remunerative employment. And it would also open up the
prospect of having something real to offer to people in other countries
to induce them to come here. As he had stated he did not think that
the coast lands were sufficiently attractive to people who were not
accustomed to them, but he thought it might be a different matter if they
had communication with the savannahs in the interior. There they
would have lands similar to lands in other countries and he should say
that any capitalist who interested himself in their development would not
only be able to offer employment to people who could not find it on the
coast lands, but he would also be able to attract people from the outside,
to give only one instance—from Barbados. They knew how many
thousands of Barbadians were willing to leave their island to work if
only they could tind remunerative employment, because they had gone in
their thousands to Panama.

HINTERLAND RAILWAY PROBLEMS.

The question of this interior railway was a very difficult one. The
first thing an opponent would say was, having made your railway what
traffic are you going to get from it? Well, he was afraid all they could
say to him at present was that they should hope that on its way to the
savannahs it would pass through lands from which timber might be taken.
They were fortunate in having here the best timber in the world and they
could add to that that the savannahs already supported a large herd of
cattle and were capable of supporting a very much larger number, if there
was any prospect of selling them when they were brought into existence,
and they could ald that, in addition to the savannahs on this side, there
Were savannahs on the Brazilian side and doubtless cattle from those
savannahs would be offered for sale, if there were means of getting them
down to our coast lands. He saw no reason either why, if these savan-
nahs were opened, they should not breed horses there, not for racing,
but he did not mean that that would not be a profitable development,
although he had no doubt—he saw a prominent member of the
racing club sitting quite close to him—if the savannahs were
opened, other owners than Mr. Flood would breed horses for
racing purpose, but he would rather see horses bred there for
ordinary commercial use and he should like to see sugar planters breed
their mules there instead of importing them from the Argentine and New
York. He was going up to the interior with the hope not to see the
nakedness of the land, but its fertility. What struck him in all the talk
that had been about development was that no one had faced the problem
of submitting a proper scheme. People talked vaguely about a railway
to the interior, but they wanted to settle, and it was not an easy matter

Development and Taxation. 95

to settle, where that railway was to go and where it was to start from.
There were other places which if they had to begin anew they might
without much hesitation say were better places for the starting off
point of a railway, but they were not to forget what they had locked up
in Georgetown and what loss would be caused to the inhabitants here if
they started a new capital in some other part of the coast. They must
not start a railway without being quite sure where they wanted it to go
and beyond that what they could get on the way in which they wanted
it to go.

THE ROCKSTONE-POTARO SURVEY.

Last year they had a survey carried out ; it was arranged before he
came here, from Rockstone to the Potaro valley. Personally, he was
bitterly disappointed with the results of that survey. The estimated
cost of a railway built through comparatively easy land was, he did not
hesitate to say, absolutely prohibitive. But that was not the worst part
of the case. Estimates were fallible and they might vet another engineer
to go over the same route and give them a very different estimate, but as
far as he could ascertain, that railway was simply running into a cul de
sae and could not be prolonged much further than where the survey
terminated. They had got to decide where they wanted to start from
and where they wanted to go and to be quite sure that the route they
had selected was a feasible one and that was his object in going up t» see
for himself. He was not an engineer, he was not comp-tent to decide on
the feasibility and cost of any such scheme, but the advantage of going to
see the place oneself was that one could understand what experts told
about the difficulties and the possibilities and, unless he had some personal
knowledge of the country, this was a most difficult thing. They had been
very fortunate he thought in securing the services of a skilled engineer
in tropical railway construction and he had every hope that his visit
here might lead to the elaboration of a more definite and concrete
scheme for communication with the interior. Whether the scheme that
had been stated in detail would ever be carried out depended firstly
on whether they could be united here in pressing for its execution
aud in being willing to make sacrifices in order that it might be carried
out, secondly, whether they could induce and convince capitalists that
it was a good scheme, and thirdly, whether they could enlist the material
support of the Secretary of State for the Cclonies in carrying out the
scheme. They were fortunate, he thought, in the present Colonial
Secretary. A remote ancestor of his was one of the first visitors to
Guiana and one of the first to try to carry out a scheme for its develop-
ment. He hoped for Mr. Harcourt who now held the proud position
of Secretary of State for the Colonies that it would be during his term vf
office that such a scheme might be decided upon and commenced and
carried out. (Applause.)

THE AYMENOPTERA -OF THE: GEORGETOWN
MUSEUM.

PART V.

By P. CAmErRon.

CHALCIDID &.

CHALCIDIN 4.

Chaleis annulata, ¥.

Chaleis annulata, Ashmead, Class of Chaleid Flies, Mem. Cair. Mus., i
408 ; Howard, Journ. Linn. Soc. xxv., 80.

Chaleis ovata, Say ; Cresson, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., 1v., 59, Cameron,
Biol. Cent. Am., i, 99, Pl. tv., f., 16; Marshall, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1892, 70 ;
Crawford, Ball., Ent. Tech. Ser. U.S. Dep. Agric., Ser. 1,19, Pt. ii p. 15, f.,
8-10 ; Marshall, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1892, 70.

Chalcis annulipes, Walker, Ent. Mag. 11, 29.

Bred from the Pyralids, Mesocondyla concordalis, and Lineodes, sp.

>

The extent and shape of the black markings on the legs and the size
vary in this Common North and South American species. C. incerta is
regarded by Ashmead, l.c., as identical with «vata, but Crawford, l.c., p. 16,
considers it to be a good species, easily separated by differences in the femoral
teeth.

Spilochaleis nunam, sp. n.

Pallid yellow, the mesonotum darker coloured, densely covered with
blackish pubescence ; the apex of the 2nd and the following abdominal seg-
ments fuscous, antennal scape yellow, narrowly black above, the upper half
of the flagellum black, the lower pallid fulvous ; the lower side of the scape
with a semicircular projection, hollowed on the innerside ; hind femora with
13 small rounded teeth ; the basal about twice the size of the others and more
sharply pointed, the 2nd smaller, more isolated—Apex of scutellum with a
broad shallow incision. Abdominal petiole about 4 times longer than wide.
Pubescence on top of thorax dense, black. Metanotum with 3 rows of are,
the basal distinct, the inner pair twice wider than long, narrowed on the
inner-side, the 2nd row has the inner pair wider than long, the outer longer
than wide, the inner of the two narrower than the outer; there is one
large area on the centre of the apex. Wings hyaline, the apex fuscous.
Male. Length, 4 m.m.

The head is of a much paler, clear yellow than the thorax—Basal slope
of pronotum smooth, the rest of it, the mesonotum and scutellum closely
reticulated—punctured, as are also the metapleure—Pro—and mesopleurax
mostly smooth, the apex of the latter with an irregularly striated band.

106 Timehri.

May be known from the other Guiana species by the dilated appendage
on the apex of the antennal scape. It may or may not be a sexual character.

The species is dedicated to Mr. J. J. Nunan, B.A., LL.B., the President
of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana.

Spilochalers testaceicollis, sp. n.

Black, covered with a white pile ; the face, clypeus, mandibles except
the teeth, palpi, the outer orbits narrowly, the four anterior tibiz and a large
curved line on the upper apical half of hind femora ; tarsi, whitish yellow, the
sides of the pronotum broadly andthe four anterior femora testaceous the
four anterior coxe and trochaaters and the hind legs except the tarsi (which
are testaceous) black ; the hind femora with 16 teeth, which are somewhat
irregular. Abdomen piceous, the back of the 2nd and 3rd blackish; the
petiole four times longer than thick. Apex of scutellum broadly rounded,
margined. Wings hyaline, the nervures black. Male. Length, 3 m.m.

Potaro, May.

The vertex laterally is irregularly punctured. Antennal scape testaceous,
the flagellum densely covered with a white pile. Central lobe of mesonotum
strongly, irregularly transversely striated, the lateral more weakly, irregu-
larly striated, more weakly on the outer side. Scutellum closely reticulated.
Metanotum widely areolated ; the areola wider than long, obliquely narrowed
to a point af the apex; it is bordered by 3 arew, of which the apical is larger
and wider than the others.

Spilochaleis coronata, sp. n.

Yellow, with the following parts black : a line on the top of the antennal
scape, the flagellum, the upper half of the clypeus, the hollowed centre of the
front, the occiput, the hinder edge of the vertex narrowly to near the eyes,
a straight line running down from the middle ocellus and a curved one from
the lateral, the basal slope of the pronotum except round the edges, the meso-
notum except for two oblique lines in the centre, narrowed towards the apex,
on the outer edge of the middle lobe, a broader line on the sides along the
tegulee, the inner side with a longish shallow incision ; a pyriform mark on the
centre of the scutellum on the basal three-fourths, narrow at the base, be-
coming gradually widened to the apex, which is broadly rounded, the meso
and metapleure, an irregular spot on the former before the tegule, a larger
triangular spot below the latter and touching them and a longish spot under
the hind wings, with a small triangular spot at the apex above, the meta-
thorax except for a triangular spot under the hind wings with 2 small spot
in front, the base of the 2nd segment irregularly and the whole of the others,
black. Four front legs yellow ; the hinder yellow with the following parts
black : the outer apical half of the hind cox, the base of the mark incised,
the apex on the inner side narrowly, a large oblique mark, commencing at
the basal tooth and extending to the 13th, reaching near to the bottom of the
upper fourth, the base more irregular and more oblique than the apex, the top
rounded, a smaller, semicircular spot on the lower part of the apex, the tibize

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Musewm. 107

behind and the basa! half all round ; black. Femora with 23 teeth, close
together, of almost equal size throughout. Apex of scutellum bluntly
rounaed, the centre slightly narrowed. Female. Length, 5 m.m.

Potaro, May.

Head, pro and mesonotum coarsely punctured, the puncture on the
scutellum running into reticulations,—covered densely with 2 white ile. The
base of the mesoplevre smooth, irregularly longitudinally, not very closely
striated ; the portion immediately below the tegule is smooth, divided into
2 parts by a furrow, oblique, the upper part sloping towards the base, of equal
width, about one half longer than wide, the apical part larger, sloping obliquely
to the apex, conical, the narrowed part above. Metapleure rounded, covered
with large, deep, clearly separated round prnctures, placed in oblique rows ;
in the centre, on the lower three-fourths 1s 2 row of larger punctures, with a
smooth border on either side. The metenotum short, the reticulations large,
the basal row small, the central large, the middle pair oblique, wider than
long, narrowed inwardly ; the narrowed part at the apical junction is closed
by a keel, forming a small triangular area. Abdominal petiole as wide as
long. Near the apex of the hind coxe above is a distinct, sharp spine. Ab-
domen shorter than the thorax; the sheath of the ovipositor is broad. —

Spilochaleis guianensis, sp. n.

Reddish testaceous, the flagellum of antenne, apex of femoral teeth and
the sheath of ovipositor, black ; there are 13 femoral teeth, the basal long,
curved testaceous, black at the apex, the others short, thick ; wings hyaline,
the nervures testaceous. Apex of scutellum projecting more broadly than
the sides, almost transverse. The middle aree of metanotum are large,
there are 6; the middle pair wider than long, the outer 2 more distinctly
longer than wide. The upper parts of the head, except the central hollow,
pro-mesonotum and scutellum closely reticulated punctured, the parapsidal
furrows crenulated. Abdominal petiole twice longer than wide, stoutly
keeled in the middle above, the abdomen is as long as the head and thorax
united ; the ovipositor distinctly projects. Propleure reticulated above ;
there is a distinct, obliquely curved furrow down the middle ; the lower part
is smooth, depressed and bordered above by a curved furrow. Base and apex
of mesopleure smooth, the raised centre irregula:ly striated. Thoracic pile
black, Female. Length, 7 m.m.

The basal half of the flagellum is brownish below. Abdomen as long as
the head and thorax united, the antennal scape is pale lemon-yellow.

Spilochalers quelchi, sp. n. -

Ferruginous, the antennal scape, oral region, face, malar space and the
lower part of the outer orbits, pallid yellow, the flagellum except the basal
half, which is brown and the pedicle which is testaceous except hroadly above,
the femoral teeth, and the sheath of the ovipositor, black; there are 16
femoral teeth, the basal long, curved, testaceous, black at the apex; the
others are small, the middle testaceous at ihe base. Abdominal petiole nearly

108 Timehri.

4 times longer than wide. Wings hyaline, the nervures testaceous. Apex of
scutellum projecting, with a shallow incision, its sides broadly rounded.
Metanotal aree large, irregular ; the basal row distinct, the central large ; the
middle slightly wider than long, the others longer than wide. Female.
Length, 7 m-m.

Sides of front closely reticulated punctured, the hollow finely, closely
striated. The basal slope of pronotum aciculated, the rest, the mesonotum
and the scutellum closely, reticulated—punctured. There are 3 stout curved
keels on the lower part of the propleure, the 3 uniting at the base; there
sre stout curved striz in the centre of the upper part ; the apex above is finely
closely punctured ; the upper basal two-thirds of the mesopleure irregularly,
not very closely striated, the lower part aciculated ; the rest closely, strongly
reticulated. The pubescence on the head and thorax is dense and white.

Closely allied to S. guianensis, which may be known from it by the black
pubescence, by the longer abdomen, with shorter petiole, and by the apex of
scutellum not being bilobate.

Spilochaleis melanura, sp. n.

Yellow, the top of the antennal scape narrowly, the upper parts and apex
of flagellum, a semicircular mark covering the lower half of the occiput, united
to the top by a narrow median line, there being a transverse line at the middle
ocellus, a small triangular spot on the centre of the basal slope of the pronotum,
a broad curved line on the base of the mesonotum, on the middle two-thirds
trom its centre a line runs to the scutellum, at the base it is of the same width,
as the transverse line ; it becomes gradually wider towards the apex ; there is a
broad transverse line, narrowed in the middle, at the base of the scutellum: a
longish conical mark in the centre of the apical three-fourths of the scutellum,
the narrowed end at the base, a semicircular mark on post-scutellum, a broad
sransverse mark in the centre of the Ist to 4th dorsal abdominal segments,
the centre of the 5th broadly above the whole of the 6th and the sheath of
ovipositor, a large, irregular ovate mark in the centre of the hind coxa,
nearer the base than the apex, a smaller, squarish spot in the ceatre of the
apex of the femora on both sides, the underside of the hind trochanters, and
the femoral teeth; black : there are 12 teeth, the basal long, curved, thickened
and yellow at the base ; the 2nd smaller than the others. Female. Length,
6m.m. Male, 4m.m.

Pubescence short, white, pro-mesonotum and scutellum umbilically
punctate ; the apex of scutellum with the projecting margin narrowed
slightly inthe middle. Metanotum irregularly areolated ; the areola more
than twice longer than wide, obliquely narrowed to a sharp point at the base,
becoming narrowed towards the apex which is transverse. Abdominal petiole
short, as wide as long.

Spilochaleis peronata, sp. n.
Rufo-testaceous, the head paler in tint, as are also, to a less extent, the
4 front legs, the upper side of the flagellum, the apical joints more broadly,

The Hymenoptera of the Georyetown Musewni. 109

numkhe 4 front coxe and trochanters except above, the hind coxe, trochanters,
Tou” basal third of hind femora, their teeth, apical fourth of tibiz and the tarsi,
2 black ; there are 13 teeth, the basal large, longer than it is wide at the base,
the others short, blunt, rounded. Wings hyaline, tinged with yellow in
front from the base to the stigmal branch ; the nervures testaceous. Basal
half of scutellum with a smooth keel down the middle of the basa: ialf, the
apex bluntly rounded with a raised margin. The abdomen is missi’_ in the
only example in the collection. Female. Length to end of thorax, 4 m.m.

Densely covered with pale fulvous pubescence. Vertex and sides of
front umbilically punctate. Sides of face finely, closely obliquely striated,
the top and the sides of the raised central part smooth, the rest with large
scattered punctures. Pro-mesonctum and scvtellum closely, strongly rugosely
punctured, the punctures on the mesonotu.m running into reticulations. Meta-
notv.m irregularly reticulated, a stout keel down the middle with a large
area on either side, slightly narrowed towards the base from the outer side.
Lower apical half of the base of mesoplevre strongly longitudinally striated,
the basal smooth, the 2 parts separated by a keel ; the apex smooth with a
curved striated band down the hollowed centre. Metapleure strongly,
closely punctured.

Spilochaleis melanostoma, sp. n.

Luteovus, the flagellum of antenna, the mandibles at the apex, the greate!
part of the apex of clypeus, the mark narrowed in the centre. the front
except for a longish triangular line on its sides, vertex, occiput, 2 large tri-
angular spot on the cpical three-fourths of the mesonotum, the narrowed end
at the base, a line down the centre of the scutellum, a broad irregular line on
the sides of the abdominal petiole, the apex of 2nd and the greater part of the
following segments, a line on the outer sides of the hind coxe on the lower
apical three-fourths, the basal third narrowed below, the apices of the
femoral teeth and the hind tibie, except irregularly at the base, black ; wings
hyaline, streaked with fuscous along the middle nervures and more broadly
along the apex; the nervures black. Female. Length, 8 mm.

Hind femora with 13 short stumpy teeth the basal one large, broad at the
base, short, the apex ending in a short, blunt tooth, similar to the others.
Vertex irregularly striated laterally behind, laterally in front irregularly
punctured ; the sides of the front closely finely obliquely striated, except
at the top close to the eyes. Face stoutly transversely striated. Pro- and
mesonotum closely, strongly transversely striated; the scutellum strongly
umbilically punctate ; its apex almost transverse in the middle, the sides
ending in a broad tooth, as long as it is broad at the apex, which is roundly
narrowed. Metanotum widely irregularly reticulated, the centre with 2
pairs of aree, the basal oblique, twice wider than long, the apical smaller,
almost square. Abdominal petiole as long as the 2nd and 3rd segments
united and two-thirds of the length of the hind coxe-Pro- and mesopleure
smooth, the metapleure coarsely reticulated except for a longish triangular
space at the base, its narrow end above.

110 . Timehri,

Sprlochaleis lineatiscutis, sp. n.

Luteous, the upper side of antennal scape, the whole of flagellum, the
head except a moderately broad line on the centre of the inner orbits, a
broader one on the lower three-fourths of the outer orbits, the line narrowly
projecting upwards on the inner side above, the malar space, mesonotum,
the scutellum broadly in the middle from the base to near the apex, the
apex of the black spot rounded, the 3rd and 4th abdominal segments above,
the others entirely, the hind trochanters on the outer side, an irregular mark,
almost twice longer than broad on the lower part of the hind femora close to
the basal teeth, the teeth, the hind tibie and their spurs, black ; wings
hyaline, the nervures and stigma black ; a broad fuscous cloud extends
from the base of the anterior to the stigma, it becoming gradually wider
towards the apex, where it extends slightly beyond the middle, the posterior
basal part 1s slightly smoky not clear hyaline like the apex; the hind wings
smoky to shortly beyond the middle. Abdominal petiole of the length of the
rest of the abdomen and fully half the length of the thorax. Hind femora
with 16 teeth, the basal twice the length of the next, the apical 3 smaller and
closer together. Pro and mesonotum and the scutellum closely strongly,
transversely striated; closely covered with short whitish pubescence.
Metanotum coarsely irregularly reticulated ; the areola twice wider than
long, shghtly narrowed towards the apex ; the basal and apical keels shghtly
rounded. Male. Length, 7 m.m.

Face roundly raised in the centre, strongly irregularly transversely
striated. A broad closely striated band runs obliquely from between the
ocelli to the eyes.

Potaro, May.
Spilochaleis tricolorata, sp. n.

Testaceous, the pleurz and legs paler, more yellowish, the dilated part
of the abdomen piceous red, the back black in the middle ; the apex of hind
femora with en irregular clear yellow spot on the outerside the flagellum of
antenne black, brownish, at the base below; the femoral teeth, black, small,
about 18 in number: the femora are black on eitherside of the base of the
tibize ; wings hyaline, the nervures black. Female. Length, 3 m.m.

Densely covered with white pubescence, smooth, the upper part of the
propleure finely. closely obliquely striated ; the upper part of the mesopleure
between the keels (which are flat and smooth) irregularly obliquely, not very
strongly striated towards the base. Abdominal petiole 2s long as the slope
of the metanotum and one third of the length of the rest of the abdomen
ond less than one third of the length of the hind femora. Puncturation of the
top of head and thorax sparse and weak.

Spilochaleis megalospilus, sp. n.
Testaceous, the orbits, the sides of the head, pronotum, of the meso-
notum, and the scutellum pale yellow, the flagellum darker coloured, blackish
towards the apex ; femoral teeth short, blunt, closely pressed, about 16 in

The Hymenoptera of the Georgetown Musewm. 111

number ; wings hyaline, the nervures fuscous. Apex of scutellum broadly
rounded. Metanotum broadly rounded, closcly reticulated ; the base with
2 small square aree in the centre. Mesonotum closely, somewhat strongly
transversely punctured ; the scutellum closely reticulated, the reticulations
more regular and half the size of those on the metanotum. The antennal
scape reaches to the lower ocellus. Propleure somewhat strongly, irregularly
striated. Mesopleure aciculated, the oblique furrow closely striated. Meta-
pleure irregularly punctured, the lower half more strongly than the upper.
Male. Length, 3 m.m.

Trismicra ovketicusi, sp. n.

Black, with the following parts orange yellow: the antennal scape
except above, the face, clypeus above the eye orbits narrowly, the apex of
pronotum, except for a black transverse mark, narrowed on the inner side,
the top and base of propleure, 2 oblique lines in the centre of the mesonotum,
commencing near the base and extending to the apex ; a curved line on the
sides, commencing neer the base and at the apex reaching near to the central
lines, it being narrowed on the inner side ; tegule, a small spot on the side
of the scutellum at the base, its sides broadly, the black central mark narrow
at the base, becoming gradually roundly widened, then narrowed to a point
at the apex, where it is twice the width of the base; this central mark is
followed and joinea to a transverse line which reaches near to the outer edge
and 2 anterior and one central mark on the base of the mesopleure below the
tegule. Legs black ; the apex of the 4 anterior femora behind, broadly in
front, the 4 anterior tibiz in front, the tarsi, the hind coxe, an irregular,
Lroad line on the top ot the basal half of the hind femora, a small spot on
its apex above, one on either side of the apex, both pyriform, the inner the
larger and with its apex more distinctly narrowed. Wings hyaline, the
nervures fuscous. Female. Length, 7 m.m.

The 3 teeth are on the apical half of the femora ; they are large, oblique
the apical shorter, thicker and dilated at the apex. Apex of scutellum bluntly
rounded, margined, crenulated inside the margin. Abdominal petiole fully
twice longer than wide. Pro and mesonotum with scutellum rugosely punc-
tured ; the metanotum areclated ; there are 2 small basal triangular aree
in the centre, followed by 2 large, wider than long irregular oblique ones,
followed by a small semicircular one ; the others are smaller, more irregular.
There are obscure yellow transverse lines on the sides of the 2nd, 3rd and
penultimate abdominal segments. ‘Lhe upper half of the propleure is finely
striated, the lower smooth, the upper two-thirds of the mesopleure more
strongly striated, the base strongly punctured, the rest smooth.

Tetrasmacra longispina, sp. n.

Yello~., the antennez above, the scape more narrowly than the flagellum,
a line running down down from the ocelli to the antennz, occiput except
round the edges, a line, narrowed above, in the centre of the pronotum, the
base of the mesonotum to near a broad line, slightly nairowed towards the
base, running from the basal line to the scutellum, more than the inner half

112 Timehri.

of the lateral lobes. a semicircular mark on the lobe at the sides of the base of
scutellum, a minute spot at the base of the scutellum laterally, a line down
the middle of the scutellum, the basa! half of equal width, it then becomes
slightly dilated, then dilated into a semicircle which fills the apex of the scu-
tellum, the 2nd and following dorsal abdominal segments bear broad trans-
verse bands, the apex of the hind coxe, broadly above, narrowly below, a
line on either side of the femora above, the inner shorter and broader than the
outer, incised at the apex, dilated on the lowerside at the base, a spot
between the basal tooth, extending to the middle between it and the 2nd,
narrowed on the outerside below, rounded above and reaching near to the apex,
a semicircular mark on the apex, united to the mark on the innerside , and
the teeth, except the base of the middle 2, narrowly, and the basal half of the
apical, the basal fourth and apical of the hind tibiz and the apical joint of
the hind tarsi, black. Lower side of flagellum fuscous. Wings hyaline, the
nervures black. Male. Length, 6 m.m.

Potaro, May. D.F.

Densely covered with white pubescence—Pro-mesonotum and scutellum
umbilically punctate scutellum bluntly bilobate, the space between the lobes
smooth, depressed. Metanotum with 4 aree of almost equal size and longer
than wide on the 2nd row; there are 4 wider ones round the apex. Pro-
pleure smooth. Mesopleure raised to a keel in the middle, the sides on either
side obliquely sloped ; smooth above, reticulated below. The raised centre
of the metapleure reticulated, the base and apex smooth. The femoral tceth
are long, oblique, the basal 3 sharp-pointed and become gradually shorter
as does also the space between them ; the apical is shorter, thicker and more
rounded.

Tetrasmicra crocata, Walker.
Smicra crocata, Walker, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1864, 186.

Tetrasmicra crocata, Ashmead, Mem. Cairn. Mus. i, 456 ; Pl. XXXII, f, 2.

A female agrees fairly well with Walker’s description and with Ashmead’s
figure, l.c.

Hexasmicra microspila, sp. n.

Yellow, the upperside of the antennal scape, a small spot, twice longer
than wide. on the lateral lobe of mesonotum, a line on the centre of the basal
three-fourths of the scutellum, faint at the base, gradually widened, but not
much towards the apex, and the femoral teeth, black ; the antennal flagellum
reddish brown, black above ; the back of the abdomen infuscated ; Rings
hyaline, the nervures, fuscous. Apex of scutellum margined, broadly bilo-
bate. Metanotum with 3 rows of aree, the basal irregular, narrowed towards
the centre of the metanotum ; there are 6 arez in the centre, the middle 4
square, the outer smaller and roundly narrowed on the inner side ; there are
6 apical arez, the outer larger, wider and more regular than the central ; the
apex has an area almost twice longer than wide, rounded above, in the centre.

TIMEHRIL:

THE JOURNAL OF

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL SOCIETY
OF BRITISH GUIANA.

Mor. 111. a MAY, 1915.

FOREWORD.

THE present issue of “Timehri” appears under circumstances
less auspicious than was at all anticipated when the articles were
written. It was originally intended to publish nearly a year ago,
but delays due to procuring the illustrations and to other causes
brought us down to the opening of the Great European War when
public attention was so entirely absorbed by passing events that the
Editors considered it prudent to postpone the issue for a time in
the hope of a renewed interest in the questions of colonial development
discussed in some of the articles. Unhappily the war continues and
schemes of development possess for the moment little more than an
academic interest. But the value of the articles is not thereby
discounted as contributions to the future consideration of these
schemes, which, we hope, will, when the clouds of war have given
place to brighter skies, rise rejuvenated, and, in a world released from
the constant threat of bloated armaments, came to a vigorous maturity
hitherto unrealised. Some basis of hope for such a revitalisation of
the Colony as might issue in expansion of its development is afforded
by the direct eftect of the present upheaval in Europe on the great
beet sugar industry built up with such huge effort in times of peace
by Germany amongst other Continental Powers. To some extent
artificial as the competition of beet with cane has been, the whole
structure has at least in the German Empire been undermined by
the disastrous sacrifice of men and material which Germany, whatever
the final terms of peace may be, has paid and will pay for her excursion
in world conquest. The comparative immunity from economic dis-
turbance which this and other cane-growing Colonies have enjoyed
owing to the British command of the seas is an advantage for which
not only should we be supremely thankful, but which we should prepare
to exploit to the very utmost. The large sugar estates may be relied upon
to extend their cultivations and some have already done so, but this
is not the only channel by which increased prosperity may be enticed.

il. Timehrr.

Cane-farming may be encouraged and promises for several years to
come to promote the prosperity of the small grower if a sound basis
of mutual confidence can be laid as between farmer and factory.
Suspicion and distrust has been a large factor in defeating efforts in
this direction. This distrust might be dissipated by a system of
check weighing and gauging paid for by the parties interested but
guaranteed by official supervision. Probably the Local Government
Board is in the best position of any Government Department to; be
an intermediary between the small grower and the cane factory, and
if a scale of fees were arranged in conference with growers and ~
manufacturers the district and village overseers would be available
for the checking work required.

A RAILWAY AND HINTERLAND DEVELOPMENT.*

By Str WALTER EGERTON, K.C.M.G.

I have promised to address you to-night on the subject of the
development of the Interior of this Colony of British Guiana, great in
area and great in magnificent possibilities. Though this is a subject

#" inseparably bound up with the prosperity of the country and is one, I am
sure, of deep interest to all residents, I fear that it has been so fully
discussed, both in public and private, for many years past and especially
‘during the recent few months, that it is difficult to say anything new or
to avoid boring many of those present.

: “For the last thirty years spasmodic attempts have been made to
interest outsiders in the construction of a railway from Georgetown to
_ Brazil.” So writes a Mr Headley, a native of British Guiana, in a letter
| published in “The Daily Argosy” of Saturday, the 21st March, and
probably the idea of such a railway is much older. More recently the
late Colonel Link worked energetically to bring to fruition a scheme
| for such a line. With considerable ability and unlimited enthusiasm it is
{possible that but for his sudden death he might have succeeded. Many
_ of sur prominent residents have written and spoken in favour of railway
{construction to the South. Mr. Nunan, our present Attorney General,
_ both in the colony and out of it has advocated interior development by
a railway and pointed out the possibility of the extension of such a
jrailway as a main trunk-line through South America.

( I do not claim to be the originator of any such schemes but I hope
-I may have done and may yet do something towards their realisation.
|Many of us believe a North to South transcontinental line is quite
possible of accomplishment and its construction does not present nearly
_the same difficulties as the famous African ‘Cape to Cairo” scheme,
except that we vet lack a Rhodes to push it on to execution. It is said
| that the opportunity finds the man. I believe the man will be forth-
, coming if we construct our line to the Brazilian frontier as a ‘“ pointer ”
~ to the Southern Cross and the great cities of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos
_ Ayres lying under it, which are the proper termini of any such line.
/ SourTH AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT.
Do you realise how rapidly the great Republics of the Atlantic
| watershed of South America are developing? The Argentine has already
over seven million inhabitants and 20,000 miles of railways ; the capital,
_ Buenos Ayres, already takes its place amongst the largest cities in the
_ world with a population of 1,300,000—more than four times the total

_ population of the whole of this colony. Uruguay, a comparatively small

oo
: * Address delivered at a meeting of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society,
' March gist, 1914,

160 Timehri.

State wedged in between the Argentine and vast Brazil, has a population
of one million, 1,700 miles of railway and a capital, Monte Video, with
325,000 people. Paraguay, a purely inland State, also wedged between
Argentina and Brazil, has a population of 800,000. Bolivia, due north of
the Argentine and west of Brazil, another purely inland State, has a
population of 2} millions ; and Brazil itself, stretching over half the total
Continent, a population of 21} millions, 16,000 miles of railways, with
its capital, Rio de Janeiro, containing one million inhabitants—and many
other large rapidly growing towns ‘dotted along its seaboard the popu-
lations of which w ould travel by a trans- continental railway. Now the
population of Argentina, Uruguay. Paraguay, Bolivia and _ Brazil
combined is over 33,000,000, and is increasing at the rate of not less
than three-quarters of a million yearly.

Of the Brazilian railways the Federal Government owns 7,000 miles
and is pursuing a policy of developing intercommunication between its
various States.

The direct route from Georgetown via Mandos to Buenos Ayres, the
capital of the Argentine Republic, is practically due North and South.
You must realise what an enormous traffic such a railway line is certain
to develop if it is ever constructed. The total distance over 40 degrees
of latitude, from 64 degrees North to 34 degrees South, and allowing,
say 20 per cent. for deviations from the straight line, would be approxi-
mately 3,000 miles. At 50 miles an hour a little over four days, one-
third of the time it now takes to reach Jamaica from Georgetown; at
only 20 miles an hour, 6} days. The saving in actual distance from any
of the large cities of the South East Coast of our Continent to any part
of North or Central America, or to any place West of Georgetown on
the Northern coast of South America, would be nearly 1,000 miles, but
the saving in time would be much greater than proportional to the
shortening of the distance traversed. A substitution of 3,000 miles of
travel by land in place of, say, 3,900 miles in a steamship on.a turbulent
ocean would attract people travelling for pleasure as well as those
travelling on business. to whom time is money.

THE CONNECTING LINK.

Taking the whole main line, I regret I have not the latest maps, but
railways already exist stretching from Buenos Ayres to Rio de Janeiro,
over a thousand miles, and as far as | can ascertain, from Rio, North-
westward, in the direction of Manaos, for rather less than 1,000 miles.
From where the iron road now terminates to Manaos is approximately
only some 900 miles, and we know that Manaos to Georgetown is about |
800 of which our section in British Guiana would be 340. The difference
in time and distance would, of course, be increasingly in favour of a rail-
way from or to places in the interior of Brazil or the other countries.
Unfortunately, at the present time the recent rapid and very great
depreciation in the value of the main product of the Amazon, "Para
rubber—-and you must remember that to the States of Brazil in the

[Photo by His Excellency

FS -EXGCEEEENGY AND PARTY.

Taken at Rupununi.

His Excellency

by

to

[Pho

APIDS.

KARI R

KURUPU
Site of the Proposed Brid

ge over Essequebo River.

A Railway and Hinterland Development. 161

Amazon valley Para rubber is even more important than sugar is to us
—these States are temporarily unable to finance large developmental
undertakings, although the Government of Amazonas would surely
weleome means of communication from Manaos to the North Atlantic at
Georgetown. The Federal Government of Brazil has probably already
in contemplation as the ultimate objective of the line, which has already
reached far into Matto Grosso, giving communication by rail froin the
capital to the Amazon valley and Manaos, a line which would help to
bind more firmly together the great confederation of States which form
the Brazilian Empire. Surely if the first section, Georgetown to the
savannah country on the brazilian frontier, is constructed, the con-
tinuation to Manaos, either by the brazilian Government or private
enterprise, is not likely to be long delayed and if the line once reaches
Manaos the missing link, necessary to connect the Northern 500 with the
Southern 38,000 miles of railway already in existence, together bridging
more than two-thirds of the total distance, cannot long be delayed.

We have already in Georgetown an excellent harbour ; the approach
from the sea is safe but shallow. It is, however, even now the best on
the mainland between Trinidad and the Amazon, and is one which is
capable of being deepened so as to make Georgetown a first-class port with
depths sufficient for the largest ships in the South America trade, free
from earthquakes and where hurricanes are unknown.

GEORGETOWN THE STARTING POINT.

Nature has also pointed out that the easiest way of communication to
the South is from Georgetown via the Rupununi valley. The watershed
between the Atlantic and the Amazon there only rises to a height of 300
ft., while East and West mountain ranges bar the way to the North.
So much for the arguments in favour of a Continental main line the
construction of which must be left to others and may be a work of
somewhat distant date.

Let us now consider the projected Colonial line and the arguments
in favour of its construction. I firmly hold the opinion that such
a line should commence from Georgetown, the commercial centre of
the Colony. There are several ways out of Georgetown and the
route adopted would probably be that on which proprietors of land
in private ownership did not open their mouths too wide in the
matter of price demanded, and were content to take a fair valuation and
share in the enormous increase in values consequent on the Colony’s
expansion. I have heard it stated that the cost of acquisition of land
would be considerable. I do not think so, because the present market
price that anyone anxious to sell is able to obtain is very small; we
have recently seen this in the sale of the Colonial Company’s estates
—and the land to be passed through by a railway is nearly all out of
cultivation. There are two distinct routes to the Interior on the East
Bank of the Demerara River, and there are also two routes on the West.
I should prefer a route to the East, bringing the railway right into the

162 Timehri.

present city of Georgetown, rather than making the terminus on the
West Bank, but probably the cheapest route to construct and the easiest
to finance would be the conversion of the existing West Coast Railway
to metre guage and its extension up the eastern side of the watershed
between the Demerara and Essequebo Rivers with a station opposite
Bartica to serve the Mazaruni and Cuyuni traffic. As you know, the
West Coast Railway is being continued to Parika in order to correct the
error made in 1897 of not giving that Railway a terminus on the
Essequebo estuary. The extension is nearly completed and if the
financial result is favourable no doubt the Combined Court will be asked,
and will readily approve, a further extension up the right bank of the
Essequibo River to a spot opposite Bartica. The present short extension
of 3} miles is being excellently and economically carried out under the
supervision of Mr. Roy, the General Manager, with a heavy 7Olb. rail,
for the very moderate suin of £5,500 a mile. If only the other lines
from Georgetown to Mahaica, which cost some £15,000 a mile, and the
earlier extensions to Rosignol on the Berbice river, and on the West
Coast, from Vreed-en-Hoop to Greenwich Park, costing £6,800 per mile,
had been equally cheaply built, the system would be earning a fair
interest on the capital expended and the colony would not be called
upon to pay the burdensome subsidy of 560,000 a year.

Mr. Roy is of opinion, and he is a competent judge, that the line
could be continued at the same rate of £3,500 a mile up to bartica. If
the West Coast line reaches this point before a Railway to the South is
commenced, I should say that it is pretty certain that Vreed-en-Hoop
would be adopted as the commencing point for the Interior line leaving
the Wismar-Georgetown section for construction as soon as the Trans-
continental Line is within sight. When that time comes direct con-
nexion with the city of Georgetown would be essential.

The extension Parika-Bartica, at £3,500 a mile, would cost about
£90,000. Taking the existing steamer traffic to Bartica I believe such a
line would pay well from its completion and tend to develop more traffic.

ROUTE OF TRANSCONTINENTAL LINE.

The North and South Railway as shown on the map, after travers-
ing British Guiana and Northern and Central Brazil, crosses the extreme
eastern portion of Bolivia anda corner of Paraguay before entering the
Argentine, but it is more probable that the first Transcontinental Line
would follow a more easterly route down the eastern valley of the great
Paraguay river through more thickly populated country, and that at
first, any rate, a North and South line would be diverted eastwards,
giving direct communication with Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil,
and along already existing railways through South-eastern Brazil and
Uruguay to the Argentine capital, Buenos Ayres. A direct North and
South line would come many years later when the Argentine railways
have been pushed up past the northern boundary of that State into the
Eastern portion of Bolivia, as is certain to take place in the natural
expansion of the Argentine Railway system,

[Photo by His Excellency.
HIS EXCELLENCY’S QUARTERS, DADANAWA.
Mr. Melville’s ‘‘ Guest House.”

[Photo by His Excellency.
BALATA DEPOT, RUPUNUNI RIVER.

A Railway and Hinterland Development. 163

THE HINTERLAND RAILWAY.

Now the case for a railway from our coast-line to the southern
savannahs may be put thus—there is obviously only time this evening to
touch on the matter quite shortly :—

The cultivated and populated portion of British Guiana is but a
narrow strip along the coast ; almost all of it is swamp, much of it below
the level of the sea ; and to render it habitable costly sea defence works
are required and in addition empoldering, drainage and irrigation systems,
costly to construct and expensive to maintain. Thus all cultivation re-
quires considerable capital expenditure. It is only by combination in
village communities that our farmers can cultivate, and most of these
communities had the immense advantage of taking over their properties
from ruined sugar planters at a small cost, ready equipped with all
these requisites. Now this coast strip would never have been cultivated
at all but for its amazing fertility. It has long been known as the best
land in the world for sugar, and within recent years it has been proved
to be equally suitable for rice. It will be a bad day for the colony when
the cultivation of the coast land is given up. I do not think we
need fear this, but rather that we may expect extension in cultiva-
tion if only long-talked-of drainage and irrigation schemes are carried
out. But it is not every one who is attracted by the prospect of
a life on our flat coast land. In most countries there are plains, hills and
and valleys that can be cultivated without any such exceptional expendi-
ture, and to attract immigration from other countries we must be able
to offer new-comers fertile land for settlement similar to their own.
At present the population is hemmed in on the coast; behind the
cultivations are swamps, turned for long distances into shallow reservoirs ;
then a wide belt of undulating sandhills, generally forest-covered made
familar to us by the Wismar-Rockstone railway; near where the sand
begins the rapids on the rivers are also met with, and all further progress
into the interior becomes slow, wearisome and costly; otherwise, along
the rivers and small streams many fertile areas are met with. This wide
sandy belt is exactly like the sand dunes of some ancient seashore, but
Professor Harrison with his microscope will assure you it is not a sea-
shore, but is merely due to the disintegration of rocks in situ.

In amongst the sandhills, but generally to the south of them, is
highly fertile and mineralised country with gold and diamonds in un-
usual quantity. During the financial year ending to-night the produc-
tion of gold totalled 82,706 ozs. and 95,752 diamonds totalling 11,119
carats. Since 1890 gold to over 2,300,000 ozs. has been produced,
almost entirely from the primitive surface workings of our “ pork-
knockers”! Our mining industry has given a new and not very pretty
word-to the language.

These workings are still reached and all supplies for the miners have
to be sent by toilseme journeys up rivers cursed with dangerous rapids,
cataracts and falls, the miners and their supplies taking weeks to reach
their destinations.

164 = Timehri.

NECESSITY OF CHEAP TRANSPORT.

How long“is this to go on? Scientific mining with modern machinery
is almost impossible under existing conditions. Many companies have
tried and failed, killed by the cost of transport and labour and insufficient
working capital. Iam glad to say we still have two, thanks to the
enterprise of local merchants and much honest, persevering work done
under great difficulties by the mine managers. These two are increas-
ingly prosperous ; both are dredging companies working respectively in the
Potaro and Konawaruk valleys. But even these could hardly exist with-
out the little Wismar-Rockstone Railway, and even now with steamer,
then railway, then small launch services, transport to Potaro and
Konawaruk is still a very expensive matter. Without a railway from the
coast it is practically impossible to build the much-wanted cross-country
lines connecting up the rivers in the mineralised belt. To build a line
from Potaro mouth to the Mazaruni, without a railway from the coast to
that point, would cost more than double on account of the ruinous cost of
transport. And so it must be with any other such linking up lines from
the Mazaruni to Cuyuni, Barama and Barima rivers. I should mention
that a line from the Potaro to the Mazaruni would strike the latter river
so as to give access to over 100 miles of navigable river above the
rapids.

From the Potaro and Konawaruk alone last year, under existing
conditions, 19,265 ounces of gold were won.

There is a most curious distrust in this colony of the existence of
fertile land in the interior. That distrust is shared by very few of those
who know the interior and who know something of agriculture or who
are observant travellers. No one who has examined the Indian clearings
on the banks of the Essequibo and other rivers and their clearings in the
forests of the savannah country can fail to recognise that there is plenty
of fertile land for al! likely to apply for it for many generations. On the
savannahs there are plenty of fertile areas, and in this latitude almost
any land will produce crops if rainfall or irrigation is sufficient.

For over two hundred miles from the coast valuable timber forests
would be traversed before reaching the open savannahs over 6,000 miles
in area, which have such proved possibilities for cattle-raising, and they
adjoin 12,000 syuare miles of savannah conntry in Brazil.

Recent news is that beyond the Southern Rupununi savannah, in
the far south of this colony, gold has been found—another forcible argu-
ment in favour of a railway. Once the savannahs are reached transport
is easy. Without a railway how can even gold deposits be exploited
except in a small way ?

ATTRACTION FOR IMMIGRANTS.
With a railway immigration from Barbados and_ possibly other
islands should be attracted, and much of the labour employed in building
the railway would probably settle along the line. Any railway scheme

[Photo by His Excellency.
VIEW FROM COMMISSIONER’S HOUSE, DADANAWA.

Mount Darukaburi in Distance.

[Photo by His Excellency.
PARTY’S FIRST VIEW OF RUPUNUNI SAVANNAH.

r

A Railway and Hinterland’ Development. 165

should include provision for considerable immigration expenditure to
make good the labour supply on the coast depleted owing to local
labourers working on the line. But the dislocation of labour due to rail-
way construction should surely not be greater than at the time of the
first gold discoveries.

The land will grow all tropical products ; it is growing already in
the savannah country cotton, excellent tobacco, ground provisions, and
fruit trees. There is no reasonable doubt that with a railway to the
savannahs, not taking into account branch light lines from Potaro linking
up the Mazuruni, Cuyuni, Barama and Barima, much more fertile agri-
cultural land would be made accessible than many generations could
exploit. The great Schomburgk made a calculation “that to populate
British Guiana as thickly populated as the Barbados of his day, and
doubtless the population of that little island has increased since, would
require 55,000,000 persons. Why all this discussion as to whether the
savannahs are fit for cultivation’ We know that parts of them are
fertile far more than is likely to be required for agricultural purposes if a
railway is built. And we know the forest land, except in the sandy belt,
is very fertile. If you doubt, go and see the Indian clearings on the
river banks and inland from them. Ask any of the thousands of miners
whether, when they do find time to cultivate, the returns are not good.

It must be remembered there are two distinct climates in this colony
—the coastal with two wet seasons, and the inland, commencing about
150 miles inland, with only one. Many tropical products will grow well
in either, some only in one.

More than half the total production of balata in the colony comes
from the Rupununi district. In 1913 the production was 759,000 lbs. out
of a total of 1,316,000 Ibs. Much of the district is not exploited hecause
of transport difficulties. With a railway the cost of production would be
so much reduced as even at present prices to make the industry very
profitable. 1 have often expressed the opinion that the savannahs
should be devoted to cattle-raising for a considerable time; but there is
another industry and that one in which very large fortunes have been
and are being made for which the savannahs are, in my opinion, most
suitable, and that is ostrich farming. Within the memory of those now
livmg that industry in South Africa has grown from nothing to be
worth two millions sterling a year. It is being found equally profitable
in Australia. It flourishes in Keypt and the Soudan and the ostrich
is native in Nigeria. I kept one myself for some time in geod
health in Government House grounds in Lagos, the capital of that
colony, feeding it partly on old tennis balls, and the grass plains
of Northern Nigeria are similar to our savannahs. I wrote to the
Governor-General with a view to obtaining some ostriches from that
country, as the climate and general conditions there are more nearly
similar to those here, and it is interesting to find that Sir Frederick
Lugard intends to make ostrich farming a Government monopoly in

166 F Timehri.

Nigeria and that for the last year he has been collecting ostriches for
that purpose, and further that the French forbid exports from their West
African Colonies. The Dutch also in Curacao have started ostrich farm-
ing. I hope that in this matter we shall not be content to look on while
others make fortunes, as in the case of Para rubber, which has recently
been proved to grow as well here and to produce as bountifully as in the
Eastern plantations. Sir Frederick Lugard has promised later to let me
have a few ostriches and, if the Combined Court grants the small amount
required for their introduction, we shall be able to have a fair stock on
the savannahs in a few years and provide the Aboriginal Indian with
another congenial occupation. I say another, for he has already proved
himself to be an efficient cowherd and an appreciator of beef and milk as
articles of diet. The best authorities obtainable consider that our
savannahs could support three-quarters of a million cattle—more than is
required to provide an export of 100,000 head a year; sufficient to

provide a railway to the savannahs with adequate traffic to more than
cover working expenses.

A GOVERNMENT RAILWAY.

If we can get capitalists to build the line on reasonable conditions,
by all means accept their offer, but I would remind you a hundred years

have passed without such an offer being received and money will not be °

forthcoming without fair certainty of profit. If there is to be profit let
it go into the colony’s chest. With a Government-built line you have
the rates for freight and passengers under control. You ensure that
the line is worked for the benefit of the country and not for that of
private shareholders. You facilitate the building of branches. I would
ask those against a Government line to consider the experience not of

our Dominions, with temperate climates and a white population, but that
of our tropical colonies.

Look at the piteous history of the Jamaica railway. Built by a
private company, purchased by the colony, sold to a company and ex-
tended, the colony then forced to re-purchase as the company failed, and
its capital cost is now £14,300 a mile. The railway still fails to pay all
interest on capital, though of course the colony could not prosper with-
out the line, but if it had been kept as a Colonial line and constructed
by Government at a reasonable cost it would be a most profitable under-
taking. . Under Government management financial equilibrium is being
rapidly established, nothwithstanding the enormous over-capitalization
burden. Take Trinidad—a Government line, paying well; Ceylon,
Federated Malay States, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, British
Kast Africa, all with Government railway systems and all, even the last,
with its much decried Uganda railway, paying well. And these comprise
all our tropical Colonies with considerable length of railways.

His Excellency after delivering his address, proceeded to show —

magic lantern views taken during his journey in the interior, prefacing
these on the screen with two maps: one of South America showing

*

[Photo by His Excellency.
MILCH COWS AT DADANAWA.

[Photo by His Excellency.
CAMP ON TAKUTU SAVANNAH, TEN MILES FROM R.C. MISSION.

Kanuku Mountains in Distance.

A Railway and Hinterland Development. 167

the existing railways in the South-East of the Continent and the route
of a main Continental line connecting these lines with the North Atlantic
at Georgetown, the other a map of British Guiana with the proposed
interior railway marked thereon and the route followed by the Governor’s
party. His Excellency’s remarks while showing the maps and views
were extempore and were not reported.

AN ADDENDUM.

Sir Walter Egerton in revising his address for publication in
“ Timehri ” has been pleased to add the following footnote :—

“ There is, in my opinion, no doubt that the people of the Colony are
very strongly in favour of the construction of a railway, and the scheme I
have laid before the Secretary of State, which is outlined, in some of its
aspects, in this paper has met with consistent and warm support in the
local Press. Only on the part of some of the leading men connected
with the sugar industry has there appeared an inclination to hold that a
very large additional amount must be spent on immigration of labour for
the Coast districts simultaneously with initiation of railway construction.
It will be a pity if an exaggerated anticipation of the effect of railway
construction on the labour for the sugar industry should lead to opposi-
tion to a scheme which must ultimately benefit every section of the
community, which is not likely to cause more movement of labour than
the gold rushes of the past, and which should attract to the Colony
tourists, many free immigrants, and far more labour than is likely to be
drawn from the Coast estates by the work if the railway construction
engineer refuses to pay a daily wage much in excess of the ruling rate in
the Colony. ‘The hinterland of British Guiana is a fair and fertile coun-
try, of vast extent, capable of growing all tropical products, and if the
rules of tropical sanitarians are observed, and subject to the universal
limitation regarding the residence of white races within a short distance
of the equator except at high elevations, a healthy and_ pleasant
country to live in.”

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MOUNT KUMARKA, RUPUNUNI

[Photo by His Excellency.

[Photo by His Excellency
RIVER.

PPIMEHRI” AND! ‘DEVELOPMENT.
By THE Rev. J. AIKEN, M.A.

After a quarter of a century of discussion the time seems to be near
when the dreams of the last two decades will crystallise in some definite
form. It is true that the sanguine have had hopes of this sort before and
that those hopes have been disappointed, but it does not need an exces-
sive optimism to go the length of saying that something nearer a
practical proposition in railways to the interior has been evolved.
Certain shibboleths circumscribing the area of support to the scheme
have at least been got rid of. The Bartica jump oft, for example,
obsessed for long earnest railway projectors. Even if there had been
stronger arguments from an engineering point of view than fuller enquiry
have established for this starting point, the vested interests endangered
by the threat of a new centre of traffic were strong enough to warn the
practical man of the opposition with which proposals with that base in
view would meet.

In the earlier years of railway projection in the colony this factor
did not appear so important. In the first excitement of gold exploitation
it was expected that the local mercantile community would be so deeply
interested in the mines that other interests would be dwarfed by the
immediate object of access, by some means, to the golden land from which
colossal fortunes were to be easily won.

Time has brought the gold-fields into more correct perspective.
While it has added new arguments for the opening up of the interior, it
has brought home the necessity of a comprehensive view of all the econo-
mic factors in planning the means to this end. We need not conclude that
at the point now reached railway planning has attained the ideal of
adjustment to all interests, or that wisdom will die with us, but at any
rate we may reckon that, allowing for inadequate knowledge of the
hinterland, the proposition of railway building has assumed a_ sane
business-like form in the minds of those who are wrestling with its
problems.

It may be some help to review the steps by which the schemes now
before the colonists have been reached, and to recall the names of the
wen who have contributed their quota to the discussions.

The last Spanish expedition in search of Eldorado was in 1775.
The first gold prospecting in less romantic but more practical lines was
about 100 years later, when Caman and D’Amil struck pay dirt in the
Kssequibo and Cuyuni. The Spaniards of course did not think of a
railway to Eldorado, but it was not long before their more modern
successors did. Between 1884 and 1891 the output of precious metal
rose from 250 ozs. to 101,298 ozs. per. annum, and in 1891 at the
instance of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society a ‘‘ Commission
on the opening up of the country ” was appointed.

170 Timehri.

The work of this Commission resulted in a Majority and a Minority
Report. Bartica to Mazaruni was advocated in the former, while Dem-
erara to Potaro was the minority’s fancy. The history of discussion since
has been pretty much a chewing on this bone of contention with ad
libitum variations on the large areas of fertile regions to be opened
up for the profitable cultivation of a variety of products and, in recent
years, the introduction of the ‘‘ Through Railway ” idea, the objective of
which is, in the immediate future, Manaos in Brazil and ultimately Buenos
Ayres atl Mt. Stokes.

The issue of the discussion of the Reports of the Commission at the
Society's meeting on 14th July, 1892, was a resolution admirably framed
to suit both parties and leave the burden of decision on the Governor
and his advisers. It ran as follows: ‘“ That this meeting of members of
the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society having discussed the
Report of the Commission on the opening up of the country, forwarded
by the Government, and being fully impressed with the difficulties of
transport to the gold-fields of Potaro and Essequibo, desire to urge upon
the Government the pressing necessity of immediate measures for
providing convenient, safe and rapid communicatton with the said gold-
fields and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Government
Secretary.”

The sequel to the Report and resolution was the commencement in
the following year of a survey of a line from Bartica. The falling-off of
the gold output in 1894 and the depression of general business in 1895
gave pause to further efforts.

In January, 1896, however, Sir Cavendish Boyle, as President of the
Society, was able to take an optimistic view of the prospects then opening
in his address and, in announcing the immediate commencement of the
Rosignol Extension of the East Coast Railway and the Vreed-en-Hoop-
Philadelphia line, referred to “ other schemes commenced or shortly to
be commenced to facilitate travel in the interior; roads have been
approved and begun, and surveys of other and even larger and more
important works are either being carried out, or are to be carried out
very shortly.” Doubtless the development adumbrated in this passage was
intended to supply the want which he expressed in a previous passage
‘We want to see other industries (than sugar) implanted and flourishing
in our midst ; we want to see men taking advantage of and profiting by
the lavish gifts that nature here spreads before them....and the
utilisation of the vast stretches of country awaiting their labours.”

There was at this period no doubt in the minds of colonists of the
fertility of ‘those vast stretches of country” as yet unexploited. Dr.
Morris's statement that he knew “ nowhere of such an extensive area of
rich and fertile lands, with a comparatively healthy climate and within
easy reach of such good markets as these Crown lands of British
Guiana,” expressed the opinion of everybody.

“ Timehri” and Development. 171

In the following year, however, an authoritative statement by the
Government Analyst of British Guiana flatly contradicted this roseate
view.

In his Presidential address to the R. A. and C. Society on December
16th, 1897, Professor Harrison alluded to Dr. Morris’s statement
thus : ‘“‘ The latter (Dr. Morris) has alluded to the great fertility of the
interior of the colony. I do not know on what grounds he based his
supposition of this great fertility. I can find no grounds for believing
that in a country having the geological structure the interior of this
has—sandstones and some hundreds of conglomerates, archean granites,
eneisses and crystalline schists—great tracts of land of exceptional
fertility will occur, although possibly tracts of limited area may occur in
valley lands or river bottoms or on the lines of dykes of certain classes of
intrusive rocks. I may mention that, as far as our analytical examina-
tions of some hundreds of the soils of the interior and seaboard extend,
no indication of exceptional fertility in soils, other than those of our
alluvial coastlands, have been obtained. All points to the wisdom of our
Dutch predecessors in ceasing their attempts to raise agricultural
products on many of the soils of the interior.”

Some years later he was still of the same opinion and appears to
have discouraged the hope that rubber could be grown in the colony. A
statement to this effect appears in a letter from Mr, W. K. McCarthy
published in the “ Chronicle ” of 25th May, 1907.

In 1907, however, Professor Harrison had found reasons to consider
his earlier opinions erroneous for, in an address on ‘ British Guiana and
its Resources” given in the rooms of the West India Committee on

25th April of that year, he confirmed Dr. Morris’s words which he had
contradicted in 1897 :—

‘“ Large areas of lowlying land in British Guiana,” said the Professor
“are ideally suited to the growth of Arabian coffee. During his visit
i ae in 1897 the present Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture,
accompanied by the writer, went over some of the coffee estates and
expressed his opinion that in no part of the world which he had visited
did Arabian coffee grow and flourish as he saw it doing in British
Guiana, nor was it anywhere else so free from disease.

“There are great areas of land, a few miles up the lower reaches of
the rivers, where good drainage can easily be secured, and upon them
cacao flourishes.

“There can be few, if any, places better suited from soil and
meteorological conditions. ..... than the coastlands of British Guiana
for the cultivation of this fruit (bananas).

“Limes grow remarkably well on all the lighter soils of British
Guiana, especially on those at some little distance from the sea.......
from ten to thirty miles from the coast where cacao and coftee flourish ;
oranges, especially Tangerine oranges, and other varieties of citrus fruits
grow very well and yield excellently flayoured fruit in abundance,

Timehri.

—
~J
ih)

“Tt is very much to be regretted that several years ago when Sir
William Thistleton-Dyer suggested that attempts should be made in
planting rubber-trees in parts of the forest lands of British Guiana, the
great value of his advice was not appreciated and the opportunity was
neglected. All that can now be said is that many parts of the colony
appear to be almost ideally suited for the cultivation of certain kinds of
rubber trees.

e upon them (the very extensive savannahs of the interior)

great developments may take place in cattle-ranching.”

Meantime, the opinion expressed in 1897 that there was ‘no
indication of exceptional fertility in soils other than those of our alluvial
coastlands ” had gained wide publicity, and a more sweeping application
than it revly connoted. Agricultural papers published in tropical lands
competing for capital in rubber growing made effective use of it to divert
enterprise in their own direction and gave to the rather incautiously
expressed dictum undeserved weight.

In the colony itself there were many who estimated the opinion at
nearer its true value. The theory was traversed by the evidence of a
few who, like Mr. Melville, had practical experience, or like Mr. MeTurk,
extended and intimate acquaintance with the conditions in the interior.

Professor Harrison’s conclusions had therefore comparatively little
weight locally and did not much discourage those interested in the
colony’ s development, and a resuscitation of the Interior Railway project
took place in 1902. In that year Mr. Luke M. Hill as President of the
Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society read a paper on “The
Possibilities of Railway Development in British Guiana. ”

The resources to be developed now included, besides the more profit-
able exploitation of the established gold and diamond fields, the opening up
of unexploited mineral areas, access to the forests in which balata and other
gums were already yielding profits, in spite of the enormous difficulties
of the journey to and fro, and huge quantities of valuable timbers were
known to exist, beyond the falls and obstructions to the waterways which
effectually blocked their profitable working. The pastoral possibilities
of the savannahs and the agricultural value of great areas at varied
elevation suited to a variety of economic products such as tea, tobacco,
fibres, native cottons, coffee, cocoa, and tropical fruits came into the
pur view.

The development of trade with the Rio Negro and upper Amazon
district, almost inaccessible by way of the Brazilian trade routes, and the
expansion of the rubber industry in that region where enormous
expansion is almost certainly possible and would follow on cheap and
rapid transit, became a prominent factor in the discussions, while the
visions of a great trunk system for South America, with termini at
Georgetown in the North and Buenos Ayres in the South, began to take
shape. The point sought for the first stage in this colossal project was

“ Timehri” and Development. 173

one within easy reach of Manaos, the chief town of Atazonas province and
_ the neighbourhood of the junction of the Ireng and Takutu rivers has
almost unanimously been fixed upon as best meeting the requirements
on both sides of the Guiana-Brazil frontier.

The question of routes to this point at both ends opens up a field of
discussion and it is interesting to trace the gradual progress towards defi-
nite ideas. Topographical knowledge has throughout been meagre to a
degree. The valleys of the great rivers and a mile or two on either side
of them, certain tracts like the Bartica-Caburi and the Potaro—Kon-
awaruk roads, the lines cut from Tumatumari to the Semang-Mazaruni
junction and the Karamang path aftorded until recently the only data
on which an estimate of the nature of a line for railway construction
might be founded. These all lie within a small area of about 3,660 sq.
miles between the arms of the Mazaruni to the North and West and the
Potaro-Essequibo system South and East and could only affect at most
some 60 miles of the projected route for a trunk scheme, and some of
the branches which might be thrown out to tap mineralised areas. A
great stretch of unknown hills and valleys intervene between the end
of this partially known line and the objective of a boundary railway on
the banks of the Ireng River the course of which had been fixed by the
Boundary Commissioners as the dividing line between Brazil and Guiana.
Prominent points sighted from Yakontipu far to the West or Ayanganna
and fixed by triangulation include up till the present time all that is
accurately known of. this region and, as a gentleman who has been
prominent in advocacy of railw: ay expansion remarked to me, many sur-
prises may await one who with ideas formed on this data penetrates the
recesses which intervene.

ROUTES.

As already indicated, the question which first arose in regard to rail-
way development was in regard to a Demerara River or an all-Essequibo
route to the goldfields. In rather a different shape from that which is
moot to- -day, there were the familiar alternatives with Georgetown and
Bertiea as base from which to circumvent the catarac:s of the Essequibo
as a first objective, and there were enthusiastic supporters of each route.

Soon efter the report of the Commission on the opening up of the
country was issued the chairman, Dr. Carrington, Attorney General at
that time, who like his successor in office to-day was a vigorous advo-
cate of progress in railway building, availed himself of the presence in
the colony of Mr. Robert Tennant, who had come to investigate quartz
mining prospects, and asked him to submit an opinion on the best way of
opening up the known gold districts then being worked.

Mr. Tennant gave a detailed writ‘en report on the matter which was
published in April, 1693. In this he said that to assume that the Dem-
erara on one hand :nd the Bartica route on the other were the only
alternatives was to reduce the broad question of Railway development to
narrower limits than the wealth of the goldfields justified. These

174 Timehri.

warranted large expenditure and even the carrying out of all the roads,
portages, ete , which had been planned in the various schemes put before
the public.

The first steps he suggested were :—

‘1.) A road from the foot of the Ess+quibo falls to the head of them.
This would serve instead of a railway from Bartica meantime, and would
involve only 10 miles of road instead of 30 miles of railway.

(2.) Improvment of the portage of lower Mallali on the Demerara
river and a road from the Demerara to the Essequibo opposite Omai on
which a tramway could be laid. The total cost of this scheme would, he
estimated, be about £30,000 sterling. In event of no more gold being
found the tramway plant could be removed to some other route. ‘The
position of the road suggested was the Kumaparu path below the Great
Falls on the Demerara about 40 miles due south of the present Wismar
Railway, striking the Essequibo at a point within about 12 or 15 miles
of the Omai Creek, which would be reached by launch from the terminus
of the tramway. Mr. Tennant apparently preferred the Demerara in
preference to the bartica route to the districts named.

The final outcome of the 1892 Commission was the acceptance of
Messrs. Sprostons’ offer to build a railway from Wismar on the Demerara
River to the Essequibo opposite Gluck Island, above the Monkey Jump
and Mayai rapids. A system of boats and launches running in connection
with this railway have since its completion given access to the lower
Potaro, Omai and Konawaruk.

The Government advanced to the contractors $200,000 (£41,616
stg.), repayable without interest in 20 years, to assist in carrying out this
work. This sum has since been repaid to the Government.

This railway has, as Mr. Hill remarks in his 1902 paper, “ served and.

is still serving a useful end; although at the expense of well-nigh ruining
the town of Bartica, which was designed by its natural geographical
position to be the ‘‘ jumping-off ground,” so to speak, for the Essequibo,
Mazaruni and Cuyuni districts. The Demerara-Essequebo railway must,
however, rest content with its more or less evanescent life of usefulness
as an aid in getting to the Potaro district, pending the construction of
the great central trunk line from Bartica; as it seems to me like the
bolstering up of a bad case to attempt to make it a sort of cross-country
route to the Mazaruni diamonds fields through the Potaro and Courie-
brong rivers with a portage of some miles to the head-waters of the
Semang and down that stream into the Mazaruni as has been seriously
proposed.”

Mr. Hill urged against this route the repeated handling of goods
between Demerara and Mazaruni as follows :— ;

“2 at Wismar, 2 at Rockstone, 2 at Tumatumari Falls (low-side), 2
at Tumatumari (topside), 2 at Couriebrong head, 2 at Semang head, and
1 at Semang mouth with possibly others at unknown falls and shallows.”

“Timehri” and Development. 175

Mr. G. V. de la Bastide’s paper, which was read by the President, said
that Mr. Hill had made too much of the transhipment or “handling”
difficulty. He put the cost at Wismar at 6 or 7 cents per ton and at
Rockstone at 10 cents per ton, this would give about 60 cents per ton in
the various handlings detailed above on the route criticised by Mr. Hill.

Detailing the possibilities of further railway development Mr. Hill re-
fers first to coast railways, the extension of the East Coast Demerara rail-
way to Berbice, the Corentyne railway from New Amsterdam to Skeldon
“already surveyed,” a railway from Suddie to Devonshire Castle on the
Aroabisce Coast of Essequibo and continues: ‘At the present time,
however, the hopes of the colony centre in the successful development of
its mineral resources, its gold and diamond industries, so our thoughts
naturally direct themselves towards the vast areas of our hinterland with
its possibilities of hidden wealth, and of which so little is known beyond
the mere fringes of our principal waterways and even to that extent only
in the last dozen years.....

“Having so far accepted Bartica as the main entrepdt for the Esse-
quibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni districts, let us see how best to reach it
from Georgetown, which, I assume will continue to be the chief port and
capital city of the colony.

“ First we have the existing Sprostons’ direct steamer route of about
six hours along the West Coast and up the Essequibo river which, I venture
to think, will be found to be the most convenient and cheapest mode of
transport. As an alternative, however, we have a possible 40 miles
extension of the West Coast railway around Parika and up the right bank
of the Essequibo to a point opposite Bartica, whence passengers and
goods might be transported across the KEssequibo by steam ferry or a
wire rope way elevated high above the river...... there being five
loadings and dischargings (by the route) as compared with one by the
steamer route. ....

‘“ Leaving Bartica, the route of the proposed central trunk line would
take an ascending curve round the back of Bartica Point towards the
high land at the back of Kalacoon and thence along the ridge of the
watershed between the Essequibo and Mazaruni Rivers; crossing the
Potaro River just below the mouth of the Couriebrong close to Potaro
landing, thence in a southerly direction crossing the Siparuni below the
mouth of the Takoutu, or across the Purro-birro and the Rupununi
Rivers and their tributary streams tapping the great Rupununi savannahs
along the watershed of the Rewa River, crossing the Quitaro and
Cassikitu Rivers to the upper reaches of the Essequibo close to the
Brazilian boundary, a total distance of 420 miles ......... Already a cart-
road has been formed along the proposed route a distance of some 30
miles from Bartica. . .

“The first of the branch lines to be constructed would doubtless be
one to the Mazaruni diamond fields, branching from the main trunk line
30 or 40 miles north of the Potaro, bending round towards the Mazaruni,

176 Timehri

crossing the Semang and Karamang Rivers, skirting the Meruma moun-
tains and touching the Mazaruni close to the mouth of the Merume
River clear above the numerous and dangerous falls of the Mazaruni, the
length of this branch being about 90 miles.

‘Another main line about 140 miles in length might start from
Cartabo Point, about eight miles above Bartica, traverse the watershed
between the Cuyuni River on the right and the Mazaruni, Puruni and
Cartoonie Rivers on the left tapping rich mineral country, on either side,
and reaching on to the Venezuelan boundary close by the mouth of the
Acarabisci River through which connection might be made to the Barama
and Barima districts.”

He mentions, however, that this and the North West District are so
accessible by steamer routes that no need for a trunk line exists for the
lower reaches of the Barama and Barima Rivers at least.

Mr. J. W. Dorman, opening the discussion, did not agree with Mr.
Hill as to Bartica being the natural ‘‘ jump off” for a trunk railway. He ~
regarded the inevitable result as being to make Bartica the main port of
the colony and forecast great expense in buoying and lighting the
Essequibo, erecting stores, wharves, etc. ‘‘ Bartica would become the New
York and Georgetown the Washington of British Guiana.”

‘As a railway engineer, with a personal knowledge of a good deal
of the ground to be traversed, I have no hesitation in saying,” he con- ~
tinued, ‘that the proper and natural extension of railways in this colony —
is to continue the West Coast Railway up the east side of the Essequibo
River (with a station and steam ferry to Bartica which will then be
reached in two hours from Georgetown) to the falls where it will cross to
the west side and run up past Omai to near Potaro landing. From this
there should be a branch about sixty miles long to the Semang River and
thence about one hundred miles further to the boundary, where it would
terminate at the Mazaruni River after running through the centre of the
diamond fields. The main line would follow generally the valley of the
Potaro to the 5th degree (latitude) and thence nearly due south to
the valleys of the rivers Tisaling, Mahoo and Takutu to San Joaquim.”

Mr. G. V. de la Bastide, regarding the hinterland main line as a_
remote prospect, contented himself with ‘‘ merely stating that, so far as —
one can judge at the present time of future development, Mr. Dorman’s
scheme is the proper one both from an engineering and financial point
of view.” He considered that particular districts should not wait on a
main line but be immediately opened up and that ‘in undertaking the
survey of the line of country between Tumatumari and the mouth of the
Semang, the Government is doing the proper thing” and criticises ad-
versely the proposition of a road from Bartica to the unobstructed upper
waters of the Mazaruni. He thought “the surveys should...... be con-
tinued from Tumatumari southwards to Potaro Landing then northwards
to Omai following the course the great trunk line would take. Then as
finances permitted these lines could be constructed.”

“ Timehri” and Development. Lia

As Mr. de la Bastide previsioned, nothing came at the time of the
main trunk line proposals, and uatil 1908 nothing practical in the way
of railway prospection was done. In April of that year Colonel Link
representing the Colonial Rail and Tramway Syndicate oftered on certain
terms to raise the capital required for a railway to the frontier, inviting
the Government to suggest the route “best calculated to advance the
interest of the Colony.” With the draft concession sent in however a
map was enclosed showing a line within some miles of which (to be deter-
mined by negotiations with Government) the line would run.

In their reply to the Syndicate the Government named the junction
of the Takutu and Ireng Riversas the probable point on the Brazilian
frontier which such a line should strike.

In his despatch to the Secretary of State 30th April, 1908, Sir
F. M. Hodgson lays down four possible starting points and routes as
follows :—

“There are four starting points for lines into the interior, namely, (w)
Georgetown, ()) Vreed-en-Hoop on the West Bank of the Demerara
River and opposite to Georgetown, (c) Bartica, situate at the point where
the Essequibo and Mazaruni Rivers meet, and (d) Cartabo Point, at the
junction of the Mazaruni and Cuyuni Rivers.

“The proper starting point for all trunk lines into the interior is, in
my opinion, Georgetown, which is so to speak the hub of the colony, for
it is at Georgetown that nearly all the trade is concentrated and to and
from which the greater bulk of it proceeds, where the merchants have
their offices and where facilities exist for the loading and unloading of
ships. I understand that Colonel Link is in favour of Georgetown. If
Georgetown were adopted as the starting point, the route would lie along
the right bank of the Demerara River through the Crown lands at the
back of the estates bordering the river until Christianburg is reached,
when it would be taken across the river to Wisinar and follow the line of
railway now existing to Rockstone. Thence it would cross the Essequibo
River at Gluck Island and curving on the other side towards what is
called the Bartica-Caburi road proceed southwards to the Potaro gold-
fields and so on to the Brazilian frontier. But this route has one
insuperable objection. Until it reaches Golden Grove (see ‘‘ Chart of the
Sea Coast of the Colony of British Guiana”) it would pass through
private property, the cost of acquiring which would probably kill the
enterprise. It is mainly on this account that Georgetown as the starting
point for lines of railway to the interior has had to be discarded and inust
I think, be discarded now.

“The adoption of Vreed-en-Hoop as the starting point means follow-
ing the existing line of railway which proceeds thence to Vergenoegen,
then continuing that line along the right bank of the Essequibo River
until “Monkey Jump” (shown in the recently published map of the
Northern portion of British Guiana) is reached, taking it acress the
Essequibo River at that point and so to the Bartica-Caburi road. ‘The
principal objection to this route is that, if adopted, it would interfere with

178 Timehri.

the volume of tratiic passing over the existing railway between Wismar
and Rockstone and therefore adversely affect the lien which the Govern-
ment has upon that railway. Moreover the existing liae between Vreed-
en-Hoop and Vergenoegen is a three feet six inches gauge line and the
Concessionaires say that they will not be satistied with anything less
than the standard gauge. .

‘“‘The third route is that from Bartica—a route with respect to which
Your Lordship will be aware there has been previous correspondence. A
railway taken from Bartica would follow the line of the Bartica-Caburi
road (shown in the map of the colony dated 1902) pass through the
Potaro gold-fields about Potaro Landing and thence following the line of
what is called the Potaro Road proceed across the Conawarook River, and
taking a line along the left bank of the Echilebar River get to the
frontier, either at the point where the Ireng and Takutu Rivers join or
at a point on the navigable part of the Ireng River above the junction.

‘The first route would give a probable length of railway of 300 miles,

the second of 280 miles, both inclusive of railways already in existence,
and the third 200 or 210 miles.”’

The fourth route was referred to in paragraph 16 of the despatch as
“that from Cartabo point which however is not a route to the Brazilian
frontier and therefore not to be discussed in connection with the pro-
posals now under consideration.” This line carried to a temporary
terminus on the Cuyuni 35 miles, would, said Sir F. M. Hodgson, “ open
up a valuable, in all probability a paying, district ” and a road in first in-
stance to Mara-Mara on the Puruni River would bring a further rich
timber and mineral district into communication. The line indicated was
the favourite scheme of the Governor at the time, who had a fancy for a

Government built and owned railway and thought this comparatively

small venture within the means of the Colony to carry through.

Colonel Link’s proposals were rejected, and railways remained in the
air, but in 1912 a railway survey was made from the Demerara-Essequibo
Railway terminus at Rockstone through the country between the two
rivers to the point where the Potaro flows into the Essequibo and thence
across the Konawaruk district towards Kaieteuk fall on the Potaro River.
The cost of the projected route was ascertained to be too great to enter-
tain a project of railway construction on the line surveyed.

In July, 1912, an able article from the pen of a Member of the Rail-
way Joint Committee, which was appointed to consider Colonel Link’s
and other schemes of railway construction, appeared in “ Timehri.” The
writer dismissed tourist and mineral possibilities from any serious influence
on the policy of railway construction or the routes to be chosen.

He sums up the position at that time in the following words :—

“The gold and diamond prospects mentioned so hopefully in the
papers and discussions of 1902 have vanished into die Hwigkeit. The really
important mines, at Omai, Peters and Barima, are no longer factors in the
problem of the Colony. Enthusiasts with zeal not according to know-

“Timehri” and Development. 179

ledge will still talk of building a railway to the Konawaruk, the Mazaruni
or some other river to open up gold or diamond country, but it must be
remembered that that way madness lies. Many deposits have been
worked out and while we have no doubt that new deposits will be found
as the country opens up, the deflection of the route of any railway be-
cause of any fresh reports should require most careful consideration.

“Gold and diamonds are generally capable of looking after themselves
without any railway at all. By themselves they hardly justify a railway
unless they give indications of having the permanency of a settled in-
dustry as at Kalgoorlie and Klondyke, rich alluvial finds are certain to
be made but the whole geological formation of this part of the con-
tinent renders it advisable to discount enthusiasm as to our mineral
resources.

“To what then do we look for remunerative traffic for a railway within
the colony? Firstly, we rely on the certainty that we can raise hundreds
of thousands of cattle, apart from tobacco, cotton and other produce, on
the vast Rupununi and other southern savannahs. The northern savan-
nahs around Rupununi are of scanty herbage and their soil, owing to their
vast antiquity, is approximating to the old floor of the continent which
the top of the Roraima plateau more closely represents. Millions of
years of tropical rains have washed down the nutritive soil of these dis-
tricts into the river valleys. The southern savannahs are of lower eleva-
tions, probably not exceeding four or five hundred feet above sea level,
and are of a more fertile character capable of agricultural as well as
pastoral developments.” .....

“Thirdly, we rely on our inexhaustible forest resources in timber
and balata. These are only at the very beginning of their development.
The doubts recently expressed by a newcomer arose from inadequate
acquaintance with the subject, the source of most of the gloomy
dogmatism and of all the cynical pessimism under which the colony
groans.

“Fourthly, we rely on the traffic which would come from the
carriage of the present annual contingent of balata-bleeders and their
supplies, nearly four thousand strong, even allowing for no increase, to
and from Siparuni, Rupununi and New River districts, a number suffi-
cient on any reasonable relation of future railway fares to present
transport costs, to pay the amount of a guarantee from this source alone.

** Fifthly, we rely on the prospect of ultimately obtaining a considerable
through traffic from the adjoining Brazilian savannahs, which are of vast
extent and contain very large herds of cattle, from Manaos, the rapidly
erowing capital of Amazonas, and (if Georgetown rises to the height of
its legitimate ambition so as to become, as Mr. Nunan prophesies, a great
South American port) from Southern Brazil and from Asuncion, Buenos
Ayres, Monte Video and Valparaiso.

“The fact that the State of Amazonas has twice granted a conces-
sion for such a line (7.e. from Manaos to the frontier) disposes of the
question of local hostility. The Federal sanction to cross the reserved

180 Timehri

frontier strips has never been withheld from any of the numerous
comtemplated international lines..... The idea of Brazilian opposition
was another imaginary obstacle to the consideration of this question in
the eyes of those unacquainted — with the progressive character of our
great southern neighbour. .... .

On July 23rd, 1913, in his presidential address to the R. A. & C.
Society the Hon. J. J. Nunan, LL.B., to whom, more than to any other
single individual colonist, the colony owes the energizing of a new spirit
of hope and the revival of aspiration after development, thus summed up
the most recent views o! the route and aims of railway expansion :—

“The actual amount unexpended of the $20,060 voted in 1910 for a
railway survey to Kaieteur is only $4,374 but there would be no difficulty
in securing an adequate vote. Your Excellency has made public your
intention of visiting the Rupununi in September in company with an
experienced railway engineer so that part of the scheme is in a fair way
to realization. The survey has at least made clear the fact that a
tourist railway to Kaieteur is beyond our present resources. No doubt
it has also increased the limited geographical acquaintance which many
people possess of the colony in which they were born and bred or in
which they earn their living. The fact that the Combined Court ever
thought such a scheme feasible shows how limited the original stock of
knowledge was, but it is too late for reproaches now. Nobody who ever
studied the question expected anything but the actual result. The possi-
bilities of a metre gauge line starting from Georgetown passing up the
right bank of the Demerara River crossing the Essequebo on the ledge
of rock near the Siparuni mouth and reaching the savannahs by the Buro-
Buro river valley in touch with the contemplated Brazilian line from
Manaos are quite another subject of investigation. But pending the
ascertainment of the data we can only speculate.

‘“‘ With these De eliminary observations I now declare the subject open
for discussion, viz.: ‘Whether the colony can be developed without fresh
taxation. Ihope the speakers will remember that the Government alone
cannot do everything and that it is only by the loyal and friendly
co-operation of everybody in the colony, Government, Legislature and
people, that our problems can be solved. 1 may mention that an increase
of our present revenue by seven per cent. from any cause would mean a
return of something over £40,000 or enough on a normal or even on the
present market, to secure a development loan of one million sterling.”

Sir Walter Egerton whose appointment as Governor has given to
the forward movement the strong support of an eminently practical and
progressive spirit in high places, speaking on the discussion which
followed said :—

“The question of this interior railway was a very difficult one. The
first thing an opponet would say was, having made your railway what
traffic are you going to get from it? Well, he was afraid all they could
say to him at present was that they should hope that on its way to the

“ Timehri” and Development. 181

savannahs it would pass through lands from which timber might be taken.
They were fortunate in having here the best timber in the world and they
could add to that that the savannahs already supported a large herd of
eattle and were capable of supporting a very much larger | number, if
there was any prospect of selling them whea they were brought into
existence, and they could add that, in addition to the savanaahs oa this
side, there were savannahs on the Brazilian side and doubtless cattle
from those savannahs would be offered for sale, if there were means of
getting them down to our coastlands. He saw no reason either why,
if these savannahs were opened, they should not breed horses there, not
for racing, but he did not mean that that would not be a profitable
development, although he had no doubt —he saw a prominent member of
the racing club sitting quite close to him—if the savannahs were opened,
other owners than Mr. Flood would breed horses for racing purposes, but
he would rather see horses bred there for ordinary commercial use and he
should like to see sugar planters breed their mules there, instead of im-
porting them from the Argentine and New York. He was going up to
the interior with the hope not to see the nakedness of the land, but its
fertility. What struck him in all the talk that had been about develop-
ment was that no one had faced the problem of submitting a proper
scheme. People talked vaguely about a railway to the interior, but they
wanted to settle, and it was not an easy matter to settle, where that rail-
way was to go and where it was to start from. There were other places
which if they had to begin anew they might without much hesitation say
were better places for the starting off point of a railway, but they were
not to forget what they had locked up in Georgetown and what loss
would be caused to the inhabitants here if they started a new capital in
some other part of the coast. They must not start a railway without
being quite sure where they wanted it to go and beyond that what they
eould get on the way in which they wanted it to go.”

The reconnaissance foreshadowed has since been carried out. His
Excellency, accompanied by Mr. E. M. Bland, a railway engineer of large
tropical experience, made an itinerary over the route outlined and in the
despatch and report published in February, 1914, embodied his conclusion
in favour of a line from Georgetown up the East Bank of the Demerara
rivers, crossing a little above Wismar thence to the East Bank of the
Kssequibo River near the Potaro mouth, on’ to Kurupukari rapids
where the Essequibo should be crossed, then by a line south of the
Siparuni and Burro-burro to the mouth of the Ireng river on the Brazilian
_ boundary. Lines of 20 inch gauge from Potaro to Kaieteuk and thence
to the upper Mazaruni, Cuyuni and Barama are also recommended in His
Excellency’s Despatch.

A recent conversation with a gentleman who has been located in
the Siparuni-Echilebar district for 3} years, and whose journeyings have
crossed and re-crossed a considerable expanse of that district, leads me to
believe that a route to the north of the Siparuni may offer advantages
of easier country, more fertile soils and richer mineral possibilities than

182 Timehri.

the route projected in Mr. Bland’s report. Apart however from minor
alterations of a few miles on either side of the main line now traced, no
ereat departure is likely to be made in the future from the route indi-
cated by Sir Walter Egerton for a frontier railway. A recent report of
gold found near the Rupununi head-waters will not influence the question.
If the Ireng mouth is once brought within ten hours of Georgetown the
gold deposits long known to exist in the upper Rupununi, Berbice and New
River districts will all be within sufficiently easy reach to be fully tested.

The long series of discussions has at any rate brought us to a defi-
nite general line with a terminus which opens vistas of future develop-
ment to the practical imagination.

- GAUGE OF RAILWay.

The earlier discussions already cited for a long time hovered round
the possibilities of tramways or light railways, with a view to the cheapest
possible means of access to the gold-fields being rapidly constructed.
We have travelled so far- from the limited outlook of 1892 in the long
years of hope deferred that the merest reference to the tramways or 2’6”
gauge railways of the progressives of that time is sufficient.

As the writer of ‘‘ Railways Ten Years After ” in “‘Timehri” July, 1912,
says: “ Although some of the remarks of the writers and speakers of 1902
are of purely historic interest (for instance the adoption of the Lartique
system could no longer be seriously advocated and no other monorail
system was found sufficient favour up to date) the whole discussion con-
tains many features of permanent value......

‘The question of gauge for a trunk route would appear to be now
settled by the insistence on the metre guage in the Brazilian Railways... .
that standard (the metre gauge) would appear to be a compromise which
would have met the views of Messrs. Dorman and de la Bastide who were
in favour of light railways which can be widened with comparative ease
and cheapness should the traffic render it desirable.

“The standard gauge of 4ft. 84in. such as Mr. Luke Hill and Colonel
Link advocated, may now be regarded as out of the question for any
railway into the interior.”

Finally the metre gauge is adhered to in the report by Mr. E. M. Bland.

Cost oF RAILways.

The very important question of cost is one on which many opinions
have been given and in the absence of any reliable knowledge of the
engineering problems to be solved in the construction of a railway all
may be taken as more or less partially informed estimates, at least up till
the latest one, data more or less complete for which has been furnished by
the reconnaisance made by Sir Walter Egerton.

Mr. Robert Tennant in 1893 estimated for the Demerara-Potaro line
(East Bank of Essequebo) £3,000-£4,000 per mile for an ordinary gauge
railway.

“Timehri” und Development. 183

In 1896 a line surveyed from Cartabo westward for 35 miles was
submitted to a consulting engineer in London who estimated the cost on
the data furnished him at £6,239 sterling per mile for a 2ft. Gin. line.

Mr. Luke Hill in 1902 reckoned on a million and a half sterling for
420 miles from Bartica to the source of the Essequibo river and a half
million sterling for a Cartabo-Puruni line 140 miles in length. These
figures work out at about £3,700 and £3,500 per mile for a 4ft. 8}in.
gauge which he proposed.

Mr. Dorman put the cost of a 3ft. Gin gauge at £1,500 per mile,
while Mr. de la Bastide calculated £2,500 for that type of railway and
£1,800 for a 2ft 6in. gauge. The same authority puta standard gauge
Jine at £6,000 per mile.

The writer of ‘“ Railways Ten Years After ” considered that a line
“tapping the savannahs and aiming to link up with a line from Manaos
would barely exceed 300 miles and could be built of a metre gauge for 1}
millions sterling.”

£8,000 per mile for a 200-mile railway was put by Colonel Link as
the maximum cost of a standard gauge line running to the boundary by
a route undetermined but with a probable starting point at Bartica.

Mr. Tew’s estimate for the Rockstone to Konawaruk line was £7,500
per mile without cost of bridging the Essequibo.

The average old colonist with ponderous gloom puts the cost per
mile of any gauge of railway from anywhere in the colony to anywhere
else at £15,000-£20,000 a mile and bankruptcy to follow.

Neglecting these last-mentioned humourists, we may take it that on
surveyed lines through the most difficult regions of Guiana, the maximuin
cost of railway building to metre gauge is, wherever a competent engineer
had data for calculation, put at from £6,000-£7,000. A main trunk line
through the easy country mapped out for a frontier railway including
the one heavy peice of engineering required to bridge the Essequibo may
be carried out at one-half that rate.

Sir Walter Egerton’s despatch of February, 1914, names £3,500 as
the approximate cost made up as follows :

1?

Trem. Cost Per Mite.

Survey... Aa ee Spee 30
Earthworks and Cleariie si fia ae 525
Bridges and Culverts i ae S8 600
Permanent Way and Ballast ... ‘te .& 1,200
Stations and Quarters wale he 200
Station, Machinery and Wor kshops eee — 100
Rolling Stock a Ue nes SA 500
Telegraphs ee + 40
Engineering and Deieneneaicn i St 270
Contingencies a et: tee ay 35

£ 3,500
Estimated Length of Line... as 380 Miles

Total Cost fr ag: hi £ 980,000

184 Timehri.

For a light railway from Potaro, opposite a point where the main
line runs very near the East bank of the Essequibo to the Upper Mazaruni,
which Sir Walter Egerton considers strongly advisable, a 20-inch
Decauville line is, he thinks, sufficient meantime and the cost he puts at
£1,000 per mile, a total of £50,000. As this line would run through
countiy only very partially known, the estimate of cost has not perhaps
the same value as that for the main line.

The million and a quarter estimated in the despatch may be taken
quite definitely as very nearly the sum required to carry a line to the
Kupununi to a point shurt by 50 miles of the boundary terminus, and to
provide feeders, light railways and roads, and an allocation for settling
immigrants on lands in the interior. The mists which gave such scope
for talk about insuperable obstacles, costly difficulties, bottomless swamps
and impenetrable jungle have been, if not dispelled, at least driven into
the stupid recesses of minds inaccessible to new ideas. It is no longer a
badge of social respectability to advertise a cynical contempt for projects
of development and the Colony’s power of carrying them out. Water
Street and the more considerable local representatives of the sugar
planters have joined the prophets, the few who remain invincibly bucolic
in their parochialism of outlook are entirely negligible so far as influence

on the future of the Colony goes. The chorus of the enlightened sings
with Haydn.

‘“ Now vanish before the holy beams

The gloomy dismal shades of night.

Now chaos ends, and order fair prevails

Affrighted fly hell’s spirit black in throngs

Down they sink in the deep abyss of endless night.”

Ways AND MEANS.

The question of ways and means is not the least important of those
which remain.

The earlier projectors of railway schemes contemplated evidently
Government loans for the limited propositions then in view. In 1902
however circumstances had altered and Mr. Luke Hill considered the only
possible way of accomplishing the opening up of the interior is by means
of liberal concessions in land and mining rights to outside capitalists.
Mr. Dorman considered on the other hand that ‘It is quite certain that
outside capitalists will not be tempted by Jand concessions and mining
rights only, however liberal they may be and that nothing but a cash
guarantee, which tne colony ia unable to afford, will secure the millions
necessary for such a gigantic scheme.”

That Mr. Dorman was right appeared in the offers subsequently made
by promoters who visited the colony. The most substantial of these, that
made by Colonel Link, a man of comprehensive business perception,

backed by some of the great names in railway and general finance, asked |

for a land grant totalling over 2,000 sq. miles (1} million acres) in addi-

sina nieh haaa tahin stap ince eae ah UP UN en nner ties

“Timehri” and Development. 185

tion to guarantee of 3} per cent. for ten years on the capital of one and
three-quarter millions reckoned on as the cost of a railway. The Govern-
ment was, however, to have, in return for all payments made in name of
interest, railway stock of a corresponding face value allotted to it. In
event of a gradual development which not before the end of ten years
would have put the railway on a paying basis, the colony would, according
to Sir Frederick Hodgson in his despatch of 30th April to the Secretary
of State, have had £668,500 stg. of railway stock, of more or less value,
according to the success of the venture, which might either be applied to
the reduction of the amortisation Bond issue, which Colonel Link’s scheme
suggested, or be retained as a profitable investment of colony funds and
for the interest, not, however, a controlling one, which it would give the
Government in the direction of the railway’s affairs.

The author of “ Railways Ten Years After” in commenting upon this
says: “It is at all events certain that no future proposals, if emanating
from financiers of standing, are likely to make smaller demands upon the
colony’s confidence in its own resources. Indeed the indications all point
to the fact that if the railway into the interior is to be undertaken by
independent capitalists, they will share the scepticism of the leading
colonists, so far as to require the securing of a sufficient rate of interest
for a much longer period. The rate guaranteed by other South American
Governments is five per cent. for twenty-five years. .. The Colonial Office
has in the present year guaranteed four per cent. for ten years to Messrs.
Pauling, the contractors for the Cape to Cairo Railway, for the extension
of the Shire Highlands (Nyasaland) Railway.”

A country in which the inhabitants are disinclined to have any finan-
cial stake in development projects, is not likely to find many mad capital-
lists tumbling over one another in a rush to spend money within its
borders. From the above extract it will appear that the terms offered
in the Link proposition were at least worthy of more consideration
than they received. Indeed the attitude of the Government of the
day gave some justification to the comment passed upon the matter by
“The People” newspaper of 6th May, 1908. ‘It is evident that the
assumption on which the Government’s conditions were drafted, was that
all the gentlemen connected with this proposed Railway scheme are out on
‘ticket of leave,’ and are therefore to be carefully watched. Further that
their domicile is a land unregulated by any kind of Jaw which would guaran-
tee the validity of a promise. We think in regard to both these points the
Government is wrong. We understand as a matter of fact that against at
least several members of the Syndicate there is no previous conviction
and we also believe that a recently framed Company Act is in existence
in the United Kingdom which contemplates and provides for just such
defalcations as those which Clause 9 (of letter Government Secretary to
Colonel J. W. Link 30th April) apparently is framed to guard against.”

_ From the Government side the negotations were certainly not carried
on ina way to elict any definite finding of the best terms on which a

186 Timehri.

railway might be attained by means of outside capital and thus no light
is thrown on present propositions.

Of other methods there are practically two possible. The first is
that adopted by the Colonial Government in respect to the Wismar Rail-
way, by advancing the capital to the contractors, repayable in a term of
years. This may be varied by a cash grant, plus an advance, pius land
grants as iu the Canadian Government terms with the Canadian Pacific
Railway

The second is a Government built line which may either be worked
by the Government or leased to a Railway company at an annual rent for
a term of years, as in a portion of the cross-Canada Railway -worked by
the Grand Trunk Pacitic Company.

In the case of British-Guiana the options narrow themselves down
probably to a subsidised or a Government built and run railway.

In His Excellency Sir Walter Egerton’s dispatch the latter is
the basis of his preposition coupled with a scheme by which Imperial
Government advances the money and a grant to meet deficit on working
expenses until such time as the financial position of the colony enables it
to assume the burden.

The Sub-Committee of the Committee on Railways recently appointed
makes the following amendments on this proposal in a memorandum which
will be included in its report :

1. Deficit of tirst five years to be charged to capital account.
Deficit on working expenses thereafter, if there is any, to be met
out of current revenue.

bo

. Railway Loan from Imperial Government (14 million stg.).
Interest for six years to be advanced by Imperial Government.
Half interest for ensuing six years to be advanced by Imperial
Government.

After 12 years Colony to pay interest and deterred interest plus

Sinking Fund on whole amount.

3. Development Loan from Imperial Government (three-quarter
million stg.). Interest for three years to be advanced by Imperial
Government. Thereafter olony to pay interest deferred interest
and Sinking Fund. Four or five years may be fixed instead of
three.

The development fund referred to is intended to provide for the
introduction of 5,000 immigrants annually (families or possible families
stipulated), to replace the labour attracted to the railway and supplement
the present indenture.

It is pointed out that in five years there would be 25,000 adults,

mostly married couples, in addition to the children each paying on the

usual average (Population : 300,000. Revenue £3,000,000) $10 to the

“ Timehri” and Development. 187

public revenue, 2.¢., a total of $250,000 per annum or move than double
the amount of the annual interest and Sinking Fund on development
loan, Which would after three years require $105,740 to meet the charges
created, on the basis of $600,000 to which the three-quarter million alloea-
tion has been amended by the Sub-Committee. This would le:ve of
revenue from the new population about $150,000 of the $387,000 re-
quired to pay interest and Sinking Fund on the Railway loan. In this
ealeulation the additional revenue from railway staff and immigrants
entering on their own charges, attracted by the railway and from any
traffic which directly arises from the existence of a large undertaking, is
not taken into account. That it would be a very considerable contribu-
tion to the charges on a railway there is no doubt.

In conclusion | emphatically agree with the Sub-Committee that
questions of harbour improvement and sea defences should be kept
separate and the decks cleared for the main action. Important as these
things are, to complicate the big issue with these or constitutional
questions is, more than likely, to hold back any steps in advance for
another half century. The hesitating timorous temperament which has
been a characteristic of the colony for a half century is for the moment
galvanised into a hopeful vigour which encouraged and energized by an
influx of new activities might permanently shake up a land too
lotus-eating in the past for its health. With neither loss to fear nor pro-
fit to hope for, Guiana has drowsed, indifferent to the stream of life and
movement in the big world around. To be fcreed into the stream in
some way is the immediate and only hope for the rebuilding cf a people
with energy enough to get out of the way of the motor-bus of progress
when, as it must finally, it sweeps this way steered by men who want to
get there and will not swerve for every sleepy donkey which suns its-If on
the road. We have the choice at present of making way fcr ourselves,
but the day of opportunity may pass and another day come when we shall
have to make way for better men.

As the despatch of His Excellency Sir Walter Egerton and Mr.
Bland’s report are at the moment of great immediate interest, I ap-
pend the following extracts, together with the Report of the Committee
on Railway Matters.

siz W. EGERTON’s DESPATCH, 5TH JANUARY, 1914.

Georgetown as terminus :

3. Georgetown, the capital of the colony, contains one-sixth of the
whole population. It is by far the best and safest port on the whole
coastline of British Guiana ; it is situated very nearly in the centre of
that coastline, and the country for twenty miles east and west of George-
town is the more thickly populated. Unless natural conditions are such
as to make the cost prohibitive, any railway system should be based on
Georgetown, and the probabilities of the development of paying traffic
must be greater if the terminus of that system is in Georgetown. It so
happens, moreoyer, that although, on a superficial glance at the map,

188 Timehri.

Bartica, situated at the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni and
Cuyuni rivers and some forty miles from the sea, looks a better starting
point, this is not the case, for the hinterland there runs into mountainous
country and an interior line to avoid the mountains would have to cross
the lower Essequibo. The Essequibo bar is no deeper than that of the
Demerara river and the maximum draught for ships ascending as high as
Bartica is 16 feet, the same as for Wismar, while the rocks in the
Essequibo render the approach to Bartica less safe, so that ships of this
draught ‘sometimes load five miles below Bartica. As a port, therefore,
it has no advantages over Wismar and is inferior in every way to George-
town. Further, Wismar, 65 miles up the Demerara river, is much nearer
the objective. From Georgetown it has now also been ascertained that a
line can be built practically due south right to the Brazilian border with-
out encountering any difficult country, while the short trace surveyed by
Mr. Tew in 1912-13 from opposite Rockstone, on the left bank of the
Essequibo above Bartica, passed through by no means easy country and
ran into a cul de sac of mountainous country on the Potaro. Moreover,
from the route now recommended branch lines can be run westwards
from Potaro mouth through mineralised country connecting the water-
sheds of the various rivers, from the Essequibo, at Potaro mouth, to the
navigable upper Mazaruni,—thence to the Cuyuni, the Barama and the
Barima, whenever funds are available and the development of gold and —
diamond mining enterprises makes financial success probable. At first
the various linking up lines could very well be worked by means of
ferries, but, from the rocky nature of the river beds and their shallow-
ness in the dry season, bridging cost, even of the Essequibo at Potaro
mouth, is not likely to be excessive.

[ Note.—The distance from Potaro mouth is from 45 to 50 miles to Turesi
on the upper navigable Mazaruni. This line would place Turesi within two
days of Georgetown. It is now a dangerous river journey of three weeks.
Thence the Mazaruni is navigable safely for boats and small launches for over
100 miles and easy access would be given to diamond and gold deposits now
unworkable owing to excessive cost of transport. In addition much valuable
gold country situated below Turesi would be brought within reach of cheaper
transport, for the boats would descend full and toil up river again empty. On
goldfields all the heavy transport is fo the fields If this first connection with
the upper Mazaruni is made, it will facilitate subsequent extensions from a ~
suitable spot, above or below Turesi, across the Puruni valley to the Cuyuni at
or below Pigeon Island landing, the whole of this line also going through highly
mineralised country. A further extension to the Barama would pass through
the very rich Pigeon Island District from which so much gold has been ex-
tracted in 1913. Light lines of decauville type and some 20-inch gauge should
not cost more than £1,000 a mile, and will easily carry all the ordinary traffic
for some years. With special rolling stock they can be used to transport min-—
ing machinery in heavier units than is now possible by boat over the cataracts
and rapids which abound in our rivers. They canalso be built with sharper
curves and lighter earthworks through country where it would be difficult and
expensive to construct a meter gauge line and the permanent way can be easily
taken up and relaid on another trace should occasion require it. Such lines
cannot be built now, owing to the prohibitive cost of transport to point of

“Timehri” and Development. 189

commencement, and without the connection to the coast which will be afforded
by the trunk line would lose the greater part of their usefulness. Lines of this
description connected with a trunk line are also much more independent of any
particular mining centre, for to whatever portion of a river valley mining
activity changes, they mail still be made use of.]

ROUTE OF THE RAILWAY.

The section from Georgetown to Wismar, if built, would run up the
right bank of Demerara river, but at some distance back from the river,
through thick forest. The Demerara would be cross: d just above Wismar.
From Wismar the railway would continue to traverse forest land deviat-
ing a little from the direction of its objective to the right bank of the
Essequibo at, or near, the mouth cf the Potaro river. The object of this
diversion is to serve the interests of the second largest gold mining
district in the colony, that comprised in the valley of the Potaro and
Konawaruk rivers, the bases from which the existing two prosperous
mines are being worked, being only a few hours from this point. In-
cidentally it would shorten and make much easier the journey to the
great Kaieteur Falls and probably lead to the amelioration of the con-
ditions of travel over the remaining forty miles of the journey up the
valley of the Potaro river.

LINES TO MINERAL DISTRICTS.

19. Potaro mouth station of the main interior line should become
the great junction for other subsidiary lines. From it should radiate a
short line up the Tiger Creek valley, on right bink of Potaro, to serve
the Minniehaha, and if possible, the upper Konawaruk mining district,
with a continuation to the Kaieteur Falls and plateau. From here also,
as I have suggested above, sectional light lines should be run to the
upper navigable portion of the Mazaruni, to the Cuyuni and to the
Barama—all lines running through highly mineralised districts where
gold and diamonds are being, and have been, worked for a long time.
These subsidiary lines I strongly advocate being built, in the first in-
stance, of narrow 20-inch gauge and ve y light construction. (Decau-
ville type burning wood cut locally.)

20. From Potaro mouth the line would continue to run between the
Demerara and Essequibo river valleys, still through forest, until it crosses
the latter waterway probably at the Kurupukari rapid where Mr. Bland
proposes the Essequibo should be bridged. Up to this point, about 175
miles from Goergetown and 110 from Wismar, the line would traverse
valuable timber forests from which greenheart timber has only been ex-
tracted in the lower sections and only there where water transport is
obtainable close to the trees.. After crossing the Essequibo, and running
between the Burro-Burro and Rupununi rivers some fifty miles more of
forest, probably rich in valuable timber, would be passed through before
the first, Northern, or Annai savannah is reached, then after skirting for
fifteen miles the eastern limit of the great Pakaraima mountains, through
the narrow strip of forest lying between the mountain country and the

190 Timehri.

Rupununi river, the larger middle, or Takutu savannah would be reached —
at Tirke village. From here to the Brazilian boundary at the mouth of
the Ireng the line would run over the slightly undulating savannah
country.

THE BRAZILIAN PROJECT.

Proposals for the construction of the Brazilian portion of this joint line
have long been under discussion in Brazil, and a concession was recently
actually granted to a firm of capitalists for the construction of a line from
Manaos to Boa Vista, situate near the colonial frontier and the adminis-
trative centre for the northern portion of Amazonas. The concession
was, however, very soon after surrendered, it is said, owing to the popular
outcry in Manaos against the terms conceded.

The apparent distance by the best maps obtainable here between

(a) Manaos and the nearest point of the British Guiana
boundary in the extreme south of the colony is about .,, 300 miles.

(b) Between Manaos and Boa Vista. os Ne .-«) 4009

(ce) Between Manaos via Boa Vista to British Gian
boundary on Takutu near Roman Catholic Mission ... 460.

Distance from (c) to Wismar about 2: “be 17 2800s
Through distance, Manaos to Wismar via Boa

Vista, say aes Re wee ms x os 10 ee
Or to Georgetown 5a 2 BOC

Time of transit, Georgetown ‘Made by ridley at
20 miles an hour, 40 hours; at 26 miles an hour, 32
hours.

A through railway to Manaos is, in my opinion, very desirable, but at
present, we can only consider the question of the British Guiana section,
although that section should be constructed so as to facilitate future
extension to the south.

FINANCING THE RAILWAY.

How ean the Colonial railway be built? There seem to be three
propositions to be considered :
(a) Construction by private enterprise.
(b) A Colonial railway and
(c) A line constructed, like the Uganda Railway, with funds supplied by —
the Imperial Government coupled with an annual Imperial grant to —

assist the colony to meet the cost of working and the interest on
loan,

This last scheme seems to me, after much thought, to be the only
practical solution and one that is likely to receive much more sympathetic —
consideration new that the advantages of the development of each unit of
the Empire to the Mother Country, and to the Empire in general, are ©
better realised. How impossible any development of the fair and fertile
interior of the colony is at present may be at once gathered from the

* Timehvi” and Development. 191

single fact that the cost of my recent two months’ expedition to the
interior amounted, for transport alone, to $4,000 or £800 for five
Europeans, and this total did not include the cost of their messing but
only the food for the boats’ crews, &c. The party did not travel in
nearly as great comfort as the Colonial Governments in West Africa and
their European officers consider essential for the preservation of health.

It may perhaps be looking rather far into the future, but at any rate
I am not the first to put forward the view that if a line from George-
town to Manaos is constructed, this route may, and probably will, form a
section of a great North and South Transcontinental Main South
American line similar to the Cape to Cairo African line, connecting
Buenos Ayres in the Argentine with Georgetown. The direction is due
north and south, both termini lying close to the 58th degree of west
longitude, and Manaos lying aimost directly between them.

The lines in the Argentine Republic and brazil are being rapidly
linked up, and the completion of such a main line is probably not as
difficult of realisation, with similar advertisement, as that from the Cape
to Cairo.

Geographically, Georgetown seems to hold the field as the terminus of
a North to South Transcontinental South American line, because
nowhere is the watershed between the Amazon and the northern coast of
South America so low. The watershed on the Rupununi savannah is
only 400 feet above sea level. Georgetown is also the best and safest
harbour between the Orinoco and the Amazon, the Demerara entrance
being actually as deep and a safer bar than the Orinoco, and west of the
Rupununi watershed there is no outlet to the northern coast without
passing through most mountainous and difficult country.

Its construction at the present time would probably start a combined
effort on the part of the great and prosperous South American States to
give the Continent through railway communication between the far
South in the Argentine, over 40 degrees of latitude to Georgetown, and
make the capital of the colony the metropolis of the Northern Coast of
the Continent.

COST OF CONSTRUCTION.

}\ Georgetown to Wismar including cost of ter-

Mr. Bland’s

Resort minus,—at Georgetown... ay: $3 ... £& 300,000
Ory J Wismar to lreng month ... sted en ... 1,000,000
£1,300,000

Less if taken only as far as Yupukari, 50 miles
at £3,500 2G ae a shy ee atc 000

£1,125,000
Allocation to improve facilities for whe
transport across savannah am ie we 25,000

Carried forward ... £1,150,000

192 Timehrr.

brought forward ... £1,150,000
To this ought to be added forimmigration and

settling immigrants on Southern lands (at
least) = am ae =e a ies 50,000

For a very light 20in. Decauville feeder rail-

way from left bank of Essequibo, opposite

the Potaro mouth section of the main line

to the upper navigable Mazaruni (see para,
3 above)... = ze oe Fes sas 50,000
Making a_ grand _ total of say, ae it ... £1,250,000

TRAFFIC FOR THE FRONTIER RAILWAY.

Besides the timber prospects alluded to above the despatch refers,
amongst other sources, of revenue to the great impetus which would be
given to mining both in districts now being exploited and in others
abandoned through cost of transit or never hitherto opened up. With
regard to still other sources it says :—

This line would connect Georgetown with the wide stretching sayan-
nahs of the southern portion of the colony and the Brazilian State of
Amazonas.

It would at once make the savannahs valuable ranching country and —
open their produce to the great cattle markets of the world. At present
the city of Manaos only offers a limited and uncertain demand and a heavy
duty shuts out colonial cattle from even that market. The cattle traffic
alone should if properly developed, ultimately provide sufficient revenue —
to defray charges for interest and working expenses.

Subsidiary industries that should grow up in the south are ostrich
farming, horse raising, tobacco, cotton, cocoa, coftee, rice and other
cultivation. Rubber, Brazil nuts, and other produce of Brazilian terri- —
tory within 150 miles of Boa Vista, may be expected to be attracted to —
the northern railway route, and that portion of Amazonas would probably —
draw all its supplies from Georgetown.

THE FUTURE OF BALATA.

More than half of the total production of balata in the colony comes
from the Rupununi district. If such transport is provided, as would be —
the case if this proposed southern line is built, in lieu of the industry
ceasing the annual export would probably increase. I do not look upon—
the forest balata industry as a continuously permanent one but the —
present trees of tappable age are not likely to be exhausted under ten
years from completion of the line and young trees will later take their
place.

MR. E. M. BLAND’S REPORT, 5TH JANY., 1914.

The Report opens with a sketch of the itinarery undertaken by the
Governor and party from Georgetown up Demerara River to Wismar

ss

“Timehri” and Development. 193
thence via Essequibo and Rupununi and across the savannah to the Ireng
River, then by Siparuni and Burro-burro Rivers back to the Essequibo
and up to Kurupukari Fall on that River thence via Konawaruk and
Tumatumari down Potaro River and back to Georgetown. Altogether
1109 miles were covered 875 by boat 225 on land in 68 days. He then
reviews the various surveys and projects which have already been
sketched in this paper, stating objections to the Bartica route for a trunk
railway, and goes on to describe the topography of the route :—

RIVERS AND WATERWAYS.

British Guiana is peculiar in that it is a beautifully watered country
and is traversed by many large rivers and streams, which unfortunately
are navigable only in parts, these stretches being separated by numerous
rapids and falls which are not only a hindrance and cause innumerable
delays, but are in many cases dangerous and in others impossible to get
through. Itis the occurrence of these rapids, formed by bars of rocks,
which causes the rivers to be held back forming large still pools above
until the next rapid is reached, and it is along these reaches that naviga-
tion is comparatively easy in small craft during ordinary water. When
the rains are on and the rivers begin to rise, these pools extend and in
several cases where during the dry season a ‘portage’ would have to
be made, a rapid can be safely passed through in the high water.

The bigger rivers such as the Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice and
Corentyne are navigable for large boats from the coast for varying
distances. On the Essequibo ships drawing 14 feet can proceed to
Bartica, some 56 miles from Georgetown. On the Demerara ships with
a draught of 16 feet can proceed to Wismar—a distance of 65 miles.
While on the Berbice, which is hindered by a shallow bar at the mouth
boats with a draught of only 8 feet can cress it and proceed for a dis-
tance of 58 miles to Paradise.*

The Corentyne, which is better in this respect, admits boats drawine
16 feet and is navigable to a point some 10 miles or so below Orealla.

From all these steamer termini transhipment has to be made into
small boats or launches ; consequently the cost of transport is prohibitive
and the settlement of the interior of the country has not been developed
in the slightest way.

THE ROUTE OF THE RAILWAY.

It will open up large forest areas and render much more accessible the
great country lying to the south of the junction of the Rupununi and
Kssequibo rivers. In connection with this it may be found practicable

*Note :—Mr. Bland is wrongfully informed. The Berbice River is the finest water-
way in the colony. The Direct Line Steamer ‘‘Cheniston” drawing 16ft. entered the
Berbice River without difficulty on one of her last voyages to the colony, and since then
large timber ships have been in the port. We have personally taken soundings at
Cumaka, 88 miles from the mouth, and found 39ft. of water. ‘Ibe river is navigable for
ships drawing 16ft. to Eboroaba (5° 18'S. Lat.) at which point greenheart timber has
been loaded into seagoing bottoms. For lighter craft 1t is navigable to the Sth parallel!
of latitude, about 180 miles from the mouth.—[Se. Ed.]

194 Timehri.

to bring produce up the Rupununi river from its mouth to Annai where
the Railway will be practically alongside the bank as this stretch of water _
is navigable for launches and no rapids are encountered. .

The northern terminus can be situated at either Georgetown or near
Wismar, but I am inclined to favour the latter place to begin with.

Terminal facilities would be costly at Georgetown and land for the
right of way would have to be expropriated for a greater part of the
distance. In all it is estimated that the extra cost in bringing the line
to Georgetown will not fall short of £300,000.

If the proposed northern terminus of the line is placed between
Christianburg and Wismar on the left bank of the Demerara river, good
ground can be had here for terminal facilities with a splendid waterfront
along which wharves can be constructed while at the back is a sand ridge
eminently suitable for quarters and offices for the staft.

From this point the line would strike inland and climb up the water-_
shed between the Demerara and Essequibo rivers (which nowhere about
here reaches a very high elevation) keeping a general southerly direction,
the Arisaru mountains, which are only a low range of hills, would be
crossed at a point some 3 to 5 miles to the east of the Essequibo river
where a break in them occurs. Continuing along at a distance of 3 miles
or more from the Essequibo the Mariwa creek should be crossed as close
as possible to its mouth in order that the line may be taken to the
vicinity of the Potaro mouth so that it can cater for the traffic of the
Conawaruk and Potaro districts. In connection with this it would be of
great benefit if the line could be taken down to the bank of the Essequibo
river to enable freight and passengers to be loaded directly into boats and
train. It would also have this advantage, that if a line is ever built up
the Potaro river to Kaieteur the crossing of the Essequibo could be made ~
just above the confluence, where rock foundations would be obtained,
and on up the right bank of the former river. Owing, however, to the
short time at our disposal the question as to whether this is possible could —
not be definitely decided and it is a matter for the survey party to go —
into. Ihave, however, shown the line going down to the river's edge
and the alternative route in a dotted line, the latter involving a branch
some 12 milesin length. This branch should be avoided if possible even
at the expense of slightly lengthening the main line. A short branch is
expensive to work; it means the upkeep of staff necessary for two
stations, the stabling-at the junction of an engine and passenger stock to-
work the branch, which is never fully employed and is comparatively
Speaking out of control, while the benefits of having an important station

“ Timehri” and Development. 195

(as this will prove to be) ou the main line are very great and in view of
future extension to the west it should be done if possible.

A rough approximation of the two gives the length of the thick line
going via the Essequibo river as 55, while the dotted line, including the
branch, is 574 miles. The saving on working expenses makes the former
project the more desirable even if the latter was shorter. Against this,
however, it must be recognised that the dotted line would open up a
greater area of forest land and this point would have to be duly considered
on completion of the survey.

From here the line continues to skirt the right bank of the Essequibo
river passing to the east of the small range of hills just above the mouth
of the Akaiwanacreek. From this point the line would run due south to
the Kurupukari rapids where the Essequibo would be crossed by a steel
bridge on concrete piers. Taking a bend to the west it would then
follow the bBurro-Burro river keeping however well back to avoid
crossing any large streams until Annai is reached and the first
savannah entered. Continuing almost due west and crossing the Mora
creek close to its confluence with the Rupununi, the line would then
proceed to the Lreng river, terminating on some high ground a few miles
above its mouth or junction with the Takutu, from which point it is
navigable for a large part of the year to Manaos and the Amazon.

LENGTH—GRADES AND CURVES.

The total length of the line to be constructed after making allowance
for development due to curvature, etc., would be some 280 miles, and [
am of opinion that one per cent. grades, compensated, with 6° curves
(955' Rad). can be obtained throughout its entire length.

In no part will what is known as difficult country be encountered and
there should be extremely little rock work, while by keeping near the top
of the different watersheds the bridging will be small. It must also be
remembered that in no single instance are the watersheds high. The
forests to be gone through though containing plenty of good timber,
otter no difficulty as regards cl. aring while good water should be obtain-
able everywhere. ‘The only work of any importance throughout the line
would be the construction of the bridge across the Essequebo river and
this is fully dealt with elsewhere in the detailed notes under “ Bridging.”

LABOUR CONSIDERATIONS.
In order that the line may be completed with the greatest possible

speed and open for public traffic, and quick construction is essential for
economy, a large labour force will be necessary which will number from

196 Timehri.

10,000 to 15,000 men. Due to the local conditions of the labour market
most of these will have to be brought into the country from oversea, and
Chinese or East Indian labour might be imported if this could be done
economically. The Panama Canal is now nearing completion and a large
supply of West Indian labour will be available from there.

No doubt a fair number of labourers will be obtained locally and in all
probability Indians from the interior could be persuaded to work. I am
informed by Mr. Melville, the district Commissioner, Rupununi, that there
should be no difficulty in getting hold of 1,000 to 1,500 of these people
who could be employed in clearing the forest (which I understand is
work they readily take to), cutting sleepers, and work of this nature. If
some Government official who thoroughly understands the Indian could
be detailed to look after and explain things to them, there is no doubt
the experiment would prove a success and excellent work would result:
Wherever possible small contracts should be let and the piece-work
system adopted, more especially on earth-work, clearing, timber cutting,
and work of this nature. For instance, 12 men might be given a mile of
light earth-work to complete for which they would be paid so much
a cubic yard, the price varying with the hardness of the soil to be ex-
cavated. Clearing should be paid for by the acre, piles and large timbers
at so much a foot and sleepers in the same way.

These sums should be based on the ordinary wage so that the average
man can always make his day’s pay while the one who chooses to work
harder will gain more. Day labour must be avoided where possible as it
is anything but satisfactory, and the tendency is toslack. Plate-laying,
ballasting, bridging and similar work will, however, have to be carried
out on this principle and it is here that good supervision is needed

Experienced foremen must be brought into the country who may be

given a bonus on account of good work or else paid an annual increment.
The same holds good as regards the senior staff and the greatest care
must be taken in their selection.

COST OF RAILWAY. :

The estimate for building this line under the conditions laid down in
the detail notes and carried to completion by the Government itself
should not cost more than £3,500 per mile or a total of £980,000 for the
whole work. This sum includes the cost of the Essequibo bridge which

is estimated at £30,000. It is difficult to give even approximate figures

of how this sum is made up without a definite survey, but the following
estimate in detail will show how this cost is arrived at. It is based on
figures obtained from lines constructed elsewhere under similar conditions

and should prove fairly correct. They are of course liable to correction —

wd dy,

es

Lap ani: a rene samres

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eed

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“Tumehri” and Development. _ 19?

on completion of the survey, but the discrepancies should not prove
great and I feel confident the total need not be exceeded. Account has
been taken of the cost of labour, supervision, stores, etc., and the follow-
ing result arrived at :—

Ttem. Cost per Mile.
Survey oy stip £ 30
Earthworks and _ Clearing os ae 525*
Bridges and Culverts Mie ae 3 600
Permanent Way and Ballast aes be 1,200
Stations and Quarters oe AEE it 200
Station Machinery and Workshops e., L00
Rolling Stock... aa ae aa 300
Telegraphs cs abi bas 38. 40
Engineering and Administration... ay 270
Contingencies 62 Aer as, oh 35

£3,500
Estimated Jength of line #. ee 280 miles
Total cost ae es ie is £980,000

If the cost of labour* be taken at three shillings per day instead of two
shillmgs which may have to be allowed should labour be specially
imported, the above figures would be increased by quite £500 per mile
bringing the total cost up to £1,120,000.

Taking the capital expenditure of the line at £1,000,000 and allowing
for interest and sinking fund at 5 per cent. per annum, there is a sum of
£50,000 to be met yearly. The working expenses on a line such as this
should be kept down to an absolute minimum to begin with, and will not
amount to more than £200 per mile per annum, or a total of, say,
£50,000 for the year.

*Nore :—Cost oF LAsour.—The Secretary of State raises this question in his
aespatch. The following notes are based on accurate information.
i. From Sugar Estates’ Books, Berbice (Indentured labour —
Trench digging costs 15 cents p. sy. rd.
2. From Estates not employing indentured labour—
Day’s work with criminelle and mattock, 275 cub. ft.
Day’s pay (varying according to conditions), 40 to 48 cents.
3. From Railway Contracting firm in the United Kingdom.
Day’s work of navvy in medium clay (selected as comparable to average upper
soils in the colony), 270 cub. ft.
Average price: Five-pence p. cub. yd.
From (1) the price works out, for a day’s work of 10 cub. yds,, at 36 cents.
From (2) at average 44 cents.
From (3) at average 100 vents.
This comparison makes it probable that even an attractive scale of pay will not put

} cost of labour above that of similar work at Home. The rates for bash clearing are
correspondingly moderate.—{Sc. Eb.]

198 Timehri.

The estimated revenue is arrived at as follows :—

Allowing that 10,000 people have settled alongside the railway and
are engaged in developing the country through which it runs and
that another 10,000 travel up and down the line, we can take the
number of passenger journeys in one year as being 30,000 and
that the average journey is 140 miles, the passenger fares being
3d. per mile first and ld. per mile third class, we can put down
the passenger receipts at... > a se ««, £17,080

Tf at the same time there are 50,000 cattle on the savannahs the
natural increase from this number will amount to 10,000 head
and these should be available for shipment. Taking the freight
at 30 shillings each to transport these down country, the revenue

from this item will bring in A pe 5S 15,000
The timber industry should be’ well established along the railway

by that time and even putting the output as low as 200,000 cubic

feet which will cost one shilling a foot for transport we get ... 10,000
The implements, machinery, supplies, ete., sufficient to feed these

people and enable them to develop the country and also carry on

the industries already established will amount to quite 3,000 tons

which at an average of £2 per ton brings in as se 7,000
And miscellaneous items such as telegraphs, parcels, ete., can safely

be counted on to bring in oe Sats mae 500

£50,000

These figures are purposely kept as low as possible and should easily
be realised while the estimated working expensea should suffice for hand-
ling this amount of traffic. Thus at the end of five years a loss of
£60,000 would have to be faced which would be gradually reduced to
nothing at the end of ten. This estimate does not include the possible —
receipts from passengers, cattle, ete., from and to the Brazilian territory
adjacent to the line.

AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES.

The wealth of British Guiana lies in its forests and soil as even a
casual inspection of the interior will show. The forests are very fine
containing a wealth of hardwood trees which can hardly be surpassed in ~
their qualities. At present only the forest bordering the navigable
portions of the larger rivers and the smaller tributary streams is being

worked, which is a very small proportion of the total area. The Balata

industry has made rapid strides during the last few years and more and ~
more areas are being constantly opened up, but necessarily these are
getting farther away and the cost of transport enters very largely into —
the sum for which it can be sold at a profit, until the economic distance
is reached where it will not pay to go in any further.

_ Again, in the extreme southern part of the colony there exist what are
termed savannahs which are really grass or prairie land. interspersed with —

een

“Timehvi” and Development. 199

a few trees along the river banks and pools. This land is most suitable
for cattle raising, the grass being of a particularly sweet nature on which
cattle thrive.

Cotton, maize and tobacco might be grown, and it is possible the land
is suitable for rearing ostriches, which industry is to-day proving most
profitable in other parts of the world. In this connection it would be of
ereat benefit if the Government were to establish a farm at some suitable
point on the savannahs where experiments could be carried out with con-
sequent benefit to all concerned.

The wealth of the soil of the interior has to be seen to be appreciated
but nothing can be done without a population to work it and under the
present conditions it is practically impossible to transport them to the
interior and even if they were vot there they would have no means of
getting their agricultural produce to the market.

It would not be advisable to count on obtaining any revenue on
through traffic with Brazil at present. Any line constructed by British
Guiana must depend upon British Guiana for its development and no
account taken of any traffic from the interior offering itself.

There is this point to be remembered, however, that once the Panama
Canal is opened the shortest and quickest route to the West Coast of
North and South America from the interior of Brazil would lie through
British Guiana and every endeavour should be made to obtain this
traffic.

THE HINTERLAND RAILWAY COMMISSION’S REPORT.

The following is the text of the report of the Committee appointed to
discuss His Excellency the Governor's despatch to the Secretary of State
with respect to a railway to the hinterland.

The Committee appointed to discuss Your Excellency’s Despatch No. 5
of the 5th January, 1914, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies with
respect to a railway into the hinterland of this colony, met on Monday,
the 20th April, 1914, in private. The members present were :—

The Hons. C. Clementi, M.A., Government Secretary; J. J. Nunan,
K.C., Attorney General ; J. Hampden King, Immigration Agent General ;
D. M. Hutson, K.C., and J. B. Laing, members of the Executive Council ;
the Hons. E. C. Buck, A.M.I.C.E , Colonial Civil Engineer, J. P. Santos ;
F. Dias, A. P. sherlock and C. F. Wieting, members of the Legislature ;
Messrs. C. W. Prest and J. 8. McArthur, Mayor of Georgetown, Financial
Representatives; J. A Abbensetts, Mayor of New Amsterdam, J.
Cunningham, representing the Royal Agricultural and Commercial
Society ; J. Duke Smith, representing the Chamber of Commerce, J.
Gillespie, representing the Planters’ Association, and A. F. White
representing the Balata Industry.

200 Timehri.

The Honourable A. B. Brown, member of the Court of Policy, was
asked to serve on the Committee. He regretted that owing to pressure
of business, he was unable to do so. The Honourable R. G. Duncan,
member of the Executive Council and of the Court of Policy, the
Honourable Wm. Whyte, and J. Downer, members of the Court of
Policy, Dr. J. M. Rohlehr and Mr. 5S. S. Wreford, Financial Representa-
tives, were unavoidably absent. Mr. G. R. Russell Garnett and Mr. R.
E. Brassineton, (Financial Representatives) being absent from the colony
were unable to attend. Mr. Mewburn Garnett, who was appointed on
the Committee to represent the gold and diamond industries, left the
colony before the meeting of the Committee. Mr. C. E. Rice was
appointed in Mr. Garnett’s place but owing to his absence in the interior,
was unable to be present on the 20th April.

The Honourable J. B. Laing was proposed as chairman by the
Honourable the Government Secretary, and was unanimously elected.
After considerable discussion it was proposed, and unanimously carried,
that a Sub-Committee be formed to go into the whole question and
formulate resolutions for discussion at the Committee’s next meeting.

The following gentlemen were appointed members of the Sub-
Committee :—

The Hons. J. B. Laing, Chairman ; C. Clementi, J. J. Nunan, J.
Hampden King, E. C. Buck, and A. P. Sherlock, Messrs. C. W. Prest, J. 8.
McArthur, and J. Duke Smith.

The Sub-Committee held two meetings and drafted ten resolutions
which were submitted at the meeting of the Committee held on Monday, —
the 4th May, 1914, when all the members (including Mr. Duncan, Mr.
Downer, Dr. Rohlehr, Mr. Wreford and Mr. Rice, who were absent from
the first meeting of the Committee) were present, except Mr. C. F.
Wieting who had left the colony in the interval.

Considerable discussion in public took place on the resolutions and
several amendments thereto were passed.

The resolutions ss amended. and unanimously adopted, are as i
follows :—

1. This Committee strongly supports the proposal to construct ae
Hinterland Railway if combined with a colonization and development
scheme ; and recommends :— ‘

2. That work on the railway shall be open to all labourers free in the |
colony.

3. That immigrants under contract be imported yearly for the first
five years to replace the labourers withdrawn from the coastal and river
districts for work on the Railway and for taking up land under the
colonization scheme.

4. That the railway shall be of metre gauge so as to allow of trans-
continental railway communication without change of engine
carriage.

“ Timehri” and Development. 201

That the question of whether the railway should be built by the
Government or by contractors be left to His Majesty's Government for
final decision.

6. That the Secretary of State be asked to sanction a loan ageregating
£2,000,000—at lowest possible rate of interest, of which loan £1,400,000
be allocated for railway construction, deficit on working expenses for
eight years, colonization and development of the hinterland, and
£600,000 for development of the coast and river districts and meeting
expenses in connection with the withdrawal of labour.

That the starting point of the railway shall be Georgetown, and
not Wismar or some other place up the Demerara River.

8. That the question of the Constitution be not dealt with by this
Committee, there being at present no information before us as to whether
or no the Secretary of State will raise this point as one of the conditions
for allowing the loan asked for.

9. That the portion of the loan allocated for coastlands and river
districts development shall be repaid as follows :—

First three years nothing, after three years the interest on full
amount plus the deferred interest for three years plus sinking fund for
forty-seven years on total of loan and accumulation of interest.

That the amount set aside for railway construction, colonization,
development of the hinterland and deticit for working expenses during
first eight years be paid as follows :—

First eight years nothing will be paid—after 8 years half interest on the
£1,400,000, after sixteen years full interest on the whole amount plus
interest for first eight years deferred, plus deferred half interest on
second eight years, plus sinking fund on entire amount for thirty-four
years—or on such other terms as the Secretary of State may see fit to
allow taking into consideration the financial position of the colony.

10. The loan to extend over a period of fifty years.

The Committee were unanimously in favour of the Hinterland Rail-
way being eventually linked up with the railway in Brazil, and a strone
point was made that, if there was to be a railway at all, the industries of
the coast and river districts must be safeguarded as respects labour with-
drawn from those districts for the railway and for colonization of the
hinterland.

The Committee further specially emphasise the fact that there must he
colonization and development schemes for the coast and river districts,
side by side with any scheme fora railway to, and development of, the
hinterland of the colony.

The Committee ask that a copy of this report be forwarded to the
Secretary of State for the Colonies by the first opportunity.

202 Timehri.

MINORITY REPORT.

We, the undersigned members of the Committee appointed to discuss
Your Excellency’s Despatch No. 5 of the 5th January, 1914, have with-
held our signatures from the majority report, because in our opinion the
construction of a hinterland railway should not be made conditional on a
colonization and development scheme for the coast and river districts.

We agree with the inajority report that the industries on the coast and |

river districts should be safeguarded so far as possible with respect to labour
withdrawn from those districts during the construction of any railway.

We strongly hold the view that, in the event of the Secretary of State
declining to make a loan of the amount set down for the development of
the coast and river districts, His Majesty's Government should neverthe-
less be asked to sanction a loan on the terms suggested in Your
Excellency’s despatch with which we entirely concur.

Respectfully submitted,

CrcIL E. RICcE,
A. F. WHITE.

MEMORANDUM BY MR. NUNAN FOR THE COMMITTEE AND
SUB-COMMITTEE ON RAILWAY MATTERS.

The whole question turns upon what proposal to contribute and repay
we are able to make to the Secretary of State. He is unlikely to consider
a mere grant and we must advance a basis of discussion and negotiation.

Can this Committee help the Governor in this matter ? His despatch
of 5th January implies that the Colony is to assist in the enterprise,
paras. 11 (c), 12 (b) and 80. I have been asked to circulate the proposals
made in ny speech to the Committee at its opening meeting, 20th April,
and now do so.

My proposal is that we should put Railway loan of 1} M. Stg. plus
deferred interest, interest and Sinking Fund on a separate basis from a
Development loan of } M. Stg. plus deferred interest, interest and Sinking
Fund and ask the Secretary of State to help us as regards both.

(1.) I wish to emphasize that we have only Mr. Bland’s figures to go

on and are not a body of experts ourselves. Whatever doubts we may ~

have as regards under or over estimates of costs or profits in details there
is nothing to be gained by dwelling on them at the moment. When a
detailed survey is made the estimates can be re-adjusted. At present we
should be only wasting time in trying to criticise the only expert basis of
discussion we have.

(2.) If a through route is successfully constructed harbour construe-
tion will be easily managed. Capital will flow in for a loan to improve a
harbour having a trunk-line terminus. We can postpone consideration of
this. Harbour improvement will not be urgent without a through route.
Three years hence is time enough.

— i een

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;

4
et

“Timehri” ond Development. 2083

(3.) Sea Defences we should deal with either by a loan on some
separate basis or out of our developing resources. Some contribution
(say £50,000) might be made from the Development loan.

(4.) Deficit on Working Expenses, ‘.¢., over and above capital
charges. Mr. Bland’s figures are a deficit of £10,000 after the first five
years. I think he has under-estimated returns if the route is to be a
through route. If there is a deficit it can be provided for out of current
revenue but I do not think there will be one.*

The Scheme is based on fifty years amortization and repayment as
required by the Colonial Loans Act, 1899.+

(1) Re RAILWAY LOAN (1} MILLIONS STG.).

We ask the Secretary of State to carry us entirely for the first six
years, as to half for the ensuing six years, finding the deferred interest as
it becomes due and making no provision for Sinking Fund for twelve
years. After twelve years we pay the whole interest plus interest
on the funded deferred interest, plus Sinking Fund on the total amount
spread over 38 years. Labour for the Railway should be looked for to
West Indian and local negroes, the most suitable for that class of work.
No restriction should be attempted in the movement of labour.

(2) Re DEVELOPMENT LOAN (} MILLION STG.).

We ask the Secretary of State to carry us for three years and we
then undertake to repay loan and deferred interest in 47 years. This
might be altered to four or even five but three should do.

Four thousand families or possible families, 7.e., groups of two con-
sisting of not less than one adult person of each sex (East Indians
or Chinese) married or of marriageable age indentured for three years
on the coast properties should be brought in at Government expense.
-At £30 per “family ” this would cost £120,000 a year for five years.

It would replace the labour attracted to the railway and supplement
the present indenture. The 4,000 families brought in during the fifth
year would have indentures running to end of seventh year. The sugar
and other plantations and industrial interests on the sea coastlands
would be substantially protected from loss during the years of construc-
tion, extension and the excitement of any gold discoveries The coast-
lands would be developed by the settlement of the imported labour
when free.

* Nore.—Mr. Prest has called my attention to the fact that Mr. Bland’s estimate
overlooks the first five years. (The deficit on the first five years should be charged to
capital required for the railway.)

+ By this Act interest must be at such rate as will save the Fund from actual loss
and must not be less than 29%. The price of our money must be fixed by English
market conditions. Consols now stand at 75 to 76 and many Colonial Loans are being
issued at 99 for 4%. The interest mentioned is a rough approximation based upon what
our money would cost us. The loan must be satisfactorily secured by the local legislature.

This is only
a suggestion,
not a hard and
fast scheme.
Both number
and period of
indenture may
be varied.

204 Timehri.

£150,000 should be set aside to provide suitable lands for settle-
ment at the end of the period of indenture. Of this £50,000 might be
spent on any urgent sea defences necessary for the purpose of empolder-
ing the lands required for development. This empoldering scheme would
benefit the coast population in general.

It should be noted that under this scheme there would be 40,000
adults, mostly married couples not reckoning children in the fifth year
and that each person would be paying directly or indirectly nine or ten
dollars to the public revenue or $360,000 per annum or more than double
the amount of the annual interest and Sinking Fund on this head. Present
colony revenue is about $9 per head, paid chiefly in indirect taxation.
With prosperity, consumption of taxable commodities would increase, also
taxable capacity.

At the beginning of the fourth year we should have 16,000 families
4,000 time-served) paying nearly $300,000 to the revenue or more than
enough to pay the interest, deferred interest and Sinking Fund on this
Development Loan.

PRIVATE RAILWAY SCHEME.
There is another question to consider and that is the possible refusal
of the Secretary of State to consider a Government Railway on the
ground that we cannot afford the expense and the risk.

In that case we should ask the Secretary of State to help us to
secure the construction of a leased Government railway or of a private
railway by a reliable firm of contractors on the most advantageous terms
possible to the Colony based upon land grants and a limited number of
years’ subsidy. The terms asked by Colonel Link’s supporters were 10
years at 34 per cent. These terms are hopeless to expect now. In Brazil
the railways are built on a 25 years’ subsidy of 5 per cent. But we
could do better than that on a British Imperial guarantee. I think 15 to
20 years at 4 per cent. would secure what we require. On Mr. Bland’s
figures of 1} millions, interest (spread by amortization over fifty years)
would amount to roughly £40,000 a year, but I have not worked out
this last figure by tables.

FIGURES,

It should be noted that the figures set out below, which make no
pretence to official authority or to actuarial skill, would be somewhat
reduced in a calculation allowing for the fact that the Development loan
would not be fully called up until the beginning of the fifth year nor the
Railway loan until the beginning of the fourth. On the other hand the
annual interest on deferred interest as it accrues. 7.¢., compound interest
is not taken into account so that I have made a rough balance. The
calculation can also be worked out in other ways, ¢.g., on the basis of
deferred payments and at the expiry of the free period payment of a
Combined Sinking Fund comprising all interest charges. The main pomt

scathing etal ieeh adiacatbinain ieee tall samapenatinpiacsenatods

“Timehri” and Development.
/

205

is to give the people of the colony some reasonably accurate idea of

what their ultimate liability will be.
Mr John Bollers to whom I take this o
sincere thanks.

First Three
Years.

Nothing.

The fi

DEVELOPMENT.

After Three

Years.

(aw) £23,437 being
interest at 32 per
cent. on # M. Stg.

(6) Plus interest
on £70,311 being
three years deferr-
ed interest, viz,
£2,197.

(c) Plus Sinking
Fund for 47 years
on 33% basis on
total of loan and
accumulations on
interest—£7,111.

Total
£32,745 for inter-
est and = Sinking
Fund.

After Sia Years.

Do.

Do.

gures have been checked by
pportunity of expressing my

After Twelve
Years.

—_—

Do.

Do.

Do.

Nothing.

RAILWAY.

Nothing.

Half interest on
loan of 1} M. Stg.
at 32°

£19,531.

(a) Full interest
on 1} M loan
£39,062.

(>) Plus interest
on £234,372
amount of first
six years deferr-
ed interest, viz.,
£7,324.

(c) Plus interest
on 2nd six years
deter’d £117,186
Mize, Lo,00n:
(¢) Total on foot
ot Sinking Fund
for 38 vears at
34%, £27,281.

Total £77,329.

Nove. —Sinking Fund is caleulated on the assumption that we ean get 34 per cent. for

our money. We could probably do better.

than 34.

We might also get onr loans at a little less

206 Timehrr.

NOTE BY MR. NUNAN, AFTER FIRST MEETING OF SUB-COMMITTEE.

The hnmigration Agent General thinks £35 per “family” of two
would be nearer the amount of cost. (In the case of Chinese we shall
have the advantage of the Panama Canal after the current year). He
also thinks that there may be difficulty in carrying on two systems of
indenture with different periods, viz., tive years and back passage for the
old system, three without back passage but with land grant for the
supplementary and temporary system. He thinks a scheme based upon
the actual indent of the proprietors offers more advantages, for instance
an agreed indent and a free importation of twice as many as are indented
for on the old system.

Hon. A. P. Sherlock further thinks 4,000 “ families” or 8,000 adults
a year might be more than the estates could handle, mentioning hospital
and housing requirements. Both suggest 5,000 adults a year, the sexes
being about equal in numbers.

These are details which only the lnmigration Department and the
planters can work out. The main point is the sum to be asked for and
the method of application. This must be a fixed sum for the specific
purpose of coast labour and colonization, to avoid subsequent complaints
of unfair application and to enable the situation to be faced as a whole.
The object is to provide indentured labour for the coastlands to replace
any special drawing away of labour entailed by railway and development
in the far interior. The further aim is to secure a suitable population
for the coastlands which ought to be prepared for colonists by irrigation
and drainage under Government schemes.

LATER.

The Scheme actually recommended by the Sub-Committee adopts
the principle and the periods set out above but allocates £150,000
out of the Development Loan of { million stg. to the Railway
Loan for settlement on the lands in the interior, thereby supplementing
His Excellency’s proposal of £50,000 for those lauds. £600,000 remains
earmarked for the Coast labour and colonization. The figures given
above will have to be re-adjusted accordingly making payments on the
Coast development Joan begin at £26,523 in the fourth year and
increasing to £21,875, the Railway payments to begin after the
sixth year. The later figures after the twelfth year will have to be
correspondingly adjusted. The total for both loans will not be much
different from our present estimate. Any deficit on working expenses is
not contemplated after fifth year from opening of railway. As against
expenditure we shall be able te reckon increased population on coast and
interior savannah, general development and railway connection with
Brazil.

“ Timehri”™ and Development. 207

CALCULATIONS ON BASIS OF £600,000 FOR DEVELOPMENT.

First Three Ajter Three After Twelve

J After Sia Years. 2
Years. Years, f Years.

Nothing. (a) £18,750 be-
ing interest at 327 Do. Do.
on £600,000.

(>) Plus interest
on £56,250 being
three years deferr- Do. Do
ed interest, viz.,
STO:

(c) Plus Sinking
Fund for 47 years
on total of loan Do. Do.
and accumulation
on interest-£5 201.

Total £25,708
for interest and
Sinking Fund.

If after + years then— (a) £18,750.
(b) £ 2,343 being interest on £75,000 4
years deferred interest.
(c) £ 5,430 Sinking Fund 46 years.

Total £26,523.

RAILWAY, £1,400,000 (INCLUDING £150,000 ADDITIONAL FOR
DEVELOPMENT.

Nothing. Nothing. Half interest on (a) Full inter-
loan of £1,400,000 est on loan—
at 34% —£21,875. £438,750.

(6) Plus inter-
est on £262,500
amount of first
six years deferred
interest, viz.,

£8,203.

(c) Plus inter-
est on 2nd six
years deferred,
viz., £4,101.

(2) Total on
foot of Sinking
Fund, £23,286
S. F. 38 years.

Total £79,340.

20:8 Timehri.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF RAILWAY PROJECT.

Since the above materials were put together a despatch from the
Secretary of State has been received which is to some extent discourag-
ing in its criticism of the proposals made by His Excellency the Governor
in his despatch on the Hinterland Railway.

As foreshadowed by the Chairman of the Railway Committee at the
first meeting of that body want of knowledge of what the views of the
Secretary of State would be has, to some extent, rendered the previous
work of the Committee useless.

The Secretary of State roundly condemns the proposition of an
advance of capital by the Imperial Government without a definite term
for repayment as one which he cannot place before Parliament. He
considers that more definite data as to probable traffic should be fur-
nished and thinks it ‘not impossible to propound a scheme under which
that development would pay for itself.”

He further lays it down that control of the colony's finances by the
Imperial Government would be an absolutely necessary condition of any
loan.

This latter question is one which in the absence of knowledge of the
Secretary of State's views the Committee had not reported on. The
present Constitution of the colony gives financial control to the Com-
bined Court to the extent of modifying the estimates presented by the
Executive. The Combined Court consists of Officials and Electives, the
latter being in the majority.

A change of Constitution would be required to meet the views of the
Imperial Government. So far as can be seen at present no considerable
opposition is likely to be offered to the necessary change.

A more difficult question is perhaps the framing of a detinite estimate
of traffic returns, on which a scheme of repayment might be based. The
rate of development would of course determine this, and that rate
depends upon

1. The resources available in gold, timber, balata and gums, the graz-
ing possibilities of the savannahs, for cattle, horses, sheep and ostriches,
the agricultural possibilities of the savannahs and forest lands.

2. The available population native and imported.

a]

3. The calibre and enthusiasm of the leading men of the Colony.

4. Dependent upon (3) the interest and confidence created in financial
centres, from which capital for new adventures may be drawn

In regard to (1) a good deal is known and stated above. It has been
too easily assumed that the interior of Guiana is an unknown territory.

There are large areas of it unknown, but there are also quite sufficiently —

large areas about which almost everything vital to the issues is known.

“ Timehri” and Development. 209

Taking the first 70 miles of railway beyond the unobstructed water-
ways, the timber, hitherto uncut and rendered accessible for the first
time, will be found to be similar—except that Greenheart may be
substituted for Mora and Kakeralli—to that in areas of which sectional
surveys have been made by the Forestry Officer (vide, Forest of British
Guiana. Series 1. August, 1912, Append Form No. 7, 8,9, 10,11.) The
area within easy reach of this section of railway embraces, say, 700 square
miles of timber rendered accessible for the first time.

Taking only twenty-six of the timbers counted and tabulated by the
Forestry Officer with the character of which I am familiar and dividing
them according to their uses into five classes the supply of timber
squaring over six inches may be stated for this area as

1. Woods (5) of ‘‘ Mahogany” type... 5,436 logs p. sq. mile.

2. Woods (4)'0f Lance Wood type ...10,501 °,, ,, -, :

3. Faney Woods (4) we Se eee Ome ge ee ak a

4. Soft Woods (3) (Simarupa type) Tacos Dye OME ry" me ev a 55 3

5. Construction timbers (10) AOO0O! Gi50 25 653 :;
Total ee — 42,468

of average girth 40 inches, and length, say, 30 feet, that is 900,000 eub.
ft. of timber per square mile. If one-tenth of the timber in this 70 square
miles is cut in 10 years freight at six cents per cub. ft. on its carriage
to a port of shipment would yield $378,000, plus freight of supplies

earried to the timber grants. Put the possible timber development at
/ $30,000 freight per annum for this section of the railway.

It may be possible for the Committee to work out figures for
other sections and other industries on a conservative basis of traflic
and in a detailed form which will satisfy the Colonial Office that
\at least we know our business at this end, an assurance which will
_go far to further the purpose for which the Committee was appointed.
The figures for balata for example should not be difficult to ascertain,
/ and an allowance for expansion of 50 per cent. would certainly not be
excessive. The Gold Industry’s demands on rail facilities might be
| approximately ascertained within a small percentage of error. The live
| stock figures have no present basis of caleulation, but a nominal
annual sum might be set against that prospect.

/ The extent of the rubber exploitation of the Rio Negro and _ its
| tributaries is not easy to ascertain, but it is a very large industry and
| quantities of supplies are used which would certainly be more economi-
\cally carried to the working base via a border railway. There is indeed
ja probability that this wild rubber area would be put in a position to
jcompete with plantation rubber more successfully than it has ever done
before. It is well known that the very highest class of Para rubber is

210 Timehri.

found in that district, the rubber of the lower flooded areas being
inferior in quality. A moderate sum may be added to the freight account

tentatively on this score.

It will thus be seen that the shibboleth, as it has become, of an |
unknown hinterland is becoming anachronistic, if it has not already _
become so. The Hinterland Railway Committee have the opportunity of
putting together cold figures which may freeze stray facts together into
a form so substantial that the most obtuse will scarcely be able to deny
the real existence of a business proposition in railway freights to and
from the interior, which depends for its development solely on the fore-
sight, capacity, energy and business acumen of the commercial men of the _

colony.

RAILWAYS, TWELVE YEARS’ AFTER.

By JosepH J. Nunan, LL.D., ATTORNEY GENERAL.

By his despatch of 5th January, 1914, to the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, His Excellency Sir Walter Egerton has brought the idea of
opening up the interior of British Guiana from the domain of theory to
one of discussion of the practical details. For this the colony owes him
avery great debt of gratitude which it has not been slow to acknowledge.
By securing the services of Mr. Bland for a flying inspection of the route,
by visiting the Rupununi Savannahs personally and by voicing in no
uncertain tones his belief in the possibilities of the interior and in the
feasibility of a trunk-line to Manaos, the capital of the Amazon Valley,
he has done much to rout the pessimists and to determine the waverers.
He has a firm belief in the future of British South America and in its vast
resources. He agrees with those pioneers of the movement who have,
for some years, been advocating that Georgetown should regard itself as
destined to be a great South American port, the terminus of a railway
which should not alone tap the Amazon Valley but should form the
northern section of a line linking us in a short time with Uruguay,
Chile and the Argentine.

The scheme of a trunk-line to Manaos was, so far as I can ascertain,
first discussed as a practical proposal at my house in Kingston in
September, 1907. I had left the colony for a short holiday early in July
and had lent the house to the late Colonel Link who expected to be gone
before my return. He was not able to conclude his business as early as
he had expected, and on my arrival I invited him to stay until he was
ready to leave for home. He was an elderly man in somewhat delicate
health, but with a cultured and attractive personality. He eventually
sailed three weeks later. My previous acquaintance with him had
arisen from my having been envaged on behalf of the Crown in a
successful defence (in association with the present Chief Justice, then
Attorney General) to his action against the Government about a
rubber lease. Subsequent to this period, however, I acted for him
/as counsel in the long and troublesome negotiations, here and in
England, which led to the formation of the Consolidated Rubber and
Balata Estates. If his plans had been carried out as conceived
and at the time contemplated, this colony would probably have attract-
ed a great deal of attention in 1909 among growers of rubber. As
it was the colony met only the ebb tide of the rubber boom and endured
indignities accordingly. He had prophesied the rubber development but
| his counsels fell upon deaf ears. Colonel Link returned to the colony in
) March, 1908. He informed me that he had interested many of his former
friends and financial supporters in the scheme which we had discussed

212 Timehrr.

with the aid of a map in the previous September. We had had no
correspondence in the interval. I learned that he had formed and
registered a Syndicate containing some well-known financial names, and
that he was satistied that capital could be found for construction on the
basis of a ten years’ guarantee of 54 per cent. plus a land grant
in cece blocks on the lines of that given to the Canadian Pacific.
With the previous knowledge of the Government I drew up a scheme
and wrote for him the application of 8th April, 1908, but had to —
withdraw soon after from professional. connection with the scheme, _
as it was clear that Sir Frederic Hodgson would not consider it. —
Colonel Link gave up negotiation as hopeless and, against advice, pub-
lished the correspondence in the Press, which transferred the imatter
to the political arena. As a Government officer, although with right
of private practice, I could not deal with the matter further pro-
fessionally. The nominal fee I received, I returned. Colonel Link’s
personality no doubt complicated the case and the fact that he had
either been made bankrupt or had made a composition with his ere-
ditors during the troubles of the South African market, as to which
he made no secret whatsoever, prejudiced his advocacy in a some-
what conservative but solvent community. I never quite learned
the facts of his financial misfortunes but was assured, on what
I regarded as very good authority, that they were not discreditable to _
him individually but were due to difficulties caused by the war. To the _
last he remained able to influence considerable sums of capital. His
occupation, however, at this declining and least successful stage of his
life, was that of company promoter. In that suspected capacity he
deserved well of this colony for he advocated schemes that were perfectly
sound and made no attempt to water his stock.

Colonel Link returned to the colony in November, 1911. I had
severed my professional connection with him on the formation of the
Consolidated in 1909 and never renewed it. Had I withdrawn earlier the
combination would have collapsed and innocent negotiators would have
suffered. In a small community itis difficult to secure differentiation of
professional and personal responsibility, but I had no wish to repeat my
experiences. He was still hopeful of his trunk railway. An English
Syndicate had with his assistance been formed which had secured a
valuable concession from the State of Amazonas to build the Bra-
alian end of the line from Manaos. A flying survey had been made-
to our frontier opposite Boa Vista by their engineer, Mr. Targett.—
The line followed by the engineer can be seen “drawn on the map
of the Amazon Valley, at the entrance -to the Royal Agricultural ime
Commercial Society's Rooms. In consequence of Brazilian ‘requirements 4
as to gauge, his original scheme of a standard or 4 feet 84 inch —
gauge had been altered to the metre. Colonel Link had many other —
projects afoot but he died in January, 1912. The Syndicate for the —
Brazilian section melted into air, I never ascertained its exact compo-
sition Messrs. Farquhar secured another concession later, but have —
relinquished it for political reasons,

Railways, Twelve Years After. 213

~ To Colonel Link, without a doubt, must be ascribed the first effort to
carry into effect any such project. I read with pleasure His Excellency’s
reference to this fact at his lecture in the Reading Rooms during the visit
of Her Highness Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, and [I am
obliged to him for his remarks about my own long-standing identification
with the railway ambitions of the colony. For a long time I had to
stand almost alone like, Charlotte Corday, ‘a Republican before the
Revolution,” and the somewhat unregulated enthusiasm of many of the
recent converts induces a smile when one recalls their unreasoning
opposition at the outset.

As the scheme was one which some few of us thoroughly favoured,
Mr. King, the Crown Solicitor, being an early and persistent advocate,
we were not inclined to see it altogether abandoned. The first step
was the formation of a Joint Railway Committee for the purpose
of ventilatino the subject. As President of the Royal Agricultural
and Commercial Society, | took the initiative and the late George
Garnett, C.M.G., was the first chairman. It consisted of delegates
from the various representative bodies. ‘To this Committee I re-
ported in March, 1912, the information | had gained in London
during a fortnight’s visit as to the possibilities of the scheme of
a railway receiving favour either in official or financial circles. With
the prospects on both points, I was verywell satisfied and the Committee
was much interested. It said ‘“ Macte virtute, puer,” or words to that
effect. “A member of the Joint Railway Committee” reviewed the
whole position in an article in 7imehri in July, 1912, which Mr. Harcourt
told me he has read with interest. The Committee then decided to
await the result of the investigations which, it was understood, His
Excellency would make as to the possibilities, as soon as feasible after his
arrival. It has never met since.

His Excellency has now on the advice of his Council submitted his
proposal of a Government railway, to be built with Imperial assistance,
aiming to link up eventually with Brazil, to the consideration of the
most representative Committee which has ever sat in this colony. It
was communicated to the Secretary of State in a despatch dated 5th
January, 1914, which was locally published on 10th February. It has
been somewhat misinterpreted, the more popular supposition being that
it was a proposal to the Secretary of State to make the Colony a
present of 14 million sterling in return for its Constitution. On careful
perusal it is clear that His Excellency intended to suggest a contribution
by the Colony to its own development. The lines which this should
take or the amount of the contribution is not indicated and the subject
was evidently meant to be dealt with by later discussion.

The Committee comprises the unofficial members of the Combined
Court, many members of the Executive Council, delegates from the Royal
Agricultural and Commercial Society, Chamber of Commerce and
Planters’ Association and representatives of the Mining and Balata

214 Timehri.

industries. The whole future of the colony will depend upon the
soundness and moderation of the advice given by this Committee. We
all sincerely hope that it will not fail to rise to the height of its great
opportunity. The problem is not only a financial one, it involves also
the necessity of taking measures to secure to the coast industries their
labour supply during the period of construction, and migration, at
a rate not greatly exceeding the present, in view of the depreciated
condition of the sugar market and of the fact that the sugar industry
contributes some 75 per cent. both to our exports and to our general
revenue. The withdrawal of nine or ten thousand free labourers
for the railway would mean the collapse of the industry and the temporary
ruin of the colony.

The question of the construction of a railway has been linked
for the moment with the surrender of the treaty privilege of a popular
majority in the financial body or Combined Court. To alter this
an Imperial Act will be required. Opinion is very much divided
as to the advisability and as to the necessity of this suggested sur-
render. The actual statutory requirements are those of the Colonial
Loans Act, 1899, which require that the loan shall be satisfactorily
secured by an Act of the local Legislature. There seems little doubt but
that an expression of opinion from the Secretary of State, or a statement

by him of the financial situation as laid down by the English Treasury

woud produce a satisfactory and virtually unanimous solution.

In the absence of any other definite proposals I submitted the
following memorandum to the Committee and Sub-Committee. It has been
adopted in substance and principle by the Sub-Committee. The view of
the Committee and of the Colony remains to be seen.*

* Nore.—It has since been adopted by the Committee as embodied in the
Sub-Committee’s Report. The principal alteration is the substitution of eight and
sixteen years for the proposed six and twelve years’ exemption and partial exemption,
This wonld make the payments after eight years about £28,000 and after sixteen years
about £84,000 for railways and savannah development.

SOME CONTROVERTED POINTS OF LOCAL LAW
WITH RESPECT. TO LEASES.

By L. C. DALTON.

There exists in this colony some difference of opinion in legal minds
on the subject of leases, especiaily with reference to what constitutes the
proper execution thereof, and some useful purpose may be served by
putting on record what to my mind is requisite in such cases, together
with the reasons for my opinion. If I am correct there is no doubt
that many of the long leases which have been executed in this colony
(though it is not a form of tenure which at present can be said to be
common) are of doubtful validity, though they have possibly received
some element of official recognition from the fact that they have prob-
ably been executed notarially. In many cases it has been deemed suffi-
cient to sign such leases before a notary, but in my opinion such execu-
tion is not in conformity with the requirements of the law. How it
origina‘ed I have been unable to ascertain, but it may have some relation
to the practice of executing mortgages notarially, which practice was, I
am told, a lowed in this colony a considerable number of years ago, until
in the absence of any statutory sanction better opinions prevailed point-
ing to the necessity of judicial execution for their validity.

As regards leases at any rate, the present law and practice is most
unsatisfactory and uncertain, and a useful purpose alone will have been
served if this paper could but result, by giving cause for search and dis-
cussion, in putting both the law and the practice on the subject of leases
on a definite and ascertainable basis.

For the benefit of the many lay readers of ‘ 'Timehri,” perhaps [ may
be allowed to say here that to ascertain the meaning of the word ‘‘ lease ”
reference may be had to Webster, who tells us that a lease is ‘‘a demise
or letting of lands or tenements to another for life, fora term of years, or
at will or for any less interest than the lessor has in the property, for a
rent or compensation reserved.” Stroud tells us ‘‘a lease doth properly
signify a deinise or letting of lands, rent, common or any hereditament,
unto another for a lesser time than he that doth let it hath in it.” He
adds that ‘the word ‘lease’ does not in law import a written instrument
except in those cases where by statute a writing is required.” This is of
interest in comparing the requirements of English law of which he speaks
with those of Roman Dutch law. We have no ‘Statute of Frauds” in
British Guiana, nor have we any statute which deals with the subject
except a solitary provision in Ordinance 6 of 1880 which requires the
deposit of any lease in the Kegistrar’s Oflice before any transfer thereof
| shall be valid. The law on the subject in this colony then is to be found
in the Common law of the colony. ‘To ascertain what the Common law

216 Timehri.

requires, reference must be had to such decided cases as have been heard
in this co'ony and in other places where the Common law is the same as
ours. It is to be regretted that the British Guiana law reports are not of
much assistance, long periods elapsing during which no repor's were
issued. Such cases, however, as can be found will first be referred to, and
then cases decided in South Africa will be considered.

To commence then with local cases. In the ease of wn re J. Figueira,
ex parte J. P. Santos & Co. (Insolvency, 4. 9. 1901), I submit the
learned Judge (Swan J.) went wrong in not distinguishing between leases
for a short period and Jeases in longum tempus. In this case he is
dealing with a lease for ten years, which comes within the category of
leases in longuin tempus. Applying the judgment arrived at in Haynes
yv. Bishop (28. 2. 1865), he states that the recording or depositing of the
lease is not necessary in this colony to render the same pleadable in a
Court of law here, but he goes further and states that such a lease need
not bein writing at all. In effect he lays down that a lease for ten
years need not be in writing. If he had confined such a finding to leases
for any period under ten years I think he would have been correct, but to
state that a lease for a period of ten years or longer need not be in writ-
ing is, I submit, quite wrong.

I have been able to find no authority which requires short leases
(i.e., under ten years) to be in writing, unless as already mentioned above,
any party should wish to have such a lease transferred. Under the pro-
visions of Section 27, Ordinance 6, 1880, no transfer of any lease shall
be “good, valid or effectual in law” unless, amongst other requirements,
the original lease is deposited in the Registrar's Office. This would
necessarily mean the reduction of the lease to writing. The formalities,
however, do not take the place of other formalities which are required in
the case of the execution of long leases, and to such section 27 would
not apply. Any lease executed before a Judge is retained in the office
and put on record just as is any transport or mortgage.

In South Africa, prior to the settlement of the question by statute
(which example should be followed in this colony) the question was un-
settled, or rather the Courts had given opposing judgments. It would ~
seem that the Placaat of 1744 in Holland was the first definite require-
ment of what may be called the registration of all leases for a period of
25 years and upwards. In the case of Maynard v. Usher (2 Menzies
170) heard in the year 1845, it was held that this Placaat was not law in
Cape Colony and that a lease for 99 years neither required registration
nor paid transfer duty. In the case of Herbert v7. Andarson (2 Menzies
166) the Court also held that a parole lease for a year, followed by
possession, was paramount to a subsequent written lease. In the Orange
Free State, however, we find it held that the Placaat of 1744 was law, in
so far as it required leases of 25 years and more to be registered, but that
leases for less than that term were valid without registration. (Fichardt
and others v. Webb, 1889. GC. L. J. 258.)

a A A a ean iin, Ste

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Some Controverted Points of Local Law with Respect to Leases. 217

In Green v. Griffiths (4 58. C. 346) Sir Henry (now Lord) De Villiers
refers to both cases, Maynard v. Usher and Herbert 7. Anderson. He
says: “ The case of Maynard v. Usher (2 Menzies 170) is generally cited
in support of the proposition that a lease, however long, is binding upon
a purchaser of the land from the lessor, but this proposition is too wirlel y
stated, for the purchaser, in that case, inal full notice of the long lease of
ninety-nine years, which was in fact annexed to and registered with his
transfer deed. ‘The Court decided that the Placaat of the 9th of May,
1744, was not in force in this colony, but even before 1744 it was the
better opinion that a lease was not binding upon the particular successor
of the lessor unless it was made coram judice rei sitae or unless if made
by a private contract it was for a shorter period than ten years.
(Groeneweg ad. Cod. 4. 65.9.) A lease for a longer period than ten years
was regarded as a virtual alienation of the property. The Placaat of
1744 extended this period to twenty-five years and required all leases for
that period or longer to be duly registered in the same way as every other
alienation of immovable property.” As stated above, any doubt on the
point has now been settled by statute which is on the lines of the Flacaat
above referred to. It is most desirable that there should be legislation on
the point in this colony, for the law here is as it was in South Africa
before the statute in question was passed. Decisions here are very few
and those that are on record are not all very satisfactory.

The case of Administrator General v. Da Silva (L. J. 20. 12. 1902)
also decided by Mr. Justice Swan, takes us still further from the law as it
exists in this colony, for there he lays down unequivocally that “a lease
of land is a chattel, that is, movable property.” In support of his finding
he quotes an order ona petition dated 8th October, 1881, made by Mr.
Justice Semper (in the absence of the Chief Justice Sir David Chalmers)
to the following effect : ‘“‘ The warrant of execution prayed for is not
necessary as the right title and interest of the within named Manoel
D’Oliveira in and to the lease of the piece of land herein mentioned, with
the building thereon, must be regarded as movable property.” Reference
to the original petition does not show for what term the lease existed, but
the fact that a return was made that no movable property could be found
and that application was made to the Court for leave to levy on immov-
able property shows that at that time at any rate opinions differed. If
the lease in question was for ten years or upwards, the order, I submit,
was wrong,

I am supported in my opinion of the finding in Administrator
General v. Da Silva (whi supra) by Mr. Justice Hewick in his judgment in
the case of De Freitas v. Gonsalves (L. J. 18. 4. 1904.) Mr. Hewick
states he is unable to agree with the decision in that case; he adds that
he fails to see how a lease can be the subject of an interpleader suit (7. ¢.,
that it is nota movable), but is of opinion that the sale at execution of the
right title and interest in a lease of land can be opposed (i. ¢., that it is
immovable. )

218 Timehr.

The general rule is that all questions concerning the property in im-
movables, including the forms of conveying them, are decided by the lex
situs (Westlake, Private International Law 221), and Professor Westlake
specially calls attention to the rejection in England of the lea loci actus
for the form of conveyance. Though we are not concerned here with
the law in England in respect of leases, it is of interest to note that he
points out that though terms of years in land are personal estate by
English law, yet they are recognised in England as being immovyables for
the. purpose of private international law and are governed by the lex situs.
That difficulties arise from this two-fold character of English leaseholds
is not surprising, and in this connection it is hardly necessary to do
more than eall attention to the difficulties which arise when the rules of
succession to English personalty are considered. The case, however, of
In ve Moses, Moses v. Valentine (1908. 2. Ch. 235) before Mr. Justice
Swinfen Eady is of special import here, having reference to the fact that
it touches on the subject of Roman-Dutch law. Following previous cases
he held, in a matter arising out of an English will, that the succession of
leascholds for years in the Transvaal “depends on Roman-Dutch law
(lex loci rei sitae) although the testator was domiciled in England.

‘the character of leases in Roman-Dutch law has been discussed and
considered in several cases in South Africa, though as already stated
seldom in this Colony. In the case ex parte Master of the Supreme Court
(1906. T. S. 563) a question arose as to the investment of moneys in the
Guardian’s Fund on mortgages of immovable property, and the point to
be decided was whether a stand (or lot as we should eall it here) in
Johannesburg granted by a gold-mining company for a term of ninety-
pine years was immovable property. In the course of his judgment Sir
James Rose Innes pointed out that the stand had been transferred to its
holder by a deed singularly like that used in the ordinary conveyance of
landed property, but being in effect a deed of lease with a currency of
ninety-nine years, “The point is whether the rights given under a
document of this nature are property included in the term ‘immovable
property ’ as used in the section...... If the rights are immovable property
the fact remains that the document which confers them is in essence a
lease an longum tempus, and this result would follow, that the Master

would be justified in advancing money upon ordinary leases for ten years —

and upwards.” In considering the Common law meaning of the term
‘immovable property” he has ref rence to Van der Keessel (Thes. 178),
Voet (ad Pandectas 1. 8. 18) and Matthzus (de Auctionibus 1. 3. 13, and
de Criminibus 48, 20, 4, 21.), and states, as regards leases in longum
tempus: “The Court has held that as leases of this kind approach very
nearly to actual alienation they are not valid against singular successors

of the grantor without notice unless they are registered in the Deeds

Office.” And when considering the application of this case to British
Guiana, it must be remembered that registration in the Deeds Office has
by statute in South Africa replaced the method of execution required
under the Common law. The Court then held that the lease under con-
sideration was immovable property.

Pent hh PPS ese EMD bd,

Some Controverted Points of Local Law with Respect to Leases. 219

A more recent case, Breytenbach v. Frankel Hochstadter (1913.
T. S. 301) was decided as recently as May last. In this case it was held
that a lease of property for ten years or upwards is a lease in longum
tempus and is equivalent to an alienation. It was further held that a
contract (in this case a lease fora period of 16 years) alienating minor's
property which had been entered into by a guardian on behalf of a
minor or by the minor with the assistance of his guardian is not ipso jure
null and void, but is merely voidable on the minor’s attaining majority.
Judge President de Villiers points out in his judgment that Sande in his
treatise on Restraints upon Alienation, contests the doctrine that a lease
in longum tempus can be considered to be an alienation, or that, as it
were, the dominium was transferred. ‘‘Whatever may be the technical
view,” however, he adds, ‘the views ef the Doctors have prevailed and
been acted upon for many centuries, viz., that virtually such a lease
amounts to an alienation.” The same view was taken in an earlier case
in the same Court. Canavan and Rivas v. New Transvaal Gold Farms
(1904, 'T. S. 146). And see also Collins ». Hugo and another (Hertzog
p. 203) where Mr. Justice Kotze, then Chief Justice of the South African
Republic, described a lease for 99 years as a sepurata bonorwum species
and to be classed under the category of immovable rather than movable
property.

With such authorities as given above, it is hardly necessary further
to consider the nature of leases in longus tempus. To make this paper
complete, however, it is now necessary to ascertain what is the method
whereby the transfer of ownership in immovable property is effected.
In eases where such transfer is specially provided by statute, asin the
ease of the Insolvency Ordinance (See Sec. 49, Ord. 29, 1901) reference
need merely be had to the Ordinance in question, but in the case of im-
movable property generally, the conveyance thereof is with few exceptions
governed in this Colony by the Common law. To effect a valid transfer
Maasdorp points out that the following essentials are required (Institutes
11.62.) :— That the thing transferred be capable of being owned, that the
transferor be the owner of the thing, or have authority to dispose of the
ownership, together with an intention to transfer the ownership to the
transferee, that the transferee accept the transfer, that there be juste
causa or legal consideration for the transfer, and tally, that the delivery
or transfer be made according to law. It is the last requirement which
concerns this paper. To proceed again to South African law reports in
the absence of anything bearing on the point in the local reports we fiud
in Harris v. Buissinne’s Trustee (2 Menzies, 105) it laid down that: “ By
the law of Holland the dominium or jus in re of immovable property can
only be conveyed by transfer made coram lege loci and this species of
transfer is as essential to divest the seller of and invest the buyer with the
dominium or jus in ve of immovable property as actual traditio. is to
convey the dominium of movables, and the delivery of actual possession of
immovable property has no force or legal effect whatever in transferring
its dominium. ‘This rule of the law of Holland was not a mere fiscal
regulation. It was with the rest of the law of Holland introduced into

220 Timehri.

this (Cape) Colony on its first settlement and has been acted on invariably
ever since, except that, by certain Colonial laws, the Registrar of Deeds
has been substituted for the Magistrates kefore whom in Holland transfers
were by law required to be made.” There has been no such change in
British Guiana and such transfers have still to be made before the Judges.
The words quoted above may be applied to this Colony. This rule as to
transfer was introduced into this Colony, with the law of Holland, on its
first settlement and has been acted on invariably (with occasional lapses)
ever since. ‘There is no statute or ordinance changing in any way this
solemn legal transfer of immovable property, but rather such references
as we have in any ordinance, as is to be expected, assume that the re-
quirements of the Common law are complied with. Such a reference is
to be met with in Section 26, Ord. 6., 1880 (Registrar’s Ordinan3e} which
deals with the execution and custody of transports and mortgages, ete.
There it is laid down that “any transport, mortgage, lease, or other
document executed before a Judge may in the discretion of such Judge,
be executed in any part of the Colony.” The execution before the Judge
is naturally assumed, because, unlike Cape Colony, we have here never
replaced the requirements of the Common law with any statutory pro-
visions or brought the system up to date. And to digress somewhat
here, it is of great interest to read what Mr. Justice Wessels (the author
of a well-known History of Roman-Dutch law) says in his judgment in
the case Houtpoort Syndicate v. Jacobs (1904. T. S. 105). “In the
Roman law,” he says, ‘‘ we find nothing about registration in the transfer
of land. In Western Europe, however, a custom sprang up in many
places which required the seller and the purchaser to appear before some
official and to state in the presence of witnesses that a sale of land had
taken place. The transaction was then noted in a book kept specially for
the purpose. This custom prevailed throughout the greater part of the
Netherlands and was in the time of Grotius regarded as an inveter-
ate custom. In many parts of the Netherlands, in addition to the

registration, the sale had to be publicly proclaimed on three Saturdays —

or on three church days (Recht. Obs. part 3. obs. 32). There can there-
fore be but little doubt that the registration (or passing as we would call

it in British Guiana) coram judice loci rev sitae was for the purpose —

of publicity, partly that Jand should not be sold twice over to different
purchasers and partly so that persons who had any claims upon the lands
night assert these claims before the purchaser took possession. In

Holland the registration took place before the Schepenen of the district

where the land was situated. The system of registration was afterwards, |
by vari us Placaats, extended to hy pothecations, servitudes, and other
burdens. When the Dutch scttled in the Cape Colony they brought over

from Holland this system of registration and the titles to land granted by.

the Governors were registered before the Commissioners of the Court of —

Justice. No sales of this land and no servitudes imposed thereon were

©
recognised unless these were registered against the title before they
(Coningenontra

RN eee: —_

Some Controverted Points of Local Luw with Respect to Leases, 221

Immovable property then in this colony can only be conveyed or
transferred by formal solemn transfer before a Judge. It is essential to
divest the seller of and invest the buyer with the dominium. Such
transfer is, however, a formality, and can in no way make a transfer which
is bad in itself, as for instance owing to some defect in the title of the
seller, into a good and valid transfer. Nor can a mortgagor mortgage
property which is not his own, even though such a mortgage should be
permitted to be passed. A lease im longum tempus and a servitude (see
Steele v. Thompson L. R. British Guiana, Vol. 11. Old Series, 1860, p. 43)
is in the same position and must be executed coram legi loci, which is
before a Judge. It may be noted here that the case of Steele v. Thomp-
son above quoted went to the Privy Council, the local judgment being
there upheld.

An opinion has been expressed by a late Chief Justice and has in
practice been given effect to in this Colony that leases of Crown lands do
not come within the Common law requirements as to execution. The
reasons for that opinion I have been unable to obtain nor can I find any
provision in the Crown Lands Ordinance (Ne. 32 of 1903) dealing with
the matter. We have seen above that :n anotler colony all grants of
land by Governors of that colony were registered before the Commission-
ers of the Court of Justice, whilst in this colony the registration of all
such grants is provided for by statute in the Department of | ands and
Mines (Ord. 31,1903). It may be that such registration is taken to re-
place the requirement of formal execution, though if so one would expect
some definite pronouncement in the Ordinance to that effect. ‘The
opinion referred to above distinguished between Crown land and what
we know as Colony land, a distinction in my humble opinion with very
little difference. Colony land would seem to be nothing but the land of
His Majesty the King in his Colonial Government whilst Crown land
presumably is the land of His Majesty the King in His Imperial Govern-
ment. Land also which has been purchased locally by the Imperial
Coverrment cannot be described ctherwise than as Crown land, whatever
restrictions on use or alienation may be attached to it. Subject to what
I have stated above, J can find no authority for the exemption of leases om
longum tempus of Crown land from the Common law requirements as to
the formality of execution and it is most desirable that if there is no
authority for the present practice (notarial execution) that it should
either be legalised or discontinued. But have we not been assured that
our troubles wil] be at an end when the Common Law Commissioners
have reported and have su] plied a panacea for all our ills? Should such
report deal with the subject of Registration of Title it is to be hoped that
the minor matter of the registration of leases will not be forgotten.

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mae) SeA DEFENCES OF SRITISH GUIANA.

By H. SIccaMa.

At the time that the alluvial soil forming the coastlands of Guiana
was deposited, the circuinstances were different from those at present
preyailing. The flood currents approached the coast from the north-
east instead of from the south-east, as they do now. This is indicated
by the direction of all the old estuaries, which opened their entrances to
the north-east, whereas now they are all slewing round to the south-
east.

While the alluvium was being deposited the mean sea-level must
have been lower in relation to the land, as otherwise the shell reefs and
sand ridges must have been higher to form a reticule of lagoons where
fresh-water plants could exist and flourish and aid in the general rise of
the surface. Most of those reefs and ridges are below the present high-
water level and would be overflown at high tides if it were not for the
sea-daims, such as they are. What this means can be seen on the east
coast of Berbice, where what were at one time cultivated lands are now
brackish swamps.

Most likely too the dry land must have extended very much further
seaward than the coast-line as it appeared when the first settlers arrived
in the Guianas. The first depths of their plantations were then laid well
back from the coast-line, so that their sea-dams were protected from
surf by the courida and other trees left in front.

What the reason may be for the encroachment by the sea is difficult
to determine in the absence of trustworthy information. It may be due
to a slow oscillation of the earth’s crust, as is the case in other parts of
the world, through which the surface of the ground sinks with regard te
the mean sea-level. It may also be that while the alluvial ground was
deposited the form of the sea-bottom far out at sea was different, so that
the coast of the mainland was more sheltered than now from heavy seas
and there existed a bay between headlands—that to the north Trinidad
and to the south Cayenne.

Whatever the state of things may have been many centuries ago
cannot be ascertained with the information at our disposal. We only
know that the coast-line is everywhere eroded, not so much by littoral
currents like on the east coast of England and the west coast of Holland
and Belgium as by the action of the surf, locally called the wash.

This wash does not act with the same energy all along the coast-
line, but intermittently. Sometimes it is bad at one spot, in other years
at another. It may be that where there is a temporary rest of the wash
such a spot may at the time be more or less protected by banks travel-

224 Timehrr.

ling with the littoral current and moving from east to west. The coast
under the lee of the gaps between such banks would then be more ex-
posed than the neighbouring parts. If the wash was only due to the
slow sinking of the ground the erosion would be everywhere the same
and constant.

That coast erosion is solely due to the surf is proved by the absence
of littoral currents strong enough to carry away the eroded ground. In
fact, this current coastwise over the broad flats is hardly perceptible, and
the courida bush undermined and thrown down remains floating or lying
where it falls. There certainly are stronger currents in and ‘out of the
estuaries, but in well-defined channels, and they hardly affect the mud-
flats on either side, except in so far as these channels are slewing round
more and more to the east towards the incoming tide.

It is probable, that when the first plantations were laid out the
wash was already active and had been so for centuries before. The
planters laid their front-dam back from the coast-line, as it was at that
time. These embankments, protected as they were then by a wide belt
of courida bush, needed no greater dimensions than the back-dams,
where they only had to keep out the bush water. But as the sea-dams
became exposed to the surf by the washing away of the courida these old
dams were no longer strong enough and often not high enough to resist
the oncoming waves. If at the time of these first symptoms the case had
been understood, these sea-cykes should have been at once strengthened
and covered with stone or hard material on the outside. But instead of
this the most trivial and useless devices were resorted to. For instance,
in some cases faggots of brushwood held down by young trees, driven
through them vertically and built up on the seaside of eroded dams,
were supposed to keep off the surf. But not being properly tied back
to the dam, they swayed backward and forward with every wave and
acted on the wet surface like a brush, making the destruction worse.
Then somebody had heard of groynes without really understanding the
principle of them,—that is, their use being to keep a current away from
the dam. but no perceptible current existing, these groynes were worse
than useless, in fact they added another cause of damage. The West
Best groin is an instance of this mistaken policy and had no power to
stop the destruction of the estates behind it.

The only efficacious remedy against the continuous loss of land is a
really properly constructed embankment with a good stone covering on
the seaward slope. But the best made work requires maintenance; if
not maintained it becomes ruinous. Even the pyramids of Egypt are in
ruins for Jack of timely repairs.

If stone is not obtainable concrete blocks may be used, as there is
excellent coarse sand obtainable in the colony as a covering. Ferro-
concrete can also be used and is at present much in favour in Holland,
It is light, an advantage where used on new-made dams, and compares”
favourably as to cost with a covering of natural stone—at least in Holland}

PO et:

The Sea Defences of British Guiana.

we

225

The whole question of defending the land from the sea lies in the
value of the laid protested. And this really is the cause of so many
estates being abaadoned. The sea-dams were too costly to keep up,
even with the puerile and frivolous systems employed. It has been said,
too, that often sums were booked to sea defences which, properly
speaking, should have been charged to buildings or planting. But that
is no concern for the colony in general.

Ifthe colonists do not wish their alluvial lands to be ultimately
swamped they should take the matter in hand while there is still time.
An Ordinance by which all the sea defences of the colony would be taken
in hand by the Goverament would not be such a grievous affair. With
along pulland strong pull and a pull altogether, ‘the whole thing could
be made thoroughly efficient.

It would not be such a stupendous affair after all. Great stretches of
coastline would require little expense. For instance, the Demerara East
Coast. The further the Sugar and Dauatless Banks on the Essequebo
extend the less the wash will be on the mainland coast. The Best and
Windsor and neighbouring estates are in a worse plight, as the waves
there, coming through the Demerara channel, run up higher there
than further to the west but if aleading dam be built from the East
Best groyae toward the Demerara bar these estates will then be under the
Jee of such a dam and it would be worth while to reclaim them then.
Such a leading dam is the only efficient remedy to the continual shallow-
ing of the Demerara bar and channel, caused by the deposit from the

HEssequebo East channel sweeping right across the fairway to the Dem-
rara River.

The whole matter should now be taken in hand thoroughly. For
the last forty years all sorts and conditions of men have been consulted
—amateurs from the highlands of Scotland and Wales, sugar planters,
worthy sea captains, mechanical engineers, and others with an axe to
grind. Some of their advice may be useful; the proposed nostrums of
others are remarkable, to say the least of them. There ought now to be
information enough to act upon.

If you want to keep an enemy out of the country you must spend
money on soldiers, sailors and guns. If you want to keep the sea out
you must spend it on proper sea defences. If not the sea will encroach
more and more till Georgetown will perhaps remain an island surrounded
with mudflats, with here and there a piece of old wall or a crushing mill
sticking out. Perhaps also Georgetown will go like Nickerie, and people
will have to go to the Sand Hills. The climate there is salubrious and
residence pleasant, as is proved by the remains of country houses and
gardens of old. Life will be quite worth living there for people who can
find something to eat. But whether this delightful spot will be easily
reached from the sea with the Demerara channel no longer navigable is
another question that will have to be considered when the time comes.

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fae MUNICIPALITY OF GEORGETOWN.

By Luxe M. Hitt, B.E., M.Inst.C.E.
(Honorary Life Member, R. A. and C. Society.)

1 readily comply with a request from the Editor of *‘ Timehri” to
write an article on the Georgetown Municipality, prompted, Ll have no
doubt, by his knowledge of my long association with its administration
as one of its chief executive officers.

My distance from official records will, however, I fear prove a dis-
advantage, as in the absence of facilities of reference to them, I can only
depend on my memory, aided by some notes of events taken by me from
time to time in the course of my official life.

The older history of Georgetown has already been related by Mr.
J. Rodway in ‘“ The Story of Georgetown,” published as a serial in “The
Argosy ” February to May, 1885; and retold, with some additions, by
Mr. Laurie Thomas in two interesting lectures delivered by him at the
Middle School, Georgetown, in July and October, 1912, so there is no
necessity to repeat it: suffice it to say that the Municipality of George-
town dates from the year 1857, when it was incorporated by Ordinance
No. 2 of 1857, during the Governorship of Sir James Carmichael Smyth,
mC. M.G., replacing the old Board of Police which had administrative
charge of Georgetown up to that date.

The first meeting of the Mayor and Town Council was held on the
27th May, 1837, at which were present the following duly elected Coun-
eillors :—

Hon. JoHN CRoaAL WitiiAmM Bruce FerGuson
Hon. Huecnr McCatmont ALEXANDER WISHART

J. V. NEDDERMAN SamMugEL D. Lanpry

Huen Rogers TEORGE BOOKER

Henry Howes.

From amongst these the Hon. John Croal was unanimously elected
first Mayor of Georgetown. In connection with this historic roll of
ancient and worthy ‘city fathers,” it is interesting to note that three
grandsons of one of the number are at the present time in the service of
the Corporation: also that No. 2 on the list, the Hon. Hugh McCalmont,
was a forebear of that well known Irish sportsman and race-horse owner,
Colonel McCalmont, now succeeded by his son, Captain McCalmont,
owner of the celebrated winner “The Tetrarch” which at the last
moment was scratched for this year’s Derby !

Mr. David Rose was the tirst Town Clerk of Georgetown; but at
the start there was in addition a Secretary to the Mayor and Town

228 Timehri.

Council, the two offices being amalgamated a few years later. There
were several successive Town Clerks up to my time, when I found the
office worthily filled by my old friend and namesake Mr. Jacobus C. R.
ae whose portrait hangs in the Town Hall : he always claimed to be the

“ corporation ” of the May or and Town Council! He was followed in
1892 by Mr. P. P. Fairbairn, who was succeeded in 1910 by the present
holder of the office Mr. J. Barrington Woolford, a former Mayor of the
city.

In the matter of Town Superintendents the Corporation was pecu-
liarly fortunate in being but seldom troubled with the necessity of
making new appointments, as in the course of its seventy years exist-
ence, only four such officers had to be appointed, namely :—

WititiamM Lyne who served from 1837 to 1852
Winitiam HAytLey _,, ry yo MSS 2 ese
Luke M. Hitt L i 3) TSN8i yg, Mie
WitiiaM F. Laurte THomas appointed 1910.

At the time of the institution of the Municipality in 1837 the popu-
lation of Georgetown was 16,500 and the length of the roads and streets
as taken over from the Board of Police was only 12? miles with 36
brick and 11 wooden bridges and culverts. Since that date the popula-
tion and the mileage of the streets have increased fourfold, and the
number of bridges and culverts by several hundreds, including the intro-
duction of many ornamental iron and concrete structures; and taken
altogether, the expansion and improvement of Georgetown since its con-
stitution as a Cathedral city in 1843 on the founding of the Diocesan See
of Guiana, reflects credit on the enterprise and enlightenment of the
corporation in its administrative capacity as a Municipality, more espe-
cially in view of the fact that the continued improvements have been
effected practically without any increase in the rates and taxes until
within the last two or three years, and only then necessitated through
the creation of a separate department of Public Health and the increased
expenditure thereby involved.

In common with most other corporations throughout the world, the
Town Council of Georgetown has been the subject of adverse criticism
from time to time by the press and more or less irresponsible members of
the community, who, generally speaking, are themselves too mean spirit-
ed to undertake the ordinary responsibilities of citizenship by an active
participation in the administration of their own city: indeed so manifest
is this apathy in Georgetown that but comparatively few of the more
prominent members of the community even take the trouble of register-
ing their names as voters, much less offering their services as city coun-
cillors, though ever ready to find find fault with and belittle the efforts of
those who do endeavour to the best of their abilities, to serve their race
and generation as members of the corporation; a thankless job at best,
the world over.

The Municipality of Georgetown. 229

The Mayor and Town Council have had a few occasional ‘‘ brushes ”
with the Government during its career, outstanding amongst these being
that of 1839-40, when it was sought by special legislation ‘to restrict cer-
tain rights and privileges conferred by the Ordinance of Incorporation ;
but on the petition of the Mayor and Town Council to the Crown, these
restrictions were disallowed by Her Majesty Queen Victoria by an Order
in Council issued on the 5th March, 1540, thereby “ re-affirming the
“ Chartered Rights and Privileges of the Cor poration as granted by Her
‘‘ Majesty’s predecessor King William IV,

Again about the mid-seventies we find the Hon. W. A. G. Young,
Government Secretary, in the Court of Policy somewhat rudely threaten-
ing the powers of the creating authority to wipe out of existence the
thing created, if ever the necessity arose, with special application to the
Municipal Corporation ; and in or about the years 1902-03 under the
Swettenham-Ashmore Administration there were somewhat strained rela-
tions between the Government and the Town Council over the questions
of “subventions ” and water rates, happily adjusted through arbitration
and wiser counsels of moderation. About the same time there was a
lawsuit between the Government and the Town Council in reference to
the possession of and title to the streets, dams and trenches of Charles-
town forming part of Le Repentir Estate: this was decided in favour
of the Mayor and Town Council by judgment of the Supreme Court.
Again at the present day the proposed legislation for the reconstruction
and reformation of the Council seems not unlike a repetition of the atti-
tude taken up by the Government on previous occasions.

I admit that a fair representation of the Government on the Council,
as a large property-owner and taxpayer of the city, as well as that of
joint stock companies holding property and large commercial stakes in
the city, is a reasonable proposition ana one tending to the extension of
the Council's dignity and influence for good in the community ; but any
attempt towards lessening the number of Councillors, or the representa-
tion of the several wards of the city, and taking away the powers of the
Council in the nomination and appointment of its chief executive officers
and the general management of its own affairs, seems to me but another
attempt to restrict the ‘‘ Chartered Rights and Privileges of the Corpora-
tion,’ and as such should be resented, and resisted by petition to the
Crown, as was successfully done seventy-five years ago.

Curiously enough, Georgetown’s chief structural improvements have
followed on disastrous fires: first that of Newtown in 1828, the district
being rebuilt under the very restrictive provisions of the Newtown Ordi-
nance of 1229, which in addition to special regulations governing the
erection of business premises, prohibited the establishment of spirit
shops, cooperages and other dangerous trades within the district. This
Ordinance was, amongst others, repealed by the present Town Council
Ordinance, No. 25 of 1898. Then we had the great Robbstown fire of
1864, burning out an area of over ten acres, followed two and there

230 Timehri.

years later by the two South and North Cumingsbure tires, these three
ereat fires affording opportunity for the widening of W ater Street from
het to the Railway line and the effecting ‘of other important im-
provements in town planning,

Now again another opportunity presents itself in the recent exten-
sive conflagration in Werk-en-Rust, which completely wiped out what
came to be known as the Chinese quarters, embracing the oldest, slum-
miest and most insanitary and congested portion of the city, dating from
1797, all now, it is hoped, to give place to improved conditions of
streets, building-construction and sanitation.

Other stages of improvement, marking the activities of the Munici-
pality in the administrative work of the city, may be noted by the fol-
lowing dates as fixing certain events :—

1866-67.—The establishment of the Georgetown Water Works and the
laying down of a pipe service of water supply for the city as a direct
outcome of the then recent serious fires. The gradual and continuous
development of the water service up to the present day is a history in
itself, did space permit of its telling ; but I may just say that its be-
ginning was a very modest one, embracing but a few miles of street
mains and one small beam engine of 25 h.p. By 1885 the working
plant had been increased to three of these engines in order to meet
enlarged requirements, which, however, still proved inadequate ; and
so in 1897 a triple expansion Worthington pumping engine of a capa-
eity of 3,000,000 gallons was imstalled, followed in the next year by
a second Worthington engine of 1,250,000 gallons, designed as an
auxiliary pumping plant for night supply mainly. Rapidly increasing
requirements, through extended street mains and increased consump-
tion of water, made it necessary to augment the pumping plant by the
ereetion of a third Worthington engine of 5,000,000 gallons capacity
in 1904, when the last of the old beam engines was cleared away.
Again at the present time, after the lapse of another ten years, a
fourth engine of the latest Worthington type has just been in-
stalled, the smallest engine of 1898 being discarded. In the mean-
time the street mains have been gradually extended and enlarged, and
at the present time have a total length approaching 50 miles.

The combined pumping power now available has a capacity of
18,000,000 gallons in the 24 hours, which should be ample to meet
requirements for many years to come. Indeed, in view of the fact
that the domestic water supply is mostly derived from the rain water
stored in vats and tanks, the present output from the Water Works,
which T understand is reckoned at about 5,000,000 gallons per day,
equal to 80 gallons per head of the population, seems extravagantly
high, and points to serious leakage or waste somewhere.

In view of the widespread range of street mains, and their increas-

ing distance from the distributing centre, there must be increasing —

difficulty in maintaining adequate pressure in the mains themselves
for fire ‘extinguishing purposes, as has been manifest at several recent
fires ; and it will therefore become necessary to maintain a service of
motor fire engines, always ready and available as a second line of

The Municipality of Georyetown. 231

defence, to augment the pressure in coping with serious contlagrations,
and more especially in cases where a failure of high pressure in the
street mains occurs through a burst pipe or other accident to the cen-
tral pumping plant. In dealing with the general water supply of the
city, I think it only right to record a tee measure of praise to my
old chief, the Hon. William Russell, for his long continued and un-
tiring efes ts, ultimately crowned with success, for obtaining an im-
proved supply of water ‘for the city, villages and estates connected
with the Lamaha Canal and East Demerara Water Supply Conser-
vancy, in the initial stages of which work I had the honour of being
associated with that gentleman, as long ago as 1874.

1871 —The Georgetown (B.G.) Gas Company founded with a capital of

1&7

£68,000, The street lamps were first lighted with gas on the 3lst
January, 1873, and a gas supply made available to the publie a month
later, at what seems to us now an extravagant price of 18s. 9d. per
1,000 cubic feet, subsequently reduced four years later to 15s. and
again to 12s. in 1894, after the advent of electric light in 1889 by the
British Guiana Electric Light and Power Company, which undertaking
was eventually purchased by the Demerara Electric Company—a Cana-
dian corporation—as from Ist January, 1900. The first partial light-
ing of street lamps with electricity took place in 1892, and subse-
quently the street lighting contract was divided between the two com-
panies ; but in 1901 the Council failed to come to terms with the Gas
Company for a renewal of their portion of the contract ; and so, after
struggling on for some years under adverse conditions of competition
with electricity, the Gas Works finally closed down on 31st December,
1901, and the company passed out of existence, leaving the Demerara
Electric Company masters of the situation and sole purveyors for the
public and private lighting of Georgetown In 1898 an advantageous
offer was made to the Mayor and Town Council by the Gas Company
to purchase their undertaking, which I strongly re commended, beliey-
ing that with improved methods of gas manufacture the business
could be made a profitable one, especially wiih the power in the hands
of the Council of dividing the municipal lighting between gas and
electricity, which would have ensured the success of the undertaking,
and fully justified the action of the Council by preserving to the city
and its inhabitants two sources of lighting, instead of having it, as at
present, in the hands of one company alone. However, the proposi-
tion did not find favour with the majority of the Gaur il and so the
negotiations fell through, to the loss of the Municipality and the com-
munity, in my opinion,

8.—Taking effect of the Vlissengen Ordinance No. 8 of 1876, under

the provisions of which Lacytown was reconstructed and improved :

and the new district of Bourda, as well as the Botanic Gardens, laid
eut and developed. The streets in Lacytown now known as New
North Street and New South Street were previously only narrow
alleys or footpaths, known as Church Alley and Love Lane, respec

tively ; and St. George’s Oval was specially designed and laid out as a
site for the new Anglican Cathedral, the former brick building hav-
ing been erected on a narrow restricted site on the Company Path,
flanked on either side by main draining trenches, which eventually led
~ to thedestruction of the structure through subsidence of the foundations

tw
He

Nm

Timehre.

The entrance avenue leading to the old Cathedral, together with
the entire width of the Company Path extending from High Street to
the Oval, having been handed over by the Government to the custody
ot the Corporation in 1907, the land was enclosed by an iron railing,
and laid out and planted as a Promenade Garden in 1908, forming an
attractive feature in the prominent and central position occupied.

The Public Health Ordinance, No. 8 of 1878, passed, under the
provisions of which the first Building Regulations and Drainage By-
Laws for the city were framed in 1883-84: and many sanitary
improvements effected, including compulsory provision for the storage
of rain-water on all occupied premises and the general sanitary
inspection of all lots and vards throughout the city. .

iX79-80.—Street tramways, worked by mule draught, established by the
Georgetown Tramways Company; subsequently acquired by the
Demerara Electric Company and converted into an electric system in
1901,

L889-81.—Erection of Stabroek Market, an iron structure covering about
75,000 square feet, together with the construction of a river wall and —
the reclamation, filling in and concreting of about 50,000 square feet —
ot river foreshore, at a total cost of $236,000, mostly raised by loan —
and since paid off. The foundation stone was laid by Mrs. Kortright,
wife of the Governor, on the 17th July, 1880, during the Mayoralty of ©
Mr. George A. Forshaw. The designers and constructors of the
Market House itself were the Edge Moor Iron Company of Delaware,
US.A., and the contractor for the supply and erection of the iron
work, Mr. Nathaniel McKay, of Philadelphia, U.S.A., the price named
in his contract being $132,855. There were considerable disputes
with the contractor over weights and constructive details of the struc-
ture. Jhe ornamental portions, cornice mouldings, ete., were formed
of galvanized sheets, bent and soldered to shape, prompting the late
Father Scoles, 8.J., himself an eminent architect, to designate it a
‘*tin-pot ” structure.

1887.—Some 108 acres of land, part of Plantation Thomas, purchased
trom Mr. Quintin Hogg, and laid out as a new ward of the city,
named Queenstown, in honour of the Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria: her name is also given to a square in the centre of the
district left vacant as a recreation ground.

1889.—The Town Hall erected at a cost of $70,500, including purchase o:
site and the city organ. The architect of the building was the Very
Rev. Ignatius Scoles, S.J., and the contractors, Messrs. Sprostons.
The foundation stone was laid by His Excellency Sir Henry T. Irving
K.C.M G, on the 23rd December, 1887, during the mayoralty of Mr.
George A. Forshaw, and the building formally opened on the Ist July,
1889, during the Mayoralty of Mr. James Thomson, by His Excellency
Viscount Gormanston, K.C.M.G. A commemorative marble table}
recording these events has been erected in the entrance hall.

s

1892.—Food and Drugs Adulteration Ordinance, under which the muni
cipal sanitary officers were first authorised to take action in 1898

since which time, with their co-operation aud that of the Poke

The Munierpality of Georgetown. 233

Department, a large and satisfactory reduction of adulteration was
effected in Georgetown, more especially in regard to milk supply,
mainly through the untiring efforts of Professor J, B. Harrison,
C.M.G, Government Analyst and Director of Science and Agricul-
ture.

1902.—The suburban district of Wortmanville incorporated with the city
as part of the Werk-en-Rust Ward, involving the opening up and con-
struction of new streets and the erection of several bridges and
culverts.

1905-06.—A Mortality Commission appointed vy His Excellency Sir
Frederic M. Hodgson, K.C.M.G., on which T had the honour of serv-
ing. The report was a comprehensive one dealing with all aspects of
the question and had far-reaching results, ultimately leading to my
own retirement and

1910.—The establishment of a Health Department for Georgetown, em-
bracing all sanitary administration, under charge of a “ whole-time ”
Medical Officer of Health, as separate and distinct from the Town
Superintendent's Department. the latter to be confined in future to
engineering and general constructional works.

1912.—Incorporation of the Albouystown village suburb with the city of
Georgetown as a portion of the Charlestown Ward.

The history of the sanitary administration of Georgetown is inter-
esting in association with any story of its Municipality.

| When I first arrived in Demerara in the year 1870, Dr. Whitlock
was incharge of the department as Sanitary Superintendent, old Dr.
Dalton being at the same time the consultant Health Officer of the city.

Some years later on the death of Dr. Whitlock, the charge of the
sanitary staff, or Inspectors of Nuisances, as the officers were then
termed, was passed over to the Town Superintendent ; and this was how
I found the arrangements when I joined the municipal service in 1878,
and they so continued up to the time of my retirementin 1910. After
the coming into force of the Public Health Ordinance in 1879, Mr.
George Bury was appointed Chief Sanitary Inspector, and I had that
gentleman’s assistance up to the time of his death in 1884, but no further
appointment to that position was made.

During the interval between 1878 and 1910 I had the pleasure of
working in perfect accord with no fewer than seven medical colleagues,
who filled successively the post of consultant Health Officer for the city
and were always available when required for consultation and advice on
all sanitary matters. In the early part of 1909 the colony was favoured
with a flying visit from the late Sir Rubert Boyce, an acknowledged
authority on Yellow Fever, Malaria and Mosquitoes, who had been duly
aceredited to the West Indies by the Secretary of State for the Colonies
gu a tour of muapelion:.

234 Timehri.

The main results arising out of his visit was a hurrying up of mai
of the recommendations of the Mortality Commission of 1906, mai
directed against the propagation of mosquitoes, the cutting down
trees, the filling up of canals and trenches, and the immediate ‘creation
a separate department of Public Health for the city, all of which ha
been given effect to without, so far as I am aware, any great or marke
improvement, except in regard to a very satisfactory reduction in the
abnormally high infantile mortality. which, naturally, has had also a
reflex action on the general death-rate of the city, which is certainly a
matter for congratulation ; but apart from this pleasing feature, probably
resulting from the appointment of Lady Health Visitors and the estab-
lishment of Mothers’ Clubs and training schools. the other results app
to be of a somewhat negative nature: the mosquitoes, I hear, are as ba
as ever; the filling up of street reservoirs, with their stock of Victo
Regia and other water lilies, and the cutting down of trees have re-
moved some of the characteristic features of Georgetown, as “ the garden
city of the West Indies”: enteric fever has been | oreatly on the increas
since 1908; and the extra expenditure involved by the upkeep of the
separate department amounts to over 512,000 per annuin.

Taking the figures from the Registrar General's returns as embodied
in the last annual report of the Surgeon General, the deaths frot
typhoid fever in the colony, and mainly contributed by the city 4
(reorgetown, have risen from 8 to 95, averaging 60 deaths per annun
as against an average of S deaths per annum over the previous twenty-
two years, three of “these years recording a single death only. These
figures are significant as pointing to a very alarming and continued
increase of enteric fever within recent years, agoregating, probably, <
many as 500 cases ina single year. Writing as a mere layman, I hay
no hesitation in attributing the cause to infection from drinking wate
stored in vats, containing impurities washed down from the collecting .
roofs and left without any natural means of purification.

For this reason | had been for years trying to impress on the com-
munity the importance of sterilizing by heating and_ boiling the vai
stored water before use, but I was like “the voice of one crying in th
wilderness ” for any good I did. A contrar vy opinion, I am aware, pr

vailed for some time, that the infection arose through the milk supply
and I believe a few isolated cases were traced to that source. Much as
approve of every possible effort being made to obtain a clean and pu
milk supply, yet in view of the fact that almost every drop of milk drun
in Georgetown is effectively sterilized before use, through the necessi
of © scalding ~ or boiling it in order to prevent it from souring, I ¢o
sider this general theory of infection from milk alone to be untenable,
far as Demerara, or any tropical city similarly conditioned, is concerne
and this view, I believe, is now more generally accepted in at Tes
minimising the danger

Coming now to the conclusion of “my. paper, I may say that I h
been pea ely acquainted with no fewer than eighteen Mayda

The Mun rerpalily of freorgelown.

ho
wo)
On

Georgetown, and have served under fourteen of that number. T may
hold my own opinion of their respective merits as Chief Magistrates of
the city, but that of course | must keep to myself, as a matter of
‘municipal policy as much as personal convenience; but this L will say,
\that I found them all honourable gentlemen, having the interests of the
eity and the welfare of the community closely at heart ; and inv personal
relations with each and all were uniformly cordial and in every respect
satisfactory.

The most picturesque of the Mayors I have kuown was the late
Colonel Imlach, Commandant of the old Militia. for many years
familiar figure in Georgetown.

a

A memorial bust of this ventleman inay be seen in the entrance hall
of the Victoria Law Courts, but it loses, in great part. its identity witl
the original, Jackine his high-crowned and characteristic headgear.

The Colonel was popularly known as “ Old Blazes,” due to the cus-
jomary fervency of his languave ; and if he had been presiding over some
yecent meetings of the Council it is easy to imagine what would have
peen the vigorous terms of his rulings, and the consequent heat of the
jurrounding atmosphere !

| The most serious rebutt received by me from the Mayor and Town

youncil was when, by solemn resolution, the following harmless para-

jraph was struck out of my annual report for 1891 as being ultra vires :

“ Referring to the building scheme of the Society for the Protection of
Children for the erection of improved dwellings for the working-
classes, alluded to in my last annual report, I have now the pleasure
of announcing that actual building operations have been commenced
on one of the selected sites; and it now rests with the people of
Georgetown to further develop the scheme by subscribing to the bonds
of the Society, and s9 placing it in funds for extending its building
operations. The encouragement of this and other kindred Associa-
tions for the amelioration of the sanitary conditions, and improving
the homes of the masses of our people, is a worthy and proper object
for the attention of the Municipal Authority.”

However. I had the satisfaction of knowing afterwards that many of
e Councillors expressed regret at having voted as they did under a mis-
prehension ; and I know that I had the sympathy of the Press and
at of many influential citizens of Georgetown in my simple effort to aid
e laudable objects of a purely philanthropic institution.

1 will conclude what I fear inay be considered a prosy and uninter-
mg paper by wishing my old friends and patrons, the Mayor and Town
puncil of Georgetown, continued success and the support and encour.

ment of the citizens in the administration of the municipal affairs of
eir city,

ee

~~

Pare *

THE MUNICIPALITY OF NEW AMSTERDAM.

By J. VAN SERTIMA.

Historians may take exception to the atrociously common reference
to Berbice as “ the ancient county” on the ground of inexaetitude, but
they cannot challenge the antiquity of the Municipality of New Amster-
dain, for it can legitimately claim it, as also the privilege of established
fame and prescriptive veneration. Nor is it difficult to trace its
genealogy. With other names and with functions in the main the same,
corresponding with social mutations and development, it has existed
since the time of William IV. By an Ordinance (New Amsterdam Regu-
lations) enacted on the 24th May, 1825, the year of the appointment of
Sir Benjamin D’Urban as Governor of Demerara and Essequebo, and two
years after the slave insurrection on the East Coast of Demerara, the
first Board of Management was formed for the superintendence of the
town. Yet afew months and it became necessary to pass another law ;
and during the same lustrum there was yet another enactment having
reference to the governance of New Amsterdam. Seven years passed by
and then the Georgetown Town Council was established. The year
which saw the termination of apprenticeship of pratial labourers in the
colony, Emancipation unalloyed, that is to say, saw the passing of
an Ordinance establishing a Board of Police over New Amsterdain.
Across the stage of the memory of no one do the deeds of this Board
stalk majestically, and no recorders are there who disport themselves in
the fields of local history of this kind. Much of what it did has dis-
appeared down the gulf of time. During its short life the Board of
Police saw to the laying out of the roadways, being authorised to take
over as public streets the cross-roads or lanes, on the application of the
majority of the owners of property in the lanes; and these owners were
compensated. It also established, on mud lot 14 (the front site), a
market the building of which was begun in 1840, the Government
having granted the land for the purpose. Forty-five years later the
proprietor of mud lot 15 alleged that the Council's market was on part
of his land, and it was suggested that the Attorney Generals opinion
should be taken; but Mr. Robert Samuel, a member of the Board of
Superintendence, argued that as the Council had been in undisturbed
possession of the strip of land in dispute for more than a third of a cen-
tury, the Council’s ownership could not be questioned. An appreciable
percentage of the revenues of the Board of Police consisted of retail
spirit shop and other licences.

The necessities of the hour called for more energetic municipal
functioning, and in 1844 the Board of Superintendence came into being.
All the minutes, books of account and vouchers of the Board of Police
were “closed and signed” and lodged with its successors. The new
Board had an Ordinance all to itself. It was numbered 8, and it isa

238 Timehri.

coincidence that the Ordinance which established its successor seven and
forty years afterwards, the New Amsterdam Town Council Ordinance,
is also numbered 8. The 1844 Ordinance defined the boundaries of the
town, which remain as they are to-day—on the north by the Ordnance
lands, on the east by Plns. Smithtield and Vryheid, on the south by
Pln. Overwinning, and on the west by the river Berbice. This area,
about 554 acres, fell to the municipal care of the Board of Superintend-
ence, and has fallen now to the not less energetic management of the
Mayor and Town Council which can do without much of it. Not that
the town is too big, but that it has an uneven keel of social aspirations.
For many years a centripetal rather than a centrifugal tendency, as in
the case of London, has been in operation; and so it has come to pass
that the southern part of the town has put upon itself a sylvan
picturesqueness, the middle portion of which, according to some peti-
tioners who addressed the Council lately, being a veritable lair for wild
beasts and creeping things. What must it have been in the forties? A
kind of place, I suppose, that would have suited good, old Gonzalo down
to the ground. If he was eager to ‘“ give a thousand furlongs of sea for
an acre of barren ground—long heath, brown furze, anything,” he
would assuredly have gone a little higher for Stanleytown.

The Board of Superintendence consisted of seven members, and the
qualification of a voter was ownership or representation of any house or
tenement rated at the value of S400. Then, as now, “no person who
may be in arrears for Town taxes more than six months shall be eligible
to be elected or to serve as a member of the Board or to vote in the said
election.” Then, as now, monthly meetings were held, but on no fixed
day. Then, as now, punctuality was regarded asa thief of time, for the
convenience of members would not have been shackled by a clause
naming a particular day of meeting. The population of the town at this
time could not have exceeded 4,000, about half what it is to-day. The
chief executive officers included a Receiver of Town Taxes, a Secretary, a
a Surveyor of Works and a Clerk of the Market. It appears that at one
time or another this Surveyor of Works—what's in a name ?—not only
saw to the kind of work which is performed to-day by the Town Super-
intendent, but was also an Inspector of Nuisances: and also he actually
coll. ected the taxes which he handed over to the Receiver of Taxes, the
cashier of the Board. The Secretary's duties included the taking of
“full minutes ” (the same words occur in the Town Council Ordinance;
of all proceedings of the Board, but reference to the minutes shows that
they were by no means full, but, properly enough, crisp, business-like
epitomes. The functions of the Board were pretty much what the
Council’s are to-day ; but, strange to relate, in none of the Ordinances
dealing with the management of the town, not even in the present
obsolescent Ordinance, is there any specific obligation to light the streets
of the town. The Fire Brigade was a poor thing in those days, if only
because there was no water supply. Yet the Board had “ the direction
of the public fire-engines,” and had ‘‘to cause the same to be exercised
from time to time, to have all the necessary repairs made, and to keep

The Municipalitu of New Amsterdam. 239

them in efficient working order, and fit for service on the most sudden
emergency. The Court of Policy seems to have exercised greater con-
trol over the finances of the Corporation than the Executive Council
does to-day. It had to approve of the Estimates before the assessment
for taxes was authorised. It is not so to-day, albeit the Auditor
General is not precluded from taking exception to this or that item of
expenditure, and emitting post-audit growls. In the 1844 Ordinance it
was enacted that ‘‘ whatever moneys are required for the maintenance
and keeping in order of the said town, the Board shall, with due regard
to economy, form an estimate and submit a plan for raising the funds
required in such manner as they, in their discretion, may consider
equitable towards all classes of the inhabitants, on which the Governor
and Court of Policy, if they approve thereof, will authorise such assess-
ment as may be found expedient and grant the requisite authority for
levying the same.” This estimate had to be “formed” and an adminis-
tration statement prepared and published in the month of February, as
now. The “requisite authority ” took the form of a solemu Ordinance
and up to a few years before the date of the establishment of the
present Town Council, the Statute Book contained, every year, a New
Amsterdam Tax Ordinance. Since 1591 a “Tax Resolution ” passed by
the Council is the self-given ‘“ requisite authority.”

In the town regulations we find some extant to this day. For
instance, all proprietors, renters or occupiers were required to have their
respective lots or parcels of lots weeded in March and September.
There was also a p-nalty promised in respect to the improper erection
of buildings. There was then the fear that the river would erode and
be mischievous. Hence no building or shed of any description could be
erected within ninety feet of the centre of the draining trench of the
public front dam (the Strand), nor within three feet from the respective
side-trenches or viithin twelve feet from the draining trenches of the
public middle road (High Street) under a penalty of 8300. This inhibi-
tion still remains. Properly enough, no building with a thatched roof
was tolerated. In after years, when some East Indian sett'ers reared
these unsightly huts in S:anleytown, an exasperated Mayor caused them
to be demolished. As the fire-extineuishine apparatus in possession of
the Board was rude and inadequate, the law was particularly stringent
with regard to kitchens. These had to be provided with a fire-place or
hearth and a chimney of brick or stone; the chimney to be of sufficient
height “so as not to endanger the neighbourhood or not to annoy it
with smoke, and should any oven be required the same shall be con-
nected with and ventilated by such chinmey.” The kitchen floor was to
be of stone bricks or solid earth. Now mark the severity of the
clause :—‘“‘ and in case any such kitchen or cooking house shall hereafter
be erected contrary to the foregoing description, or in any case any
kitchen or cooking house already erected be not altered as aforesaid within
the said period of six months, in either of said cases, the proprietor of
the lot, known as such in the books of the Receiver of Town Taxes, shall
incur a penalty of fifteen dollars in the first instance and double that

240 Timehri.

sum during every succeeding calendar month until such kitchen, cooking
house or oven shall be made and completed according to the foregoing
description and the lot and buildings thereon shall be liable and execut-
able for such fine or fines.” One may be sure that there were very few
if any tenement rooms in those spacious days. The poor there were,
however. For them allowance was made—‘ provided nevertheless, that
in case it should be made apparent to the satisfaction of the Board that
certain poor persons are unable to bear the expense of building kitchens
with brick fire-places, chimneys and ovens as before described, the
Board shall have the power and direction of provisionally exempting
such persons from the compliance therewith; but in lieu thereof the
proprietor or renter of any such dwelling house or tenement so
exempted shall be bound to have an outhouse for a cooking place
built of such materials and in such a manner as shall be approved
of by the Board for such purpose and any person coming under the
description of this latter clause neglecting or refusing to comply
with the provisions thereof when the said period of three months
er within such further time as may be allowed by the Board, shall
incur a penalty of 85 in the first instance and of double that sum
during every calendar month of continuance in such neglect and the
lot and buildings thereon shall be liable and executable for such fine
or fines.” Fireplaces in and about foundries, smithies and bakeries had
to be sutticiently protected ; and any cooperage, carpenter’s shop or work-
place, boat-building establishment or bakehouse had to be swept and
cleared of shavings or other combustible matter every day on leaviny off
work, subject to a fine of $5, to be paid by the occupier or person having
charge of such establishment for every neglect thereof.

In 1852 the Board of Superintendence was dissolved, a new one
taking its place. The election of this Board was a peculiar proceeding.
The votes were to be in writing, ‘‘ and signed by the party voting, speci-
‘ying therein at full length his or her qualification and such votes shall
be sealed up and shall be deposited in a locked and sealed box placed for
that purpose in the office of the Assistant Government Secretary in New
Amsterdam, who shall transmit the same to the Government Secretary to
he laid before the Governor and Court of Policy to be opened, and the
votes shall be examined and the person having the highest number of
legal votes in his favour shall, if duly qualified, be held and considered
to be the senior member of the Board of Superintendence aforesaid, and
the person having the next highest number of legal votes in his favour
shall, if duly qualified, be held and considered as next in seniority, and
so on, and the names of the elected members in such order of seniority
shall be duly put in the Oficial Gazette.” As to subsequent elections
the procedure was much the same as it is to-day—devoid of pomp and
circumstance, and yet so simple as to incite even the unsophisticated to
be naughty, for the voter is not called upon to sign his name in the
presence of the Returning Officer. Nowadays the voting paper may be
either written or printed, but according to the 1852 Ordinance, there
was no reference to a printed document. So it came to pass that a

The Municipality of New Amsterdam. 241

pretty quarrel took place at an election in May, 1881. Here it is—an
excerpt from the minutes :

Present :-—

C. E. Hooton, Senior Member.
J. D. Dickinson,

R. SAMUEL,

G. H. Dickinson.

The votes for a new member of the Board in room ot Mr. W. Leslie, whose
qualification ceased as attorney for the late Dr. Carney, were opened
by the members.

‘The question was raised whether votes should be in writing or print. Mr.
Samuel gave it as his opinion that the Ordinance distinctly stated that
the votes should be in writing and signed by the parties voting, that
the requirements were separate and distinct.

Mr. Hooton moved that the votes be read.

Not seconded.

Mr. G. H. Dickinson moved that the printed votes be not accepted,
not being in conformity with the notice.
Seconded by Mr, Samuel.

Mir. Hooton moved as an amendment that the votes on both sides be
counted scrupulously as to qualification,
Original motion carried,

Mr. Hooton moved that the printed votes be preserved for reference and
protested against their being thrown out, that their number be taken,
as he does not consider the Ordinance objects to printed votes as long
as the qualification of each voter is fully set forth, and moved that
all votes be ex:mined, and calied on the Secretary to take down the
names of the voters for Mr. White which he would read out. Having
read out sixteen names, that of Mr. R. Samuel was read and Mr. G. H.
Dickinson proposed that it be considered good. Mr. Hooton objected
because the paper did not specify what Board of Superintendence was
meant, and the vote might be for some other place in the Colony.
The names of H. K. Davson, Sylvester Gomes, and J.D. Dickinson,
he also objected to on the same grounds.

Mer J. H. Dickinson moved that the foregoing tour names be considered
good, and moved that Mr. N. White be declared elected, seconded by
Mr. Samuel, when Mv. Hooton rose and left the meeting which was
broken up thereby.

In consequence, another election had to be held when Mr. E. C.
Weddall was returned, haying obtained fifty-eight votes against fifty-four
polled for Mr. N. White. Either the owner or the representative of the
owner of household property of the value of 31,000 was eligible to be a
member of the Board. On one occasion it came to the knowledge of
Mr. Robert Samuel that Dr. Carney who had left the colony on furlough
and who was represented on the Board by Mr. W Leslie, was dead, and
he forthwith moved that Mr. Leslie be unseated. Some members
demurred at this, inasmuch as there had been no cfficial announcement
of the death, but on the matter being referred to the Attorney General,

242 Timehri.

Mr. Leslie lost the seat. If an elected member refused to serve he was
liable to a fine of $200, but no member of the Court of Pohey was
bound to serve or any one who could “assign a satisfactory reason for
declining to serve.” The merits of such reason had to be determined on
by the Governor and Court of Policy. As now, no member could be
elected except by his own consent during the two years next after his
going out of office. As now, the two senior members retired
every July.

In those days the Board, as already stated, had not the power to
pass a tax resolution and proceed to the collection of the taxes. A regu-
lar Ordinance had to be passed by the Court of Policy, with such a
preamble as the following :—*‘ Whereas the Board of Superintendence of
the Town of New Amsterdam, in the County of Berbice, have laid
before this Court a Statement of their funds and of the sum by them
required to be raised by taxation for the service of the present year. Be
it therefore &c.” Up to the establishment of the Town Council in 1891
only private property was subject to taxation. The property of the Crown
and Colony was exempt, presumably because the Government gave a grant-
in-aid to the Board, as conscience money, I suppose, for the commandeer-
ing by them of the proceeds of certain licences which were collected and
appropriated by the Board of Police. The arrangement is now changed,
the Government having decided, for the past ten years, to be regarded
as ordinary ratepayers. They contribute also a moiety of the cost of
the maintenance of the roads and bridges in the town. Although that
part of New Amsterdam known as the Winkle lies within the municipal
confines, the property therein has never been assessed for taxation, and,
indeed no municipal cognisance is taken of it. The Winklers fondly hug
the belief that they are a chosen people, sacrosanct from taxation, but
such is not the case. And though whenever the Council takes courage
in both hands and impose taxation in that quarter, there will be a howl-
ing and cnashing of teeth, the law will be found to be on the side of the
tax-gatherer. Manses and parsonage houses have all alone enjoyed
immunity from taxation also, an immunity to which they are not entitled,
and of which at last they are being deprived this year, at the instance and
instigation of the present Town Clerk who, regardless of tradition and
presc iption, has assaulted the citadel of the non- taxpaying Zion. I trust
the grand array of the members of the Board and Council, in abstaining
from doing their duty-by exacting the impost in respect of the manses,
were not imbued with the idea that they were laying up treasures in
that quarter where, we are told, neither moth nor rust doth corrupt
and where thieves do not break in and steal.

A goodly percentage of the taxes due is collected within the year
nowadays. It is hardly to be expected that, in a town of splendid
antecedents and aspirations untamed in spite of evolutionary changes
inaking not for economic betterment, the payment of taxes will be as
prompt as it isin many villages where individual wants cannot increase
as rapidly as ina town proud of its age, still prouder of its prestige,
unwilling to utter the #7 but haying the Reswrgam ever on its lips.

The Municipality of New Amsterdam, 245

And well it may thus hope, for the whirligig of time has done stranger
things than the work of rehabilitation. But even in times that may
be accounted more prosperous than the present, the sense of obligation
to pay the taxes was somewhat dull Hence it came to pass that
Ordinance | of 1886 (New Amsterdam Tax) enacted that in case the first
moiety of the tax was not paid fifteen days after it became due, the whole
tax for the year became payable and recoverable. This seems harsh, but
the late Town Clerk, now in the Elysian fields, thought it was not too
stringent, and as Mr. George Hicken (he had been a member of the
Board in 1878) was known to be as kind-hearted as Goldswith’s ‘* Man
in Black,” it can be taken for granted that his opinion reflected truth.
We have bim saying that I have found from experience gained since
my assumption. of office in 1888 such a law was urgently needed if the
wheels of the Municipal coach were to be kept running.” Some of the
cash book entries before this date show that some ratepayers owed for
seven years. In 1886, we gather froin the minutes, the President and
a member of the Board were appointed a Committee to “ ¢o over the list
of the names of those in arrears from 1880 to 1885 and to recommend
for exemption such as appeared to them to be really destitute, the Secre-

tary furnishing a list of such names to the next meeting.” The Board
clearly had no right to exempt any private party from the obligation to
pay taxes. Yet a few months before this time we read :——“ Letter from
———, asking time to pay the taxes due on her property as she was
very poor and a widow, and the Board “ regretted that ———~s appliea-
tion could net be entertained, as no partiality can be shown to indivi-
duals in the matter of ae collecting of taxes.” Here is another entry

not without interest :— J——, proprietor of part
lot 41, Stanleytown, on oe ie Bee that the Marshal had been
instructed to levy on and sell his property for taxes. He further stated
that he was 71 years old and barely able to earn his daily bread, that for
fifty years he paid taxes to the Board, and being now unable to continue
doing so, he asked the Board to buy in his property and allow him to
live in it for the balance of his life, which he felt sure, will be short.”
The Board did not enter into a calculation as to probabilities, nor of the
bargain it may or may not have made, but deferred consideration.
Meanwhile the Town Superintendent came to the rescue by premising to
pay the taxes for the petitioner. Then, as now, all arrears of taxes could
be collected at any time, unlike the case in Geor getown where summation
must issue before the close of a year for the taxes payable therein to be
collectable.

The New Amsterdam Town Council Ordinance forbids any member
or officer of the Council from appraising the property in the town for
assessment purposes, but in the days when the Board of Superintend-
ence was in existence, two of its members, associited with a master
carpenter, undertook the work of appraisement. At times, too, certain
members were appointed to report on the arrears of taxes. Seldom it
was—and this even to within recent years—that the aid of the marshal
was called in. the plea, genuine or otherwise, of poverty being toe much

244 Timehri.

for the heart of the Receiver of Taxes. There was a practice, too, of
this official taking the taxes in piecemeal, receipts being given off when
the full sum was gathered in. This was extremely convenient to the
contributor who found out before long that so long as this kind of busi-
ness went on, it was awkward for the taxgatherer to sue him. Rate-
payers, dissatisfied with the appraisement of their properties were not
wont apparently to appeal in the form in vogue to-day, but ‘ com-
plained,” and we find in the minutes such an entry as this :—‘ the
members assembled at 8 a.m. and went carefully over the last appraise-
ments of Queenstown and Smythtown and reduced the valuation of
several properties which they considered highly valued.” For a long
number of years the assessment was only 1 per cent. A unique cireum-
stance falls to be recorded in regard to the rates, It appears that after
the market was established in 1850, there was a large sum of money
due, for advances, to the British Guiana Bank. The Board of Superin-
tendence therefore applied to Governor Barkly and the Court of Policy
for authority to issue bonds redeemable in 10 years at 6 per cent.
interest, for $20,000, for the purpose of paying off a debt incurred by
the Board of Police in erecting the market, and of repairing the streets
and drainage and for the general improvement of the town. This was
eranted by Ordinance 12 of 1850. After paying off the debts, the
Board found itself in possession of a surplus which it invested at 4 per
cent. interest, and for four years the town works were carried on with-
out any taxes being levied. O tempora, o mores !

So soon as the Board adventured upon putting up the Water Works
at Lochaber, the rates went up; and as time went on and the sweets of
borrowing were tasted, the rates were further increased, until to-day the
impost is 25 per cent., an impost that should lave been levied long ago—
that is, so soon as it became apparent that deficits could not be avoided
in the ordinary transactions of the year. In this there was more heart
than head ; and so disinclined were both the Board and Council to ask the
ratepayer for more, that budgeting became perilously near to being a
farce. There was a deliberate toying with the figures; and as it was
easy, on paper, to make quadration between anticipated outgoings and
anticipated incomings, the puerile game of self-deception went on.
Unfortunately, it was aided by the loi g-suffering of the local traders
who gave too much eredit. Apparently the Board thought it honoured
a trader when it gave him an order, and did not vex its soul with the
thought that the debt created had to be paid or should be paid in a
reasopable time. Traders sending in their accounts twelve months over-
due were thought to be importunate and were met with the haughty
response :—‘ To stand over, to be paid with others when the Board are
in funds.” Splendid paupers, to be sure! The financial position of the
Council would have been healthier if the opportunities were fewer for
it to dull the edge of husbandry or to take Ossianic flights in its enter-
prises. Also, if it had been guided by that prudence which dictates that
ne obligation should be created without there being a reasonable proba-
bilrty of its being met in g reasonable time. The idea all along seems to

The Municipality of New Amsterdam. 245
have been that there would be a muddling through somehow —by the
fortuitous appearance of a Deus ex machina, that the sight of a
Municipality in debt would always provoke the syimpathy of both
gods and men. Supervision of expenditure was lax in the extreme.
For a long number of years it was the custom to have the Estimates
framed by the Secretary and submitted to the President who signed
it, and had it forwarded to the Government, no opportunity being
given to the Board to exercise any kind of check whatever. When
Mr. John Downer joined the Board in 1891, just before it merged into
a Council, he put a stop to this undesirable practice. But he “did not
put a stop to the belief or understanding that to keep within the
estimates of expenditure is an insufferable financial solecism.

Neither the Board nor the Council overpaid its statt-
two exceptions in later years. The Town Superintendent and Collector
of Taxes got $125 a month, the Secretary's salary was S60, that of the
Inspector ‘of Nuisances $30, while the Sexton got less than half what is
now paid, viz., $15. Afterwards an Assistant Town Superintendent was
employed at a salary of $70. About a generation ago the maintenance
of all that pertained to the Board was about half what it is to- day, when

with one or

money has a larger purchasing power. Some items from the 1881
budget are here set out against those for 1914 :—
EXPENDITURE.
188 | Lyl4
BODUS) fac: A: 10,000 ei * 4,000
Bridges .. My 1,190 100
Lighting 1,100 6,096
Drainage 600 2 000
Fire Engines 300 {552
Mules, Carts, we, .. FOU 1.000
Market SOU L385
Stationery and Bisnis 600 325
Water Works 5,000 5,561
Burial Ground 1,000 Leu)
Salaries 6.840 1.066
REVENUE.
Market 6,000 1,920
Burial Ground 1.200 1,000
Agistment 500 LOG
Colonial gz ant 2,500 pA
Taxes outstanding 8,000 2,768
Taxes 13,200 26,212

New Amsterdam owes its Water Works to the brave and strenuous
labours of the Board of Su; eritendence ; and it was an agitated and
expectant time it experienced to bring these Jabours to a successful stage
The Works at their completion were found to have cost $120,000. It
appears that in the “thirties a canal was dug from the Calabash Creek
through the Savannah to the backdains dt Plas. Lochaber, Vryhefd wad

246 Timehrs.

Overwinning ; and a water wheel and engine were erected in the Cala-
bash Creek to pump water for the supply of these estates in the dry
season. The wheel was a Persian wheel, and the engine was the manu-
facture of the celebrated James Watt. It was in use for close upon
three-quarters of a century. when its owner, the proprietor of Pln.
Lochaber, with a dull sense of the historic and the artistic, allowed it
to be broken up. He might have got thousands of pounds for it
as a mere curio. Both the Board of Police and the Board of Superin-
tendence endeavoured to share in the use of the machinery and the
canal for supplying the town reservoirs. but the terms demanded were
invariably extravagant. The help of the Government had eventually
to be sought. The backdam of Pin. Overwinning abuts on Pln. Vryheid
and runs “parallel to asimilar dam or ketting to the upper side-line
of Overwinning where it meets a similar ketting dividing Pln. Providence
and the upper lines of Overwinning and Vryhei d which lead aback
to the open Savannah or ungranted Crown Jands for a distance of
six miles to the Canje aod Calabash creek. Appreciating this, the
Board of Superintendence applied to the Government to have a survey
made. This done, it asked for a grant of occupancy as follows :—1.
About ten acres of land on the bank of the Canje Creek below the
Calabash Creek for the erection of machinery for pumping water.
For a grant of a strip of land ten roods wide through the Crown
Savannah to the ketting between . Vryheid and Caraceas. 3. Fora grant
of that part of the kettine as far asthe public road called Philadelphia
road. 4. Authority to occupy one of the trenches along the Phila-
delphia public road on the parapet of the said road to the backdam of
the town in order to lay pipes to the fresh water reservoir at the back
of the town. Before that time the water supply of the town came from
the canal along the backdam (Savannah road) of the town, by the aid
of a centrifugal pumping engine and an iron tank forty feet high, with a
capacity of 20,000 gallons. The granting of the Board's petition was
opposed by the proprietors of Pln. Vryheid, once the property of Wolfert
Katz (a godfather of the late Sir H. Katz Davson), and of Pln. Caraccas,
a grant of occupancy in respect of which was held by L. Van Batenburg.
Replying to the objection lodged on behalf of these parties, the Board
pointed out that the Vryheid side-line was none other than the ketting
which Katz had bought from the attorney of Van batenburg. The
Board further urged that there was nothing to show that the Crown
divested itself of the kettings, *‘and to suppose that by becoming pro-
prietor of two adjoiming parcels of land, the kettine became private
property cannot be maintained or proved, the Government never giving
up a ketting which is always reserved for ingress and egress and drain-
age to and from a second Nene wh n oranted.” In its righteous
remonstrance it argued that ‘“‘ were the Government to give up the
ketting to any parties simply because they own estates abutting, it
would be equivalent to giving up the whole of the interior, there being:
no other Jand way, and debarring other applicants from getting a grant.”
The Board asserted in conclusion that “the opposers are now ‘seeking to

The Municipality of New Amsterdam. 247

prevent the Board from legally doing what they have done illegally, and
from a desire to hold a ketting the monopoly of which cannot benefit
them, they seek to deprive five thousand inhabitants of water, eround-
ing their opposition on bare statements without proof as far as your
reporters are aware.”

In addition to the grant of occupancy the Board had early in 1869
asked the Government for a loan of $20, ,000 at 6 per cent. interest, to
establish water works on the Lochaber ketting and the digging of a
canal from the Calabash Creek, the loan to be repaid in twenty years,
payment being secured by a lien on the general revenues of the town,
“the first redemption to take place in five years from the date of the
bonds.” About the same time the question of boring artesian wells was
suddenly brought on the carpet. In Demerara at the time was a gentle-
man named Lloyd who gave it out that he was able and willinz to bore
wells to a depth of 400 feet where he was sure potable water would be
got. In April, 1869, there was a ‘ conversation” between the Board and
representatives of Plns. Providence and Smithfield (N. Winter), Friends
(R. Green), Everton (J. Barclay), Vryheid (Gibbon) and Lochaber (D. W.
Lillie), the object of which was that these parties should join in a scheme
for the supply of fresh water from the Calabash Creek. There the
pumping machinery was giving out and there was need for more
powerful machinery. It was arranged that if the scheme materialised,
the town would get its water through + ‘the general trench” and or
through the trenches of Plns. Lochaber, Smithfield or Providence, the
general expenses to be borne share and share alike, the town paying an
equal share in the cleaning of the private trenches through which the
water would flow after leaving the general trench. Nothing came of
this conference in the nature of an agreement. In May, 1869, the
Board petitioned the Combined Court repeating the request made to the
Court of Policy for a loan of $20,000, but adding that the bonds should
be guaranteed by the colony. Further the Board extended its demand
to 530,000 as it wanted to make provision for a more extended and con-
tinuous supply of pure water than that contemplated in its first petition.
It wanted the water either from the Calabash Creek or “by the aid of
an artesian well such as is proposed to be sunk experimentally at the
risk of the colony for the benefit of the city of Georgetown.” In this
petition the Board submitted “that the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Com-
pany on account of the little provision existing against fire in New
Amsterdam have advanced their rate of insurance to the extent of
50 per cent. additional, with which additional premium those of the
inhabitants who are now assured therein are burdened until better
provision is made, and there is every probability that all prudent com-
panies will follow the example of the local company.”

Not long after the Board sent in its petition, it proceeded to order
the requisite machinery. By Ordinance 11 of 1869 a loan of $25,000 was
sanctioned. But while it was in a hurry the fates were not propitious.
The Government Surveyor, owing partly to a heavy rainfall, was long in

248 Timehri.

completing his survey and the proprietors of Vryheid carried their oppo-
sition to the Goverament. The Board, chafing under this delay and
opposition, commissioned its legal adviser, Mr. N. Atkinson (afterwards
a Judge, and now retired) to approach the Government again. Mean-
while (early in 1873) a fire destroyed the premises of Macnee! Hart and
Hooton on lot 11, Strand, and this made the Board more anxious to
bring its water supply scheme to completion, and “ to press for the right
of way to the Calabash Creek hitherto denied by the Governor. The
Government's sympathy was with the Board or ought to have been, for
the Lunatic Asylum and other Government institutions were without an
adequate supply of water. The Board was willing to supply this want
for a lump sum of $10,000 and not to ask for an annually recurrent con-
tribution. Eventually, in September, 1873, the grant of occupancy was
vot from the Government, and in that very month the Board decided to
give out the work of digging the canal by tender. This was entrusted
to Mr. Henry S$. Jones, a brother of Mrs. Katherine Melville of New
Amsterdam, and the superintendence to Mr. Thomas Nathan King, father
of the present Magistrate of the North West District, for a sum of S600.
Mr. Jones’s tender was “for digging of a trench 14 feet wide at the top
and 10 feet at the bottom, 4 feet deep (giving a level bottom through-
out) and digging 6 foot parapets on both sides of the trench, including
clearing the land 36 feet wide, clearing all stumps on parapets and
trench, about 2,000 Rhynland roods more or less, at a rate of 33.64 per
rood, and to begin at both eads of the trench and put on sufficient
shovelmen to have the work done at a rate to complete the same in nine
weeks from the commencement, if the weather permit, and to commence
the same by Tuesday, the 23rd September.” The work was immediately
begun, but a month afterwards Mr. King reported that ‘in consequence
of unexpected difficulties the progress of the canal has been rather slow.”
Thereupon the Board decided that the size of the canal be rectuced from
14 feet ‘“ which was considered unnecessarily large,” to 8 feet— 4 shovels
deep and 5 feet parapets. Mr. Jones was instructed to employ a gang
of men to perform the work as expeditiously as possible, his commission
to be 8 per cent. on the pay-list. The Hand-in-Hand Fire Insuraace
Company were tmuch interested in the Board's project and even oftered
to lend it money to proceed with the work, pending the granting of a
further loan from the Government. Meanwhile the Vryheid proprietors
again obtruded. They demanded that a clause should be inserted in any
Ordinance the Court of Policy passed empowering the Board to lay down
pipes from Lochaber to New Amsterdam, to the effect that the Board
should agree to take over the public road from the ketting between
Plns. Lochaber and Vryheid to the town, and to defray for ever the cost
of maintaining the said road, reserving to the proprietors of Vryheid in
perpetuity the right to make such cuttings through and across such
public road as may be necessary for the “preservation of the rights
of the said proprietors as far as regards drainage and navigation
trenches. The proprietors also stated their willingness to sell the right
to the road and to haye the question of the value settled by arbitration.

The Munieipatity of New Amsterdam. 249

In the end the Board agreed to keep up the road. In April of the
followmmg year the canal had been completed, a Gwynne’s centrifugal
pump had been laid down and also a substantial foundation for the erec-
tion of an engine and tank, but the Government had not yet made any
advance towards the loan. In November, 1874, the Board con-
sented to pay $2,000 for the right of laying down pipes across
Vryheid. By this time the Board had spent nearly $45,000 on
the works, or $15,000 in excess of the Government loan. The Board
memozialised the Court in the course of which it related the opposition it
had encountered, and prayed that the necessary bill should be introduced
and passed to allow of the laying down of the pipes aloug the public road
between the ketting on the western boundary of Pln. Lochaber and tie
town. Owing to these difficulties and the Government having delayed in
paying over a further sum of $10,000 to the Board, which had been
granted by the Combined Court in 1874, very little progress was made
with the works. In June of the following year a sum of $4,000 was
advanced towards the 510,000, the balance being promised on the actual
completion of the works. When the year 1879 opened the Water Works
were not completed but operations had begun. Loans were falling due
and the Board was constrained to ask for a further loan of $30,000. A
sui of $25,000 was lent at 5 per cent. interest and the painting of the
works was taken in hand. To-day they consist of a cast iron rectangular
tank holding 20,000 gallons, supported by a cast iron and steel structure
45 feet from the ground. The engine house is pliced immediately under
the tank at its base. The plant consists of one horizontal high pressure
Worthington pumping engine, to deliver 300 gallons of water per minute
against a pressure of 120 lbs. per square inch ; one horizontal triple ex-
pansion Worthington pumping engine, to deliver 600 gallons against the
same pressure; two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, each 64 h.p., with
furnaces for wood fuel and a Cameron feed puinp. At the Canje Creek.
some five and a half miles to the south, is a twelve inch centrifugal pump
and oil engine, delivering 2,000 gallons of water a minute, The canal at
the Lochaber or north end is 3 rods wide, tapering down to one red at the
other end.

While eftorts were being concentrated on procuring a water supply
and concurrently on increasing the efficiency of the Fire Brigade, the
progress of both enterprises being followed ty a sympathetic interest by
the Hand-in-Hand Fire Insurance Company and Mr. Nicholas Cox, the
Inspector General of Police, little attention could be paid to the sanitary
exigencies of the town. Nor was there an abundance of funds where-
with to do it. The Board, however, was not unmindful of its obligations.
Seeking advice, it bespoke the kind offices of two sugar planters, who
were commissioned to inspect the town and advise what were the most
urgent sanitary measures to be undertaken. One of these experts was
Mr. Foster Massiah, who was afterwards overseer of the Kast Demerara
Water Conservancy. The other was Mr. George Welchman, then manager
of Pin. Blairmont. This was in July, 1877. These men, who were each
paid $25 for their report, recommended the sinking of the koker at the

a

250 Timehrr.

north end of the town four feet deeper and to be paaled off in front ; and
certain trenches and drains to be dug. They expressed the opinion that
for many years sufficient labour had not’ been employed in keeping the
roads and drainage in good order. This was but true, for there had been
a dearth of labour, and at one time something like a strike, iusomuch that
the Board had to ask the Government's permission to employ prison
labour. The cost of doing the work recommended by the Commissioners
was put down at $5,000. “The Board at once proceeded to seek the aid of
the Government to assist itin the work, and asked that the yearly grant
of $2,500 (in lieu of licences) be paid in advance. At the same time
there was a reorganisation of the Board’s staff, this including the appoint-
ment of an Assistant Town Superintendent. The Government declined
to advance the annual grant, but suggested that it could be paid over as a
loan, repayable by a special rate to be levied by the Board. The assess-
ment rate at this time was 14 per cent. The Board, demurring at the
Government’s proposal, asked that the $10,000, which had been paid
over for a water supply for all time should be charged against it as a
loan ‘‘on the usual terms,’ and that the Government should give an
annual grant of $2,500, for the water supplied to the public institutions,
or one-half what was being paid the Georgetown Municipality for a
similar service. This request was eventually granted, thanks to the good
offices of Mv. (afterwards Sir) Henry Katz Davson, at that time President
of the Board. He helped the Board considerably during his long connec-
tion with it by his energy, influ-nce and practical advice. All that per-
tained to the welfare of the town engaged his active interest. Undoubtec-
ly he was the guiding force of the Board, proving eminently serviceable
in many decisive mome:ts. We have not looked upon his like since, and
townsmen should keep his name in a spirit of loyal affection and remein-
brance.

Before the Water Works were completed, the Board was reaching
out towards more power as a corporation. Its greatness had ripened,
and it came to pass that it mellowed into a Town Council. The statute
that created it seemed in need of structural alteration and repair, and the
members proceeded from time to time to frame amendments. This done,
a draft Bill was sent on to the Attorney General, who suggested certain
alterations and further amendments. Eventually, Ordinance 8 of 1891
was passed and, His Majesty the King, not exercising his powers of dis-
allowance (this phrase was not then in vogue), it became the law of the
land, and the Mayor and Town Council of New Amsterdam were duly
constituted and ushered into being. The Board had itself changed the
mould within which it hoped its usefulness would be extended. Before
long time it was found that this Ordinance was not comprehensive
enouch, and for the past seven years the Council has been at the work of
amending, sending in last year the draft of a Bill praying the Govern-
ment for legislative sinction to be given to it. It is remarkable that
among the functions the Council was to assume and perform that of light-
ing the town is not included. The town is being lit by electricity by
virtue of an Order-in-Council granted by the Executive Council and not

The Municipality of New Amsterdam. 251

by express statute. Again, there is nothing in the Ordinance inhibiting
any of the Council's servants from becoming Councillors, and indeed one
of them has been. It makes no provision for a Mayor s vote, but such
an appropriation has for years beer made. Nor is provision made for
pensions and gratuities. ‘The first Councillors, all members of the Board,
were Messrs. N. R. McKinnon (the first Mayor), John Downer, C. P.
Gaskin, I. E. A. Patoir, Henry Rynveldt, M. de Mendonca, Jnr., and Bruce

Harvey Stephens.

The inauguration of the Council took place on the Ist September,
1891, when Sir Charles Bruce, who was then administering the Govern-
ment, came up to New Amsterdam to assist thereat. He was presented
with an address by the Council. In the course of his gracious reply
thereto, Sir Charles Bruce, referring to the reform of ‘the political
constitution which took place in that very year, gave it as his
opinion, that that reform could not fail to have an important bearing
on the Municipal institutions. ‘The urban constituencies will almost
certainly look to the Municipal bodies for candidates who have given
proof of an intelligent interest in public affairs, and candidates for
seats in the Levislature will naturally avail themselves of Municipal
seats as stepping-stones to the Court of Policy and Combined Court.
In this way it may reasonably be expected that the services of the
best men will be secured for our “Municipal Corporations, and it will be of
every advantage that future representative members of the Legislature
should eater upon their duties with a previously acquired knowledge and
experience of the administration of public business.” It came to pass
that as many as five of the seven Councillors whom Sir Charles was then
addressing afterwards became members of the Combined Court, and two
of them of the Court of Policy.

The new Council began its labours with becoming enthusiasm, and at
first confined them strictly to the ordinary duties of a Municipality. The
Water Works were improved, the efficiency of the Fire Brigade increased,
the roads attended to, a grant of occupancy obtained of Pln. Vryman’s
Erven on the east of the town. The Board of Superintendence had had
in contemplation the lighting of the town with electricity. A scheme
was also on the anvil to run a tramway around the town and then on to the
Corentyne. With all the forward precipitancy of youth, the Ceuncil
worked away at this tragic stroke of enterprise. ‘There came a day—ten
years after the inauguration of the Council—when the Electricity Works
were established. The plant now consists of a 100 h.p. horizontal tandem
condensing engine, belted to a 60 kk alternating current generator,
delivering “electricity at a pressure of 2,000 volts ; two horizontal jet con-
densing ‘plants by Messrs. Tangye ‘and the Worthington Pumping
Company, respectively ; one 150 h.p. vertical Cahall boiler with two Weir
feed pumps ; a switchboard with the usual instruments and an exciter
driven off the tail shaft of the generator. The second unit consists of a
125 h.p. wood gas generating apparatus by the Power Gas Corporation of
Stockton-on-Tees ; and a 125 horizontal gas engine by Messrs. W. J,

\

252 Timehrr.

Bates & Company of Manchester. The Electricity Works, for a variety
of reasons not connected with the present management, have proved a
stone of stumbling to the feet of the Municipality. They are the Achilles
heel of the municipal organism, and up to now their exigencies have
retarded the usefulness of the Council as a purely municipal agency. It
may be that it would have been more prudent for the Council to have
stuck to oil lamps, if only for the reason that Aulus Gellius bought his
books—hecause they were cheap. Per contra, New Amsterdam is the best
lit town in the West Indies, and its Municipality the only one that
furnishes its own electric light.

WEST INDIAN LAW AND APPEALS.

3y JosepH J. Nunan, LL.D., Attorney General.

A good deal of water has passed under the mill since I addressed the
readers of Timehri on this subject in the number for July, 1912. The
Commission on the Roman-Dutch law of the colony has met, heard
evidence at great length and has presented its report. It has recom-
mended the substitution of the English for the Roman-Dutch Common
Law while deprecating the introduction of the complexities of English
Real Property, for avoiding which it makes provision. It embodies its
recommendations in the form of a short Code. This piece of draft
legislation will have the opportunity of standing criticism for some eight
or nine montts before it is likely to become law. During that time
valuable suggestions to amend or to supplement it should ke forthcoming.
In fact, as its draftsman I shall gladly welcome any assistance from any
quarter which will secure the improvement of this vital part of the re-
commendations and the introduction of this unprecedented alteration of
system without friction. Meanwhile the proposals of the Commission
have received the unanimous support of the Colonial press and so far
not a voice has been raised in defence of the chaotic jumble of Enelish
and Roman-Dutch Jaw which after one hundred and eleven years from
the Capitulation is all that is left of the Common law of the United Colony
of Demerara and Essequebo and of the Celony of Berbice.

The result of the substitution of English for Roman-Dutch law in the
colony will no doubt favour the establishment of a common Court of Appeal
for British Guiana and the West Indies, or at least for British Guiana and
that part of the West Indies lying to the east of Jamaica. Throughout
that area the law and procedure will by the end of the year be virtually
the same except where the law has been codified. In Jamaica Spanish
law existed at the time of its capture in 1655, but the Spanish popula-
tion was small and rapidly vanished before the influx of English coloni-
zation. No trace of Spanish law survived the 17th century. In 1901
Sir Courtenay Ilbert in Legislative Methods and Forms correctly re-
ferred to St. Vincent as having been formerly governed by the Codtiine
de Paris, but added that while most traces of French jaw have dis-
appeared from the island “it is said that some old French avrets are
still in force” The Common Law Commissioners made inquiry of the
Aduinistration of St. Vinecen through the proper official channel and
were informed that this is no longer correct, that the Common law is
entirely English and that the Criminal Jaw is an adaptation of our own
Indictable Offences Ordinance, 1893. In St. Lucia the old Covitume
de Paris made a stouter fight for existence and would probably have
survived in that island in very much the same form as in Quebee but for
the zeal for codification. With the advent of Mr. Armstrong, « Canalian
lawyer, as Chief Justice, a Civil Code based on the law ot Upper Canada
replaced the obsolescent customary law and procedure in 1879 during

254 Timehri.

the administration of Sir William des Vceux. The Criminal Law and
Procedure followed the English models.

The history of the law of Trinidad is much less simple. When
the island was captured in 1797 it had a considerable Spanish population
with a full equipment of laws and courts of justice. Of this a most
interesting account is given by Mr. C. Reis in the “Journal of Com-
parative Legislation” for January, 1914. A review of the present
position by Mr. Gollan, the learned Attorney General for Trinidad, is
published in an appendix to the Common Law Commissioners’ Report.
Although the Spanish law of Trinidad was not specially stipulated for
by the Treaty of Capitulat'on, it was conceded by the British authorities
in a subsequent circular and undoubtedly remained the law of the colony
for at least half a century. In 1844 the English Common law in criminal
cases and in 1848 the English civil procedure were introduced. The
Ordinance of 1848 appears to have given rise to a singular misconception
of its purport. It is merely a procedure Ordinance, but has been fre-
quently taken to imply the wholesale introduction of English common
and statute law into Trinidad. It would appear that subsequent to this
date Spanish law has been altogether ignored. However defective the
statutory basis of the change, Spanish law has been completely sup-
planted in practice owing to the activity of the Legislature in introducing
English statutes and to the unimpeded influence of the Judge-made law
of Courts acquainted only with English law and procedure. Unlike the
case of British Guiana there is neither duality of system nor fusion, As
Mr. Reis points out, the Spanish law has been wholly displaced except as
to a few matters previous to 1846. These govern the construction of
deeds and the disposition of property by will before 1844, the forms of
wills before 1845, the institution of the heir, succession, intestacy, and
the rights of illegitimates as next of kin of their mother before 1846.
Needless to say, they seldom interrupt the current of English juris-
prudence as administered by the Trinidad Courts. Mr. Gollan is clearly
right in thinking that it will be advisable to consider the introduction of
a statute removing Trinidad from the somewhat anomalous position of
being a colony without any common law except one which dropped out
of public recollection nearly three-quarters of a century ago but which
has never been specifically abolished, If this is done in the near future
British Guiana and Trinidad will start their careers as colonies under the
English Common law almost on a footing of equality.*

The idea of a West Indian Appeal Court is not a new one and has had
many vicissitudes, One of the chief obstacles to its realization until a
few years ago was the reluctance of one of the most respected of the
Chief Justices in these colonies to face the supposed dangers and the
very real inconveniences of travelling by intercolonial steamers. The
inconveniences no longer exist, as the present steamers are clean and

*NOTE=jSince the above was written Trinidad has taken steps to deal with this
situation and is also amending its Indicative Ordinance to enable appeals to be heard by
two independent Judges on the lines of the new British Guiana Supreme Court Bill.
The two colonies are therefore moving on similar lines in these matters,

West Indian Law and Appeals. 255

commodious, and the dangers are no longer likely to prove a deterrent.
The scheme was again mooted in Timehrr in July, 1912. after many
vears’ quiescence, in the following form:

“The West Indian Appeal Court will be created when any person in
authority works out a reasonable financial scheme, while meeting the local
requirements of Trinidad and Jamaica, the most impo:tant of the com-
munities from a litigious standpoint, for the rapid disposal of their own
numerous appeals. Permanent headquarters in Trinidad with half-yearly
sessions in the other colonies and a single additional Appeal Judge, the
various Chief Justices and Acting Chief Justices sitting by rota, would
meet the case. One of the three British Guiana Judgeships could be dis-
pensed with and other savings effected elsewhere. No additional expense
would be incurred. It may be necessary to leave Jamaica out of count at
the outset until the success of a less ambitious scheme is assured. But if
the duty of beginning a study of Roman-Dutch law to meet the require-
ments of British Guiana is added to the other duties which the scheme
will eventually entail upon Judges even now underpaid and in Trinidad
by no means under-worked, the realization will be indefinitely postponed.”

Since this was written a Supreme Court Bill has been read a first time
which will permit of one of the British Guiana Judges being dispensed
with if necessary as soon as any Appeal Court is created. In the interval
it will enable local appeals to be heard by two independent Judges, as in
the case of a Divisional Court in England. The anomalous practice of the
Judge appealed from sitting on the bench in appeals from himself is to be
abolished. If the two Judges disagree the judgment of the Court below
will stand except as to such portion as they may agree to set aside. We
still require, however, some accessible and inexpensive intermediate tribu-
nal between the Supreme Court of the Colony and the Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council. The subsequent right of appeal to the
Privy Council should of course be preserved, but West In ian issues
are seldom of sufficient gravity to justify recourse to that great tribu-
nal of the Empire. This can only be found in an Appeal Court for
the West Indies. An attempt to find a line of least resistance and set
up a half-way system by securing co-operation between this colony and
Trinidad has been, as I anticipated, unsuccessful. The proposal was that the
two colonies should lend each other a Judge or Judges from time to time to
secure an independent hearing of appeals. The Trinidad Judges, however,
are kept very busy at their local work and without extra remuneration
would have to embark upon the laborious study of an entirely different
form of jurisprudence to enable them to try occasional cases in British
Guiana. Barbados has only a single Judge of Supreme Court standing
and the same reply might be expected from that colony. The possibili-
ties of a more elaborate scheme are therefore to be considered, and the
Barbados Legislature has recently petitioned the King in Council in regard
to its own appeal requirements. The time is ripe for a practical move
The late Chief Justice of British Guiana (Sir T. C. Rayner) has expressed
himself in favour of a larger scheme, and we are in substantial agreement

256 Timehri.

as to the lines on which such a Court can be economically and efficiently
formed. A conference of West Indian Chief Justices and Attorney
Generals should be first convened at the suggestion or request of the
Colonial Office to secure the full consideration of all local requirements.
Proposals have been sent from this colony on the subject. The Barbados
scheme leaves out altogether the Leeward Islands and Jamaica, but the
Chief Justice of Grenada is suggested asa member of the Court of Appeal.
Jamaica may insist upon her supposed separate interests and comparative
isolation, but a West Indian Appeal Court should certainly include the
Leeward Islands.

The proposal which I personally advocate is that an Appeal Court be
formed consisting in the first instance of the Chief Justices and Acting
Chief Justices of Trinidad, British Guiana and Barbados and of an addi-
tional special Appeal Judge who would preside at all sittings of the
Court. As an alternative the senior Judge present might preside. The
Colonial Office might consider the advisability of including the Chief
Justice of the Leewards Islands. I am not in favour of the inclusion of
the Chief Justice of any other island. The headquarters should be in
Trinidad, but two sessions per annum should be held in British Guiana,
Barbados, Grenada and Antigua. If Jamaica acceded to the scheme its
Chief Justice and Acting Chief Justice would be included, but the head-
quarters should still be Trinidad as the most central and accessible point.
Three Judges would form a quorum, but no Judge should sit on appeals
from himself. For instance, if the Court were ‘sitting in british Guiana
the special Appeal Judge and one other Chief Justice with the local Chief
Justice would form the Court if there were no appeal from the local Chief
Justice. If there were, a second Chief Justice from outside the colony
would have to come to hear that particular appeal. In the intervals of
circuit sessions appeals would be heard at any time in Trinidad. The
expense of a separate machinery for a West Indian Court of Appeal
would be avoided by adopting the suggested scheme.

In the new Supreme Court Bill it is proposed to abolish the limited
jurisdiction and to enable the colony to dispense with a third Judge in
case suitable provision for appeals is made We should thereby eftect a
saving of £1,000 salary plus the cust of some clerical assistance which
might be set down at £250. As against this would be set off our contri-
bution to the salary of the special Appeal Judge and perhaps to an increase
of some £200 in the salary of the Registrar of the headquarters colony,
wiio would, in addition to his own ordinary duties, act as Registrar of the
Appeal Court. The silary of the Appeal Judge might be estimated at
£1,600, the present salary of the Chief Justice of Trinidad and Jamaica.
Our share of the whole might be placed at £550. Allowing £50 for
travellng expenses our own net saving would be about £650. A mere
saving, however, should be reckoned as a small matter compared with the
increased convenience to the colony and to the West Indies by insuring a
rapid and economic hearing of appeals by an independent tribunal. The
important political effect of taking a further step towards West Indian
consolidation cannot be ignored.

CHARLES WATERTON IN DEMERARA.

By JAMES Ropway.

In studying the past history of the colony we are struck with the
number of strong personalities to be found among the early pioneers.
Possibly their isolation was largely responsible for their eccentricities,
for now that men come more in contact with each other their angles are
more likely to be rubbed down. Whatever may be said against faddists
it is certain that people are interesting from their differences and because
they are true to their real characters. On the contrary, those who follow
custom and fashion either have no real personality or what they have is
hidden by the demands of custom. A century ago the fetters of con-
ventionality hardly troubled the Demerara pioneer and we therefore find
many interesting characters, in fact everyone was himself rather than a
reflection of others. Hence, no doubt, we feel a greater interest in old
travellers’ stories because they contain so much of the personality of the
writers.

This characteristic is obvious in Waterton’s ‘“‘ Wanderings” and has
undoubtedly conduced to put it in the position of one of the world’s best
books. Everyone who reads it feels that he can sympathise with the
writer and enjoy with him the ‘* pleasure of the pathless woods.”

To the man in Society Charles Waterton was a faddist, an eccentric
who isolated himself in his Yorkshire home, kept no company, and never
took part in the sports of the county. Even in Demerara he was looked
upon by some of the rollicking boys of that age as not quite right in his
head. For, first of all, he was a teetotaler when custom never excused a
man from having a drink. We may also safely state that he would he out
of place amone the cock-fighting and card-playing gamblers, as well as
those votaries of Venus then prominent in Georgetown. As far as can
be gathered he spent little time in Stabroek, but was busy at first at La
Jalousie and Fellowship managing the estates, and, in his spare time.
studying the curri-curris and gauldings on the mud-flats.

He was not, however, wanting in friends, for although his uncle
Christopher was away with his family, there were his aunt Mrs. M. Daly
at Bellevue and John Daly at Schoon Ord. But, like many other grand
personalities, he cared little for general company, for he had one real
friend in Charles Edmonstone.

The story of Mrs. Daly is almost romantic. She was remarkably
handsome. One day when walking in the streets of Wakefield she was
seen by Mr. Michael Daly who was on a visit to the old country. It was a
case of love at first sight, and although the Waterton family objected to
her going to such an out-of-the-way place as Demerara love prevailed
and Miss Waterton became Mrs. Daly of Bellevue. On the faet of this

258 Timehri.

accidental meeting depended Charles Waterton'’s visits to the colony and
the publication of the “‘ Wanderings.” ‘The first result of the marriage
was, however, the departure from England of Christopher Waterton.

Demerara was not then so healthy as it is now, for the empoldering
of the coastlands generally caused much sickness. It followed that many
a planter died, some of whom left widows who tried to carry on the
estates. Among these widows was Mrs. Anne Waddell, whose first
husband had been Edward Birmingham, a well-known planter, and her
second Dr. John Waddell. She owned the plantations La Jalousie and
Fellowship. Christopher Waterton probably met her at one of the houses
of the Dalys, with the result that they were married and he carried on
the plantations. We may suppose that the widow was by no means an
old woman notwithstanding her two previous marriages, for she bore five
children to her third husband. These were Robert, who lived here and
died in 1837, George, an officer in the Austrian service, Henry, Matilda
and Agnes.

To act as q.q. or attorney for his uncle Charles Waterton came out
in 1805. While in that capacity he got a fair knowledge of the colony
and was able to indulge his taste for the study of birds. We may
consider that he was in a way a born naturalist, only wanting oppor-
tunities for developing his faculty. These he got in Demerara, with the
result that his whole after-life was devoted to a grand scheme by which
a bird paradise was established at Walton Hall.

To study the birds of the interior was his aim, but he could not do
this properly as long as he managed the estates. However, he became
acquainted with the greatest friend of his life, Charles Edmonstone, the
mighty hunter of runaway slaves.

Charles Edmonstone came from an old Scotch family which numbered
ainong its ancestors Princesses of the Royal blood of Scotland and even
the mythical Lady Godiva of Coventry. He came to the colony about
1751, probably during the short British cccupation. The old Scottish
estates had been lost and we may suppose that he was, ike many other
young fellows, in search of a fortune. When we say that he went back
and bought Cardross Park, an old family possession in Dumbartonshire,
we may assume that he was successful.

At that time there lived up the Camouni Creek another Scotchman
named William Reid. Like many colonists of that time he found it
desirable to be on friendly terms with the Arawaks in his neighbourhoed.
The result was that he married the daughter of one of the Captains or
“Owls,” who was called Princess Minda; her daughter became Mrs,
Edmonstone.

Some people may be inclined to sneer at the idea of an “ dion
Princess,” and even a century ago the more conventional settlers looked
upon an Indian marriage with contempt. Such a view is showy by

Charles Waterton in Demerara. 259

the followmg reference to a son of Governor Meertens, from a MS.
of 1811 :—

‘Know then that these Chiefs are very formidable in their own
opinion, and that the elegant mamma of Jacco Meertens was no less a
personage than the Empress of the vast Madawiny Empire, with seven
buck huts and nine naked families. This Empress, his republican
Excellency was so much enamoured with that a formal proposal of
marriage was made and accepted. Strange as it is true, that nothing
made so great an impression on the heart of this enraptured swain than
the graceful accomplishment of swimming in the delightful Indian streams
(so like a large turtle) which his inamorata usually enjoyed with all her
nation in undisturbed felicity, so customary in her desultory peregrina-
tions through the wilds of the continent.”

When an officer of the Government like Antony Meertens could put
an Indian Princess into his mansion at PlIn. Rome as mistress, and keep
up what was then Government House as a fashionable centre, we need
not formulate excuses for William Reid. We can easily understand that
the wife of a pioneer could hardly be a fine lady ; this ‘“ Princess,” no
doubt, possessed excellent qualities to be admired.

There is little known about Reid, but from the position of his grant
we may presume that he was a timber-cutter. In such a business it was
of great advantage to have Indian assistance and we may safely state that
this was often given freely by friends of the Chief, his father-in-law. If
we presume that Edmonstone saved enough from the same business to
buy Cardross Park it must have paid very well. The fact that Stabroek
was then being built and the other fact that the houses required good
timber, suggest that the trade was a good one and in few hands. Possibly
there may yet be one or two houses which have timbers cut by the
relations of Princess Minda.

Edmonstone got a grant near to that of Reid and we may suggest
that they worked together. There is reason for stating that Edmonstone
married Reid’s daughter a few years after his arrival, but whether the two
were partners or whether the younger man was assistant at first does not
appear. We may presume, however, that they were friendly from the
first and it is even stated that they came from the same place in Scotland.
When William Reid died we may also presuine that the timber business
and savine's came into the hands of his son-in-law.

Our records commence with Dr. Pinckard’s visit to Warrow’s Place,
which he describes. The dwelling was plain but comfortable, and the
hospitality of Edmonstone shone conspicuously ; the dinner comprised,
among other good things, a ham, pepper-pot and Jabba. This was in 1796
and the Doctor stated that he saw the old Swedenborgian, Glen, teaching
Kdmonstone’s children to read. Possibly these children may have died
young, for even the oldest of those taken to England in 1817 was hardly
old enough to have been learning her letters 21 years before. The second
daughter was born in 1812 and it is probable that Miss Edmonstone was
not much older.

260 Timehri.

From his influence with the Indians Edmonstone was able to assist
the Government in preventing the danger of camps of runaway slaves.
As a result of precautionary measures these never became so dangerous
here as in Surinam, and this is largely due to Edmonstone, who at
different times led fifteen expeditions into the bush with uniform success,
but not without danger. In 1801 he nearly lost his life in an expedition
to the district now occupied by the reservoir for the Lamaha Canal.

With eleven men, a corporal and sergeant, as well as a party of
Indians, he proceeded up the Madawini C reek. After eight days travelling
over the sand-reefs and through the swamps, they came upon a hill where
was a large body of runaway negroes. Edmonstone, with his man, Coffee,
was well ahead with two Indian Chiefs, one of whom fired at a negro,
On this the leader, a burly man about 6ft. high, with a head-dress of
cowrie shells, came out and challenged him. Edmonstone advanced slowly
to allow his party time to come up. but as the runaway was defiant he
shot him. Immediately the enemy fired a volley, with the result that the
two Indians and Edmonstone fell, while the bush negroes ran off. One of
the Indian Chiefs lay down close to Edmonstone, who asked him if he
was much hurt. “Oh no,” he replied and at once expired. Finding
their leader severely wounded the party refused to pursue the runaways
and at once prepared to carry Edmonstone to the nearest plantation.
This was Alliance, and from thence they crossed the river to Vredestein
where Dr. Dunkin, the Colonial Surgeon, attended him. Four slugs were
located but only one could be extracted then; in Glasgow a second was
removed many years later, but the remaining two gave trouble as long as
he lived.

For this and other exploits he was presented with a gold-hilted
sword. a silver cup, freedom from taxes, and a fine grant for timber
cutting.

When Charles Waterton became acquainted with his friend does not
appear, but we may take the account of Warrow’s Place as given by St.
Clair in his *‘ Residence in the West Indies” and referring to 1807 as
probably near to what the settlement was like when Waterton paid his
first visits. A copy of St. Clair’s sketch was reproduced in a late number
of Timehri (Vol. 2, No. 2). The house stood on a sloping rise from the
savannah- like eee of the creek and behind were the ridges of sand
which are so common in that neighbourhood. No doubt these sand-reefs
were at one time covered with immense trees which formed the good
sound timber for which some of our old buildings were noted. Wild ani-
mals were more common than they are at present, but even yet the
locality is not far from its primitive condition. Birds were and are
numerous ; it is an ideal place for the naturalist.

Waterton tells how Warrow’s Place sometimes became a refuge for
people who got into trouble. In one case an unfortunate gentleman was
outlawed in connection with a bill transaction. He had been wandering
about, and being sick looked up Waterton, who was expected to act as

wes

+ S96 eye

Charles Waterton in Demerara. 261

asurzeon by bleeding him. While they were at breakfast a tent-boat
appeared, whereupon Waterton went down to the landing and disputed the
passage of the officers of justice, who were in search of the outlaw, and
thus gave time for him to escape. For this Waterton was summoned
before Governor Carmichael, to whom he made a very plausible excuse.

The Governor was then clearing out the Augean Stables, otherwise
public offices. He would tell an official that he was coming round next
day, which sometimes gave him a fright. In one case the official was
well aware that he could not make outa just balance sheet and said he
would die rather than take a false oath. He therefore got away to
Edmonstone’s, from whence he appears to have fled to the interior with
a view to reach the Spanish or Portuguese territory.

It was in 1812 when Governor Carmichael made such a stir, and in
the same year Anne Mary Edmonstone was born at Warrow’s Place. She
was spoken of later as the second daughter ; the others were Eliza and
Helen. It is stated that Charies Waterton liked her as a child and it is
probable that he may have witnessed her christening and held her in his
arms. As however this was the time when he commenced his first
journey as told in the ‘‘ Wanderings” he could have seen little of his
future bride before his return. In that journey he reached Fort St.
Joaquim, but suffered so much from fever that he almost despaired of
ever coming back. ‘‘ However, it abated; his spirits rallied, and he
marched again ; and after delays and inconveniences he reached the house
of his worthy friend, Mr. Edmonstone.”

Waterton left Demerara soon afterwards, and returned in 1816. The
following year Charles Edmonstone retired to Scotland with his wife and
three daughters, where he bought Cardross Park and settled down. Both
he and his wife, however, died within a few years, leaving the girls, who
were then at Bruges for their education, in charge of his friend.

Waterton came again to Demerara in 1820 on the * Glenbervie,” a
famous barque, with a captain of sufficient note to be mentioned in the
Scotch jest-book, *‘ The Laird of Logan.”

Captain John Jones sailed the ‘Glenbervie” from Greenock to
Demerara for nearly twenty years and wore out more canvas than any
other two vessels of the same burthen. While other commanders were
reefing in prospect of gales Jones kept up his sails to prove the strength
of their fabric. “‘ Come away, my lads,” he would ery, “it is as well to
go to the bottom at twelve knots as at eight.”

It is said that he once took two young fellows for Demerara where
they expected to do well as overseers. But the weather was so rough
and the winds so contrary that the passengers soon felt disgusted with the
sea. Before they were well on the voyage one of them said :

‘“‘T say Captain, are we at Madeira yet? Because, ye see, we want
to be pitten out there, and we'll gang the rest o’t every fit.”

262 Timehri.

Later on when they were less bufteted, they disputed together as to
the best way of getting back without going thr ough a similar experience.
One was for w alking from Demerara up to Canada and then crossing on
foot, but the other thought this too long a journey :

‘‘Demerara’s an island on the Continent, and we hae naething more
to do than just to step our wa’s doun through Spain and France and
Portugal through the back o’ Ireland.

A similar stormy experience befell Waterton, for the ‘“ Glenbervie ~
was driven to the north-west of Ireland and had to contend with a foul
and wintry wind for above a fortnight. We may presume that Captain
Jones. as usual, carried everything she would bear.

On his arrival in Georgetown Waterton found that yellow fever had
been claiming its victims and that funerals were taking place every day.
Under such circumstances he remained only as long as was necessary to
get together his supplies for his third journey. ‘He paid a visit to
Warrow’s Place, but, although it had been deserted for only three years,
the house was in ruins, the roof had nearly fallen in, and the room where
once Governors and Generals had caroused was now dismantled and
tenanted by the vampire. On the outside nature had nearly resumed her
rights, the few fruit-trees were struggling like strangers lost and
bewildered. However, he fixed his quarters here for a time and did some
cood work.

The reason for this desertion of Warrow’s Place was probably the
new timber grant which was made to Robert Edmonstone in the Hobabo
in consideration for his keeping the head of that creek free from bush
negroes. Probably also Waterton brought out some authority in connec-
tion with Charles Edmonstone’s affairs for we find a notice in the “ Royal
Gazette,” July 7, 1820, that the firm of Charles Edmonstone & Co. was
closing in a few months ; all claims to be sent to the counting-house of
McDonald, Edmonstone & Co. This last seems to have been a new firm,
for that then closing consisted of Archibald and Charles Edmonstone and
William Smith. On the 2nd August there was an advertisement of
Archibald and Robert Edmonstone, attorneys of Charles Edmonstone,
offering for hire a wood-cutting gang of 15 men, women and children as
hired by William Smith.

Waterton paid a visit to the house of Archibald in the Hobabo with
President Rough, the President of the Court of Justice, who had the
dispute with Governor Murray. Here Waterton came to breakfast bare-
foot and in a check shirt, for which he apologised. Here also he killed a
big snake with the help of the Edmonstones and the President.
Archibald Edmonstone, he said, had a good knowledge of the forest and
could tell him of the fruit- bearing trees frequented by certain birds ; he
also knew seventy kinds of timber and had made a list.

Charles Waterton was a man of strong opinions, some of which were
considered as fads. People laughed at him even in Georgetown, especially

tharles Waterton in Demerara. 263

when he brought the Nondescript for exhibition and gave the story of its
capture. He cared nothing for their jeers, for he undoubtedly was right
in his contention that his system of preparing specimens was an advance
on everything that had gone before. His treatment of fever by bleeding
was perhaps risky, especially as he always did it himself. If, however.
we may judge by results nothing happened to prevent his living to a good
old age. His doses of calomel, jalap and Peruvian bark were in accord-
ance with the custom of his time. There can hardly be a doubt that his
loose clothing and bare feet helped to prevent trouble ; a splinter in one
foot showed, however, that there was a risk. Still the difficulties
of keeping boots or shoes in good and serviceable condition on a journey
are so great that it was probably the best thing he could do. His total
abstinence from spirits was very important, especially when we consider
the habits of the time. We cannot doubt for one moment that many of
the pioneers died from excessive drinking ; Dr. Bonyun showed this
plainly, by statistics, in the ‘forties.

It is not necessary to survey Waterton’s grand work in Demerara ;
its value has been acknowledged by naturalists all over the world and Sir
Robert Schomburgk was indebted to the account of his travels for many
a wrinkle. He was not very kindly treated by the reviews, but he could
aftord to laugh when they dubbed him another Munchausen.

Waterton left Demerara in 1825 never to return, and four years later
he married Anne Mary Edmonstone, a girl of seventeen. We cannot do
better than quote his statement of the result from the Autobiography :—

“In 1829 I became the happiest man in the world; but it pleased
Heaven -to convince me that all felicity here below is no more than a
mere illusive transitory dream, and I bow submissive to its adorable
decrees. I am left with one fine little boy who looks up to me for light ;
and I trust that I shall succeed in imparting it to him; for my sister,
Mrs. Carr, and her invaluable husband, together with his aunts, Miss
Edmonstone and Miss Helen Edmonstone, know no bouads in their
affection for him, and in their yood offices to myself, who stand so much
in need of them.”

The man of forty-eight was married to the school-girl at Bruces.
Both father and mother were dead and the three Demerara girls were
under Waterton’s care. Poor Anne died soon after the birth of Edmund,
but her sisters, who remained single, acted as mothers to the child. There
was always much good feeling towards his dear Eliza and Helen, and the
few letters to them which have been published express the genial
character of the naturalist. We wonder whether they ever longed to be
back in the old home and among their Indian friends.

The timber grant in the Hobabo appears to have fallen into the
hands of Dr. Hugh Rodie, whose name is commemorated in the name of
the greenheart, aad who suggested the bark of that tree as a fever
specific. Tie whole of the area once covered by the grant is now occupied
by the Canals Polder and the Hobabo is practically gone. Forty years

264. Tinehri.

ago we were able to distinguish the remains of a saw-mill and the site of
a house where probably the Edmonstones and Dr. Rodie once lived.

The plantation named Walton Hall, near Devonshire Castle in
Essequebo, must have been sold about the time that Charles Waterton
gave up his attorneyship in 1812. Mr. J. McKirdy was the owner in 1815,
when it was in cotton; in 1822 B. Kingston was put down as proprietor,
and in 1825 there were 259 slaves. In 1841 it was a sugar plantation
and the produce was recorded as 190,000 lbs. sugar, 2,682 gallons rum
and 18,871 gallons molasses ; later it was amalgamated with Devonshire
Castle, and is now included in Hampton Court.

The estates of Christopher Waterton in 1815 were Fellowship, in
cottee, and Bienfait and Jalousie, in coffee and cotton. In 1822 the estates
were registered under the name of John Waddell, executor ; there were
in 1825, 593 slaves on Fellowship and 313 on La Jalousie. In 1833 La
Jalousie was in sugar and cotton, and Fellowship in cotton and plantains ;
they were recorded as the property of the heirs of Waterton, with Robert
Waterton as attorney. In 1841 they were linked together and the pro-
duce was recorded as sugar 499,650 lbs., rum 2,745 gallons; molasses
29,787 gallons; coffee 15,000 lbs., and plantains, etc., value $4,243.17.
Robert Waterton, the last representative of the family in Demerara,
died in 1837, and we find La Jalousie in 1861 as the property of the
heirs of Waterton with R. G. Butts as attorney and D. C. Cameron,
manager. In 1870 the estate is put down as the property of G. J. Luckie
with E. A. Searle as manager. It was amaloamated with Windsor Forest
and has been lately abandoned to the Government on account of the
difficulties of keeping up sea defences.

Charles Edmonstone received, among other marks of appreciation for
his services, a grant of a mud lot for his timber trade in what is now
Georgetown. Stabroek had no room for such a purpose; it followed,
therefore, that most of the timber trade was carried on in front of Pln.
Werk-en-Rust, as it is to-day. The only available places belonging to the
Government were the Company's paths, the most convenient for the ris-
ing districts of Robb’s Town and Cumingsburg being that between
Vlissingen and La Bourgade, on which the buildings of the R.A. & C.
Society now stand.

On the 18th of April, 1806, Governor Montgomerie granted him a
piece of land (mud lot) which is represented to-day by the premises
occupied by Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co. This was transported in
1820, by Robert and Archibald Edmonstone, as attorneys of Charles, te
Rose, Croal and Spragg, since which time it has been owned and occupied
successively by Jones, Parry and Machray, Donovan, and Perot & Co.
In 1826 I find McDonald, Edmonstone & Co. occupying a lot which is
probably the site on which Fogarty’s boot store now stands. Both of
these mud lots were for storing timber, which was probably required in
considerable quantities fur building the new district of Cumingsburg.

Churles Waterton in Demerara. 265

It may be well to mention here that Water Street is a made-up road,
which originated in an ordinary mud dam, such as we have now in front
of Ruimveldt. It was so slushy in wet weather as to be impassible for
anyone with boots ; in 1807 it was marked on a plan as 24 feet wide
with ditches on either side. The Seamen’s Hospital was built well inside
the dam and occupied what is now part of the Society’s premises east of
the Reading Room. The mud dam probably extended along what is now
the pavement in front of the Reading Room, and Edmonstone’s mud flat
would have been outside. Regulations were made against dragging
timber over the dais, and no doubt some of the floeds reported at inter-
vals were due to this cause.

The “ Royal Gazette” of June 29th, 1837, has the following under
the heading ‘“ Died :”

“This morning at 20 minutes past 6 o'clock on Plantation La Jalousie
—the Honourable Robert Waterton.”

The same paper July 22nd, 1837, reports another death :
“This day in town, Archibald Edmonstone, junior, son of A.
Edmonstone, Esq., formerly of this Colony.”

The following is a copy of an autograph letter of Waterton, which
was presented to the Museum by the Rev. Father Barraud, S.J. :—

“ Walton Hall near Wakefield,
January 18, 1865,

“ My dear Father Johnson,—

Allow me to send you my condolence on your recent family
affliction. Your good uncle (‘ qui sobriam duxit sine labe vitam”’) was my
companion for several years. We mourned with Alma Mater in her early
and her utmost need. We witnessed her rapid progress to prosperity :
and we have lived to see her blooming in meridian splendour—the adimira-
tion of our country, and the consolation of every aching heart around
her.

‘“‘T did not fully enjoy my Christmas visit to dear Alma Mater. The
ague kept hanging on me. It shortened my sojourn in her magniticent
establishment ; and it punished me severely the day after reaching home.
Believe me, dear Father Johnson, with great regard, yours very sincerely,

‘CHAS. WATERTON.”

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fitE “LANGUAGES OF INDIA.

By ARCHDEACON JOSA.

People speak of India as they would of any one country in Europe.
Beeause India happens to be a dependency of the British Empire,
therefore the enormous extent of the country, as well as the great
variety of languages spoken by the teeming millions of India, are for-
gotten. We are apt to imagine that our East Indians speak a barbarous
jargon. “ Do you speak Hindustani?” is a question often asked by those
who imagine that the bulk of our people. if not all, speak that language.
It may be news to some that upwards of 100 languages differing in
many eases radically one from the other, belonging to d-fferent branches
of the great families of Janguages, are spoken in India.

We propose, after giving a short account of the sacred language of
India, to enumerate and describe the chief languages spoken by the East
Indians of our colony. The religious tone, thought, and aspirations of
any race can only be found out from its literature, aud consequently from
its language. The language of the Vedas, to begin with, is called San-
skrit (“carefully constructed”), but it is a Sanskrit peculiar to itself,
differing in a great measure from the more modern language. Hardly
any Brahmans are to be met with in India who understand the lancuage
of the Vedas; the greatest modern scholar of the ancient literature of
India was Professor Max Muller. The Sanskrit lanouage ought to be
studied. She is the elder sister of most European languages. A great
many words are identical in Sanskrit and in English, e.g:

ENGLISH. SANSKRIT.
Star Tara.
Night Nacta.
Deity Data.
Nose Nasa.
Name Naman.
Mouse Musha.,
Two Du.
Three re
Six Sash.
Seven Sapta.
Right Ashta.
Nine Nava.

The great similarity that exists between certain Asiatic languages
and those of Europe proves beyond a shadow of doubt that all these
languages have sprung from one tongue—sometimes called the Aryan.
This is now defunct. The Sanskrit approaches nearest to it. It stands
in the same relation to the religion of the Hindus as Latin does to the
religion of Roman Catholics. It is the language of the temple. There
are 10,000 distinct MSS. of Sanskrit literature, Hindi is the next

268 Timehri.

language which claims our attention. This language with its dialects is
spoken by 10(,0£0,000 people—a number which it is hardly possible to
realize. It is derived from Sanskrit and is written in Nagari* In
this country, 75 per cent. of the East Indians at least speak Hindi or a
dialect of it. Hindi therefore should be studied by those who would
converse with them.

Hindustani is the court language of India just as French was the
court language of England during the Norman and other periods of its
history. Hindustani may be written either in Persian or Nagari
characters. After all it is merely Hindi mixed with Persian and Arabic.
It is spoken by the Mohammedan East Indians.

Thirty-six millions speak the next language, Bengali. In this
country there are a few hundreds of these people and Christianity has
made itself felt among them, probably through the efforts of the Rev.
Mr. Bhose.

Panjabi, which is the language of some 12,000,000, is also repre-
sented in our polyglot country. We have also met a few who speak
Oriya, a language spoken by 5,000,000 in Orissa.

At Plantation Hepe there were certain coolies whose features are
very like the Chinese. These come from that interesting country Nepal,
far away amid the loftiest peaks of the snow-capped Himalayas.
They speak a language called Nepalese. Only two millions speak this
language. Christianity in that country, as far as we know, has not made
any converts yet, but there are some few Christians amongst them here.
Portions of the scriptures are translated into that language, copies of
which are in the hands of our people.

We have also conversed with a few who speak Pashtu or Afghan,
from the well-known Afghanistan, a language very much like the Persian.

All the above mentioned languages are included in what is called the
vreat Aryan Family. The Turanian group is fairly represented in
this Colony. First we may mention Tamil, which in India is spoken
by 15,000,000. Here, we should think it is spoken by 5 per cent. of
our East Indians. The labourers employed in Georgetown by the Town
Council are chiefly Tamil-speaking people. Christianity has been
accepted by a great many of these people and the English Church in
Inia as well as here has been fairly suce ssful amongst them. We will
end our list by mentioning the language which has been called the
Italian of India, Telugu, Sixteen millions of peojle speak this lan-
guage and some few are to be met in this colony. With the exception
of the Mohammedans, and a few Nepalese who are Buddhists, all these
millions of people acknowledge the Vedas and voluntarily yield them-

selves to the law of caste. Languages, however dittcuit, were not a

* The word Nagari, sometimes called Deva Nagari, signifies the language fit to be
svoken by the gods, or the language spoken in cities.

The Languages of India. 269

barrier to the spread of Brahmanism : languages will not be a barrier to
the spread of Christianity.

‘Mar Mar,” AND “ Mar SALA.”
More than once of late the above words have been heard and in our
Courts of justice attempts have been made to give other than the correct
meaning for the purpose of confusing the minds of jurymen.

The word Mar is the root of the verb Marna and the root is also
the sesond person imperative present—which may mean strike or kil!.
Dr. Forbes, in his standard dictionary, says, p. 159: ‘It may not be amiss
to infurm the reader that marna, like the verb to smite, has a very
equivocal meaning: properly it should signify to kill, being the regular
transitive from marna, to die ; whereas it commonly signifies to beat only.”

We know a couple of dozen words which signify “to kill.” The
word marna is the most common. I shall quote first from the bible
just one text which can have no manner or doubt that the word is here
used in the sense of ‘to kill :”

Acts X. 13: ‘‘ Rise Peter, kill and eat.” ‘He Pitar, uth Mar aur
Kha.”

There can be no doubt about the meaning of the word Mar here.
But it may be objected that this is a missionary’s translation, and so
we will give one cr two quotations from the classics.

In the Shuru of the Baital Pachisi in the 22nd paragraph there is an
account that in a certain place there was an uproar and cries of ‘ Kill,
kill! Seize him!” The Hindi here is ‘ Mar Mar, le ie.”

In another standard work, the Prem Sagar, the word Mar is usually
used for to kill, thus in ch. 46, “‘ | have killed this one to no purpose,” and
the word for killed is mard. Whilst thus occasionally the word mar
may mean to strike it usually means to kill. When an infuriated gang
of men armed with cutlasses and other weapons shout ‘‘ Mar, mar ” it
can only have one meaning, and that is to kill.

SALA.—this innocent-looking word simply means ‘“ brother-in-law.”
What more innocent? But when angry people use this word it is the
tilthiest word in the tongue, and there is no word in the English tongue
to give its equivalent.

Bates’ Standard Dictionary, $.V., states: ‘‘This term is used in a
grossly abusive sense.” Forbes uses exactly the same words about the
term. The nearest equivalent is the old English word ‘“ cuckold.”

The East Indians are adepts at cursing, but their curses always refer
to their relati ns and families. The names of God ard their gods are
never blasphemed, as alas, is so common amongst us Christians.

THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN RACES.*

By His Honour Mr. Justice Russetyt, LL.B.. Trinidad.

The problem of the origin of the American races may be regarded
as one which is common to two sciences—anthropology and ethnology.
Anthropology, with its measurements of skulls and thigh bones and such
like, is comparatively a dry study ; and you will be relieved to hear that
1 propose carefully to avoid it in this brief paper. But ethnology is a
flowery field, practically unbounded in its expanse, in which the un-
learned may roam at will, culling what blooms strike his fancy and
arranging them in the most fantastic wreaths to deck his own brow, if
he be an egotistical fellow, or those of some particular stock or tribe
which he may select for special glorification to the exclusion of the
remainder of humanity : a thing which, as I shall endeavour to show, a
good many writers on such subjects have done. Ethnology, at its
present stage, is not an exact science. ‘The multifariousness as its data
and their uncertainty make it easy for the amateur scientist to imagine
himself a discoverer, and, by judiciously picking out what suits his pur-
pose and ignoring the rest, to reconstruct whole aeons of the past with
as perfect an disowciance as a child builds palaces of sticks and straws.
Given leisure and industry, he may adyance still further and
convince others, making them too to see the product of his imaginings :
shadowy worlds which were or may have been; marvels and
eataclysms ; heat and cold, earth and water contending for supre-
macy; continents submerged; seas changed to deserts ; with hordes of
primitive humanity (like busy ants) threading the changing maze of land
and sea, mountains and plains, here engulfed by thousands, nay, by
millions, mustering elsewhere, mingling, interchanging languages, cus-
toms, religions ; until—behold them emerging in the dawning light of
_history! How curious! How interesting! But is it science? Well,
who knows? Only by much guessing has man ever attained to know-
ledge : imagination is the real novuim organwim, imspiring now a Coper-
nicus, now a Galileo, now a Newton, with glimpses of truth once seem-
ingly incredible, only to be brought to a certainty by centuries of veri-
fication. Will a time come when the ethnologist’s theories will be
similarly established? Will some master of many sciences, versed in
anthropology, philology, geology, history, mythology, folk-lore, com-
parative religion and the innumerable branches of inquiry which have
already shed, or may hereafter shed a light upon the problem, capable of
discerning what is certain in each, What is worthy of provisional
credence, what is worthless and deserving to be wholly rejected, and
endowed with ingenuity and energy sufficient to weld the whole mass
into one, and construct a chain of circumstantial evidence, irrefragable

*A Lecture delivered at the Royal Victoria. Institute, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.
on the 17th March, 1914.

Tie Timehri.

in every link, and in its cumulative effect excluding every rational suppo-
sition save that which he advances: will such a scientist yet arise to
solve for us, once and for ever, for example, this problem of the origin
of the American races ?

Well, none has risen so far, that is certain. Yet many great minds
have applied themselves to the task. ‘Take Humboldt for instance. All
who have read his celebrated Travels must have felt that there was an
exceptional intellect, exact, encyclopedic, conversant with practically
every branch of science as science then was, avd capable of bringing it
effectively to bear upon just such problems as this. And there can be
no doubt he did apply his mind to it : he expressly refers to it im more
than one passage. I have searched his Travels through and through,
however, without finding one in which he commits himself to any theory.
He classifies the native races of the new Continents in two: Esquimaux
and non-Esquimaux—that is roughly what it comes to (Vol. 1. pp.
338-9), but as to where either came from he is discreetly non-committal.
With the theory of the Asiatic origin of all or of certain of the tribes,
he must have been quite painfully familiar: it was the orthodox opinion
of the day, and the Spanish missionaries—whose hospitality he grate-
fully remembers—must apparently have dinned the doctrine too much
into his ears : for one cannot escape observing a note of impatience in
his reference (Vol. 1, page 325) to Father Garcia’s “ Tratado del origin
de los Indios” as ‘a tedious compilation.” I have not been able to
come across a copy of that work to ascertain how far it merits the
denunciation ; but our energetic and learned acting Assistant Secretary,
Mr. Caracciolo, is the fortunate possessor of another rare old work,
Father Gumilla’s “‘ Historia Natural de las Naciones del Orinoco”; and
enough is to be found there on the subject to satisfy most readers. In
Vol. L, at page 115, the Rev. Father formulates his conclusion clearly
and succinctly : ‘“‘The Indians are children of Ham, the second son of
Noah, and are descended from him just as we are descended from
Japhet, through Tubal, founder and populator of Spain, who was his son
and grandson of Noah, and came to Spain in the year 154 after the
Universal Deluge 1788 after the Creation of the World. Similarly*Ham
and his children became possessed of Arabia, Egypt and the rest of
Africa ; and some of his grandchildren and great grandchildren, owing
to their ships being borne along by the fury of the winds, as I will rate
in the proper place, or otherwise, crossed from Cape Verde tc the most
outlying Cape in all South America, which is in Brazil and is named
Pernambuco.” Hence the natural right of the Catholic monarchs of
Spain to the unquestioning obedience of the American Indians! In
another old work (1776) in the possession of Mr. Caracciolo which he
has kindly placed at my disposal for the preparation of this lecture,
‘‘ Recherches, Historiques et Geographiques, sur le Nouveau Monde,” by
Jean-Benoit Scherer, the Asiatic theory is again developed : similarity of
languages and customs being among the proofs offered, together with
such facts as certain vegetal products of one Continent being thrown on
the shores of the other. Homer, Hesiod, Diodorus Siculus and other

The Origin of the American Races. 273

ancient writers are called to give willing or unwilling testimony; and
Plato’s narrative (invented or really based on tradition, who can tell ?)
concerning the Lost Atlantis appears at full length.

Humboldt must have had an overdose of the Asiatic theory, hence
his impatient fling at poor Father Garcia. But that such speculations
interested him when exhibited in moderation there can be little doubt.
In fact in his later work on the Cordilleras he seems to have become a
convert to an Eastern Asiatic Convert Theory. Ina note to page 52 of
the first volume of his Travels (I refer always to Routledge and Sons’
edition, in Sir John Lubbock’s Hundred Best Books Series) he refers to
the Atlantis without entering into any discussion concerning it; but
somehow the feeling comes to one that the problem of its existence was
all the time present in his mind when making his elaborate observations
of ocean currents, ocean soundings, voleanic convulsions and kindred
phenomena in the Canary Islands and in the New World. The task to
which he set himself, however, was to collect facts, materials ; where
these justified immediate and reasonable conclusions he was ready to
draw them and was remarkably happy in doing so; but his great object
was to collect materials of every sort and description for subsequent
study ; and I shall later on have to speak about one trove of his—a
collection of old manuscripts purchased at Mexico, which has proved of
the utmost value to recent Americanists and may probably lead to still
more important results in connection with the decipherment of native
hieroglyphs.

In the meantime a last word with regard to the Lost Atlantis. The
perished Continent is not wholly lost. Among ourselves, a founder and
ex-President of this Institute, whose name, well known in European
scientific circles, will always be held in honour in this colony, where his
invaluable researches have been made, has both spoken and written
repeatedly upon this subject. Last year, if | remember rightly, or the
year before, he dealt with it incidentally in a lecture which he delivered
at the Queen’s Royal College ; and the interest of his lecture was greatly
enhanced by a short address at its conclusion, on the same subject,
and to a like effect with certain modifications, by Dr. Watts, Royal
Commissioner on Agriculture in the West Indies. Since then I have
come across an article in the Fourteenth Report (1912) of the Michigan
Academy of Science indirectly confirming the views of both lecturers.
The conclusions at which the learned author, Mr. Howard B. Baker,
arrives are: that during an undetermined period prior to the close of
the Pleistocene Glacial Epoch, there was a much lower ocean level than
there has been since ; that at the end of that Epoch there was an increase
in the volume of oceans and that the general level rose several thousand
feet, probably a mile or more: that in the present state of science it is
impossible to account for this increase of the ocean on the basis of the
previous existence of the excess on or about the earth, and that the
natural inference is, that the increase resulted from cosmic causes which
for the present must be left in general terms. The importance of this

274 Timehri.

conclusion, based on a mass of evidence which it is impossible for me
even to summarise, as to the general ocean level having risen several
thousand feet, perhaps a mile or more, as offering an explanation, partial
or complete, for the disappearance of a former continent—or continents,
since the Lost Atlantis is not the only one whose existence has been
geologically conjectured—is so obvious as to require merely to be
mentioned.

Donelly’s celebrated work, ‘The Lost Atlantis,” to judge from a
much thumbed copy which I recently borrowed from the Library, must
be a favourite work with the Trinidad reading public ; and well may it be
so. since our Island and the northward chain of Tobago, Grenada, St.
Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Windward and Leeward Islands generally,
mark. we are assured, the shore of a great inland sea to the east in
which the lost Continent subsided. We are all like children, it has
been said, picking up shells on the shore of eternity ; but the thought
is specially brought home to us by the physical fact, as there seems every
reason to deem it, that we are here to-night, for example, met together
within a mile or so of a great sea whose waves washed formerly a Conti-
nent now vanished. If sermons are to be found in stones, the rocks of
Trinidad surely have their lesson.

But to return from the Lost Atlantis which in so far as the subject
of my lecture is concerned is or was, if it truly existed, but a stepping-
stone or bridge connecting the present so called Old and New Continents,
and rendering probable the dispersion of races from east to west, or
rice versa, across thousands of miles of now existing ocean, at a time
when coracles and curials were the sole ineans of transportation, we have
had here in Trinidad within recent years a savant whose works bearing
on this subject have not yet locally obtained the recognition which they
merit. {refer to that series of noble works, monuments of erudition
and research, which flowed one after another from the pen of the Rev.
Father Etienne Brosse, formerly of the Leper Asylum, Cocorite.
It was my misfortune to come to this Island too late to have the privi-
lege of knowing him. It is a privilege which I should have greatly
prized, because apart from his great learning he must have been (from
many anecdotes told me concerning him by Father O’Byrne, our
late Vicar-General), a man of an exceptionally interesting and lovable
nature : modest, retiring, simple as a child, and self-devoting in whatever
cause he espoused in the interests of science or humanity. The dedica-
tion of one, the first of his works bearing on the subject now in ques-
tion, seemed to me even as I heard of it from the lips of Father ~
O'Byrne before I had read it, a touching index to the man’s character.
It is worded as follows :—‘O Mon Dieu et Pere Bien-aimé, je t’offre ce
petit livre, qui a été composé dans la solitude. En lécrivant, je n’ai
cherché que la verité ; mais comme dans mon isolement presque tout a fui
pour moi, sinon toi, 0 mon Pere, et que personne ne sera la pour
recevoir mon ceuvre, c’est 4 toi que je la confie et l’abandonne. Ce que
tu feras sera bien fait. Si tu la soutiens, je te bénirai tout autant.”

The Origen of the American Ruces. ie

With regard to the personal career of the reverend savant—tfor such
he truly was—my recollection of what Father O'Byrne told me is too
vague at this interval of time for me to venture on any particulars
further than that I beheve he came here late in life partly with a view to
studying scientifically and from personal observation the subject of
Leprosy. on which he wrote a book, and the language, habits and
idiosyneracies cf the East Indian population here. As illustrative of his
retiring disposition, one anecdote which Father O'Byrne gave me_ is
rather quaint, and with Father Casey’s permission I will endeavour to
tell it, though I wish Father O'Byrne had been here to do so instead, as
it must inevitably lose many of the finer touches in my transmission.
Father Flood, who was then Archbishop—most of those present imust
remember him, as he died only a few years ago and his memory is
green, I am sure, in the hearts of all who knew him—had issued an
order that all the priests in the diocese must preach by turn in the
Cathedral. When Father Brosse’s turn came he was reluctant —to
address so large an audience was a thing contrary to his habits, at anv
rate of recent years ; but of course he obeyed. He took as his text
that verse in one of the Gospels: “And Mary kept all these thines and
pondered them in her heart.” ‘“ What, my dear brethren,” he enquired.
“are we to learn from this text? Here was a sainted woman who
might have given the world many interesting particulars reeard-
ing the infancy and youth of her Divine Son; but no, she kept all
these things and pondered them in her heart. What ought we to learn ?
A virtue too little thought of, too little studied : the Christian virtue of
Silence. | venture to impress upon you the importance of that virtue :
and, as a preacher ought to practise what he preaches.”"—He imme-
diately vacated the pulpit. He died at a great age. and his end was
euthanasia !

Father Brosse was an adherent of the Asiatic theory. That is the
main point in his works which affects the subject of my lecture It is
not a inain point in his works, or only one out of many, when they are
looked at as a whole. Where was the Garden of Eden?’ You remeniber
how during the nineties of last century the press teamed with works on
that subject. “‘ Babel Und Bibel” was one outpost in the fray, and the
German Kiperor one of its conspicuous assailants. That, then, was
among the problems to which Father Brosse addressed himself, and his
general contention may be briefly indicated by translating the opening
words of his third work (of the series), “‘ L'Inde Inconnue,”’ — *‘ Some
savants have suspected ~—a literal translation sounds very bald, but in
French the passage reads well, as do all the Rev. Father’s writings
“that Eden was the ornament of the Indies; but generally opinions
have gone elsewhere. Some are in favour of the Euphrates ; others give
the honour to Armenia, whence derive their source the Tigris and the
Euphrates comprised in the description given in Genesis. These are the
two opinions most commonly held. Our personal conviction is in favour
of the great Peninsula Proofs have come to hand, and are still coming,
in such numbers that the solution seems to us a definite one. Why has

276 Timehri.

this country, which realized excellently all the datw of the problem,
been rejected? Because India and its literature have only been known
in our times. Before our century the problem of the site of Eden could
not therefore be known.” And he goes on to show that Indian _ tradi-
tions reproduce all the main features of the biblical account : Eden, the
Temptation, the presence of the Hamites, the working of metals, the
Deluge. It is impossible in a short lecture to give any adequate account
of the vast mass of proofs, historical, traditional, philological and geo-
graphical, which are brought together in his three comprehensive
volumes. All that one can do is to pick out one or two points by way
of illustration. His theory with regard to the location of the land of
Cush may serve for this purpose. Four countries, lying wide apart, he
says, have been identified as the land of Cush: Southern Egypt,
Southern Arabia, the lower Euphrates, and the Western Himalayas ;
and he does not dispute but in a way each and all of them are entitled
to the designation; only, he maintains, the first three were mere
Colonies, t» which the name of the Mother Country came to be applied
mach in the same way as Europeans have called their Colonies New
Ineland, Nova Scotia, New Spain, New Andalusia, and so forth ; the
Mother Country itself is the fourth in the list; that is to say, the
original Land of Cush is the Hindoo Kush; and the land of Havilah (or
Xavilah, as apparently it ought to be pronounced) is similarly there 1
situ, he maintains, with its biblical name hardly altered—Xavilah is
Kabul. North-Western India is thus the home of the race, and from
thence it spread south and east and west, penetrating the great Penin-
sula, peopling Polynesia and overrunning Mesopotamia, Arabia and
Egypt. Now, when one thinks of these three last countries as they are
known in history, this appears impossible, for the simple reason that in
history they appear peopled by races speaking languages which are
undoubtedly Semitic, or at any rate closely akin to the Semitic. Take
Mesopotamia as an example: the Babylonian Empire was Semitic ; the
Assyrian Empire—that scourge of Western Asia—was Semitic ; how is
it possible to set up a title to its possession in favour of the children of
Ham’? Well, prescription no doubt has run, but the fact is well estab-
lished that the original inhabitants were not Semites, but Sumerians or
Accadians ; and no less an authority than Prince Caetane in his monu-
imental work, “ Annali del Islam,” dealing at length with the conditions
which led up to the great eruption of the Arabs northward into Meso-
potamia and southward into Egypt, and citing the most recent investi-
gators on the subject, concludes : ‘‘ We are therefore justified in suppos-
ing that the Sumerian cities may have been Colonies of a maritime
people come from beyond the sea—/ndia or Indo-China? They were
perhaps the race who carried the treasures of the middle and of the
extreme east to the merchants of Near Asia, and their civilisation and
riches were the results of the commerce which was in their hands, if
their appearance in Babylonia is anterior to 12,000 years before Christ.”
And he explains that recent discoveries offer grounds for holding that
before the arrival of the Semites in the territory in question, Sumerian

The Origin of the American Races. iT

monuments there indicate the existence of a civilisation established
7,000 years. The problem of South Arabia, and the existence of a
highly developed Hamitic civilisation there in times extremely remote,
before the desiccation of the Peninsula had begun, and while creat rivers
and inland seas interspersed its now sandy deserts, is too obscure, and
too unfamiliar even in outline, for me to venture to say a word upon it.
As to Egypt, the most recent researches have left uncertain the question
of the original population in prehistoric and early historical times ; but
various traits have caused the Egyptian, Berber and Cushite languages
to be classed together as sub-families of a Haimitic group remotely related
to the Semitic ; ‘though as a developed language Egyptian was certainly
extensively influenced by the Semitic. T here are not wanting, therefore,
in works by independent and quite recent writers, facts which more or
less strongly confirm the theory put forward by Father Brosse as to the
dispersion in times very remote of a Hamitic race who were traders.
civilisers, raisers of enormous monuments, and in many respects in ad-
vance of other races. I say in times extremely remote: that is of
course ; the antiquity of the human race is a matter still to be deter-
mined ; no calculation even approximately correct has yet been agreed
upon. Most anthropologists seem to proceed upon the assumption of a
monogenous origin ; that is to say, the descent of all mankind from two
first parents: and the classifications of writers certainly not unduly
biblically inclined have preserved the old appellations, Semitic, Hamitic
and Japhetic, as descriptive of portion at least of the human race. The
family of Noah are therefore still in question, and when we set aside
sacred tradition, or seek elsewhere for confirmation, or form conclusions
independent of that tradition, we find ourselves groping amone the
merest vestiges of things that were. Geological changes, climatic
changes, changes in the physical distribution of land and sea have taken
place, and we can form only the vaguest surmises as to their nature and
extent. How, then, can we determine even in the provisional manner
the migrations of humanity, much less fix the stoeks from which the
existing races have descended? It seems a thing impossible! Yet the
mind of man is so constituted that it will not—eannot abandon the
problem, and all credit to men who, like Father Brosse, have devoted
long years of study, or it may be whole laborious lifetimes, to settle here
a point, and there a point, which, being firmly established by patient
research, may help towards the reconstr uction of the elusive past.

This is not the way Father Brosse states his case. He puts it
infinitely higher—too high, | may say at once, for me. Probably the
fault is mine, but at the present stage of my comprehension of the sub-
ject, I cannot see Justification for identifying as Hamitie empires such
as those of Babylon and Egypt as known to us in historical times, when
according to all recent authorities they were in the main undoubtedly
Semitic or Semitised. Sumerian or other Hamitic elements there may
have been, and no doubt were, merg ged—submerged—in the general popu-
lation ; but it appears to me that the learned Father is not sufficiently

careful to indicate the very partial extent to which the term Hamitic is

278 LTimehri

applicable to them. Similarly with regard to languages: developed
Babylonian was a Semitic language, that is undoubted; if there was
difference of opinion on the point before 1892, when Father Brosse
wrote his first great work, “Les Chamites,” recent researches have
removed the doubt; Sumerian elements no doubt survived in it—pro-
bably very considerable elements, but its essential characteristics were
Semitic. Hebrew is Semitic ; Arabic is Semitic : Egyptian, as developed
in historical times, was enormously influenced by the Semitic ; and the
Cushite or Hamitic elements can only conjecturally be identitied. What
reliance, therefore, can be placed on analogies from these languages to
prove that others, such as those of Polyaesia, are Hamitic also? Might
it not with equal or greater force be argued that such analogies go to
show that the Polynesian tongues too were Semitic, or influenced by the
Semitic 2 With the best wood will in the world I cannot follow Father
3rosse into some of his conclusions ; yet, on a lower plane, it does
appear to me that there is evidence of various kinds to support, con-
jecturally at least, the main contention of the westward and possibly also
eastward, dispersion of an Asiatic race, whose origin may not improbably
have been in North Western India as he maintains. If that lower plane
on which the matter seems to me to be arguable be adopted, then step
by step the student—and this lecture will not have been wholly in vain
if it induces even one or two to become students of works so worthy of
study—anay advance to altitudes of comprehension and verification to
which I have not attained, and find that it is not Father Brosse who
overstates his case, but I who have understated it.

You may say I have not yet said a word with regard to the Rev.
Father’s views concerning the native races of America. Well, I have said
so much—that he adopted the Asiatic theory ; and as I have said before,
I think that is the main point. With the utmost respect for Father
Brosse, I cannot help feeling, that he makes perhaps rather too much
of his favourite stock, the Hamites. To say he finds them pia
would be an exaggeration ; but he certainly follows them over a great part
of the habitable ‘elobe and identifies them with races their kinship to
which is on the face of the matter somewhat improbable. His hypothesis
involves this: that the Hamites were not a black but a brown race,
with straight hair, morally inferior, but intellectually much in advance
of their contemporaries ; artistic, laborious, with a special genius for
colossal and especially megalithic architecture, and cunning in the work-
ing of metals. Where he finds all or most of these characteristics
present in a particular race with the addition of a greater or smaller
number of confirmatory circunstances, such as local traditions as to
their having originally migrated from somewhere else, customs resem-
bling those of the inhabitants of Northern India, or of ancient Egypt,
3abylonia, and Chaldea (which, as I have before indicated, he seemingly
treats as being Hamitic), he extends that designation to the race under.
consideration, and that race in turn becomes a link in his chain. Now, as
everybody knows, there were three areas in the New World where prior
to the coming of Columbus civilisation, various arts, and architecture in

The Origin of the American Races. 279

particular, had advanced to a considerable degree, viz., Peru, Central
America and Mexico. The dominant races of these countries in early
times find a place, therefore, in his list of Hamitic Colonies. Not as a
matter of course, please don't understand me as suggesting that; he
follows his usual careful system of verification, and though disclaiming
any pretensions to be an Americanist brings together a considerable
number of testimonials from those who were so.

I will not attempt to summarise them, because the study of Ameri-
can antiquities has advanced so much of late years that if one is to quote
it ought to be from late writers rather than from those whose published
works were accessible to Father Brosse when issuing the second edition
of “Les Chamites” in 1892. But, so far as my reading has gone,
later writers are rather adverse to the Asiatic theory. Thus, in a
most interesting collection of papers translated from the German
and published under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution
Mr. Eduard Seler, undoubtedly an Americanist of the foremost rank,
at the conclusion of a long and most elaborate account of the wall
paintings of Mitla, the celebrated burial-city of the Zapotec kings and
priests, says emphatically: “I believe that these pictures are tangible
evidences pointing to the idea we ought to form of the Toltecs ’—one
of the races particularly referred to by Father Brosse—‘‘ whose name
has been so often mentioned and so much abused ; for they were neither
mere mythical forms dwelling in a fantastic region beyond the clouds,
nor the inhabitants of a single small city, least of all an exotic civilised
race that spread over the whole American Continent, coming from the
primal Asiatic home of man lying somewhere near the biblical para-
dise.”

Such a pronouncement, coming from an expert of the highest
eminence, is a formidable negative to the Asiatic theory in general,
and to Father Brosse’s version of it, connecting these civilised Ameri-
can races with the biblical paradise, in particular. Nevertheless [
shall presently submit that neither the one nor the other of the
theories pronounced against is conclusively disposed of. In the mean-
time, as I have begun dealing with the works of recent Americanists,
let me, before leaving that branch of my subject, deal with a matter to
which I have already referred by way of anticipation, viz., the most
valuable collection of manuscripts purchased by Alexander von Hum-
boldt in Mexico, and presented by him to the Royal Library of Berlin in
January, 1206. To speak of this collection as an American Rosetta
Stone would be going too far; nevertheless certain similarities may be
recognised. Both give a clue to the hieroglyphs of an otherwise unintel-
ligible past, largely owing to the fact that they belong to a time when
that past had already begun to give place to a new civilisation by which
it was destined in a very short time to be almost obliterated. Only a
few years separated the dates of their respective discoveries: the
Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 by French engineers attached to
Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt: Humboldt’s visit to Mexico was in

280 Timehrr.

1804. The Rosetta Stone contains, inscribed upon it, three versions in
Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek, of a long decree of the Egyptian
priests in honour of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, and his wife Cleopatra. The
Humboldt picture-writings contain—what? Well, many things; but I
will take just one or two, and those the simplest, to show how the work
of decipherment has been accomplished. The Christmas is past, and we
are now in Lent, otherwise you might think I was indulging in some
sort of seasonable pleasantry, when I inform you that one of the writings
is nothing more or less than an account for 24 turkeys. There are other
items, such as red pepper to go with the turkeys, and corn and cocoa
beans; but the turkeys are the piece de resistance. Another is an
account, duly receipted in Spanish, for 101} pesos for the women who
made tortillas at the house of Senor Manuel de Olvera; and yet another,
dated 4th February, 1571, also for turkeys—turkey with red pepper
sauce evidently was then, as I believe it still is, the favourite dish
of the country—and other provisions supplied to the village of
Mizquiyauallan. These, and a number of others which have been prac-
tically completely deciphered, show that at the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury this system of picture-writing was in common commercial use, and
well undersood for ordinary purposes by the Spaniards. What a pity,
you may say, that they did not follow it into its more elaborate uses in
connection with sciences, such as chronology and astronomy, in which
the ancient Mexicans were fairly well advanced, their history and the
native religions. Well, exactly in like manner, what a pity it is that
none of the scribes who prepared that lengthy polyglot inscription on
the Rosetta Stone bequeathed to the world some luminous treatise on
Egyptian hieroglyphics, instead of leaving it to Champollion and others
some thousands of years later to supply the omission. That the Spanish
missionaries did study, and had really a good general working acquaint-
ance with the ancient Mexican picture system, is clear from other frag-
ments. One particularly illustrating this is Fragment XVI: it is a strip
of thick, firm paper, 35c.m. long, 45c.m. wide, looking like European
paper made of rags, and on it is represented, in the picture system of
the country, a catechism of the Christian faith—corresponding section
for section with the text of a Catecismo en Idioma Mexteco, printed in
1339 at Pueblo, but in use, there is reason to believe, since early Spanish
times—followed by the Ten Commandments. How unfortunate, again,
that such Jearning should have been lost! But thanks to Alexander von
Humboldt’s industry as a collector, it has in part been regained already ;
and with an array of acute and unremitting investigators such as Seler,
Fiirstemann, Schellhas, and the extensive staff employed by the American
Ethnological Society, a more or Jess complete knowledge of the entire
system, even in its more difficult branches, such as mythology and ritual,
will probably ere long be reached. Then will be the time to speculate
as to the origin of the American races! When we know all that
can be known concerning them, their customs and beliefs, not
at second-hand, but at first-hand from still extant inscriptions, and
primitive communities such as those of the Zufii Indians, where the old

The Origin of the American Races 281

rites linger, and understand how their languages and ideas stand related
one to another, and so can form really correct comparisons between
these and those of other countries, legitimate and more or less reliable
interferences will become possible. In the meantime the work of col-
lection and decipherment to be done is enormous. ‘True, many collections
already exist ; their extent and variety is to the general reader simply
bewildering ; but beyond doubt the collector’s work is not yet done, or
one quarter done

It is on this subject that I desire especially to say a few words
before coming to a close. We have no surviving Indian communities
in Trinidad that I am aware of ; but a small collection in the Museum
downstairs—when made or presented to the Institute, I shall be glad if
somebody will inform me, but neither added to nor I fear much studied
for many a long day—we have a proof of the wealth of ancient pottery
still to be discovered in this island. Now, pottery is one of the most
ancient forms of art and in Italy, Greece, Egypt and elsewhere has
furnished information otherwise unobtainable and shed a most important
light on many branches of antiquarian study. So also in America:
among the publications of the American Ethnological Society you will
find several bulky volumes devoted wholly or in part to specimens of
native pottery belonging to all parts of the northern portion of our
western hemisphere. That is the field which the Society has especially
chosen and made its own. But collectors from the United States go
elsewhere also; nay, | am informed valuable collections are shipped
annually to New York from Port-of-Spain. That is quite right, | have
not a word to say against it ;in the great museums of the States they
can be studied at leisure by scholars who have the necessary time and
knowledge to bring to bear upon what they represent: animal forms
which have a known place in the old cults, figures of turtles and alliga-
tors and bats, for example, hieroglyphs and conventional symbols which
are wholly unintelligible to the ordinary observer. But ought not our
local museum to come in somewhere ? Has it no claim? Have we none
interested—no students at least in these fields of inquiry? If so, it is
searcely to our credit, for the means of study are not lacking. The
Smithsonian Institution furnishes us gratuitously with its invaluable
publications, and he who has read through and assimilated them will be—
well, very much better qualified to lecture upon this subject than I am
myself. It is not, therefore, the means that is wanting. Nor can |
think that the will is wholly wanting either. Iam sure these things do
have an interest for many here; only, I am afraid, very few of them
know, for example, about these publications of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion which are downstairs waiting to be looked into. With all its
imperfections, of which I am only too conscious, my paper to-night will
not have been wholly useless if it calls attention to the means of study
and self-improvement thus afforded. We cannot afford, any or many
of us, to devote years or a lifetime to such studies ; only the wealthy, or
those specially gifted and who enjoy the patronage of great learned
institutions, can do that: but it is possible for quite a large proportion

282 Timehri.

of us to give some part of our leisure, a few hours at least, to the
perusal of such reports and so enjoy the fruits of others’ labours.

One last word with regard to the Asiatic theory. I spoke of it as
having been the orthodox one at the beginning of last century, and
despite the pronouncement of Herr Eduard “Seler, “which I have quoted,
it is, I think, still entitled to be considered such. The assumption of a
monogenous descent for man, common practically to all schools of
anthropologists, has, where any attempt has been made to speculate as
to his first habitat, gone hand in hand with a kindred assumption—so
one cannot avoid calling it, both being in accordance with a prevailing
tradition, preserved, as we have seen, by more than one large section of
mankind—that the original home was somewhere in or in the neighbour-
hood of Western Asia. The distance from the Western Himalayas to
Mesopotamia, or even to Egypt, is after all relatively insignificant. No
rival theory has received any general acceptance ; and in this wide sense
the Asiatic theory still holds the field. What the lines were upon which
the common stock dispersed itself throughout the globe, how journeys or
voyages were made from continent to continent, how differences such as
we now recognise as fundamental ethnologically came to be developed
and perpetuated : these constitute another and more difficult problem.
In justice to speculators such as Father Brosse, it is right to consider
how enormous the difficulties are. The ocean has increased a mile in
depth, one geologist says; the earth is in a process of desiccation,
declares another : and vestiges of civilisations which had ceased to exist
before the dawn of history are not lacking to confirm both one and the
other view. Under such circumstances, to hope to trace in a roughly
continuous or distinct chain the migrations, not merely of mankind
generally but of a particular race or stock with marked physical,
intellectual and social peculiarities, is to be greatly sanguine; and
practical workers within a narrower sphere, intent on comparative
minutice, and strongly impressed with the common indigenous character
of the ancient local civilisations, are likely to regard somewhat
impatiently the picking out of particular groups, and their identification
on mere general grounds with known foreign stocks. It is in this way,
I think, that we must construe Herr Seler’s declaration. To the theory
of the Asiatic origin of all mankind, including the American races gen-
erally, he would, one may conjecture, have no more objection than
anthropologists have had; the point of his protest is against the attribu-
tion of an ‘‘exotic” origin to selected races, and their being held up as
different in historical development and culture from other races of the
new continents. To bring the two views into harmony some modifica-
tions—very important modifications, in fact, on Father Brosse’s theory—
are obviously necessary ; but to regard it as entirely discountenanced
by the researches of recent Americanists would probably be an error.
The children of Noah, as I have said before, still keep their place as
the progenitors of great divisions of mankind: those of us who love
and reverence the sacred narratives recognise the fact as confirmatory of
their truth ; those whose learnings are in another direction still accept

eg be

: Per erst WIMMER «i: os

The Origin of the American Races. 283

it as at least a convenient basis of classification for certain purposes.
And tf Father Brosse’s theory as to the dispersion of the children of
Ham eastward and westward be adopted, not on the somewhat eclectic
principle (if I may so put it) which he adopted in selecting particular
races and excluding others, but on the comprehensive supposition that,
despite differences in physique, culture and religion developed in the
course of ages, the races peopling certain large areas, especially those
widely separated from others, may originally have belonged to one
common stock, and that one the recognised stock most closely resembling
them in ethnical peculiarities generally—well, there is no better hypo-
thesis to exclude, and commonsense, no less than the learned proofs
put forward by the Rev. Father himself, goes to support it. It is right
to remember that Father Brosse’s selection was not in any sense a narrow
one; it included several African races, among others the Fulahs; as I
have spoken of commonsense, perhaps I may venture, having lived
eight years in a country where the Fulahs were formerly the dominant
race—the upper Gambia is called Fuladu or Fuladugu, ie., the Fulah
country—and are still numerous, to offer a general personal impression
for what it is worth, and say that the identification of that race with the
inhabitants of Northern India does not strike me as unreasonable when
sufficient allowance is made for the continuance of variation over a very
extended period. Father Brosse’s studies were directed mostly to the
east ; had he lived longer, and studied equally extensively the races of the
New World, the unity of type and culture, amid numberless differences,
recognised by recent investigators, might not improbably have led him
to broaden his theory on such lines as I have indicated Iam sensible
that I have done very scant justice to my subject generally, and to his
works in particular ; but time would not allow me to attempt more

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PomRTY YEARS’ LIFE IN TROPICAL GARDENS.

By ELEANOR 8S. WaBy.

In the summer of 1873, after spending a delightful day in Kew
Gardens, my husband, who was then employed at "Kensington Palace
Gardens, said to me, ‘ ‘How would you like to go to Trinidad > The Kew
people have offered me an appointment there, which I should like to
accept.” The first question was, Where is Trinidad ? I found afterwards
that I was not singular in my lack of knowledge; very few people could
tell me more than “it was where the best cocoa came from.” We found
out all about it, ie., that it was a West Indian Island, that it took three
weeks to get there, that the postage on letters was one shilling, and that
we should find it very hot! We did. Life in Kensington. was very
bright and happy, but the prospect of a larger income, a free house, large
garden and sundry liberal allowances was alluring , to say nothing of see-
ing the many plants we knew and loved in the hot-houses and sub-
tropical gardens, in their native home and full beauty, so without much
hesitation I said, “If it rests with me we will go.” In those days the
journey was long and tiresome, changing steamers at St. Thomas and St.
Lucia where we stopped to coal, and ‘calling at nearly all the intermediate
islands, yet it was all so new to us that we did not weary, though we were
23 days getting from Southampton to Trinidad. We landed late on
Saturday night in pitch darkness and pouring rain; our boatmen missed
the proper Janding stage, so my husband and two priests dragged me up
4 sort of wall into Trinidad. We were taken to a barn-like hotel very
bare of furniture and shown into an unceilinged room, which contained
a huge four-post mahogany bedstead closely shrouded in mosquito-
netting. I, of course, had never seen mosquito-“bars” before and I
wandered round and round trying to find a way to get in. At last I
decided to untuck a bit at the bottom and crawl in!

; At breakfast next morning I tasted my first banana! I had never
even seen one before either at Covent Garden Market or in the choice
fruiterers’ shops. A fellow-passenger on the Mail boat described them
as a stodgy sort of thing, with a pear-drop flavour. I agreed with him
then; I wouldn't now! Tt was the same man who saretully peeled an
Avocado pear and gave me to bite. Oh! the horror of that mouthful
and the subsequent sickness! It was months before I had the courage to
taste a properly prepared one. I had another shock when on asking if
potatoes were cheap I was told “ potatoes did not grow in the tropics
and were dear and not over good when obtainable,’ but that I must learn
to like plantains. All I knew of plantains were the seed spikes given to
birds, Le, “ English plantains,” and I could not imagine them as an article
offood. These various experiences have made me always very careful to
prepare local products in the best possible way before offering them
to strangers. When we enquired the way to the Botavical Gardeus and

286 Timehri.

expressed our intention cf walking to them, our landlady in vehement
language and with much gesticulation said we were “ like all the English,
too hard-headed,” but we would learn, ‘‘ Oui, oui.” We have learned. But
oh! the memory of that first walk under a tropical sun, it abides with me.
My husband forgot manners, courtesy and everything else in the wonaer
and delight of it ; he gazed spell-bound into windows, bcldly trespassed
into private gardens, and at times seemed scarcely able to believe the
evidence of his eyes—plants he had thought wonderful when tenderly
cherished in hot-houses were to be seen growing in the open in wild
luxuriance. Every few steps brought a fresh surprise. I was glad when
we reached the Savannah, but even there he suddenly exclaimed, ‘‘ Do
touch that mimoza on the ground ; it’s the true sensitive plant. Why!
it's growing like a weed, poor little ‘shame bush.’” He soon found it a
troublesome weed !

All that came before was as nothing to the wonder and glory of
the Gardens. We forgot we were hot and tired as we passed from one
surprise to another. ‘To see cloves in bunches on trees, or crunch them
unwittingly under our feet, nutmegs with their apricot Jooking husks
split open shewing the crimson mace wrapped round the nutmeg itself,
cinnamon with its spicy bark, coffee trees full of fruit and many other
things we had seen only in spice boxes or shop windows!

The Botanist (Mr. Prestoe) went round with us, kindly explaining
everything. The greatest surprise of all was when seeing something on
the ground like a cannon-ball I asked what it was. ‘‘ Oh! that’s a Brazil
nut,” he said, “or as you know they have many nuts in that hard shell, I
will have it broken.” He did, and the marvel of seeing how the nuts were
packed inside took away all power of speech. I still think it one of the
most wonderful things in nature and love to show it to strangers.

We also tasted a mangosteen, which had fruited for the first time
in Trinidad. I cannot describe its exquisite flavour. It was a great
pleasure to see in the flower garden so many-home favourites. No
wonder we got back to the hotel in the dark, very tired and late for
dinner.

It was well there was so much to interest us, for there were many
disillusions. True, the income wus larger, but it did not take long to
realise that a dollar in Trinidad was not worth more than a shilling was
in England. The free house was there, a terribly delapidated “ little
wooden hut,” free also to huge tarantulas and other spiders, roaches,
lizards and occasionally snakes.

But the large garden, ah! there was no disappointment there. Our
predecessor had planted in and round it all that was good for food, only
I was so lamentably ignorant of how to use it. I learnt principally from
the old women who came to sell eggs, fowls and farine. But how they
laughed at my attempts and the names they called “la pauvre Madame
Anglaise.” ‘“Imbecile” was the mildest and most frequent, but what /

Ld

Forty Years’ Life in Tropical Gardens. 287

They taught me, among other things, that a bread-fruit required more than
baking to turn into a crusty loaf, as I had been told on board ship! In
emphatic patois they told me how to make guava jelly clear, firm and
bright, the many uses of farine, the delicacy of “ palm” cabbage, the
leaves that were good for healing and making tisane for fever and pain.
I have reason to remember them gratefully and have passed on their
wisdom to hundreds of amateurs.

The sundry allowances were generous, plenty of good milk from
Government House cows, fruit of all kinds in great abundance. I do not
think there was ever a time when there was not something that could be
made into jam or ‘“‘confiture.” Best of all, we were rarely without large
and juicy carambolas ; we liked them better than anything else, raw,
stewed for puddings, or preserved, and do still. J experimented with
everything, making many mistakes, but Ilearnt. One mistake was laugh-
able. I had told my servant to put on some “ gooseberries”’ to boil and
when soft I would add the sugar. She put them on in an iron skillet
used for roasting coffee. I did not put sugar to those gooseberries, but
the juice stained our floors beautifully !

in the mango orchard not far from our house all the best (of that

time) were grown. The “ peach,” ‘strawberry ” and “ Peters” hold their
places in our memory. Yes—

‘“We remember in days now far, far away,

The swift eager rush in the dawn’s rosy light,

Thro’ the dew-laden grass to our favourite tree

To see if a ‘ Peters’ had fall’n in the night.

No matter that ‘Gordons’ lay thick in our path,

We cared not for them, and with scorn passed them by ;

"l'was ‘ Peters’ we wanted and ‘ Peters’ we got,

And een now we look back on those feasts with a sigh.”

Since then I have eaten many delicious mangoes, but except (to my
mind) the unmatchable ‘“‘ No. 11” I remember none better than those
in the Trinidad orchard.

No one who has only seen the litchee in dry form can imagine
what a lovely sight it is growing like bunches of scarlet waxen straw-
berries among dark green leaves. When freshly gathered the fruit tastes
like a Muscat grape.

In time our house was renovated and made very cosy for us, only
alas! to be burned to the ground in 1875 through the carelessness of a
servant. My huskand was in town at the time and did not arrive till all
was over. In saving my two babies and trying to get some valuable papers
I was terribly burned about the head and hands. The Hon. and Mrs. J.
Seott Bushe, who lived near, came at once to our help and fed and clothed
us till I could use my hands (we were reduced to absolute beggary).
Till we left Trinidad they never missed a chance of doing us a kindness.
I may say the same of dear old Bishop Rawle. Of the many friends who
helped us in our dire need I think Mr. John M’Carthy is the only one left

285 Timehri.

in Trinidad. The new house built on the site of the old one was a great
improvement on it, and we were very happy till an outbreak of malignant
fever prostrated us all and took away our youngest and prettiest. Much
sympathy was shewn us and help given in our trouble.

I think no place can be more full of delightful surprises than a
tropical Botanic Garden. There is always some wonder or beauty to see.
The opening of a rare and choice lily, the flowering of perhaps a price-
less orchid ; a specimen from the forest, or a wealth of blossom on some
towering tree

I was privileged to see a copy of Charles Kingsley’s “ At Last ”
marked and annotated by Mr. Prestoe, so I knew where to look for the
exquisite ‘“‘ Amherstia,” the Lignum-Vite trees with their glossy leaves and
lilac flowers, the giant bamboo, the wonderful Temple of whispering
palms, the Brownia with its scarlet clusters ; the African palms with their
glossy nuts, and mauy other beautiful works of nature.

The glorious mountaias at the back of the Gardens were at times
brilliant with flowering trees, and alas! at times with the vivid flames of
mountain fires, which I watched in fear and trembling.

In the autumn of 1878 Mr. Prestoe was invited to go to Demerara
and select a site for the formation of a Botanical Garden. On his return
to Trinidad after having selected a site and prepared a plan for a garden,
my husband was offered the post of Head (‘ardener in Demerara. at a slight
increase of salary. I did not want to leave Trinidad or my beloved and
prolific garden with its constant supply of fruit and vegetables, but ny
husband thought it would not be wise to refuse. The prospect of laying
out a garden of the size and on the lines of the plan was most attractive
to him.

We left Trinidad on the 21st December, 1878, and arrived in
Demerara on the 23rd. Owing to a severe accident immediately before
embarking I had to be carried out of Trinidad (1 was dragged in!) and
carried in a deck chair through Sandbach, Parker’s wharf on arriving at
Georgetown. We were taken to the Tower Hotel and the proprietress
(Mrs. Murray) treated me with great care and attention. I am very
proud of the fact that she still allows me to call her my best friend. As
soon as possible after our arrival Mr. J. E. Tinne, afterwards Chairman
of the Board of Directors, called to drive my husband to the scene of his
future labours. Never shall I forget the shock of his return, looking the

picture of misery and disappointment. ‘‘Oh!” he exclaimed, “ I wish 1°

could take you all back in the same steamer. There is no house for us,
no garden, nothing but mud and rank vegetation. I can never makea
garden there!” I was ill and nervous, and in a very weeping voice said,
‘We can’t go bazk and you will have to do your best.” Well! he did his
best and has had the satisfaction of being told that the garden made in
such an unpromising situation cannot be surpassed, if equalled, in the
West Indies. On the 2nd of January, 1879, the first sod was turned and

1 eS ea

Forty Years’ Life in Tropical Gardens. 289

the werk commenced. But oh, what work it was! For along time I was
clerk, secretary and assistant paymaster. There was no office, no house
had been taken for us, and after a short stay at the Tower Hotel we were
obliged to stay in the best that could be got near the garden site, the
old Government Laboratory on the Brickdam. It contained only one
divided living room, one bedroom and a sort of box room, and there we
were crowded together for three years and two months.

The garden, now “ Fisher’s Road,” was utilised as a nursery, all the
beautiful Saman trees forming Vlissengen Avenue were raised there.
Indeed all the first trees, shrubs and flowering plants of the future
Botanic Gardens were started there. We had not a foot of private ground,
no fruit, no flowers or vegetables but those we bought. I felt the change
dreadfully and the children felt it even more, the house was so small and
hot. No wonder we looked back longingly to our beautiful home and the
many advantages of our life in Trinidad. The Directors of the Gardens,
Mr. J. E. Tinne, Mr. W. H. Campbell and dear old Sheriff Brumell, did all
they could to lessen the discomfort of our position. The latter living near
put much pleasure and happiness in our life by his constant kindness and
forethought. His death was a personal grief to us and a distinct loss to
the Gardens.

Our still nearer neighbours, the Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Slater, were
like parents to us and our children and were always a ready help in times
of trouble, till the death of the Minister and departure from the colony of
‘Slater dear,” as my babies always called Mrs. S., a name held in loving
remembrance.

Mrs. Slater and I were able to do a great deal of helpful work
together during the dreadful yellow fever times of 1881-82, when the
brightest and bonniest seemed the chosen victims and we asked each
other fearfully who would be the next. It was a terrible time.

In August, 1879, Mr. G. S. Jenman, who had been appointed Govern-
ment Botanist, arrived and took command. The history of the Gardens,
how they were made and supplied, will, I hope, be written by an abler pen
than mine, a pen accustomed to write hard names and technicalities. The
“Story of the Avenue” has been written and was published in the
“Weekly Argosy.”

No one seeing the Central Avenue now can imagine what it was like
when Mr. James Thomson, Mr. John Brumell, my husband and I went
exploring beyond the newly-laid out ‘ Oval.” We scrambled over tree
roots, slipped into muddy pools, made our way through bush and _ scrub,
and with all our trouble did not go far, it was too tiresome. Now a walk
or drive up the Avenue to the Lamaha is a delight. It is always beautiful
in the early morning when every leaf and flower is sparkling ; in the heat
of the day it gives pleasant shade. In the bright moonlight or clear star-
‘shine its waving branches are like fairyland ; but I always like its peace
and soothing calm on a dark night ‘when the cares that affect the day ”
are lost in its shadows.

290 Timehri.

It is a pity so few people are able to enjoy the Gardens at night,
they are so lovely, the lilies are open, the nocturnal flowers yield such
sweet fragrance. A special few have at times obtained permission to
enter, but the general public fear mosquitoes and malaria and do not like
darkness.

In 1881 the house built for the Head Gardener, though not finished,
was habitable, and how glad we were to take possession! True, as people
said, it was badly planned and constructed ; conditions of health and com-
fort were sacrificed to picturesqueness, the dormer windows harboured
bats, the heavy: struts holding the rafters were dangerous and gave us
many a severe blow, the rcof sloped to within three feet of the floor,
the house itself was low, squat and damp ; but we who had so long been
cramped in a ‘but and a ben” made lght of minor ills.

The house has been altered many times, the awful struts have been
removed, the structure and roof raised and many comforts added ; indeed
every alteration has been for improvement.

Living in the Gardens was very hard at first. Messengers had to be
sent to town for everything. No telephones, no cars, no carts calling for
orders, no ice vans, no electric light, no neighbours, only one house in
the Bourda district. Wet or fine the children had to walk to school,
the boys far down the Brickdam to Mr. Cocket’s, the girls to Camp
Street Convent. How we all rejoiced when the mule cars started and
children’s and servants’ tickets could be obtained at $1 each per month.

The condition of life in the Gardens for our successors will be on
pleasanter and healthier lines.

It was natural that the constant turning over of long abandoned soil
should bring malaria in its train, and we were all so ill that in 1883 Mr.
J. E. Tinne offered to send us to England in one ct Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co.'s sailiog ships, an offer gratefully accepted for the children
and myself, but as there was no Assistant Gardener, impossible for my
husband as he could not get leave. The day before we sailed a frail little
three-year old boy died and was buried a few hours after. Still for the
sake of the other children [ had to go. We had such calm weather that
we were 49 days getting to Liverpool. The children did not like living
in England at all. And we were all very glad that, Mr. Derry having
been appointed Assistant Gardener, my husband was able in 1884 to
come and fetch us all home again. Home in every sense of the word
our house was not only to our family but to many others on Saturdays
and holidays. The house was over-run with children and many in distant
lands may recall the jolly times they spent in ‘‘The Wabys’ house.”
Except officially it was never called anything else.

We had not heard of the Scouts’ motto in those days, but we always
had to ‘‘be prepared” for all sorts of emergencies or accidents. Small
knees would get hurt over unfinished roads, and nurses hurried their
weeping charges to the Wabys to be mended, petted and consoled. Some-

Forty Years’ Life in Tropical Gardens. 291

times a tumble in one of the lakes meant a bath and a change of clothes.
Some of the emergencies were amusing. Boys climbing forbidden trees
descended hurriedly, leaving part of their garments behind them and had
te borrow others not always a fit. One boy who fell into a malodorous
heap of “‘ putta-putta,” was obliged to discard all his outer garments, wait
till dark and go home in a girl’s frock. I wonder if he remembers. One
day going up to my son’s bedroom, I sawa strange pair of small legs under
the bed. Investigation brought forth a small boy who told me he had
come to stay with me always, as his mother had told him to run away
and not bother her! He had run away. I sent a messenger to his
mother telling of his safety, and advised her to let him stay a while. We
did not pet or fuss him, and before the day was out he thought he would
be better off at home.

Then those dear “ Bellairs boys,” always happy if the big boy would
show them his guns, etc., and Judge Smith’s two boys who would arrive
in immaculate white suits and tell me they had come to spend the day—
surely never did two small boys play such pranks or get into the mischief
they did. They would rarely go home till dark and then often in
borrowed clothes, their own being too disreputable.

When bicycles became the rage mishaps were frequent and arnica and
bandages were always ready. One high Church dignitary (now in a
neighbouring island) had a nasty spill over burnt earth, and limped over
to us to have his wounds dressed and his clothes mended that he might
ride home decorously.

But the best of all our recollections is of a night when, the rain
pouring in torrents and the roads under water, two Artillery officers and
a private who had been dining with us were unable to get away. We had
couches and a hammock, but only two grown-up sleeping suits. One,
which one was kept a profound secret, had to don a long garment very
lacey and frilly! Oh, the shrieks of laughter and picturesque language
that we heard! One of these three is now in India, one in Africa, and the
third a Government official in this colony.

The resources of our larder were often strained, especially on mail
days, but never so much as ona day when my husband coming in to lunch,
brought with him a party of 10 nuns and 4 priests (here in transit). One
priest spoke a little English, the superior in charge of the nuns was
French, and all the others spoke nothing but Dutch. They had landed
after morning tea, had walked to the gardens, wandered round looking
for somewhere to get a ‘piece of bread and cup of water.” My
husband told me he found them on the Avenue seats almost exhausted.
Happily our stores had been replenished the day before and we were able
to give them a simple Junch and, joy of joys, some lager beer. Of course,
they expected to pay! But it was a good chance to pay off a little
of the debt we owed Bishop Butler and his good nuns, and they went
on their way blessing us and rejoicing. I have always found blessings
like theirs very lasting in their effects. Indeed it was a saying in our
household that sometimes “ bread cast on the waters ” came back iced cake.

292 Timehri.

Not always, though! In the days of the old “‘ Barracouta” tourists often
came to the house demanding refreshment, saying the men in the Gardens
had told them they would get all they wanted at ‘‘ Massa house.” No
matter what question was asked the labourers, or in what language it
was spoken, they were ready with the same answer, “‘Go Massa house,
talk Missie, she gwine help you!” Since the office has been at the
entrance gate we had fewer visitors on tour.

Heavy trouble came upon us in March, 1894, when my eldest son,
2nd Assistant Analyst and Colour-Sergeant of the Militia, died of acute
malaria after a few hours’ illness. Less than a year afterwards my elder
daughter, who had never recovered the shock of her brother’s death,
died of the same acute malaria after ten days’ illness. Through the
kindness of Bishop butler she was tenderly nursed the whole time by
the Sisters of the Convent of Mercy. I cannot write of this time except
to speak of the sympathy shown us by all classes. The Government
Botanist, Mr. Jenman, and his daughter lifted every possible burden.

In 1897 my younger daughter was married to Mr. John Williams
of the Government Laboratory. So that the house in the Gardens
holds the memory of births, marriage and deaths in our family. My two
surviving sons are in the United States, but if ever they return to
Demerara | am sure they will revisit the Gardens and their old home.
They will see many changes, most, if not all, for the better.

I should like to write cf the delight and pleasurable interest we all
took in the progress of the Gardens, but it may all be recorded later.
The nursery is full of beauty and we watched and waited for many a
wonderful fruit or flower.

The last few years of our life in the Gardens, though only ‘“ we two,”
have been pleasanter aud easier than we ever thought possible. But the
intense loneliness began to tell on our nerves (often we have been the
only people in the Gardens) till the night watchman was appointed.

We lived there 32 years all but one month, yet it was not with
unmixed regret I heard our stay had been determined. I tried to make
myself believe | should be glad to go, but it was a terrible wrench at
the last. I left the Gardens at Christmas morning and my husband
relinquished his position on the 3lst December, 1913, after 35 years’
continuous service.

It is a matter of surprise generally that we have decided to remain

in the colony. Why should we g0 away? We have “ troops of friends ”
here !

We have been to England and America at different times but are
always glad to get back to Demerara.

We hope to re-visit both places, but we shall return undoubtedly.
Have we not ‘eaten labba and drunk creek water?” And we shall
be content to wait the traditional result and take our final rest
in Demerara.

THE CONVERSION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
COLONY TIMBER.

By H. A. WIsHarRrt.

I had no idea that I was to undertake such a task when asked to
record my experience and impressions of mill-sawing our colony-grown
timbers with special reference to conversion of timber in the bush,
which is likely to be necessary if the construction of a Railway to the
interior is set about. As the scope of the subject under review is wide,
it will be necessary first to refer to plant, power and best type of saw,
after actual proof in practice, before turning to the peculiarities of some
of our woods during and after conversion.

It might be well at the outset to give a short table of the timbers
most commonly used and therefore frequently sawn, their recorded dry
weight per cubic foot and grades of hardness.

TABLE.

* Dry Weight Weight Grade of

Name. Nee ev ft. Green. Hardness.
Bullet Tree (Vimusops Globosa) ... 674 lbs, 83 1 Compare Ebony.
Greenheart (Nectandra Rodioer) ... 75 ,, 81 2 ,, Boxwood.
Purple Heart (Copaifera) me eO=G2 oy. 7 ACs 3
Suradani (Hieronyma Laxiflora) ... AO. 3. ,, Blackthorn.
Mora (Dimorphandra Mora)... 684 ,, la one e
Wallaba (Lperua Falcata) oy y OD gt Se es -
Silverbally(Brown){Nectandra Sp.) 494 ,, SF ress at
Keritee (Nectandra Sp.) oe Dnata 5d ,,Ash& Elm.
Crabwood (Carapa Guranensis) ... 392, 52.) 6"; Beech:
Cedar (Cedrela Odorata) Me Oa- el Vs, (ee aay
Simarupa (Simaruba Amara)... SU 8 ,, White Pine.
Dallie (Myristica Surinamensis)... re ae Se deca 2 i
Plum (Hymenoea) ... A Shean ae Be

PLANT AND MOTIVE POWER.

The decision, as to whether the saw-mill plant should be erected in
either of the existing towns or the interior, is indeed a very important
one and a great deal hinges on it towards success or failure. In the first
place it determines what your motive power is to be.

Water Power. The site of erection of the up-country mill may
happen to be so well selected that sufficient water-power may be obtaina-
~ble in well-wooded timber forest. Undoubtedly this is the most econo-
mical force to employ provided the full supply of water is available during
the dry season. Disposal of saw-mill waste refuse is, however, a little
troublesome, unless separate plant is installed for making sawdust
briquets, ete.

294 Timehrr.

Suction Gas. Recent strides made in the production of suction gas
have brought it into the field as a very formidable competitor with steam
as a motive power.

The “Cambridge ” suction gas-producer is a notable and important
innovation, as one of its special advantages is that gas for running your
mill can be generated from any description of saw-mill waste refuse
which has a reasonable fuel value, including sawdust, plane shavings,
bark, ete. Not only does this form the means of effectively disposing
of waste refuse but plays an important part in the economical operation
of the mill.

Electricity. Operating costs are reduced to a minimum if this force
can be purchased as your motive power. I refer to purchasing the neces-
sary energy for the reason that a central supply station can produce
power more cheaply than it can be generated solely for running a
saw-mill.

Considerable power is saved when machines are not actually employed
on sawing. As against this steam and suction gas have to be generated
and maintained between intervals for feeding and clearing the mills, also
during temporary stoppages on account of small breakdowns. Disposal —
of waste refuse is also a question for consideration if electricity is used
but can be handled in a similar manner to that suggested under Water
Power.

Steam Power. Like the suction gas plant the furnace of the
steam-boiler furnishes a ready means of disposal of refuse, but in addi-
tion, a small quantity of purchased wood fuel has to be used to supply
the necessary steam pressure for driving the mills. Beyond the ordinary
upkeep of boiler, feed-pump and steam-pipe lines, etc., there is nothing
extraordinary to be maintained nor anything with which most people are
not familiar.

STATIONARY SAW PLANT.

The town-erected mill pays about the same or a slightly higher rate
for raw material as its up-country competitor and, provided that it is
built on a riverside lot, there is no further trouble in handling raw mate-
rial or the manufactured product. Accumulations of inferior grades of
timber are soon disposed of for odd jobs in a town where there is also
a ready market for all the mill’s products. There is also a much
larger field of labour to draw on and, although the labour might not be as
skilled and intelligent as one would like it to be, the town-erected mill
again has the advantage over its up-country competitor in this respect.

The carriage of hewn timber from the interior to a mill in George-
town or New Amsterdam appears at first sight like great waste in the
matter of transport charges on sawdust and what must eventually become
mill refuse, if not used as before suggested. This is a point that has
been sometimes urged in fayour of the up-country erected mill,

The Conversion and Characteristics of Colony Timber. 295

A “sling punt,” 40ft. long with a breadth of 9ft. and depth of Sft.,
can carry with comparative ease from 4,000 to 4,500 cubic feet hewn
ereenheart logs, equal, respectively, to 143 and 160 tons at 28 cubic feet
to the ton, if slung in the manner usually adopted. This seems marvellous
for a craft of the dimensions mentioned, but it will doubtless be remem-
bered that the weight of the timber is considerably different in water
than in air. The method of slinging timber on a punt was recently fully
described in the article on ‘‘ The Timbers of British Guiana” published
in the ‘ West India Committee Circular.”

It would be an absolute impossibility to load and stow the quantity
of greenheart mentioned, if converted into planks, boards or scanilings,
in a craft of the size referred to.

Transport charges on greenheart from river landing to a saw-mill in
town range from 2 cents to 3 cents per cubic foot, dependent, of course,
upon distance to be carried, and these figures also include the conveyance
of the empty craft to the wood-cutting tract. The rates for freighting
sawn greenheart timber by sailing craft or the coastal steamers are
respectively 4 cents and 6 cents per cubic foot. For crabwood and other
‘lumber of lighter grades the freight rates are $3 and $4 per thousand feet
board measure, equal to nearly 32 cents per cubic foot. Crabwood and
the lighter timbers which float are made up into rafts, and are transported
down rivers at much smaller cost than greenheart. It will thus be seen
that it is far more economical to transport raw material than is the case
with the manufactured.

The up-country erected mill has the advantage, for a short time, of
having but little transportation cf raw material, but it is faced with costly
transport of the finished product. In any case even if the finished article
is offered for sale at the mill the purchaser must of necessity offer so
much less to cover transport charges and loss in handling. Although the
mill may be well situated at tidal water and convenient for ocean-going or
other craft to load at the wharf for an export trade, one’s trouble
commences after cutting and accumulating grades of quality too poor for
export but too good for the furnace, which it would not pay to transport
to either of the towns for sale. Then, if not used as fuel, the destructive
wood ants soon play havoc with the piles of softer woods.

PORTABLE SAW PLANT.

In view of the possibility of extensive constructional work in the
interior consequent on the construction of railways and existing costly
transport conditions, the first impression that strikes one is that portable
sawing machinery should be installed for forest use. With the numerous
waterways traversing our magnificent timber forests a pontoon with the
necessary saw plant suggests itself in preference to a mule or ox-drawn
vehicle. The latter type of portable plant, owing to its weight, does not
readily lend itself to surmount the conditions and difficulties of the present
accessible timber forest on the upper reaches of the rivers and creeks, in
the swamps and marshy ground frequently encountered. The important

296 Timehrr.

points to be borne in mind for a floating saw-mill are: Type of saw;
design of plant and selection of makers ; dimensions and draft of pontoon ;
stability of structure ; minimum depth of creek or river where plant is to
be operated, and local conditions to be met with.

TYPE OF SAW.

I now come to the very important point. What is the best type of
saw to employ for the conversion of our colony timber? It is said that
doctors differ ; I may add, so do saw-millers.

The duty required of a saw for our variety of hard woods is
necessarily severe and I shall touch on some of the saws in use locally.

THE CIRCULAR SAW.

Perhaps it is not generally known that the circular saw, whether
with inserted teeth or solid plate teeth, is not suited for “ breaking
down ” cuts, and it takes an expert at the job to get even one 1” board,
of uniform thickness throughout from a 12” squared log, so far as our
timbers are concerned. There are some excellent American circular
saws with suitable appliance for holding the log in place during con-
version, but these do not cut anything much longer than 16 ft. It is true
the circular saw is a rapid cutter, but our timbers do not stand up well to
high speeds owing to the tendency to split. The log band saw is
replacing the circular for log conversion in many sawmills abroad.
Nevertheless the circular saw and travellirg rack bench has proved
excellent for re-sawing up to thickness of 8”.

I have seen a circular saw with inserted teeth at work on a certain
mule-drawn portable plant in the interior here which eventually had to
be abandoned. Asa visitor, I have also seen an attempt made to cut
boards from squared logs with a solid plate tooth saw, but without
success. In this instance a little more set on the teeth would have
reduced the friction, which was set up to such an extent that it was
necessary for a jet of water to be constantly played on the saw. Such
conditions took the temper out of the saw and considerably shortened
its life for the reason that water was applied after considerable heat
existed. It might have been slightly different had the temperature been
kept down from the start.

Needless to say this last mentioned plant, also in the interior, is a
“white elephant” as far as I know at the present time. An American
once visited this concession with some capitalists he was showing around
the country, and, typical of his nationality, wishing to impress upon them
the wealth of our alluvial gold deposits, he informed them that this plant
was kept for cross-cutting the gold nuggets recovered from the river
bed, which were too large to be placed in the amalgmating barrel !

It is true that a circular saw with inserted teeth always remains the
same diameter and runs at same rim speed; it might be also claimed to
be cheaper, in spite of higher prime cost, asit outlasts many solid-tooth

The Conversion and Characteristics of Colony Timber. 297

saws. However, if the cost of new teeth for cutting a given quantity of
timber be reckoned against the work done by a new solid tooth saw
before it is discarded, figures would be found in favour of the latter. The
class known as the solid plate tooth, with an average hook on the teeth
and just enough to get a good grip of the wood, should be used as a
matter of choice when a circular is required.

THE Loa BAND Saw.

This saw is undoubtedly a fine invention and highly suitable for the
soft North American timbers. The question whether the vertical or
horizontal log band saw is the more useful and quicker is still, however,
a subject of controversy. I believe there are four of this type of saw in
the colony, of which only one is constantly at work. It is, however, to
my way of thinking, unsuited for sawing our timbers. In our hardwoods,
which are generally required in long lengths, the saw does not and
cannot work effectively at the required high speed, especially as the bulk
of our timber is cut green. Running for a greater length than 16{ft. with
the high tension necessary for cutting hardwood, the great friction is
prolonged and coupled with vibration of the band crystallization is set
up*« The crabwood logs at present procured for conversion are very small,
from 8” x 8” to 20” x 20”, this latter size but seldom, so the necessary
power to run the saw is practically wasted on such small sizes, whereas
with very little more power a 30” log could be put through and at the
end of the day a fair footage would be shown as sawn. Even with crab-
wood I have seen the sawyer cooling off the saw with water on account
of the high friction set up. A trifle more set on the teeth may overcome
the friction trouble, but such horrid hard knots are frequently met with
when breaking down greenheart timber that there is great liability of
snapping your band if the kerf is increased. Fortunately, the mill I am
now running has no log band saw, and I should not recommend it under
present conditions.

THE Log FRAME Saw.

Up to the present time the log frame saw has proved itself the
most effective for conversion of the timbers of British Guiana, and, like
most things, it has both its good and bad points, but with proper handling
from four hundred and fifty to five hundred and fifty lmeal feet of logs
can be sawn in a working day of 94 hours.

The overhead direct driven vertical log frame saw is highly suited
for the manufacture of boards, planks and scantlings from our hardwoods
and gives no trouble whatever during operation. One requires, however,
to be very careful about the gauges of frame saws or webs, as they are
technically termed, also set of teeth for soft, hard and gummy timbers,
and more particularly that the correct hook on teeth and sufficient gullet
are provided to permit the dust to recede and thus entirely free the point
of tooth for cutting on the downward stroke.

OPERATING COSTS.

It might have been interesting to have given details of operating
costs but for obvious reasons this is not advisable.

298 Timehri.

The present rate paid for hewing timber is from 3 cents to 6 cents
per cubic foot at tree stump and for such “squaring” as it is. The
timber hewn by local ‘“‘squarers” engaged in the trade is generally
waney ard tapered. Sawing can also be done at the same rate as hew-
ing if one has the right plant and power and provided that overhead
charges are kept down toa minimum. The question of transport is,
however, involved, but it is dealt with under ‘“ Portable Saw Plant.”

INSPECTION.

Perhaps it is not amiss, before passing to the characteristics of some
of our timbers, to touch upon the subject of inspection, for as far as an
export trade is concerned, the lack of it is a serious and unfortunate set-
back to the timber industry of the colony, and therefore to successful
milling operations.

Owing to the absence of the necessary machinery for carrying out
Government inspection of sawn timber for export, it is a difficult under-
taking to secure contracts on terms of inspection at port of shipment.
On the payment of a fee, which, of course, would be a matter of
arrangement between seller and buyer, it should be possible to get the
required inspection carried out, and the necessary certificate given ; then
the supplier would be saved the expense of shipping rejected lumber
which he might otherwise readily dispose of locally without loss.

It may probably be urged, against an apparent waste of public funds,
in providing means for Government inspection, that the exports are so
small as to preclude sucha step. It is just here that the barrier to
development and expansion lies.

Suppliers have to accept contracts for sawn crabwood, simarupa,
greenheart and mora, subject to inspection at destination. As a con-
sequence materia! considered satisfactory is shipped, but, naturally, the
sawmiller has no wish to see his profits dwindle, and on the off chance of
a certain piece passing muster, many pieces of timber are sometimes
shipped that would not be if the suggested inspection was in force.
Government inspection being independent would reduce to a minimum
the possibility of the entire rejection of a consignment, which sometimes
culminates in a subsequent ofter by the would-be buyer rather than
re-shipment resulting in a loss.

Lumber imported from abroad for use in the colony is, in some
cases, subject to inspection at port of shipment, and in a similar manner _
when desired we should have the means of carrying it out.

It seems that much time has been and is spent by not a few in
trying to get consumers interested in the less known timbers of the
colony. In some measure the object is a laudable one, but more benefit
would accrue to the timber industry if the better-known timbers, obtain-
able in quantity for commercial purposes, were more written about and
advertised or kept prominently before foreign consumers in some such
way.

The Conversion and Characteristics of Colony Timber. 299

BULLET TREE (Mimusops Globosa).

It is undoubtedly well known that from this tree is bled the balata
of commerce. Owing to Government restriction of the felling of the
bullet tree on Crown Lands there is a great scarcity of this timber as
compared with former times when the embargo did not exist. Anyway
supplies in small lots are sometimes obtainable from owners of private
property on which such trees are to be found, as there is no objection to
their removal.

This timber exudes a peculiar gummy substance during the process
of sawing, which becomes troublesome to the sawyer if he is not familiar
with sawing such wood. Bulletwood, as it is frequently called, is very
close and straight-grained and genuinely tough ; therefore it needs to be
tackled with keen edged saws. Beyond a little precaution during milling
there are no difficulties of an unusual character to be met with.

Lumber from this tree dresses up well and easily, takes a fine polish,
and when well cured has the appearance of walnut.
GREENHEART (Nectandra Rodioet).
This timber has now become world-famous and needs no further
description from me of its durability and other renowned qualities.

Although classed amongst our hard woods it is easily sawn. Owing
to its straightness of grain and liability to split, logs should be entered
slowly into the log frame mill and the feed gradually increased.

Special care is required to guard against splitting in re-sawing with
a circular saw. As a high speed has to be developed with the circular
if it is to perform its work in a satisfactory manner, the sudden jar at the
point of contact with the wood causes the splitting, and in this respect the
heavy circular gives the most trouble.

During cross-cutting it is not an uncommon thing to see the ends of
the timber checking as the saw makes its way through, and frequently
an iron clamp has to be used as a preventative until a wooden batten
is nailed over the sawn portion.

An application of “ Loracine” immediately smeared over the newly
sawn surface undoubtedly prevents splitting. ‘ Loracine ” will not, how-
ever, stop or arrest a started shake and it is futile to attempt to stop it.
Season checks are hardly visible if ‘‘ Loracine ” is properly applied and for
months after no signs are seen.

The cause of wood splitting is easily explained if one takes into con-
sideration the structure of timber and its condition when a newly cut
transverse section is brought into contact with the air. As the pores lie
principally in the direction of the fibres, the timber begins to dry up at
its ends first, because the exposed pores give up their moisture very
quickly, whereas towards the middle of the log the moisture remains
much longer. The air which takes the place of moisture oxidises and

300 Timehri.

hardens the sap wood, which naturally hurries the drying-up process. As
wood shrinks when it dries it is natural for the ends to contract trans-
versely, and as the centre portion is still moist it cannot follow the pres-
sure, so the consequent tension causes the trouble.

It is advisable and safe when sawing greenheart for export to
increase dimensions by }” for the subsequent contraction.

Greenheart turns and machine dresses well.
PURPLEHEART (Copaifera).
Purpleheart is graded as a fairly hard wood and is useful for all
purposes where shock has to be resisted. Purpleheart has been used

with success as a bed for the mortar box of a stamp mill of a now defunct
gold mine in the colony.

Newly sawn boards rapidly become purple on exposure to sunlight
and appear cured owing to the beautiful rich purple colour on the
exposed surface only. Cured purpleheart boards after developing high
colour in diffused light commence to fade after some months. Likewise
do cured boards jose their colour if dressed, only to again recover it with
the same process of fading as before described.

SuRADANI (Hieronyna Laxiflora) and Mora (Dimorphandra Mora).
In appearance these woods are somewhat alike. As they are tough
and cross-grained woods they sometimes give trouble during conversion
if not handled in the right way.

Like bulletwood, they exude a peculiar gummy substance which
crusts on the saw teeth; this causes sticking and with the friction set
up the set is easily taken out of the saw.

The modulus of rupture of mora is 14,644 lbs. per square inch as
against 11,800 lbs. for pine, so it is quite unnecessary to have a sleeper
of the same dimensions as that of pine or of such as obtains in practice
of railway construction. Being a stronger, heavier and more durable
timber than pine it cannot compete on favourable terms if sleepers of
similar size have to be supplied for the reason that it is far more difficult
to saw.

As mora is eminently suited for railway sleepers I have particularly
referred to it at this point. :

Sawn mora sleepers have been fcund, in actual practice, to be more
durable than those of hewn timber. The dimensions of a sleeper are
such that if required hewn suppliers in the interior would furnish mere
saplings. It is true that only mature timber for sleepers should be
demanded from suppliers and this will necessitate the felling of huge
trees which would eventually have to be hewn down to size, so it would
be more economical to have sleepers sawn.

WALLABA (Eperua Falcata).
This wood splits very easily and cleanly but soon becomes dis-
agreeably sticky on account of the resinous substance it exudes. Sawn

T Con on and Characteristics of Colony Timber. 301

wallaba shingles, vat staves and paling pickets are not as durable as
those made from the split timber. Wallaba machine-dresses without
difficulty and it presents a beautifully smooth surface. Vat staves
dressed by hand soon become sticky

SILVERBALLY (Brown) (Nectandra Sp.).

Although not as hard as greenheart and fairly easy to saw, silver-
bally is not as nice a timber to tackle from the sawyer’s point of view.
This wood machine-dresses and turns well and really offers no difficulty
to the workman. Owing to its great elasticity brown silverbally yields
readily when planking a boat or when used in similar manner.

For some reason or other this wood is not beloved by the insects
and vermin so fond of destroying clothing and books, and although a bit
on the heavy side, and possessing no beauty for furniture, I have seen
brown silverbally used to advantage in the making of a wardrobe and
book-case.

KERITEE (Nectandra Sp.).

During the sawing process this wood gives off a strong odour resem-
bling that of cedrela odorata, but soon loses it after a few days’
exposure to the air. It is much used for purposes similar to those to
which silverbally is applied.

Crapwoop (Carapa Guianensis).

Owing to the great demand for crabwood it is sawn particularly
green and more so than any other of our timbers. The frame saw soon
makes short work of crabwood, but one does not realise how difficult it is
to saw by hand when green until attempted with the ordinary bench saw.
Unless an unusual set is put on the teeth one would never get through the
piece with a dozen trials, and it is amusing to see the novice at the job.

Unfortunately crabwood has a peculiar and most annoying tendency
to split, and more so when cured to the “ bone dry” point than in its green
state. For this reason carpenters, when on a contract job, do not as a
rule like to use it, as a gimlet has to be frequently employed before a
nail is driven.

As described under greenheart, Loracine has been used with good
effect, especially on the ends of planks. These ends failed to shew up
any signs of season checking even when the scab of this wood preserva-
tive had been removed some eight months afterwards.

The worthy gentlemen of the saw also object to use scantlings of
crabwood because they warp. If entirely submerged in water for a few
days there is no difficulty in working scantlings of crabwood into the
required places without the aid of union screws, clamps, etc.

Scantlings from most of our timbers do certainly warp unless
the required size is taken down the centre of the log. It is, however,
inadvisable to adopt such a method with small sizes, from 6” x 6” down-

302 Timehri.

wards, if economical conversion is to be rigidly carried out. In order
that the consumer may feel more satisfied such means have to be used as
to preclude, as far as practicable, the liability to warp.

Of course no definite rules can be laid down for the conversion of
timber, but in practice it has been found that the best course to pursue
is that of selecting such logs as may be worked up into the required
sizes with as little waste as possible, then square them and break down
into planks of a given thickness. After placing these planks aside for
some months, properly stacked and sticked, on re-sawing to width
required, one is rewarded with straight scantlings.

Crabwood is best dressed by machine when green and it is surprising
how quickly it splits when cured during the process of dressing by
machine, or rather unless cured in a special manner, which will be
described later. This lumber, simply thrown down anyhow to cure,
warps in all forms and ways, especially across the face. It begins to
split when the feed rollers of the plane are brought to bear on the
particular piece, practically flattening out the protuberance, the cutters
next completing the splitting owing to the high speed at which they
strike the surface being planed.

In the absence of an artificial timber dryer the method for curing,
when stacking in pile, should be by “ sticking.” By “ sticking ” is meant
the placing of strips, of such length as are equivalent to width of boards
and from 1” to 1” thick by 1” wide, at distances of three feet apart,
along the surface of the board after having started the first tier on good
dunnage, set equally apart in a dry and airy place. Expensive method
though it may be, entailing great care and additional labour, it will well
repay the producer to give entire satisfaction to the consumer, especially
the cabinet maker, by supplying cured lumber.

I regret that I aim not in a position at the present moment to include
in this paper the results of “ girdling ” some crabwood trees a year ago,
and the subsequent action of the timber when being sawn.

CEDAR (Cedrela Odorata).

This timber has no peculiar feature during or after conversion and
is so well known that it calls for no detailed description from me. The
same method of stacking for curing should, however, be adopted as
described under crabwood.

Simarupa (Simaruba Amara).

This is one of the simplest timbers to saw and it can be dressed
without difficulty either when green or cured. No delay should, however,
take place in converting logs into boards so soon as received, for the
wood becomes quite discoloured and rots if left on the timber flat for any
time, especially if tidal water comes into contact with it.

DaLLie (Myristica Surinamensis).

Like simarupa this is the timber of another sap-wood tree. When
quite green dallie is somewhat gummy and but for the fact that it is so
soft sawing would be troublesome.

The Conversion and Characteristics of Colony Timber. 303

CONCLUSION.

After consideration of the points raised and the means of operating
suggested for the conversion of colony timber, it might be well to state
in concluding this paper that as a matter of choice [ would select the

town erected saw-mill with a suction gas plant running vertical frame
Saws.

Notr.—Crabwood has this tendency to split when nailing in common with
mahogany, some birches, and other close-grained timbers when
thoroughly cured. Square-pointed nails drive better than sharp wire
nails, which act like wedges. I- have found soaping more or less
successful in driving the latter sort of nail when the necessity of
affronting with it a fine timber like crabwood arises.—Ep.

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PeeList OF THE INSECTS AFFECTING SUGAR-
CANE IN BRITISH GUIANA.

By Harotp W. B. Moore.

LEPIDOPTERA.

1. Castnia licus, Fabr.
Common name: The large or giant moth-borer.

Injury: The caterpillar bores or tunnels the underground portion of
the stools and the lower joints of the cane-stalks ; and kills the
“heart” of young cane.

Natural enemies :

Caterpillars preyed on by larva of an Elaterid beetle, Pyrophorus sp.

Adult moths preyed on by several birds, including the Old Witch
(Crotophaga ani), the Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus), and
certain hawks.

2. Diatrea saccharalis, Fabr.

3. Diatrea canella, Hamp.
Common name of 2 and 3 :—The small moth-borer.

Injury: The caterpillars bore the young cane, thus killing the heart ;
also bore or “ring” the stalks of older cane. Their attack greatly
reduces the purity of the juice.

Natural enemies :

Eges parasitized by Trichogramma minutum, Riley, and by
Prophanwrus alecto., Cwfd., n. sp.

Egos, both parasitized and unparasitized, destroyed by an undeter-
mined species of mite (Acarid), and two undetermined species of
ants.

Caterpillars parasitized by the Braconids Jphiaulux medianus,
Cam., [phiaulaz, sp., Cremnops parvifasciatus, Cam., Crem-
nops sp., by the Ichneumonid Mesostenoideus sp.; by the
Chaleidid Heptasmicra curvilineata, Cam. ; and by an undeter-
mined Dexiid fly.

Caterpillars preyed on by larva of a Carabid beetle, and, if
wandering, by a big black ant (undetermined) known as the
“kop-kop,” and by Attid spiders; also by the larva of an
undetermined Elaterid beetle, by the Histerid beetle Lioderma
4-dentatum, and by the larva of a Stratiomyiid fly.

Caterpillar and pupa attacked by a fungus, probably Cordyceps
barbert, Giard.

306 Timehri.

4. Syngamia cassidalis, Guen.
Injury : Caterpillar eats leaves of young cane.
Natural enemies :
Caterpillars parasitized by a Tachinid fly, and preyed on by
Odynerus clavilinatus, Cam., a mud-daubing wasp.
5. Laphygma frugiperda, 8. and A.
Common name: The rice worm.

Injury: Caterpillar eats leaves of young cane, and is often found in
the throat of the shoots.
Natural enemies :

Kggs parasitized by T'richogramma ininutum, Riley.

Caterpillars parasitized by the ichneumon Enicospilus guyanensis,
Cam., and preyed on by the Coccinellid beetle Wegilla maculata,
de Geer, by such wasps as Polybia nigriceps, Polistes canaden-
sis, and P. carolinensis, also by several birds and the common
toad or crapaud Bufo marinus.

Adult moths preyed on by Attid spiders.

6. Remigia repanda, Fabr.
Common name: The grass looper.
Injury : The caterpillar eats leaves of young cane.
Natural enemies :
Caterpillars eaten by several species of birds.

7. Cirphis latiuscula, H.S.
Injury : The caterpillar eats the young leaves.
Natural enemies :
Caterpillar parasitized by a Tachinid fly.
8. Prodenia latifasciu, Walk.

Injury: The caterpillar eats young leaves.

9. Lycophota imfecta, Ochs.
Injury : The caterpillar eats young leaves.
Natural enemies :
Eggs parasitized by Telenomus atripes, Cam.

10. Monodes agrotina, Guen.

Injury : Caterpillars feed on exposed parts of cane stools after canes

have been cut, also on shoots at parts injured by the small moth-
borer.

Natural enemies:
Caterpillars parasitized by a Tachinid fly.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.
16.
7:
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.

24.

A List of the Insects affecting Sugar-Cane in British Guianu. 307

Acrolophus sacchari, Busck, n. sp.
Injury : The caterpillars live underground, infesting poor stools,
especially such as are affected by drought.
Halisidota strigulosa, Walk.
Injury: The caterpillar eats the leaves.
Natural enemies :
Caterpillar parasitized by an ichneumon, a species of Hnicospilus.
Caligo iloneus iloneus, Cramer.
Injury: Caterpillar eats leaves.
Natural enemies :
Eggs parasitized by a small hymenopteroa. A large Chaleidid
has been bred from the pupa.
Taygetis andromeda, Cr.
Injury : Caterpillar eats leaves.

Perichares corydon, Fab.
Aeniades chalestra, Hew.
Prenes vala, Mabille.

Prenes ocola, Edw.

Prenes ares. Feld.

Lerema accius, Abb.

Lerema mooreana, Dyar, n. sp.
Atrytone heberva, Dyar, nu sp.

Atrytone gladolis, Dyar, n. sp.
Common name of 15 to 23: Skipper butterflies.
Injury : Caterpillars eat leaves.

Natural enemies :
Chaleis annulata has been bred from pupa of Perichares corydon ;
a Zelemorpha and an undetermined Braconid from the cater-
pillar of Prenes ocola, and a Joppa from pupa of same ; and
undetermined Braconid parasites from Lerema mooreana and
Prenes vala.
Caterpillars of Prenes vala preyed on by those of Laphygqma
frugipera.

COLEOPTERA.

Ayleborus sp.
Common name: Shot-borer.
Injury : Larva infests diseased and souring cane.

308 Timehri. |

25. Dyscinetus bidentatus, Burm.

Common name: The small black hardback.

Or

Injury: Adult beetle bores into young shoots near the base and
kills the “heart.” Larve feed underground at the stools.*

26. Cyclocephala signata, Drury.
Common name: The brown hardback. ,
Injury: As the small black hardback. |

27. Philewrus bajulus, Perty. |

28. Strategus aleus, Fabr.
Injury: Larve of 27 and 28 feed underground in or about cane-
stools.

29. Rhyncophorus palmarum, Linn.
Common name: The palm weevil or gru-gru worm.
Injury: Larva infests cane-stools.

30. Metamasius hemipterus, Linn.

Common name: The lady-bird weevil borer.

Injury : Larva follows mechanical injury, or injury by other insects,
or by rats, or follows rind fungus. Infests growing cane and
plant-tops.

Natural enemies :

Larva parasitized by a Braconid, probably an Iphiaulax.
Adult beetle preyed on by Mallophora calidus, one of the hawk-
flies (Asilidee), and by the Argiopid spider Argiope argentata,
Fabr.
31. Myochrous armatus, Baly.

Injury: Larva attacks tender leaves generally found in throat of
young shoots.

COCCID.
32. Aspidiotus sacchari, Ckll.
Common name: The root-scale or sugar-cane Aspidiotus.

Injury: Feeds generally underground on stools and roots, often
forming very thick incrustations; often found, too, on the cane-
stalks,
Natural enemies :
A small hymenopterous parasite, undetermined.

* I have just discovered that the hardback larvae are parasitized by the larva of a
small black wasp, of the family Scoliide. ;

A List of the Insects affecting Sugar-Cane in British Guiana. 309

33. Pseudococcus calceolaric, Mask.
Common name: The pink mealy-bug.

Injury : Feeds below sheathing leaves when canes are jointing or
jointed ; otherwise feeds at base, just where they originate from
stool or plant-top ; often found, too, below ground on stools, plant-
tops, and roots.

Natural enemies :
A fungus Aspergillus sp., the Coccinellid Hyperaspis trilineata,
Mul., and one or two others, an undetermined lace-wing fly
(Chrysopide), an undetermined Tineid moth, and an undeter-
mined Cecidomyiid fly ; also an undetermined Chalcidid parasite.
34. Pseudococeus sacehari, Ckll.
Common name: The grey mealy-bug.
Injury: As for 33, the pink mealy-bug.
35. Pulvinaria sp.
Injury: Feeds on young leaves.
Natural enemies :
A small hymenopterous parasite, undetermined.

36. Orthezra insignis, Douglas.

37. Orthezia prelonga.
Common name of 36 and 37 : Croton bug.
Injury: Feed on leaves.

38. Pseudococcus citri, Risso.
Injury : Feeds on roots, stools, and plant-tops.

HOMOPTERA.

39. Tomaspis flavilatera, Urich, n. sp.
Common name: Froghopper or spittle-insect.
Injury: Feeds on roots.
Natural enemies :
Preyed on by Attid spiders.

40. A Leat-hopper (undetermined.)
Injury : Feeds on leaves ; also injures them in act of oviposition.
Natural enemies :
Eggs parasitized by a small hymenopteren.

41. Proarna germari, Dist.
Common name : Cicada or small 6 o’clock bee.
Injury: Larve and nymphs feed underground at cane-stools,

Timehri.

NEUROPTERA.

42. Hutermes costaricensis, Holmer.
Common name: The common sugar-cane wood-ant or termite.

Injury : Feeds on stools injured mechanically, or by other insects,
such as Castnia, the small moth-borer, and the weevil-borer, or

stools badly affected by drought; feeds also on cane-stalks,
following attack by the small moth-borer.

Natural enemies :

Kop-kop ants, and, when swarming, preyed on by the wasp
Polybia occidentalis, by birds, and spiders.

43. Mirotermes nigritus, Lilv.
Common name: The black wood ant.
Injury: Attacks cane-stools.

ORTHOPTERA.

44. Conocephaloides mazxillosus, F.
Common name: The green grasshopper.
Injury : Feeds on young leaves.
Natural enemies :
Eggs parasitized by an undetermined hymenopteron.

Winged insects preyed on by the Sphegid wasps Sphex ichneumo-
neus and Chlorion (Proterosphex) neotropicus ; also by the
Argiopid spider Argiope argentata, and Attid spiders.

45. Schistocerca pallens, Thunb.
Common name: The brown grasshopper.
Injury: As for 44.
Natural enemies :

Argiope argentata, and Attid spiders.

APHIDIDA.

46, An undetermined Aphid or plant-louse.
Injury : Feeds on young leaves.

The above list has been drawn up chiefly from my own notes,
although a number of the records are those of Mr. Quelech and Mr,
Bodkin, the Government Economic Biologist.

SOME COLONY BIRDS.

By Rey. CHARLES B. Dawson, S.J., M.A. (Oxon.)

of its near relative the Tua-tua. The Tua-tua (pronounced tower-tower)
(Oryzoborus torridus), vulgarly called the bastard t.wa-twa, or the Twa-
twa’s slave, proclaims at once its near kinship to the Twa-twa. It is,
however, neither so large nor so elegant in form; and moreover, from
the lower part of the breast to the tail, it is dark red. From this feature
it evidently derives its specific name of torridus, toasted or scorched. I
suppose it derives its vulyar name of bastard twa-twa from the mistaken
notion, that it is a cross between that bird and some other inferior type.
In nature, howevcr, hybrids never occur. I suppose again that it is called
the twa-twa’s slave on account of its comparative inferiority.

It has a large beak, though not so relatively large as the twa-twa’s,
and being black instead of slaty white is not so conspicuous. There is
a white stripe on the primary feathers, but it is almost covered by the
wing coverts. ‘lhe wings underneath are white also. It has the same
habit of whisking his tail from side to side and of spreading it out ; and
the tail is full and broad: I had almost said bushy. As in the ease of
the twa-twa, the hen and the young birds are a warm brown, darker on
the wings and tail; it is thus almost indistinguishable from several
other brown hen finches ; but the beak which has a ridge or keel where
it joins the skull above, is unmistakable. The single note of the Tua-tua
is exactly that of the twa-twa, and its song, though not so loud, is
perhaps more musical. But it is not such a persistent singer.

[t is an amiable aviary bird and the one in my possession returned
to the cage when I chanced to let it escape:

THE FIRE-FINCH.

One of the most beautiful of our finches has the awkward name of
“Searlet-crested finch” (Coryphospingus cristatus). I prefer to call it
the jire-finch and it justifies this title, beimg very much the colour of a
slumbering ember. In size it is not so large as our sparrow; but it is
much more graceful in form, hence its generic name, coryphospingus,
Greek, ‘“ the small slender bird.”

The body of the bird except the back is a dull ecrimson-lake,
merging into pink at the throat; the back, wings, and tail, are dark
warm brown. Around the eye, in lieu of eye-lashes are tiny pinkish,
almost white feathers which give the bird the air of wearing spectacles.
The crest, which however he seldom erects, is in the shape of a half-

312 Timehri.

closed fan, with the broad side in front; it 1s bright, silken, scarlet, with
the outer edges almost black. Its note is a long, indrawn, almost hiss-
like, monotone : ts—s. Its song, though it rarely sings in a cage, is a
see-saw on two notes and can hardly be called beautiful. But its colour
and lively disposition make it a desirable cage-bird. It is never seen in

a cage, however, for the people of the colony think a bird “ no good
unless it can sing, sir.

It has a pleasing habit of springing up perpendicularly and dropping
down again like a bouncing ball; or of throwing itself upwards towards
the bars of the cage, clinging for a moment, and then flinging itself
back again. A pair I had would sit for a long while by the side of a
small mirror, and seemed very annoyed when a pair of small doves took

up that position ; they would go up to them and try to hustle them out
of the coveted spot.

Coryphospingus is not easily tamed though when once kept in a
cage will generally return when set at liberty. It is charming when
caught in the hand, erecting its flaming crest and uttering cries of

protestation. The crest when at rest is simply a streak of bright
crimson.

The hen is a modified replica of the cock and has no crest.

The fire-finch is not uncommon in town, but being very shy is not
often observed.

THE CREOLE CANARY.

The creole canary, or canary grass-bird (sycalis arvenis) 1s very like
that variety of the domestic canary which in England we call the “ lizard,”
theugh much smaller; and I venture the opinion that it is, indeed, the
ancestor of the now world-wide favourite cage-bird. Above, its feathers
are olive-brown edged with lighter colour and not unlike those of the
English sparrow; its throat, breast, and vent are a slightly-greenish
yellow, as also above and below the eye, merging into a greener tint on
the cheeks. The henis the same but not so bright. It readily becomes
tame in a cage (which is another argument in favour of the above
theory) and breeds freely. A cock bird I have in my aviary made love
to a hen tua-tua and I have no doubt they would have gone to nest had
I put them in a cage by themselves. But I dislike hybrids of every kind.
Its wooing was delightful. It would fly from side to side of the aviary
and remain before its beloved cbject on suspended wing like a heavy
humming bird, and all this time would utter loud notes of self-admira-
tion as if to say, “Look at this, look at this! See what I can do!”
Then it would alight and pour forth its song. The song, though lively
enough, is stereotyped. It might easily be reproduced in a mechanical
toy. It is wanting in variety and its gamut is short. Beginning with
a few staccato notes it gradually increases the pace, rising by semitones ;
then it trills, still increasing the pace; then ends abruptly as if out of
breath. But it begins again immediately for it is an incessant singer
when it once takes up its song. In a cage with other birds it is inter-
fering and inclined to be masterful. It should therefore be kept alone.

Some Colony Birds. 313

THE WHITE-THROATED FINCH OR RING-NECK.

The white-throated finch or grass-bird (spermophila lineata), com-
monly called the Ring-Neck, is ‘the largest of three black-and-white
finches often mistaken for one another. Rightly are these small finches

ealled grass-birds (spermophila, seed-lover) for they feed exclusively on
" the seed of the larger kinds of grasses, plucking the seed as it erows on
the stem and often performing many amusing acrobatic antics in the
process. Unlike most other finches they even feed their young on the
same diet, having however partly digested it in their own crop. Most
other finches, as well known, feed their nestlings on insects, and
thus our common house-sparrow got itself transported to happier
climes by those who had that amount of nature knowledge which proved
a dangerous thing, in the hope that it would clear the land of insect
pests. Alas, in these happier climes, it devours more grain in harvest -
time than is compensated for, by its insect destroying propensity in the
nesting season ; and it increases apace.

The White-throat or Ring-Neck is a stumpy bird with a large head ;
it is like a cock-sparrow in form though generally smaller. The head,
back, wings, and tail, are dull black ; the throat, white ; the breast, vent,
and rump, light grey. There is a ring of white running from the ends
of the throat feathers around the neck and broadening on the shoulders,
but not meeting at the back. It is almost as if he had a white beard
the ends of which were blown over the shoulders. The white feathers
of the throat do not quite merge into the grey of the breast, there being
ridges of black feathers from the shoulders and almost meeting as they
taper to a point in front. There are also two stripes of white across the
upper part of the wings: the first, along the upper wing coverts ; and
the second across the lower wing coverts “and extending along the bases
of the primaries as far as the second feather. The hen is a uniform
olive-brown, darker on the wings and tail. There is a light brown bar
on the wings corresponding to the upper white stripe of her mate. It is
distinguished from all other brown hen finches by the shape and colour of
the beak, which is black, blunt and rounded, like a typical Jewish nose.

The song of the white-throat is a bubbling cascade of music, sweet
and melodious. This fully compensates for its inelegance of form ; and
he is a continual singer. It is extremely fond of a bath and, I may say,
of cage life, for it will return again and again if set at liberty. He is
amiably disposed toward other birds: but, of course, does not sing so
persistently as when kept alone. Many song birds in an aviary will
not sing at all.

THE MOUSTACHE FINCHES.

There are two species of these birds, so-called from the more or less
moustache-shaped lines of white running from the corners of the mouth.
They remind me rather of mutton-chop whiskers. In length they are a
little less than the white-throat, but they are beautiful in shape, being
slender and having a longer and more shapely tail ; the head also is small
and neat.

314 Timehrr.

The commoner species is the Spermophila lineola. In this, the —
head, wings, throat and tail are velvet black ; the breast, greyish white,
fading into white on the vent. Besides the ‘so-called moustache, there |
is a white bar running along the crown of the head from the beak, and
a small white patch on the wings, that is, on the upper part of the
primaries. The under-wings are al ite, aaa the secondaries are partly |
white, though the colour does not appear externally ; the rump is grey.
The hen is a light olive-brown, lighter still below ; the beak, horn colour
and not black.

The single note of the bird is loud and like the chirp of a sparrow ; |
but it has a ‘pretty sone of about fifteen notes ; not, however, so varied —
as that of the white- area It is acharming cage- spiel easily ‘tarliee and |
amiable in disposition.

The other moustache finch (Spermophia ocellata) is much rarer and |
is not distinguished by the uninitiated from the foregoing. However, it
is not so slim; there is no line of white over the head; and along the
sides are round spots upon a ground of black fading into grey. From
this latter feature it derives it specific name of ocellata, that is, ‘‘ eyed”
or marked with eye-like spots.

THE BLACK-THROATED SACKI.

There are several species of tanagers rightly named euphonia,
“ sweet-voiced.” The smallest (Huphonia mimuta) is a tiny bird hardly
three inches in leneth, from tip to tip of beak and tail. The tail of all |
these birds is short, extending very little beyond the under-tail coverts,
and their general contour is swallow-like, being round and full. The |
head, back, wings and tail of the minuta are deep blue, with a green |
sheen on the primaries; the throat is deeper blue rather than black.
The breast is a rich yellow, the under-tail coverts white, as are also the ©
under-wings. The forehead is yellow and gives the bird the air of
wearing a jockey cap with a square peak turned back. The bill, more
like a swallow’s than a finch’s, is slaty blue. The sexes are alike, or
nearly so. The bird soon becomes accustomed to a cage for, in spite of
its small size, it is very intelligent and fully alive to the fitness of things.
Held gently by the feet and stroked on the back, it may be trained to
pour forth its musical song: chic-chic-cheek-cheek. It has a loud note for
so smal] a bird. Its ordinary song sounds something like this: “ thet-
thet-thit, thit, thet, wee, wee, chic-chic, are you going away ? don’t go —
uway, don’t go away!” and all the while it flips its wings and turns from _
side to side. It is, of course, a fruit-eating bird and thrives on yellow
plantain I should prefer to call it the Jockey-sacki.

THE BUCK-CANARY.

Euphonia Violacea, or the Buck-canary as it is vulgarly called, or
in more polite society the Louis dor, is much larger than the black- :
throat, being fully four inches, bill and tail included. Like minuta it is
blue above and yellow below, but the yellow extends from tail to beak — i
and the yellow of the forehead is rounded above. The hen isa dull”

Some Colony Birds, 315)

green, lighter below. Though it is called violacea there is no violet
about either sex. Like its smaller cousin, it is a charming bird and
readily takes to cage life A pair I once had actually fed two callow
eashew-sackis which I put into their cage having no other at hand at
the moment. They did it ina business-like way, eructating the food
from their little throats. Unfortunately they took toll in the shape of
feathers. I was surprised to see the young birds becoming bare on
neck and back, and more surprised to see their foster-parents by turns
deliberately and calmly pluck out the feathers and after turning them
about in their beaks for a while swallow them !

Closely allied is the Luphonia eayana, or Yellow-sided Sacki ; being
of the same size and form, but in colour a uniform’ dark, steely blue
with a yellow patch of feathers on each side of the breast, partly covered
by the shoulder of the wings. It is much rarer and is seldom obtainable.
I have only seen one specimen in a cage. I am told that its habits are
exactly similar.

THE YELLOW-VENTED SACKI.

Allied to the charming Huphonia is a group rightly called Calliste,
that is, beautiful. I described one of them in my former article, the
Calliste cayana, or black-faced tanager. Among these, the calliste
flaviventris, or gold-finch as it is erroneously called, ranks high in point
of beauty. I doubt whether it ever ventures into Georgetown being
shy and retiring in its habits. I first saw it in the garden of the Rest-
house at Pickersgill in the Pomeroon River, and obtained a specimen
that was caught at Maleretout. It lived contentedly for several months
in acage and might still have been alive but for the carclessness of a
servant.

The bird is smaller than the blue sacki, being only four-and-a-half
inches in length. The head, throat and rump are purple; the back,
wings and tail, velvet black ; the black of the back extends in a peak to
the top of the head with pleasing effect. The breast and belly are bath-
brick yellow and there are two irregular chains of spots or rosettes along
the sides but almost covered by the wings. The shoulders of the wings
are half-moons of bright turquoise blue, changing into emerald green in
certain lights ; and along the lower border isa scalloped edging of purple,
the centre of each scallop being jet black. The general appearance when
it flutters about the cage is so butterfly-like that I venture to eall it
Butterfly-wing in preference to the Yellow-vented Sacki !

The only note I have heard it utter is a pretty link-link like the
jingle of a silver chain.

Flaviventris is as amiable as it is beautiful. When [| introduced a
palm sacki into its cage as companion, my butterfly-wing evinced the
greatest signs of pleasure, flitting about, uttering its pretty note, and
caressing the stranger with its bill. It was a case of Beauty and the
Beast for the sacki was one of the dirty-greenish-brown variety.

316 Timehri.

MockInG-Brrps oR HaANG-NESTS. |
The Mocking-birds are, like the tanagers or sackis, allied to the ©
finches ; unlike them however, they have affinity with the Starlings and
with the Mynas of India; and this latter affinity is more apparent. The
way in which they stalk about and pry into other people's affairs betrays _
at once their starling character. Let me say at once that though ©
these birds well deserve their name, they have no affinity with the |
Mocking-bird of North America.*

I have been fortunate enough to rear several yellow-back mocking-
birds from the nest. It is difficult to do so. All kinds of food must be
offered and much patience and skill is required in administering it ; for —
they have a wonderful way of ejecting what they have received, as well —
as of rudely declining the choicest viands. Sometimes I have had to do |
what the Government at home has been so much blamed for doing in
regard of the obstinate hunger-strike suffragette. I have had to forcibly —
feed them. It is some time before they become accustomed to eat what
one can supply them in place of the seeds and insects of their native
habitat. -

THE YELLOW-BACK 7

The Yellow-back Mocking-bird (Cassicus persicus) is a splendid —
fellow. Fully nine inches in length, he is glossy black with the excep- —
tion of the rump, vent, and under-tail coverts, which are golden yellow; —
there is also a longitudinal bar of yellow on the wings. The feathers are |
trim, sleek and hard. The slightly curved bill, an inch-and-a-half in length,
is also yellow and the upper beak or maxilla is joined to the forehead —
by a rounded projection after the manner of the beak of a mediaeval
helmet ; hence its name Cassicus from Latin cassis a helmet. A striking
feature is the eye, the iris of which is bright blue. His gait is stately
and altogether he has a military bearing. The hen is like her lord but
much smaller.

Yellow-backs live in colonies and at nesting time much noise
and racket goes on. The nests are wonderful structures of dried palm-
fibre woven with great skill, and hung from the ends of the branches of
a tree, in size and shape like Indian clubs. The eggs, two in number,
are dull white with a few small dots or lines of purple-red. They are
comparatively small, being only the size of starlings’. The name
of “hang-nests” given these birds is by no means discriminative
for many birds in the colony build nests after this fashion. The ordin-
ary cry of the bird begins with a sound like the creaking of a bough in
the wind, and changes into the hollow sound of a Swiss cow-bell.

A high thorny tree is generally chosen for their colony ; but not
always so. At the Catholic Mission ground at Morawhanna is a large
colony on a small mango tree. Do these birds realize that the land all
about is marshy and that, in consequence, the tree is almost unapproach-
able? It would seem so.

*NoTe.—The real Mocking-Bird is the Mimus polyglottus, a grey bird the size of §
large thrush, with affinities both to thrushes and wrens.

Some Colony Birds. 317

By an infallible instinct these birds always choose a tree on which
marabuntas or fierce ants, or both, have already established themselves.
The marabuntas nests often hang among those of the birds; but there
seems a perfect truce between them. The male bird at home cuts a ridi-
culous figure. Standing in a prominent place, he lowers his head and
tail, and ruffles up the yellow feathers of his back and all the while he
cries in hollow tones: “Just look at me! Just look at me! Don't you
admire? AmTl not fine?” He waits a little while for admiration, and
then begins again.

He well deserves the name of Mocking-bird, for there is no bird in
the forest he will not imitate, and thus often deceives the sportsman
and specimen collector.

Some time ago in the North West District, | had occasion during a
missionary journey to spend a night at the Rest-house at the mouth of the
Baramani River. I had no sooner showed myself at the window than I was
subjected to a noisy badinage from, as I supposed, a number of birds on
a tree close by. “Hi, hi! ah! ah! ya-ah! What are you doing there?”
The voices seemed to say, “J dont like the look of you at all! Goaway!
We dow't want you—aha—yah—yah !” looked in amazement. There
was only one yellow-back, perhaps some old bachelor, but he was skip-
ping from branch to branch and pouring out his full vocabulary from
different coigns of vantage.

The yellow-back makes an attempt ata song ; but it is more interest-
ing than musical. There are mutterings and splutterings, whisperings
and gurglings, and occasionally a full round note; but the whole is
not inspiring. It is ike a clown trying to be sentimental. But he is
worth domesticating on account of his beauty and knowing ways. One
I have now will do what in gymnastic language | must call the hand-
orind—a bird’s feet are partly hands—he will swing round his perch,
holding on by the feet, in the vain endeavour to catch his tail! His feet
are large and powerful, I am told he can be taught to speak. Mine will
sometimes bark like a dog on the approach ol a stranger.

THE Reb-Back.

The Red-back mocking-bird (Cassicus afjinis) is closely related in form
and habits to the yellow- ‘back. Iti is, however, entirely black with the
exception of the rump which is rich, bright, crimson : the colour of red
port-wine seen against the light. The black feathers have also a blue
sheen. It is rarer and shier than the yellow-back and is not so intelligent.
I have never seen it ina cage. A couple I tried to rear did not thrive;
but the conditions were difficult.

It has a long, swift flight, and then the crimson of its back gleams
out. It may sometimes be found sharing the colony of the yellow-backs ;
but the two never inter-breed. Nature abhors mixed marriages of all

kinds.

318 Timehri.

THE BLAck MocKING-BIrRp.

I found in the North West District a bird I have not yet been able to
scientifically identify, but which is known locally as the Black Mocking-
bird. It is smaller than the foregoing and is entirely black. It congre-
vates in great flocks by the waterside making a great chattering ; but
builds its nest alone. I have found a great number of these nests up the
creek at Morawhanna. They are woven of black roots or fibres and
adorned with lichens and mosses ; in shape they resemble a basket, and the
handle is simply slung over a branch. The eggs, four in number, are
white, covered with red spots. I secured a nest of young ones and
succeeded in rearing them. They were amusing creatures, shaking them-
selves prodigiously when being fed, and uttering surprisingly low-toned
cries : cries that seemed to come from their boots, so to speak. The note
of the old bird is loud, piercing and bell-like and when once heard in the
creek is not easily forgotten. Unfortunately I had to leave the district
before these young ones were fully developed and was unable to carry
them away with me. There are no specimens or skins of this bird in the
Museum.

THE GREAT Rice-birp.

Allied to the Mocking-birds, but more closely so the Lazy-bird,
described in my last article, is the Great Rice-Bird, (Cassidix oryzwora),
that is “the great cassique rice-devourer.’ This bird is as large as an
English crow and as black ; but it is more graceful in form with its slim
body and dainty head. The beak is black, trim, and conical; the maxilla
is rounded where it joins the skull, but not so prominently so as in the
yellow-backs, etc. The eye is red. The sexes are more or less alike.
The male is glossy purple-black; but has not the satiny sheen of its
diminutive relative, the Lazy-bird, or, as it is known in scientific circles,
the Common Rice-Bird. The hen has the same cuckoo habit of placing
her eggsin the nest of another bird. The egg is like that of our English
thrush, but twice the size. A beautiful cock bird I had, was taken, by
mistake, from the nest of a yellow-back and reared by hand. When it
could fend for itself, it made its home among the domestic fowls. It fed
with them, fought with them, and after flying about all day, would roost
with them at night. It would cluck like a hen and crow like a cock, and
was so taken up with its novel companions that it never more showed any
affection for the hand that had fed it in callow youth. I kept itin a large
cage, but it never grew tame. When, however, a fowl approached, it
would show an affectionate concern, clucking and spreading out its
feathers. As its specific name implies, it feeds exclusively on grain,
showing a preference for paddy which it husks like a finch! Mine had
the ingenuity to open the lid of its seed-box and thus save itself a good
deal of trouble.

THE GUIANA BLACK-BIRD.

The Guiana, or Demerara black-bird (Quiscalus lugubris) is the size
of the bird so named in England and is as black, but otherwise has
nothing in common. It has, in fact, all the habits of a Starling. It is
glossy, dead-black, the only relieving colour being that of the eye which —

Some Colony Birds. 319

is almost white and gives the bird a ghostly look. As there are in the
colony at least ten other birds entirely black, it is singularly misnamed.
I propose to call it the Rudder-tail from a curious feature of that
appendage which I will describe. The tai! which is fairly long, opens out
like a fan, and when it flies, the middle feathers drop a little and in
consequence the tail seems to have assumed a perpendicular position like
the rudder of a boat or the caudal fin of a fish, in point of fact, it becomes
V-shaped. This feature marks it out at once from all the other birds of
the colony and indeed from all other birds I know.

The Radder-tail (as | proceed to call it) is very common along the
Corentyne Coast and may be seen in pairs. A great number have
established themselves about the grounds of the Berbice Asylum where
they stalk about with all the self-assurance of legal proprietors. There
they build their nests (huge affairs of sticks and straw) in orange trees,
and low bushes well within the reach of most persons. The eggs, four in
number, are whitish with purple patches, streaks, and blotches.

When I essayed to take a nest of youngsters, the whole tribe
assembled and by loud cries and gestures showed the strongest disapproval
of the procedure. The boldest of them flapped their wings almost in my
face. I succeeded in rearing one of the young ones but it did not come
up to my expectations in point of intelligence. Before it was fully
mature it contrived to slip through the door of the cage, and, contrary to
its starling nature, never returned.

The Quiscalus lugubris derives its names from its voice ; the former
from a fancied resemblance of its note to that of a quail (quisquila, a
quail, Lat.), and /ugubris, mournful. Its note, however, is not more
mournful than many other birds of its class. It has a way, something
like the yellow-backs, of lowering its head, dropping its wings and tail,
and fluttering its feathers when it wishes to be admired, uttering at the
same time several bell-like notes: fe-wit, te-wit, te-wit, yessir, yessir,
what, sir?”

A few years ago quite a number inhabited the trees along the
Vlissengen Road; but since the construction of the new Race Course
only a few remain.

THE REED BIRD.

Of much the same size and build as the Rudder-tail is the Reed-
bird or Yellow-head, as itis popularly called; but its habits are more
retiring. He is clothed in a suit of velvet black with the exception of
the head and neck which are yellow. He holds himself erect and has the
appearance of a dandy in evening dress with a yellow face and wig
instead of a white shirt-front. J am always expecting to see him drop
a monocle and carefully adjust it again. There are black feathers
around the eye and on the lore, which, together with the shape of the
head and sharp beak, give him a foxy look. The scientific name,
Agelaeus icterocephalus, “the gregarious icterus-head,” suits him very

320 Timehri.

well. The Icterus, after which the whole order of mocking-birds is
named ([cteridae) was a mythical yellow bird among the Greeks and
Romans, the sight of which would cure a person of yellow-fever !

The yellow-heads may sometimes be seen in large flocks among the
rank reeds and rushes that grow along the rivers and in the marshy
places. Hence its name. It feeds on seeds and at times does damage
to the rice crops; but like most birds, it well repays the toll it takes by
its usefulness in other respects. In a cage the bird wears the air of a
dignified protest and the only note it utters is dip-dip-dip. I have never
had an opportunity of rearing it from the nest and soI cannot say
whether its demeanour would alter under these circumstances. Many
birds can only be domesticated in this way. The sexes are alike except
that the hen is smaller.

DOoVEs.

There are twelve or more species of doves indigenous to the colony.
I may say in passing that the terms dove and pig-on are inter-
changeable. As a general rule the smaller and gentler species are
called doves, the larger and bolder, pigeons. The word pigeon
is derived from the French, (O. F. Pijon) and means (Lat., pipio),
a young piping bird. The word dove is from the old English dujan, to
dive: a word which may have reference to its undulating flight, for,
needless to say, neither pigeons or doves dive into water. All observers
of Nature must have seen a flock of pigeons, disturbed from their feeding
ground, rise in a body and diving, as it were, into the bush, disappear.

Doves and pigeons are to be found all over world. The are homo-
genous in form and feature and their habits are much the same. There
are in all five hundred species.

SAVANNAH GROUND Dove.

Of the ground doves (Peristeridae) seen in Georgetown, the
Savannah ground-dove is the largest as it is the commonest. Its
scientific name from the Greek, Cham«epelia talpacoti, means “ the
ground bird that scares the mole!” It is from six to seven inches in
length, the bill being half an inch and the tail an inch and a half beyond
the wings. The bird is a uniform pinkish red, fading into pink on the
throat and cheeks; the crown of the head is cloud-grey. There are
downward lines of black or blue-black upon the wings like the jottings
of a pen; the under-wing coverts are black as also the under-feathers of
the tail ; the primaries are blackish-brown. The eye is red and the feet,
of course, pink. The Indians call it wiht which means “shaven ” and
in truth the head has that appearance, being small, smooth, and light in
colour. The hen is brown with corresponding markings.

The dove is gentle and timid, living amicably with smaller birds,
though it defends itself with its wings should they shew themselves
ageressive. Little finches if placed in the same cage will take advantage
of its gentle disposition, and sidling up, will pluck a small feather and
then, mirabile dictu, swallow it!

Some Colony Birds. 321

THE SPECKLED DOVE.

The speckled ground-dove (Chamaepelia passerina) is smaller, being
barely six inches in length. It is brown-pink, fading into pink on breast,
throat, and head; and into white on the vent. The feathers of the
breast, head, and neck are centred with dull black giving the bird a
speckled or scaly appearance. There are spots of purple-black upon the
wings in irregular lines ; the under-wings are red, the primaries also are
red, edged and tipped with black ; the under-feathers of the tail are also
of this colour. There is a rim of minute feathers around the eye in lieu
of eye-lashes. The hen is duller and smaller but is otherwise marked the
same.

The bird is common in country districts and my be seen in open
places, bustling about in a business-like manner in search of small seeds,
and holding its tail at an ascending angle to keep it out of the way.
Besides cooing, as all doves do, it has a curious note when alarmed like a
tiny bark of a dog, “ whuh-whuh-whuh.”

THE Tiny GROUND-DOVE.

There is another dove a little smaller still, Chamaepelia minuta or
griseola, that is bluish. It is much like the speckled dove but has no
speckled breast. The breast is pinkish blue, fading into white on throat
and vent. ‘The cheeks also are whitish, the crown of the head, nape,
and shoulders bluish ; as also the upper tail coverts. The back and wings
are pinkish brown, and on the wings are a few purple jottings. The tail
is grey tipped with darker colour ; the under-wings are red; the primaries
are red, but light brown on the outer edges and ends of the feathers.
The hen is light brown generally with lighter breast and vent; the
feathers of the back are edged with lighter colour ; the bastard wing is
red and there are a few black jottings on the wings. These three species
live together peaceably in a cage, feeding and roosting together as if they
recognized their near affinity. ‘Their nests may often be found in low
trees near human habitations, or even upon the creeper that grows on
the wall. They will nest in captivity under favourable conditions.

THE COMMON THRUSH.

One may wake up in Demerara and fancy oneself back in England
aroused by the familiar notes of a thrush. A few minutes of drowsy
attention, however, will be sufficient to dispel the illusion. The song is
not so well sustained as that of the home bird; there are lazy intervals
between every few notes, and there is not the same vigour and variety.
We have been listening to the song of the common colony thrush (Merula
albiventer), a welcome though poor substitute for our own king of song.

After the kiskadee, no bird is so much in evidence as the thrush.
He may be seen on our lawn pulling worms, or flying low from tree to
tree uttering a low-toned note of alarm, something like our English
black-bird: “ What's this? What, what, what, what's that ? Cher, cher,
cher, cher.”

322 Timehri.

In many respects, indeed, it is nearer the black-bird than the English
thrush despite its colour. It is slightly larger, being seven or eight inches
in length and is a little fuller in body It is the plainest of plain birds,
the prevailing colour being earthy brown, inclined to red on back and
wings, greyish on the breast, and fading into white on the vent; hence
its ungainly scientific name ‘‘ White-vented-thrush.” The throat is white
with downward streaks of brown; the under-wing coverts are light russet-
red ; the iris of the large, prominent eye, is reddish brown. The sexes are
alike. Young thrushes have spots of darker colour upon their breast,
which fade away when they approach maturity. Hence perhaps has
arisen the deeply-rooted conviction that the colony thrush is descended
from English parents imported into the colony some fifty years ago.
This, perhaps. and the fact that there is nothing peculiarly tropical about
albwenter. Like our English kingfisher, it seems to have strayed out of
its proper lattitude.

This colony thrush is semi-domesticated, frequenting our gardens
and building its conspicuous nest in accessible places, such for instance as
the top of the pillars that support our dwellings in this mosquito zone.
The nest is like that of our blackbird, though not so neatly made, and
the egos, two in number, are hardly distinguishable from that same black
relative. No one seems to keep the thrush in a cage. I have a pair
which I reared from the nest; but they are not tame now, dashing about
the cage like mad-caps when I approach; and, screaming at the top of
their voices, they peck, fight and struggle when I take them in my hand.
But they feed well and are healthy. I had hoped better things and more
intelligence from them, for when they were barely reared themselves, one
of them would feed some rudder-tails, a little younger, which for con-
venience | had put into their cage. But Dame Nature has given all
young birds an irresistibly appealing cry when they are hungry; and
when are they not? These thrushes are very pugnacious among them-
selves, and no bird of equal or smaller size can be kept in the same cage.
The pair I have, reared together, although not from the same nest, have
occasionally terrific encounters, first one and then the other gaining the
ascendency.*

There is another thrush very like this, called the grey-breasted thrush;
but I hope to write about that in a subsequent article. It may be
distinguished from this by its under-wings which are grey, and not russet-
red.

THE Gop-BIrD.

Even more familiar in its semi-domesticated habits than the thrush,
is the charming little colony wren yclept the God-bird (Troglodytes
musculus). It receives its generic name (Greek, one who creeps into
holes) from its habit of making its nest in holes and crevices; and its

* NoTE.—Since writing the above one of these thrushes has come to a tragic end.
As they were always fighting I separated them. Accidentally I left open the door of
the cage of the hen. A wild thrush got in, the door slipped down, the birds fought. I
returned to find my poor hen literally scalped and the intruder with its beak broken.

Some Colony Birds. 323

specific name, ‘the little mouse,” from its mouse-like way of running
about trunks of trees, under the eaves of houses and other such places in
search of spiders of which it is very fond.

It is first cousin to our English wren which it greatly resembles in
colour and form. But it is more engaging in its habits, being in this
respect our robin out here. He will come into our houses in a confiden-
tial way, chuckling greetings as he goes. Sometimes he brings his wife
and then the pair of them will oo running along the pictures and shelves
on a tour of inspection, making ‘comments to each other ; and now and
then the little lord will break out into a song just to Panera his merry
little soul. The song is a catch of twelve or more notes with a preliminary
strophe on a lower key. I have noticed that he repeats the same
arrangement of notes many times; but he changes it at intervals.
Perhaps he tunes up each morning for the day.

He is called the God-bird on account of his predilection for churches
when choosing a site for his nest. I took a nest from a country church
that was simply built upon a beam ina corner. The young ones were
too shy to take food from my hand, being past the age when birds open
their mouths to everything. | carried them to the gallery of the house
some twenty yards distant and the parents did the work of feeling, making
much noise and revealing much of their interesting and lovable “character
in the process. In the end I gave them their liberty for they would not take
the various kinds of food I offered and I could not subject them to
suftragetic treatment with their delicate mouths.

As I said in a former article, it is chiefly the god-bird that is seized
upon by the lazy- bird to be wet-nurse to its babes; and it is no uncommon
sight to see a pair feeding their great foster-child which with pitiful cries
follows them about, long ‘after it should have relieved them of the burthen
of its support. Yet, after all, it is only carrying out the traditions of its
family. Heredity is str ong in the animal world. The god-bird is slightly
larger than our Jenny Wren, Its beak also is longer in proportion
and the bird is not so deeply-red. ‘lhe throat and breast, indeed, are
almost white ; light reddish brown at the sides. The feathers on tail and
wines are transversely barred with darker colour; a feature common
among wrens; and the feet are large. It has an alternate specific name
of furvus, that is, dark or gloomy: a libel on the character of this
singularly bright and sprightly creature.

THE CoTron Birp,

Flying along the trenches on the outskirts of the city, the Cotton-
bird is a conspicuous object. I presume that it derives it name from its
appearance, for seated on some bush beside its favourite trench, it might
be mistaken for some fully-blown cotton pod. It is a small bird hardly
five inches in extreme length, and being of an unobtrusive and _ prosaic
nature might easily be anabser ved but for its colour. For the body of the
bird is pure white, and the tail, wings, back of the head and upper part
of the back, black. The lower wing coverts as also the rectrices are tipped

324 Timehr.

with white. It has the appearance of wearing a cap push back from the
forehead, and a black cloak slipped over the shoulders. It is known
scientifically as the Black-and-White Tyrant Bird (Fluvicola pica) ; but
there is nothing tyrannical about its nature. It is one of those birds
which from its habits and environment has acquired the peculiarities of
a bird of another order. It has, in fact, the habits of our Water
Wag-tail, and even goes so far as_ to jerk its caudal appendage ; but as
this is short its efforts to imitate its prototype are more ridiculous than
graceful. It is truly flwvicola, a river-dweller, but it is not pica, that is,
‘‘a bird that pecks its food from the bark of a tree.” It is never found
far away from water, feeding as it does upon the flies and other insects
that gather about that element. It builds its nest upon some low bush
or stunted tree, if it should find one fairly inaccessible to its enemies ;
failing that, it will not hesitate to build its homestead high.

{ once had a nest of young ones; little animated balls of cotton.
They were coming on nicely until one night (I was in the North West
District) they succumbed to the cold.

The Cotton-bird has neither high bird-intelligence, nor tuneful
voice, nor yet splendid plumage to recommend it aS a cage-bird. The
only note I have heard it utter is a modest tweet-tweet; and this not
very often.

THe Rustic Tyrant-Brrp.

Another bird that is no tyrant though it bears the name is Hleinea
pagana, vulgarly called the Muff Bird, which in creole language means
‘a bird with a crest.” How the word muff in this colony has come to
mean a crest passes ny comprehension.

The name Hleinea, that is (Greek) ‘“‘ belonging to the olive tree,” is
given to the bird, | suppose, on account of its sober colour of drib. If
by some magic art an olive-tree could be changed into a bird, this might
well be that dénouement. Its tail would represent the trunk of that
tree ; the olive-grey feathers, the leaves ; the yellow markings the young
shoots, and so on. But I must deseribe the bird itself.

Six inches in extreme length, of which the tail is nearly two, the bird
is a dull, homely, olive-grey above and light olive, fading into yellowish
grey, below. There are two bars of yellow-olive upon the wings, the
two lines of upper wing coverts being tipped with this colour ; the outer
edges of the primaries are also of the same colour ; the vent feathers are
yellowish-green ; the under-wing coverts are also light yellow. The
bird has a conical crest which is generally kept erect. Its note is like
a low-toned policeman’s whistle, wh7e ah. The mated pairs have a
habit, common to kiskadees and some other tyrant birds, of taking a
short flight together and then alighting, of saluting each other with
shaking wings ; and whereas the kiskadee utters his own name several
times, little pagana seems to say, “ Wre—wre—wre, look at me, look at
me, look at me!”

Some Colony Birds. 325

Its name pagana must refer to its rustic appearance for the bird is
common in towns and in Georgetown its little pea-whistle, as 1 may call
it, is heard at intervals throughout the day. True to its name, however,
it remains unsophisticated.

It has the habits of a fly-catcher, though one I once possessed sub-
sisted on a diet of bread and milk, fruit, etc. But this was due I think
to the excessive friendliness of a black-faced tanager which, as soon as |
put the stranger into the cage, flew to it and showed it signs of undis-
guised affection, caressing it and twittering to it, And thus it seemed to
Speak : “Friend, take it not too much to heart that you are captive.
Captivity is not so base a thing asit may seem. Here we have whole-
some food in plenty, with neither hawks, nor cats, nor boys with stones
our souls to vex. The cage is large and there’s a dozen perches.u: And
see this wheel! How nice it turns about! And in this mirror’s s ooth
and glassy surface, we see reflected our most noble selves... .” And
so the rustic tyrant-bird took heart of grace and lived contented.

PARROTS.

But I must no longer delay writing about parrots, the most intelli-
gent and in many respects, the most interesting of all the feathered tribes.
Of the five hundred species of this great family found in tropical coun-
tries throughout the world twenty-five or more belong to this colony
and include macaws, parrots (so-called), paroquets and love-birds. I may
Say in passing that it is a fault of our language that we have to call, not
only parrots, parrots ; but the whole tribe of Psittacidae : macaws, cocka-
toos, lories, paroquets, love-birds and the rest. The same defect is found
in other departments of Zoology ; thus we call apes, baboons, ,ibbons,
and the rest, monkeys, as well as monkeys proper.

The word “parrot” is derived from the French “ pierrot”: the
French call the bird ‘“ Little Peter,’ just as we call it “ Pretty Poll.”
Parrots have more brain, proportionately, than any other bird, and
their upper beak or maxilla, unlike that of any other bird except the
flamingo, is movable and not anchylosed to the skull. The tongue is
thick and generally black, the eye intelligent and the pupil often
highly dilatable. The feet, in common with cuckoos, toucan, wood-
peckers and a few others, are zygodactyl (Greek ‘yoked fingers ”)
haying two claws before and two behind; the outer claw is forced
back into what is evidently a primarily unnatural position. I might
remark that the word zygodactyl would be more applicable to the
chameleon, the claws of which are not only disposed in this way
but those before and those behind are actually joined together.
We have here an evident sign of evolution ; it was necessary for climbing
birds to have as firma grip behind as before and so nature accommo-
dated itself to their need.

Evolution as an active force in organic beings is too evident to
every student of nature to be gainsaid ; but that it has effected all that
Darwinians would have us believe, is precisely what thinking men are

326 Timehri.

beginning more and more strongly to deny. Many facts that seem at the
outset to lead to evolution are like blind alleys ; they go a certain way in
the right direction and then suddenly terminate in a blank wall. Ruskin
approaching the subject in a rhetorical rather than a scientific mood,
writes: ‘Had Darwinism been true, we should long ago have split our
heads in two with foolish thinking, or thrust out from above our
covetous hearts, a hundred desirous arms and clutching hands and
changed ourselves into Briarean cephalopods .. .” He isin a more
scientific temper when, writing of the supposed evolution of the peacock’s
tail, he says, ‘I went to it myself, hoping to learn some of the existing
laws of life which regulate the local disposition of colour. But none of
these appear to be known; and I am informed only that peacocks have
grown out of brown pheasants because the young feminine brown
pheasants like fine feathers. Whereupon | say to myself “then either
there was a distinct species of brown pheasants originally born with a
taste for tine feathers ; and therefore with remarkable eyes in their heads,
—which would be a much more wonderful distinction of species than
being born with rewarkable eyes in their tails,—or else all pheasants
would have been peacocks by this time ! ”

Much as scientists condemn the @ priori reasoning of scholastic
theologians, they instinctively fall imto it themselves. For example,
they would say that the parrot has obtained its movable maxilla by
the continuous use of it as a climbing instrument, because, @ priori
this would be in accordance with their theory of evolution. But it is
equally reasonable to argue, on the contrary, that the parrot having
been endowed by nature with this most useful adjunct to its claws,
immediately proceeded to give it its appropriate employment.

Parrots are the only birds that have conceived the bright idea of
using their foot as a hand. Hawks, indeed, hold their victims with their
feet while they tear them to pieces ; yellow-backs and birds of that class,
will hold a morsel of food beneath a foot that they may eat it piece-
meal; and even grass birds will so hold an ear of grass while they pec
out the seeds ; but only parrots use a foot to convey food to the mouth.
When I was in India I had a paroquet that, planting itself firmly on its
left foot, would, after the manner of an East Indian, gesticulate with
its right, while it poured forth a torrent of imaginary eloquence !

But to return to our immediate subject.

As I am following no definitely scientific order in these papers, I
may begin with the Love-bird.

THE Love Brxp.

Only one species of this charming family is to be found in the
Colony ; but it is common in certain localities anil has been seen about
Georgetown. This, Psittaculu Guianensis, is of a uniform pea-green
colour, lighter below. It is hardly five inches in length, the tail
extendiny but little beyond the wings. The under-wing coverts of the

Some Colony Birds. 327

inale are of a beautiful ultramarine blue ; the bastard wing, light blue.
The ends of the primaries are brown and the tail feathers are pointed
like the blade of a spear. The hen is paler, and yellow on the forehead.
It well earns its name for it is disconsolate when alone, and when paired,
neither seems content except when “sitting adjacent.” And they are
forever billing, warbling, and feeding each other. Like all true lovers they
have their quarrels and reconciliations and it is interesting to watch
them. Now, the little lord will bury his beak in the feathers of the
neck of his spouse and whisper protestations of his love into her willing
ear ; then, something too trifling for human eye to note will happen and
their delicate pink beaks are striking each other like castanets and their
shrill voices raised. But it is soon over. The little lord gains the
supremacy and they both go down to the seed-box to soothe their ruffled
spirits.

I have three of these birds, the odd one being a hen and very
de trop. The other two combine to drive her off as if she were a step-
mother. Occasionally they relent a little and then the little lord has an
affectionate mate on either side vying with each other in their fond
caresses. He bears himself nobly.

Under favourable circumstances these charming birds will breed in
captivity as freely as canaries.

THE WHITE-BREASTED PARROT.

Of all the feathered friends I have ever possessed in this country
or any other, the seven-coloured-parrot, as this bird is generally called,
is the most entertaining.

Pionites melanocephalus, its scientific name, may be translated :
“the black-headed little fatty.”

The one [ once possessed was the first I had ever seen in the flesh.
I had seen, of course, the Museum specimens ; but a bird never interests
me except as a link in Nature’s long chain, until I have a living example
and can hold it in my hand and study its ways. I was making a
missionary journey on the Barama River in the North West District and
slung my hammock for the night at the farm of a half-cast aboriginal
Indian, of a type that is rare, for he was working his farm according
to approved methods. The little parrot sat perched above the entrance
of the loggia as I approached and I was at once struck by the bright
green of the back ; he seemed to have a satin coat on.

I found that he was treated like a member of the family, and was
as playful as a kitten and as knowing and mischievous as a monkey.
The children and he would run races or play hide and seek ; and when
it was his turn to hide and they couldn't find him, he would come slyly
out of his hiding-place and nip the bare foot of the nearest child.
Seeing that I had taken a fancy to him my host courteously said:
“Father, if you like him, he is yours.” It was of no use my protesting
that I should be depriving his children of their pet. ‘Oh, there are
plenty more: sometimes we get whole flocks of them.”

328 Timehri.

Melanocephalus is seven inches in length, the tail, as is the case
of all parrots (using the word now in its limited signification)
being short. The head is large and the body sturdy. The back,
wings, and tail are a vivid grass green; the breast is snowy white ;
the sides, thighs and vent, as well as the neck, a beautiful orange ;
the cheeks, yellow ticked with white; the crown of the head,
and the beak are black; the bare skin around the eyes is also
black, so that the bird seems to be weariny a cap slouched over the eyes ;
but the eyes are prominent being red. The cere is indigo, and there is a
patch of dark green at the corners of the mouth. The bastard wing is
blue ; the green of the back, at the nape of the neck, is also blue; and
the black cap is edged with the same colour. The under-wing coverts
are brick-red and the primaries are tipped with black; the feet are black
also. I may remark that those in captivity, are seldom clean-looking,
for the bird is always getting into mischief and requires frequent
bathing ; but he repays all the trouble, for then he is in truth an object
of beauty: the feathers having the appearance of clean wool, as the
back and the wings of satin.

My bird was a great source of amusement. He would run races
with me along the gallery and when I overtook him and essayed to pick
him up, would lie on his back and playfully fight with beak and claw.
When I caught him up and flung him away, he would come running back
for the sheer fun of being flung away again. But when I put other
birds into the gallery, his jealousy knew no bounds. He would rush at
their cages when set at liberty and savagely attempt to attack them
through the bars; and then I am sorry to say would as savagely attack
me till I defended myself with a paper knife and so, in part, subdued his
envious spirit.

A friend of mine had a pair of these beautiful birds ; but they had
to be kept in a cage for, content with their own company, they would,
through mutual jealousy, allow no interference, biting savagely if
approached, and laughing all the time. I dubbed them at once “the
heavenly twins,” after the hero and heroine in Sarah Grand’s famous
novel, for they were up to all sorts of mischief, and were perfect acrobats,
twisting around their perches, swinging and putting their heads between
their legs, leaping up, dancing and whistling. If one of them came to
the bars of the cage and was shewn any attention, the other would dash

at it in jealous rage and squabbling would go on for some time before
they were reconciled again.

I am ashamed to say that these beautiful birds are too fond of
eating and may actually die of surfeit if their food is not properly
regulated. They may be taught to say a few words but are not good
talkers.

AMAZONS.

Most of the parrots kept as pets in the Colony belong to one of the
several species of Amazons indigenous to the country. But it would be
unfair to judge of the tribe from most of the specimens one sees ;

Some Colony Birds. 329

ill-eaged, wrongly-fed, ill-kept, teased and scolded, with feathers
be-draggled and voices harsh, they are often neither beautiful, nor
desirable as familiars.

As they are all green and all, more or less, the same size, they may
easily be mistaken one for the other by those not skilled in bird-lore.

The commonest of all bears the unenviable local name of
“ Sereecher,” (Amazona, or Chrysotis, Amazonica). When properly
eared for, the bird is not the objectionable party his name would suggest.
All parrots screech to some extent as the name, Psitlici, given to the
whole order testifies. For the word is derived from a Greek verb which
means, to call, or ery, and truly among the feathered multitudes, there is
no tribe or family that can express its feelings and sentiments so
eloquently as parrots, nor do they hesitate to do so.

In size the amazons vary in individuals but speaking generally
they are more or less the size of the African grey, being from
twelve to fifteen inches in length. The feathers of these birds, when
they are in good condition are hard and each one distinct, so that we
might imagine them as clad in scale armour. | suppose that a Darwinian
would assure us that feathers are merely scales, as of reptiles, frayed out.

The Screecher then, if carefully brought up from youth, is a
charming bird though no great talker. It is affectionate and lively in
disposition and in consequence isa general favourite. ‘The whole body
of the bird is grass-green; it has a yellow forehead, dome-shaped, and
yellow cheeks and throat; the naked orbit of the eye is indigo blue and
the yellow of the forehead is also edged with the same colour. ‘The iris
is bright red and the beak horn-yellow merging into black at the edges and
point. The wing when opened is a beautiful object for the primaries are
black with purple-blue edges and tips, and the secondaries orange, tipped
with purple-blue ; the bastard wing is yellow. When the wing is closed,
only the ends of the purple-blue feathers are visible and a bar of orange.
The tail, with the exception of the two middle feathers which are green,
is orange, tipped with greenish yellow. When the bird cries, it opens
out its tail and raises the feathers of the head in a pleasing manner.

THE CuLu-CULU.

The Culu-culu, Amazona dufresniana, differs from the Screecher in
several important respects. When fully developed it is a larger bird and
of a darker green. The cheeks are indigo-blue instead of yellow, and the
crown of the head green, merging at the cere into dark yellow which
broadens into a pitch at the lore. The beak is red with dark edges ; the
iris, warm brow with an outer ring of red. The wings are marked much
in the same way as the Screecher, but the middle, outer webs of the
secondaries are orange-yellow, and the red of the tail scantier and hardly
noticeable ; the bastard wing is light green. It is a much rarer bird and
is a better talker ; for though the Screecher, if brought up from the nest,
will learn a few words quicker, the Culu-culu will learn more. It isa

330 Timehri.

shy bird and generally speaking will only be friendly to a few persons. It
is also more sober in disposition and has none of the pretty ways of the
Sereecher.

THE ReEpD- Back.

A rarer bird still is the Red-back, (Amazona festiva—the Amazon of
festive attire). This bird is much smaller being only eleven inches in
length. It is a sage green with a crimson rump like the Red-back Mocking
bird ; its forehead also is red. The primaries are purple and black but
the secondaries are a uniform cobalt green. The cheeks and throat are
marked with blue. the beak horn-yellow. I have not yet made its personal
appearance. I am told that it speaks distinctly and in a loud voice.

THE SAURAMA.

The Saurama Parrot is the largest of the Amazons. It is a rather
gaunt bird measuring from sixteen to seventeen inches in total length.
It is not in such request as the Screecher being slow, not to say dull and
uninteresting. It may be taught to speak a few words and this it does
distinctly, but the process requires time and patience.

It may easily be distinguished from the rest of the group by the
broad circle of bare, white, skin around the eye, which, however, is not so
extensive as that of the African Grey. The uniform green of the body is
relieved by the line of purple-and-crimson of the wings anda yellow patch
of indefinite and variable shape on the crown of the head. The wing
feathers are the same as the Screecher except that the middle, outer,
webs of the secondaries are a beautiful crimson instead of orange. The
tail feathers, which are somewhat longer in proportion than those of other
Amazons are green, fading into a light colour, and the outer feathers have
sometimes an edging of light blue. The beak is horn-yellow, dark on the
margins ; the outer rim of the iris is red. The feathers of the nape and
upper back have often a bluish tinge. There are some light crimson
feathers on the bastard wing. Ido not know why this Amazon should
be called ferinosa, that is mea/y except perhaps that it has, more than
the others, a tendency to become spotted with yellow. The alternate
generic name of Chrysotis, “ golden,” may reveal the same proclivity in
the fumily generally. The species, aestiva, not found in this Colony, is
sometimes seen in its wild state entirely yellow. Or it may be that in
this species the powder-down patches are more in evidence.*

THE AMAZON OF AMAZONS.

The King of all the Amazons is undoubtedly that species (Amazona
ochrocephala) which is the only one of the genus known in England
by the name of Amazon outside scientific circles. It is the Amazon par
excellence.

Hardly inferior in size to the Saurama, it is handsomer in form and
feather and withal, very dignified in mien. He is no common dog that

* Nore.—In several classes of birds, including parrots, are patches of down beneath
the contour feathers which disintegrate into powder, forming, in some cases, a kind of
blooin upon the outer feathers.

i ie

Some Colony Birds. 331

makes friends with everybody ; but to his master or mistress he reveals a
very intelligent and affectionate disposition, and will go to the length,
parrot-wise, of endeavouring to feed the one on whom he bestows his
affections, with food brought up from his crop. While one may
appreciate the sentiment, one can hardly be expected to accommodate
oneself to the mode of its expression.

This bird would almost answer to the description of the Saurama ;
but as I have already said, the feathers are trimmer and the shape of the
bird more graceful. The following points must also be noted : the yellow
of the forehead, of a definite, mitre shape, is a of richer hue, and extends
to the cere; the beak is red; the purple blue of the wings is more
prominent ; the rectrices or tail feathers have at their base an inner web
of crimson ; and while the bastard wing is light green, there is on the
shoulders of the wings a prominent patch of crimson; the green of the
body is lighter and brighter. There is only a narrow circle of bare white
skin around the eye.

I do not know why this species should be called ochrocephala,
(yellow-head) for there is less yellow on the head than on the head of the
Sereecher. It is one of those many anomalies in scientific nomenclature
that shews these names are to be regarded, more or lvss, as mere labels.

All these parrots make their nests high in the holes of trees.
Generally, a partly decayed tree is chosen and the hole whittled out by
their powerful beaks. They pair for life; and though they fly in flocks
to the feeding grounds, always maintain their couples. At night or in
the morning they may be seen and heard as they return to their roosting
place or go forth to feed, flying high on laboured wing and screeching
as they fly ; the couples keeping as close together as if Jinked like chain-
shot. If required as pets they should be obtained young. The Indians
catch great numbers of these birds by stupifying them with smoke as
they roost at night. These never become tame. Again, the bir! may
be domesticated but may have incorrigibly bad habits, or he may have
been underfed. A male bird should be chosen for not only is he a much
finer bird, but has a more equable temperament. Females may be better
talkers, but in these birds the dictum of Rudyard Kipling is exemplified.

“The female of the species is nore dangerous than the male.”

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THE “WEST INDIES:

THEIR COMMON INTEREST AND IMPERIAL AIM.*

By E. R. Davson.

There are few subjects so interesting to meditate upon as those of
political progress and Imperial development, and in this very fact there
lies a danger. The dreamer of Locksley Hall speaks of the time when

Ke . . . The battle flao is furled
In the Paslinmnent of man, the Hederation of the world.”

And since then many speakers and writers, basing their views on the
cord of sentiment alone, have conjured up federal visions and dreamed
Imperial dreams, which melt before the cold light of practical analysis.
An Empire bound by sentiment alone is bound by a very fragile cord.
With it there must be the fellow-bond of material welfare, and therefore
I make no excuse in asking you to-night to consider the various points
which I shall put before you from the material and practical point of
view rather than from that of sentiment.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

I shall not touch on the West Indies of the past, on the times when
they loomed large in the history of England, on the later times when
they seemed to fade into a somewhat neglected obscurity ; on the times
when fortunes were made with incredible facility or the later times when
they were apparently lost with even greater ease. I would start with the
West Indies of the present day, hardened by the adversity of the past
and perhaps a little sour by disappointment but nevertheless still retaining
hope for the future and a belief in their ultimate dest ny. And this
belief is founded on two reasons, firstly, because never in their history
have they had a greater variety of products and a greater prospect of
finding an ontlet for them in the markets of the w orld, and secondly,
because they look for much benefit from the opening of the Panama
Canal.

Coincident with this feeling of hope as to the future, there is a
gradually awakening consciousness in the West Indies that that union
in certain respects is strength. I put the beginning of this down
to the founding of the West Indian Imperial Department of Agriculture
with its threads running through the islands and with its Triennial Con-
ferences at which delegates have met from all the West Indies, and have
discovered possibly to their surprise, that they have had interests and
aims in common. ‘Then one notes the growing feeling that, on specific

* Address by Mr. Davson at a General Meeting of the Royal Agricultural and
Commercial Society of British Guiana on the 10th” February, 1914, His Excellenay
the Governor, Sir Walter Egerton, K.C.M.G., presiding.

334 Timehri.

subjects of common interests, it is for the good of each unit to take coun-

sed with the others, and we find the inception of conferences of experts ©

on various subjects, with which you are doubtless familiar and which I
need not now enumerate. And lastly we find that great step in the
history of the West Indies, when delegates from the various colonies
went forth together to Canada and hens united in making the first
trading acreement which the West Indies have ever made.

A West INDIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

So far so good. And now what is to be the next step? At the last
Agricultural Conference, one could notice a desire to extend the scope
of proceedings to commercial subjects. So the idea suggested itself—
if Conferences on agricultural matters, why not Conferences on com-
mercial matters ; and if Commercial Oonterencee who more fitted to take
part in them than the different Chambers of Commerce ? In other words;
why not an Association of Chambers of Commerce of the British West
Indies? When, later in the year, the Triennial Congress of Chambers of
Commerce of the Empire met in London, the need of such an Association
became more apparent. In matters of both Imperial and local importance
the Associated Chambers of Great Britain, of South Africa and of
Australia could give their views, but the voice of the united West Indies
was not heard. So, with the Articles of these other Associations a as
model, Articles for a West Indian Chamber have been drawn up, which
have been approved by the Imperial Council of Commerce (which as you
may know is composed of the leading business men of the Empire to
promote the Triennial Congresses), by the West India Committee (which
as you know represents West Indian interests in England) and by all the
West Indian colonies except Jamaica, which for reasons which one can
quite understand. prefers to stand outside. It is to be hoped that the
letails of our Chamber will be completed in time to allow it to hold its
inaugural meeting in the early part of next year, so that delegates may
be appointed to represent it at the Congress of Chambers of the Empire
which is to assemble at Toronto in the following June.

SUPPORT IN ENGLAND.

As showing the interest taken in this movement at home, may I
read you extracts from two letters, which I do not think have yet been
published? he first is from Mr.-Charleton, the Chairman of the Imperial
Council of Commerce. He says:

* Knowing as I do the value of similar Associations for the United King-
dom, Australia and South Africa and that a similar body is in contemplation
in Canada, I think that the scheme is well worthy of the consideration of our
West Indian friends, inasmuch as, while it does not interfere with the inde-
pendent action of individual Chambers in purely local matters, it will tend to
promote effective co-operation in matters of common interest, and will enable
the West Indies collectively to take that share in the proceedings of future
Congresses of the Empire to which they are entitled by the important interests
they represent.”

EE ———————————— ee

The West Indies: Thevr Common Interest and Imperial Aim. 335

The other is from Sir Owen Philipps, Chairman of the Royal Mail,
who is always one of the first to encourage anything that will promote
the welfare of the West Indies. He says:

‘‘T am very pleased to hear of the proposal for the formation of the Asso-
ciation and wish the scheme all success. I should be very pleased to grant free
passages to three delegates representing different Chambers of the Association
to future meetings of the Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire
and also to allow three representatives from each Chamber in the West Indies
a reduction of 20 per cent. from the ordinary fare by any of the steamers under
my control when travelling to meetings of the Association in the West Indies.”

DireEcT APPEAL TO IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT.

There is just one other point. The Imperial Council of Commerce
takes powers in its articles that, in addition to promoting the Congresses,
whenever the British, South African or Australian Chambers appeal to it
direct on any special matter, it shall, if it so wishes, bring such matter
directly before His Majesty’s Government and it has expressed its willing-
ness to consider adding to these the name of the West Indian Chamber.
This, I think, a matter of greatimportance, It means that in the future,
whenever an urgent commercial question arises, we should have the
means of approaching the British Government through the Imperial
Council, in addition to the present mode of approaching it through the
respective Governors of the colonies concerned and the Colonial Office.
And now let us turn to one of the chief subjects which the Association
will have to deal with but which I would rather now consider by itself.
I mean the question of Customs. Here we find the realisation already
apparent that there is a benefit in uniformity. The idea was, I think,
initiated by Mr. Cameron, the late Administrator of St. Lucia, in 1909,
and in 1911 the British Board of Trade put forward a scheme for securing
uniformity in trade statistics and in the classification of articles of import
and export. At the Steamship Conference held in Trinidad in 1913 the
subject was again brought up and resolutions were passed asking for the
consideration of such important points as a model Customs Ordinance, a
model Customs Duties Ordinance, a model set of regulations for the
classification of imports and exports and the preparation of Customs
stitistics and various other matters. Following on this businesslike
proceeding I think it possible that a conference of West Indian Customs
Officers may be held this year, when the subject will be taken in hand
and, | hope, brought a step towards actual accomplishment.

West INDIAN FREE TRADE.

There is however one other point which has been already suggested
and to which I hope attention will be directed and that is the possibility
of establishing a Customs Union and Free Trade between the West Indian
colonies. This idea divides itself into two parts, firstly, the possibility of
free trade in indigenous products, and secondly, the possibility of free
trade in imports. As regards the first, we are at present in the anomalous
position of giving a preference to British and Canadian products and of
giving none to those of our sister colonies. But why not a step further

336 Timehri.

than a preference ? Why put duties at all on each others’ products? It
is not sucha large matter as to mean a great loss of revenue and the
benefit to be obtained should surely more than compensate for this,
while, in addition, such an act would go far towards drawing us together
ina common interest. To give only two instances: Would not British
Guiana benefit by having a free market throughout the West Indies for
its rice ? Would not Trinidad find the advantage of a free market for its
oils? Would every colony not benefit by being able to draw on its sister
colonies for their produce in time of failure of crops? I think that the
subject is at least worthy of consideration. The second part of the
matter is more complex. One would like to see a state of things whereby
goods imported into and paying duty, for instance, in Trinidad, could be
resold, say, to St. Lucia or St. Vincent without paying a further duty.
Thus would each colony have the whole of the rest to draw on for its
supplies instead of being debarred from doing so as at present, by the
double duty. But this abolition of the double duty is at once the object
and the difficulty of the proposal. It might be possible—I am not an
expert and do not know—to arrange a system of refund between colony
and colony of the revenues collected on imports ; if not, it might become
necessary to pool the whole of the Customs revenues and redivide them
according to the volume of trade or the population of the respective
colonies. If the latter, one must admit that the subject is one rather for
the future than the present, as this would probably mean a West Indian
Customs service with a central governing body. At the same time one
can see much advantage in such a service whereby junior officials may
be promoted from colony to colony and thus enlarge their experience
much more than they can do in any one place, and already it has been
said that even if the proposed Customs Conference accomplishes what it
will set out to, a permanent West Indian visiting Customs Inspector
would be a necessity, in order to see that each colony was really working
in a uniform manner with the others, and to prevent each slipping away
into a separate channel again, as, owing to varying local conditions, the
tendency must inevitably be.

A West INDIAN APPEAL CouRT.

Let us now pass from Customs to Laws. Let us consider the pro-
posals that have already been made for the establishment of a West
Indian Court of Appeal. I know that both our Chief Justice and Attor-
ney General take a great interest in the question. Before such authorities
the layman naturally lies low and therefore I shall only touch shortly on
the subject. The common interest here would be shown in the un-
doubted saving in judges’ salaries in most if not all of the colonies, and
in the fact that there would always be a certainty of Appeal cases being
heard by those who till then had had no interest in them. A beginning
should be made, in iny humble opinion, by the establishment of a Court
consisting of the Chief Justices of the larger colonies who would visit
each colony including the Windward and Leeward Islands, periodically.
The cost of this would be small and more than compensated by the saving

es

Pee @ f

The West Indies: Their Common Interest and Imperial Aim. 337

I have indicated. Later on, a permanent and independent President
might be appointed whose salary would be contributed to by the various
colonies and, following out the logical idea of development, as the trade
and wealth of the West Indies grew, we might eventually see a permanent
West Indian Court established with judges appointed for this work alone.

I see that Barbados has petitioned the Home Government on this
matter, but from the petition I infer that it is considering the strengthen-
ing of its own Court of Appeal rather than taking the wider view of the
subject which would appear to be necessary for the common interest of
the West Indies. It might have been better to consult the other colonies
interested first and to have arranged a definite scheme; but one must
not criticise any colony in taking a definite step forward and I can only
hope that one of the next conferences wiil be a legal one which may be
able to bring this matter toa satisfactory consummation. I have touched
on these subjects wherein the West Indies may find a common interest
and there are various other ones which have been suggested in one form
or other but which I shall not allude to because time does not permit and
also because, while admitting their sentimental value, | cannot for the
present at any rate see their material advantage. But there is a greater
matter behind all these—what is the logical development of all these
ideas of unity and uniformity’ If communities draw continually nearer
to each other in a common commercial interest must they not eventually
find a common political interest? [may remind you how Aristotle opens
his first book on ‘“ Politics.” ‘“ All communities aim at some good, but
the political community, which is the highest of all and which embraces
all the rest, aims, and in a greater degree than any other, at the highest
good.”

PRECURSOR OF A LARGER SCHEME.

IT must admit that my own views are changing. I have held, and I
do so still, that the West Indian community of interest is essentially com-
mercial, but when one studies such questions as the West Indian Court
of Appeal, to which I have referred, and sees its logical development
until a distinct and separate Court is created and perhaps the need of
codified West Indian law arises: when one looks at the development of
Customs until we see before us a Customs Union and perhaps a West
Indian Customs service with its own officials and a common revenue, one
begins to feel that we are creating a body with suitable and useful limbs
but with no head. Who is to give effect to, to supervise, all these schemes ?
An increasing round of od hoc conferences is obviously no solution.
Therefore I believe that if progress is made on the lines indicated, we
must eventually be faced with the desire of some kind of political union.
Now, the first question which will suggest itself to this colony will be,
‘Granted that the islands will benefit by political union, why should we,
a continental colony, with continental interests and aims, ally ourselves
with islands whose development may be on different lines?” After reading
our morning papers, some of us have to-day ‘“ Dip’t into the future far
as human eye could see,” and picture this colony as one with a teeming

338 Timehrr.

population, with ocean steamers crowding its waterways, and with a
trunk railway line carrying down both the wealth of the interior to the
coast and also a large part of the international trade of Northern South
America. Should we not then work out our own destiny like other con-
tinental countries? It is outside my scope to touch upon this colony’s
development, but let us look at actual facts. Supposing that the West
Indies, even excluding Jamaica, with their total revenue (I quote 1910-11
figures) of £1,490,000 against ours of £563,000 and their total trade of
£11,300,000 against ours of £3,570,000, say, ‘‘ Well, we shall form a
political union without you,” would not we find it very difficult to make
our bargains with the outside world possibly against their united
strength? Would it not be better to join with them at least until we are
big enough to stand alone, and have an influential voice in making a
collective bargain? We now find it beneficial to ourselves to join with
them in holding these various conferences, in making Reciprocity agree-
ments and, as I hope, in joining in a common Chamber of Commerce.
We may find it expedient to join ina Customs Union, in a common
Court of Appeal, and in various other possible ways.

IMPERIAL CONSOLIDATION.

Surely, then, the sequence of commercial and political development
applies to us as much as to others. But in order adequately to consider
the subject to get the right perspective, we must glance for a moment at
Imperial politics. The British Empire differs from all the great Empires
of the past in its recognition that its colonies are not tributary subjects
but are free people entitled to their own rights and liberties. This recog-
nition was first brought home to England by the loss of what are now
the United States in 1775, but the full acceptance of it may be said to
date from the great report of Lord Durham on Canada in 1837, which
has been aptly described as the Mayna Charta of the British colonies.
From that time England has nursed its colonies through childhood’s
years, and as they have reached adolescence she has sent them forth as
nations into the world, so that each can say, as Kipling has it,
‘‘ Daughter am I in my mother’s house, but mistress in my own.” Or to
take another simile, we may liken the present position to that of a solar
system with each planet or dominion revolving on its own axis, projected
by the centrifugal force of the Mother Country on the one hand and
drawn by the attraction of body to body, of kin to kin, on the other, and
thus by the counteraction of these contending forces held in a state of
unstable equilibrium.

UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM.

How long is this equilibrium going to last ? Can we remain in this
position for ever?’ Lord Rosebery has put the matter very definitely :
“Tt is absolutely impossible for you to maintain in the long run your
present loose and indefinable relations to your colonies and preserve these
colonies as part of the Empire.”

This view, I think, is generally accepted, and so we have two schools
of thinkers, firstly, ‘‘ centrifugal” or nationalist ones who see each

TT Sy ae

The West Indies: Their Common Interest and Imperial Aim. 339

Dominion becoming an independent nation, attached only by the slender
cord of sentiment, or, as one writer has put it, ‘‘ A Federation providing
for the natural growth of colonies into nations possessing in matters
military, commercial and relating to treaties the fullest and most com-
plete autonomy.” Secondly, the ‘attraction” or Federation thinkers,
who would see the component parts drawn closer together until we reach
a Federal Parliament ruling over the whole of the Empire as one United
Realm. Of this school I would quote a writer as saying: ‘The true idea
of Federation as applied to this Empire is embraced in a Federal Parlia-
ment, with its Federal executives having jurisdiction over all matters
that are Imperial. Nothing short of this would meet the political genius
of our people and if such a policy be impracticable, then permanent Impe-
rial Unity can never be, and this stately structure, the British Empire,
must fall, even as it has risen.”

THE Via MEDIA.

That is the present extremely interesting position, and even if one
rejects the first alternative as being anti-imperial, one finds that some of
the leading publicists of the Dominions hesitate to accept the second as
implying a certain abrogation of rights on the part of the Dominions and
as bringing them into subjection, in a measure at least, to the dictates of
a Parliament in London. I cannot help feeling that those are right who
think that a solution will be found, as oft-times before, in a via media.
This may be through what was once the Colonial Conference, assembling
once every four years, and which has now developed into the Imperial
Conference, with an established Secretariat.

If this were to become an annual or a permanent Conference, if the
experiment of giving it representation on the Council of Imperial Defence
were developed, if it were consulted in matters of foreign policy—and of
this we have already seen the beginning in the Foreign Office taking Mr.
Borden into its council last summer—some think that we should find the
nucleus of an Imperial Council which would go far to satisfy the colonies
in their ery for a voice in foreign affairs and prevent their being plunged
into international conflicts against their will—in fact to solve the problem
of Imperial! Federation.

DIFFICULTIES OF POLITICAL UNION.

Now, let us hark back to the West Indies. Supposing, as is most
likely, that one of the two latter alternatives occur, supposing that some
form of Federal or Imperial Council is eventually created, the. Dominions
would be represented, and surely a United West Indies would also claim
a place. This then must be considered, would British Guiana and the
West Indies be the better to fight out their own destiny, unrepresented
as now at the Imperial Conference, unrepresented as they are now even
on the Dominion Trade Commission, or would they be wiser so to shape
their steps that their representatives may eventually be able to take their
set seats at whatever Council may be called into being and take their
share in the business of the Empire? That is a problem the solution of

340 Timehri.

which I must leave to you, but let us, for the sake of argument, assume
that we are ready to consider this matter of political union in any scheme
of Federation.

We are first of all faced with the difficulty that the different colonies
have different constitutions; even if we surmount that trouble we are
faced with the difficulty that Federation, in its true sense, means a central
Parliament controlling all the States of the Union except where powers
are delegated to local parliaments for the administration of local affairs.
This may be suitable for Continental Unions, but in the West Indian
islands, with their different traditions and their strong local feelings,
such governance, across miles of sea and by those possibly only partially
informed of the problems involved, would, in my opinion and I think in the
opinion of most, ake not so much for union as for disunion. Indeed, I
think the conclusion is justifiable that Federation, as carried out in Canada,
in Australia, in South Africa, is for many years to come impracticable for
the West Indies.

A FEDERAL COUNCIL.

So we find that the various schemes for Federation which have been
suggested and attempted in the past, and with the history of which I
shall not weary you to-night, have all been wrecked upon this rock of
Central Government. ‘To my mind, the only practical scheme so far put
forward is that of the Hon. C. Gideon Murray, Administrator of
St. Vincent, for a partial form of Federation. He avoids the consti-
tutional question, the interfering with local Governments, by proposing
a Federal Council under a High Commissioner with representatives ap-
pointed by the different colonies in such numbers as to give them their
proper proportion of voice in the Governwent. This Council would not
concern itself with local Government, which would be carried on as now,
but would deal only with certain definitely specified subjects of common
interest, such as those to which I have already referred and as agreed
upon by the various Governments concerned. A political union of this
sort is as simple, as rational and as feasible as any commercial union.
But a Council which only discusses matters without any executive powers
is apt to descend to the same plane as that of a debating society. There-
fore it must have executive powers on these specified matters, and to have
executive powers it must have spending powers. This means a common
fund and Mr. Murray suggests the allocation of a certain proportion—
from 3 to 5 per cent.—of the revenues of each of the colonies. With
this the Council could meet its expenses and pay the various subsidies
which it, as representing the whole of the West Indies, would have to
arrange. I know that criticism is easy—it always is—but one cannot
help thinking that in such matters as the existing shipping combines,
as the Canadian pilgrimage, when we certainly went forth collectively
but each to make an individual and not a collective bargain, as the recent
Mail contracts, where each colony had to play with its cards on the table
while the other side held its hand up, as the cable question with its only
partially satisfactory solution, a United West Indies would have done
more than the present scattered units have accomplished.

6 nn rs

The West Indies: Their Common Interest and Imperial Aim. 341

CENTRAL CouNcIL NEEDED.

In fact, when we look forward a stage, and see the logical outcome
of West Indian development, we must realise that we shall sooner or later
need a head, as I have said, for the body for which we are creating limbs,
and that such a Council will be necessary for us both in local West Indian
affairs and in enabling us to take our proper place in the Councils of the
Empire. The attitude of the British Government on this point has never
wavered from 1876, when Lord Carnarvon in speaking of the West Indies
stated. that “Her Majesty’s Government could not proceed with any
measure of Federation except on the spontaneous request of each Legis-
lature concerned,” to 1912, when Mr. Harcourt stated in the House of
Commons that ‘“ Any scheme which meets with the general approval of
the communities concerned will command my most attertive considera-
tion.” Therefore the matter is entirely in our hands.

And now I have finished. I have endeavoured not to dogmatise,
but rather to suggest matter for your thought. For it is only by the
consideration of these subjects, by the thinking men of the colonies and
by their ventilation in the press—and we have a press here which has
already given proof of its desire to investigate them— that public opinion
can be formed. Let us consider all these matters, firstly, from the point
of view of our own material welfare—how far we may benefit by inde-
pendence, by isolation, how far by working with our neighbours in the
Common Interest, to the Common Good. But also let us remember,
although I have purposely avoided touching on it, that the cord of senti-
ment is at least co-equal with that of material welfare. For we are all
of us citizens of Empire, whether we reside here or have interests here
or are here only until we are translated to higher spheres of duty else-
where, and in working for the colony’s good we should strive to do so
not only for its immediate and local benefit but also that it may develop
step by step, in conjunction with its sister colonies of the West Indies
until it eventually takes its rightful place in the wider Imperial scheme —
a place not as great as that of the self-governing Dominions, but one
nevertheless of which we need not be ashamed.

If then the stone that we can build into the edifice of Empire be
only a small one, yet let us see that it be well and truly laid, and so may
we the more worthily echo the prayer which becomes increasingly justi-
fied as the years roll on:

“May He who hath built up this Britannic Empire to a glorious
and enviable height, with all her daughter lands about her, stay
us in this felicity.”

SIR WALTER EGERTON ON WEST INDIAN UNIFICATION.

In the course of the discussion which followed Mr. Davyson’s address
His Excellency Sir Walter Egerton said he was much relieved, in listening
to Mr. Davson’s lecture, to find that he fully realised the very great difhi-
culties that attended Federation of the West Indies. He did not think

342 Timehri.

those difficulties were properly realised by the people at home and not
even by members of the West India Committee who had been for a
long time away from the West Indies. They, of course, knew that
Jamaica was as far away from British Guiana as Gibraltar was from
England. The chief objection that he saw to Federation was that it
meant the weakening of local Government. It meant the determina
tion of important matters by an Executive or Legislature not fully
in touch with local conditions and requirements. (Hear, hear.) There-
fore he would rather strive, at present at least, for uniformity and
combination without a detinite Federation of widely-scattered and isolated
units. He was therefore relieved to find that Mr. Davson was very
nearly in agreement with him on that point, if not quite. With the
exception of British Guiana they were speaking entirely of islands, and
could they call to mind a successful Federation of a number of islands or
countries separated by water? The successful Federations that they had
before them to-day were Austria-Hungary—it did not hold very tightly
together he admitted—they had the German Empire, and that was a
wonderfully successful Federation, the reason, he believed, being that it
was a thorough commercial Union, for it was the great Customs Union
of the German Empire that gave its people a common interest. Then
they had Australia, a Continent and a successful Confederation, but
the efforts to join New Zealand to it were unsuccessful; and even
Tasmania could not be brought in. Then they had South Africa, a
purely continental Confederation of a compact block of land, and that
he thought also would be successful. Then they had also the Confedera-
tion of Canada, the one they as Britishers were all so proud of; but
even Canada had so far failed to attract Newfoundland, the island lying
very near her coast. The West Indian islands were very widely
separated by the length of time it took to travel from one to another
and they were further separated by the fact that there was no West
Indian community of sentiment and ideas. (Hear, hear.}

FEDERATION SEVERED BY WATER.

Therefore he was very much afraid that real Federation was a thing
not to be realised in their time at any rate. He would give them one other
instance of how water seemed to sever Federation in our own country
between Great Britain and Ireland. There they had a thorough Federa-
tion between England, Scotland and Wales, but Ireland would always be
separated and the splitting of it from the other three communities was, as
they probably knew, now giving rise to such terrible and serious commo-
tion and discussion at home. (Hear, hear.) He hoped they did not think
he desired to throw cold water on Mr. Davson’s proposals. He thought
them excellent, but he thought the best way of knitting together the
different Governments more closely was gradually to do so by those con-
ferences that they had begun with the Quarantine Conference. (Hear,
hear.) The latter Conference had been one of the most successful that
had been ever held, for although he was living right on the other side of
the world still he saw from the papers he read what a terrible thing

The West Indies: Their Common Interest and Imperial Aim, 343

West Indian quarantine used to be, and he quite realised the difficulties
that were experienced when they went along a string of islands and
found different quarantine regulations at each one. (Hear, hear.) Well,
they had now a common quarantine law and they now hoped very soon
to have the West Indian Court of Appeal, and here he desired to inter-
polate the statement that he did not think they would be able to do
much with Jamaica or Bahamas until they ha! done something to unify
in other directions. The institution of a Court of Appeal for the eastern
islands and british Guiana seemed to him to be a very easy matter and
they had hopes for the Conference to meet this year. They knew that
Barbados and British Guiana were agreed on the point and they hoped
to convert Trinidad. They could let the Trinidad Judges be ex-officio
Judges in British Guiana and the Judges in British Guiana be ex-officio
Judges in Trinidad, so that when there was a Court of Appeal formed
both could take part. (Hear, hear.) He was sure it must be a most
unpleasant thing for a Judge to sit as one of the Judges of appeal upon
his own judgment, and he could not think anyone could be surprised if a
Court of Appeal stuck to that judgment. Even if only British Guiana
and Trinidad joined together they would always be able to have enough
Judges to forma strong Court of Appeal in each colony, and every addi-
tional colony that joined would strengthen that Court. (Hear, hear.)

MutTuaL COMMERCIAL UNDERSTANDING.

He also thought it would be quite easy to come to an understanding
in regard to the laws regulating Customs matters. On that subject, he
also hoped, and it had been proposed by Trinidad, that a common Ordin-
auce for the various colonies might be agreed upon so that the people
living in one colony would know exactly what the Customs law was in
another colony. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Davson had mentioned how it might
be possible to have Free Trade in products in the West Indies and
British Guiana. He thought that was a most sensible proposal and he
could imagine nothing that would help on the other matters better than
having a mutual commercial understanding and Free Trade between the
islands. He thought Free Trade in imported goods might be managed.
He was sure that the Comptroller of Customs, Mr. Reid, could draw up
an Ordinance or Regulations under which goods imported, say, into
Trinidad could be exported to British Guiana, the duty paid being
refunded, and this would he a convenience to commercial gentlemen.
(Hear, hear.) There was another point that had occurred to him. They
had four race meetings here and he thought there were too many. But it
would seem that they wanted a common racing law in view of a recent case
which took up so much time in the Supreme ‘Court ; but that was going
somewhat outside their business that evening. Pheu again they could
have a common Penal Code for all the colonies, for there was no douht that
there should be the same criminal law throughout. (Hear, hear.) Here
in British Guiana they had net got a Penal Code at all and the sooner
they had one the better. (Hear, hear.) In agricultural legislation surely
they wanted a common law for the West Indies and British Guiana

344 Timehri.

regarding the importation of plants from Europe and the United States.
And similarly as they had a general quarantine law in regard to human
beings why not extend it to animals? (Hear, hear.) They recently
had had an outbreak of Mal de caderas, and how advantageous such
a uniform law would be throughout the colonies? Other subjects were
the laws regarding patents, trade marks, and copyright. In regard to
the latter he thought they had a common law and were getting it at
the instance of the Home Government, but as to trade marks he
believed each colony had its own law.

TELEGRAPHIC AND STEAMER COMMUNICATION.

Certainly when the time came to enter into the new mail contracts
or agreements in regard to telegraphic rates all could see in what a very
much better position they would be if the West Indies had one person
speaking for the whole of the eastern islands and British Guiana. (Hear,
hear.) How very nice it would be too if they had a general Board to
decide matters of Education ; they would not then have had all the recent
trouble, and it was not even now finished, regarding their Code of Educa-
tion in British Guiana. (Hear, hear.) It would be a good thing if in
that they were all brought in closer contact with things that were
going on in other colonies. The one great thing when they came to
have a general Council such as the Hon. Gideon Murray had proposed
for the colonies was, he thought, the question of representation on the
Council. How difficult it was they could see if they examined the
scheme drawn up by Mr. Murray after much attention to the subject.
Looking at Mr. Murray’s proposals he found that British Guiana, Trinidad
and Barbados would be absolutely controlled by the smaller islands, and
no one could contend that those places should not have a prominent voice
in those Councils. (Applause.) He thought they should take up each
separate subject and get the experts in the different colonies to meet
together and submit a scheme dealing with them specially. Each time that
they succeeded in getting a general agreement on one particular question
made further agreement on another subject more easy. (Applause.)
Each Conference held resulted in the leading men in the different colonies
becoming better acquainted with each other and with the conditions in
other colonies. At present they were most terribly ignorant of the men
who count in the different colonies and of the conditions of those
colonies. ‘Taking this colony there were very few people who had any
knowledge of the conditions in Trinidad or Barbados, but the subject
that Mr. Davson had brought before their notice could not but help
to develop their thoughts and bring them to a better understanding.
(Hear, hear.)

|

Som -

REMINISCENCES OF DEMERARY.

By MEWBURN GARNETT.

At a general meeting of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial
Society held on the 20th December, 1915, the Hon. J. B. Laing, Presi-
dent in the chair, Mr. Mewburn Garnett contributed a paper on
“ Reminiscences of Demerary.”

Mr. Garnett stated that when he was first asked, as one of the oldest

-members of the Society and one who had always taken the deepest

interest in its welfare, to say a few words on the Society of the past, he
hesitated for fear that his remarks might not be interesting and also
from the fact that since he last spoke in the hall of the Society a new
generation had sprung up which might not be in sympathy with the dead
long ago. The kind remarks of the president and the hearty wel-
come which had been accorded him gave him encouragement, and he
thanked them all very heartily for their warm reception. ‘I can but
hope, therefore, that in the hustle of a more restless age when the whole
world, socially, politically, commercially and I might add_ religiously,
would seem ready to break into discord on the slightest provocation,
when in England the feeding or non-feeding of a Mrs. Pankhurst stirs
Society and locally the beautifving or not of a Cathedral causes dis-
sension, | say in the midst of all this | hope there might yet remain a
few grains of interest ina Society of which we are all proud to be
members.”

To confine himself to his reminiscences he was afraid his remarks
must naturally become very egotistical, and therefore he proposed to
touch on the Society as it existed long before his time. First of all, he
wished to pay tribute to the spot on which they were assembled that
day—a spot which was of interest second to none in the colony. It was
there, on the occasion of the original occupancy of the British in 1781,
that the first fort was built in Demerary to protect our flag. It
was a poor little mud structure but they were very proud of it. They
strutted up and down its battlements, weather permitting, and they
christened it Fort George after their King, for the Colonials of those
days were as loyal to their Georges as those of the present day are
to the gracious Sovereign of the same name who reigns over them.
An inefficient structure that old fort, near it courida bushes and many
mosquitoes, the penetrating power of whose descendants has by no
means diminished. Can it have been the aggressive galinipper which
caused the Government offices to be erected at Borselem? Oh the
simplicity of Government officers on that happy island! A Customs
without dues and only the receiving generally of arrows from the natives
which hardly required an audit! But the historic fort was to suffer an
indignity. The French, who were the allies of the Dutch of that time,

346 Timehri.

sent a fleet to the colony, and, alas, the little mud fortress suftered.
It was pulverised and the British suffered a reverse, and for a while
the dependency of Demerary knew them no more. The French founded
the hamlet of Longchamps, and on their return the Dutch, finding the
town already more or less established, determined to give up their old
idea of building their city at Pln. Wales, where the Hoobaboo creek would
always give them a very good supply of fresh water. They therefore
settled down at Longchamps and rechristened the place Stabroek,

We next hear of our present meeting place about 1800, as occupied
by a hospital—Demerary’s first hospital—up to this time the sick were
treated in a coffee logie in La Bourgade. The hospital here was called
the Seamen’s Hospital, but as a matter of fact it must have been more
than a Seamen’s Hospital, for many of us have doubtless studied with
feelings of pity for its past inmates the remains of the old Mad House
which are to be seen here at the east of the Museum. Its brick walls
and iron doors are still in existence and they form part of the old building
which I think is still used for Government purposes. The occupants of —
the hospital were later removed to a building on the present site of the
Colonial Hospital to-day. At one time I had the honour of being a
governor or director, or whatever the term was, but the office has long
since been abolished. To-day our hospital is not only the largest
and best equipped in the West Indies but for research is second to
none in the tropical world. The old remains of Demerary’s first hos-
pital ultimately developed into the Royal Agricultural and Commercial
Society. It is the fashion to disparage the present and its personalities
in comparison with the past. To my mind unless this can be done so as
to draw some object lesson which will improve and better the times we
live in, then such a comparison is harmful. It can only cause dissatis-
faction and unrest, but be this as it may, it in no way prevents our
acknowledging the gigantic intellect and force of character of the young
Scotsman who founded our Society and who started a concern which was
to prove such a factor in the advancement of this colony. I ean fancy I
hear the bleat of the pessimist of those days as the matter was discussed
in the Societé Endract, the Union Coftee House. ‘ My dear fellow, I
never heard a more quixotic thing in all my life. Have nothing to do
with it I tell you. It will never pay. Rather use your energies in
criticising our new koker. It is a disgrace. The Colonial Architect's
Department—which used to be the Public Works Department in those
days—has completely gone to the dogs; there should be a commission.
Come along and have a sangaree with me and we will talk it over.” But
our founder had no time for grumblers. His mind ever harked back
to the old deserted hospital to be turned into an institution which was to
appeal to every calling in this colony.

Th-re was to be an Agricultural Society, the Commercial News
Room, the Literary Society, and the Museum. Indeed his dreams went
further, because in those days there were no thoroughly well-conducted
clubs and he thought this Society might supply that much required want.

Reminiscences of Denerary. 547

I might here mention that one by one the old Coffee Houses came
to grief. Party politics, intrigues, and possibly broken heads, caused
their downfall; and the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society
might have shared the same fate had it not prudently passed a stringent
rule that nothing of a political nature might be discussed within its
walls. It is hard to appreciate the difficulties which attended the under-
taking, the success of which was very doubtful. The Press of those days
gave a very faint encouragement, for referring to the proposed new
Society the ‘‘ Gazette” remarked that whilst the object of the Associa-
tion was mainly to bring persons together to promote inquiry on matters
connected with our minor industries it was proposed further that a
library, a museum, an official and commercial room, and a gallery
of models should be established—this gallery of models I take to be
a jest on the part of the paper because it was not included in our
founder’s scheme. The ‘‘ Gazette” goes on to say that many of the
advantages of a private club should be obtainable here ; but the paper
becomes absolutely prophetic when it concludes by saying that the
Society would no doubt flourish, ‘‘ not so much for the sake of its main
objects as the allurements of its subsidiary enjoyments.” Of all the
attractions offered the gallery of models was the only one not forth-
coming, but we have a very excellent exemplification of the sculptor’s
art in memory of our founder, the late Mr. William Hunter Campbell,
and next to him we have two interesting works of art, one a painting
of the late Mr. John Croal and the other the bust of the late Dr.
Blair. I have just been admiring them and it is hard to think when you
see them looking so peacefully there, almost at one another, that at one
time they were involved in a sanguinary encounter, or at least what ought
to have been a sanguinary encounter, for they rushed off in hot haste to
the D’Urban Race Course, each thirsting for the other’s blood; but
fortunately for the community they turned out to be better colonists than
they were pistol shots and after firing for a considerable time and not
being able to hit each other, they thought it best to shake hands and
come back and have a sangaree.

Time did not permit him following the Society's early history, but
those interested in the colony would derive much enjoyment if they read
the very able article on “Clubs and Societies in Georgetown prior to
1844” by Mr. J. Rodway which appeared in “ Timehri” of 1892. With
their permission he proposed to skip forty-two years of the Society’s
history. In forty-two years the colony had changed and so had the
Society. It had been burnt out and disintegrated, for societies dealing
with matters hitherto essentially its own had been formed. Agriculture
was now no longer occupied by this Society but was dealt with by the
Planters’ Association and at present by the Board of Agriculture.

Commerce found protection in a special Chamber, and in 1886
the Society centred itself upon the Assembly Rooms and the George-
town Club, which was founded, they would remember, fourteen years
later, and back from the shade of long ago comes the echo of the

348 Timehri.

‘Gazette of 1844: ‘We were to live, not for the sake. of our main
objects but through the allurements of our subsidiary enjoyments.” The
Society in 1886 was slow in seeing how necessary it was to encourage
any of these “subsidiary enjoyments.” “Here delicacy prompts me to
say, proceeded the speaker, “ that I ought to stop and merely refer you
to the papers of 15th October, 1886, for mine was the resolution which
caused the biggest upheaval our Society has ever experienced. To pass
it over would be to omit one of our stepping stones. My principle was
the popularising of the Society by reducing its then heavy subscriptions
so as to open its doors to poorer members of our community and by the
extension of our library. We had meetings and there was much
enthusiasm, for we were very much alive in those days and arguments
waxed hot. [I remember one in connection with another matter, which
now, looking back, seems very small but which then was everything. A
keen antagonist, I remember, wrote me on jet black paper with red ink—
yes, we were very enthusiastic in those days. At the general meeting
which caused the parting of the ways of our Society my resolution was
carried by an overwhelming majority. What a comfortable thing it is to
be on the popular side; how easy to create a following when the aim and
object is the reduction of a subscription or the lessening of an monetary
obligation! There was, however, some opposition—fortunately there
always is opposition or things w ould be very flat-—and I was told that I
was interfering with the prerogative of the executive. The sequel of our
victory was unlooked for. Not only did our much revered president, the
late Mr. Win. Russell, resign, but his example was followed by a great
number of other members of the executive and also by Mr. Everard
im Thurn, pow Sir Everard im Thurn, the founder of ‘Timehri.’ The
pessimists once more bleated. We were undone without our Sugar
King; we were undone, and the days were not only numbered for the
Society but for its mouthpiece ‘ Timehri.’

‘But little did they know the vitality and power with which without
in any way deranging the Society we were able to form a new Cabinet.
Mr. Henry Kirk was elected chairman, Mr. P. H. Nind vice-chairman,
the managing directorate falling on Mr. D. C. Cameron, Mr. J. 8. Hill
and inyself. My colleagues, Mr. Cameron and Mr. Hill, have passed on
leaving with me but the happy memory of my association with them.
They were good friends and true. Our work was strenuous and thanks
to the admirable assistance given us by the late Mr. F. A. Conyers, the
treasurer, we were very soon able to put our house in order. The lapse
of time has been great and I don’t want to be hypercritical but it seems
incredible that a latitude should have been given to the members in the
payment of their subscriptions which showed arrears in $5,163. The
severance of Sir Everard im Thurn was a great loss to us, but Mr. Quelch,
at that time curator of the Museum, and later Mr. Rodway, kept the
journal going for us in these days. And, in conclusion, what of the
Society to-day? If in sympathy with the general depressicn of the
times we may have suffered we know that it is : through no lack of enter-
prise on the part of our executive, whilst the Society’s mouthpiece

Reminiscences of Demerary. 349

‘Timehri’ has never been more ably conducted than under the untiring
guidance of our able vice-president, Mr. Nunan. I hope Mr. Nunan will
excuse me for making a directly personal, however truthful, remark in
his presence. As a community we have no longer to fight the uphill
fight of our forbears. We live in enlightened times and in an enlightened
city second to none for its population in the tropics. Let us not mark
time but exercise our best endeavours to create thought for the future
advancement not only of our Society but of the Magnificent Province in
which it is our lot to work.”

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PROCEEDINGS OF: THE’ SOCIETY:

THE PRESIDENT’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

At the general meeting of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial
Society held on the 27th January, 1914, the late Sir T. Crossley
Rayner, Chief Justice, delivered his address as President. He said
he found there was in the public mind a good deal of misconception
as to what the functions of the Society were. The name of the
Society was perhaps in some way slightly a stumblinyg-block to its
prosperity. People seemed to think that the object of the Society
had ceased to exist now that they had the Chamber of Commerce
and the Board of Agriculture, these two bodies being considered by
them as better able to carry out the functions which the Society
formerly exercised than was the case now. He ventured to think
that that was an entirely wrong idea and quite a misconception of the
functions of the Society and of the ideas of those who many years
ago brought it into existence. Both the Chamber of Commerce and the
Board of Agriculture were very necessary and very important bodies,
but they were bodies constituted of experts. The Chamber of
Commerce consisted of the leading merchants ; the Board of Agriculture
was a statutory body created under an Ordinance, and transferred to it
were certain functions which used to be exercised by the Governor-in-
Council. These two bodies were therefore bodies of experts dealing
with the commerce of the colony on the one hand and agriculture on the
other, and they were bodies to which the general public. had no access.
A great many persons interested in the commerce of the colony could
not possibly be in the Chamber of Commerce, and in the same way it
was quite impossible for them to be appointed members of the Board of
Agriculture. But there were lots of people who were neither experts in
agriculture nor commerce who nevertheless took a real interest in the
welfare of the colony and would be very glad indeed to have some
opportunity of showing that interest and “doing what they could to
develop the colony and to push forward its inter ests, and it appeared to
him that this Society above all other organizations in the colony was the
medium by which the general public who were not experts in any parti-
cular branch could do that. They could combine together and in various
ways advance the interests of the colony. Their function really was to
give information, to educate public opinion, and arouse interest in the
various questions which from time to time came before them for the
advancement and welfare of the colony. For a body lke the Chamber
of Commerce or’ the Board of Agriculture it would be impossible to
organise meetings, give information and arouse enthusiasm, but these
and the creation of a sound public opinion on the various questions were
essentially functions of the Society. ,

352 Timehri

LARGE SPHERE OF OPERATIONS.

Now although the name of the Society. was Agricultural and
Commercial, yet he took it that they were not limited to those two
subjects. They were not to consider their functions in any narrow spirit
and say everything but agriculture and commerce were outside the
sphere of their operations. His view was that the Society should take
within its purview anything which would benfit the colony and promote
its welfare. All wealth came from the soil and commerce was the means
of dealing with and diffusing the products from the soil, so that even if
they took a narrow view and limited it to commerce and agriculture
their sphere of operations would not be much affected. One thing they
had done and would continue to do was to organise from time to time
lectures by gentlemen who were experts in particular subjects, so that
they could take a proper line in dealing with questions which came
before them. He had heard it said that the Society was nothing but a
library and reading room, and he was told that only a day or two ago.
While admitting that they had an excellent reading room and an excel-
lent library, the latter with upwards of 50,000 volumes, Sir Crossley
claimed that that was only one part of the Society's operations. The
Society had not got any:hing like the support it was entitled to, and on
that question Mr. Garnett was going to open a discussion, to which he
hoped would be contributed the views of a number of those present so
as to show in what respects the governing body had failed in the past to
inake the Society popular and to pot out what they ought todo. He
urged it was the duty of all colonists to join the Society and give it their
support. There was no other organization in the colony which had for
its object the purposes of this Society, and there was no organization
either which could in the sane way inform public opinion and assist in
the progress of the colony.

For a moment or two he wished to refer to two subjects
which were becoming very prominent, upon each of which it was neces-
sary that they should have right views, and in which also
this Society ought to take an interest and to take part in the dis-
cussion of them and try to guide public opinion in the right way. First
they had been discussing for a very long time the railway to the interior,
and if there was one thing more thon another connected with agriculture
and commerce it was this railway. Different views had been expressed
on the question and it had been very much criticised ; but if he were any
judge at all of public feeling it seemed to him that public opinion now was
almost unanimous that they must have a railway and that without a rail-
way they could not to any satisfactory extent develop the resources of
the colony. That was his own opinion and he confessed he could not see
how this colony was to progress and become the great colony, which they
hoped it would become, without a railway to develop its resources. But
there was another point which they must not lose sight of as inseparable
from it. That was the question of cost, and that, he took it, was the
only question, because as soon as it was established that they could
construct a railway from the coast-line to the interior of the colony and

-

Proceedings of the Society. 353

connect it with the countries behind at a cost which it was within the
means of the colony to pay, the whole problem would be settled and
there could be no question that they must have a railway. It must be
quite obvious to anybody who thought of it that it would never do to
have a railway which would practically bankrupt the colony.

West INDIAN FEDERATION.

There was another subject which was also coming prominently
before the public and which he thought the Society might consider.
That was the question of the federation of the West Indies. It was a
subject that had been considered from time to time; it had at one time
bulked largely in the public eye, and interest in it had then waned, but
the subject now seemed to be attracting a good deal of attention. It was
a very important subject and one which they might with advantage
consider. His own opinion, he was bound to say, was that eventually
there must come federatien of the West Indies, and he did not see how it
could be prevented. Federation was in the air. It was a movement
which had affected all the world, not only in politics but in other depart-
ments of life. For example, it had aftected the commercial life of the
whole world, as they saw in the creation of limited liability companies.
Those of them who had got as far as middle age could remember the
time when enterprises were carried on by individuals or a number of men
in partnership, but that had been very largely changed, and in place of
individuals carrying on commercial enterprises they were now being
carried on by limited lability companies. And as they knew, that move-
ment had aftected this colony in common with the rest of the world. It
was a movement that was affecting this colony and all the West Indian
colonies in every department of life, and they could not escape it. The
advantages of united action were so obvious that it was being taken
advantage of all over the world. In politics the movement was very
pronounced. It was seen in the Union of the Dominion of Canada, the
great Australian Commonwealth, and only the other day in the Union
of South Africa. And the movement not only affected their own
Empire but was exemplified in the union of what was now the Gerinan
Empire. It would thus be seen that this federal movement had been
spreading over the world, and it did not appear that the West Indies
could any more escape it than any other part of the world, and could no
more resist it than one could resist the flow of the Demerara river. It
therefore seemed to him that the West Indies must in due course become
a West Indian Dominion just as the North American colonies had become
the Canadian Dominion. How long that would be was another matter.
It would not be very soon and whether he or many of those present
would live to see it was a question, but that it would come and must
come he had no doubt.

One objection which had been made, and which he had heard many
times, was that they could not federate the West Indies because the
various colonies had different interests. That was of course so. Each
colony had its own particular industries and interests and those interests
in every case were not identical with the others. But they had the same

354 Timehri.

thing in England ; the interests of the textile manufacturers of Lancashire
were quite different from those of the agriculturists of Norfolk, and the
interests of the woollen manufacturers of Yorkshire different from those
of the leather-makers of Northampton, and yet the whole of England
was one Kingdom governed by one body, and the whole thing worked
exceedingly well. It therefore seemed to him that the mere fact of the
colonies not having identical interests in no way militated against the
final accomplishment and successful working of federation. If he were
right in his deductions it seemed to him that it was their duty to try to
assist and direct the movement in the right way. The movement must
come, it could be delayed by opposition or it could be expedited by
careful action, and they in this colony and the West Indies should guide
it in the right direction, so that when federation did come it would be
with the least possible inconvenience and the maximum amount of good
to the various colonies which would come within it.

THE Way TO AN UNDERSTANDING.

To a certain extent federation had already commenced by the union
of some of the islands—the Leeward and Windward groups, and with
Tobago as a ward of Trinidad. He quite admitted that it would be
utterly impossible for anybody to sit down now and draft a constitution
for a West Indian Dominion. The course to be pursued was for the
various colonies to find subjects of common interest on which they could
unite for various purposes and this would gradually bring them closer
together and eventually lead to union for all purposes. The
islands in this part of the Caribbean had already united for one
common purpose—quarantine—and he understood there was a move-
ment on foot for some kind of common action in respect of Customs
administration. That would 90 on and they would find from time to
time various subjects on which they could work together and in this
manner federation would gradually ensue. In connection with this sub-
ject there was one on which he thought all the colonies could unite with
advantage ; that was a Court of Appeal for the whole of the West
Indies. As a Judge of one of the Colonies he felt great interest in this
proposal. It was not a new proposal by any means. Twenty years ago
it was first mooted. Barbados had actually taken steps to get a Court
of Appeal for itself, but, if they would forgive him criticising them that
scheme would not work unless there was reciprocity, and it must apply
not to one colony but to the whole lot. But the scheme had so many
things to recommend it that if it were brought prominently forward and
properly considered the various colonies must see the advantage of it.
Previously it was not possible as means of communication between the
colonies were difficult, but now with better facilities for travelling and
better means of access to the various colonies it could be carried out.

One objection made to it, and his friend Mr. Nunan gave utterance
to it, was that there were various systems of law, particularly our own,
‘and that the seheme could not be carried out until-this colony had got
rid of its Roman-Dutch law and adopted English law. He hoped Mr.
Nunvan would forgive him if he said that he did not agree with him. He

Proceedings of the Society. 355

did not see that the Roman-Dutch law need for five minutes stand in the
way of an Appeal Court if formed for the West Indies. They found the
same thing in Kneland. The House of Lords was the Supreme Court of
appeal for England, Scotland and Ireland, but they found lawyers brought
up in the traditions of the English Bench and Bar deciding questions of
Seots Law, which after all was not very different from their own Roman-
Dutch law, and if English Law Lords were able without having spent
their lives in the study of Scots law to deal satisfactorily on appeal with
questions coming from Scotland, he did not see why Judges of the other
parts of the West Indies should not be able to deal as well with questions
of Roman-Dutch law which came from this Colony. The number of
appeal cases which involved questions of Roman-Dutch law were not
very many. There was another very striking instance—-the Privy
Council. There they found a body consisting of Judges of eminence from
various parts of the Empire dealing with all sorts of law. They dealt
with Roman-Dutch law from this colony, South Africa and Ceylon, also
with Hindoo and Mohammedan law and customary law from West Africa,
where most of the property was held under the native customary law.
And if, for instance, they got there an Indian Judge dealing with Roman-
Dutch law, or a South African Judge dealing with Mohammedan law,
which was actually being done, and as that tribumal was admitted by every
one to be a most excellent and satisfactory Court of Appeal he did not
think there could be any great difficulty in creating a Court of Appeal for
this part of the Empire.
APPEAL ANOMALIES.

The creation of the Court of Appeal was manifestly desirable if only
to prevent the anomaly of a Judge sitt‘ng on appeal from himself. In
nearly all the colonies if there was an appeal the Judge who tried the
case in the first instance had to sit on the hearing of the appeal,
and as he had taken the trouble to carefully consider the case and
devote his whole mind and ability and learning to it it was very
dificult to convince him afterwards that he was wrong, and the number
of times when he agreed to reverse his judgment were very small indeed.
He had done it himself, but it was only when some question was
argued before the Court of Appeal which was not argued in the first
instance. If only from the point of view of getting fresh minds to
bear upon it a Court of this sort was desirable. That was one of
the first steps they might t:ke towards federation. If they could bring
that about, and he did not think that there was anything in the
constitution of the various colonies which would prevent it, the scheme
could be brought in in a very short time. He commended these subjects
to them as questions which the Society might take up and discuss, as they
were practical questions which were being mooted now for the benefit of
the colony.

Mr. F. V. McConNELL’s Dearu.

He must remind them of a very sad loss to the colony in the death of
Mr. Fred V. McConnell, who was for many years a member and sup-
porter of the Society, and he proposed that they should pass this

356 Timehri.

resolution : ‘‘ That this meeting of the R. A. & C. Society of British Guiana
expresses its deep regret at the death of Mr. Fred V. McConnell, an
honorary member of the Society for many years, a generous benefactor
of the Museum and a warm friend of the colony in whose natural history
he took a keen interest, and that the respectful condolences of the Society
be conveyed to his widow and relatives in their sad bereavement.”

Professor Harrison, in seconding, said he did so with deep regret.
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.

Mr. Mewburn Garnett asked that the members join with him in a
vote of thanks to the President for his able address which had covered
so much ground.

Mr. Nunan, seconding, said that the federation of the West Indies
was a project that could be carried out by the care and co-operation of
different possessions. The Appeal Court was a matter that could be
dealt with at once. He was an active supporter of the Appeal Court for
several years. The chief opposition was from one of the Chief Justices
of the various possessions, but he thought the fact that Sir Crossley
Rayner had acquiesced in the most recent proposal put forward put the
matter on a practical basis at once.

HOW TO POPULARISE THE SOCIETY.

Mr. Mewburn Garnett, who was warmly greeted on rising, then
introduced the discussion on ‘‘ How best to popularise our Society.”
He said: ‘Never in the history of our Society has it been more
necessary to consider this question, for apathy and indifference are
slowly but surely sendmg us downward. Are we to sink further?
Most assuredly no, yet the attendance here this afternoon gives us little
encouragement. Surely, on the occasion of a Presidential address and
when every effort is being made by means of public discussion to restore
new life into the Society, I say that on such an occasion a large attend-
ance might reasonably have been expected.

“Whilst Agriculture and Commerce have found protection else-
where there is yet ample scope for the discussion of matters which
directly concern these two great factors of prosperity.

“IT referred to the apathy and indifference which exist towards our
Society ; this is very marked on studying the list of members, for both
in Church and State many names are absent which should appear on the
list. Indeed, never since I have been on the Executive Committee have
the names of the holders of very high offices in our Anglican Church
been so conspicuous by theirabsence. We undoubtedly want subserip-
tions, but we want sympathy still more.

“Now, we cannot force any one to join our Society, and it is only
by offering greater attractions that we may expect them to do so.
I would suggest that enquiries should be made of those who were
once members for the cause of their resignations,

Proceedings of the Society. 357

“T am much struck by the absence of young members in our
Society, and to encourage them I would suggest that every hona fide clerk
or typist, be he or she in Government employ or in Water street, be
admitted as special Clerical Associates at an annual subscription of $4.

“Several suggestions have been given for popularising the Society
by those who have not the courage openly to express their
cpinions, and I can sympathise with them in their reticence for the
community is more ready to criticise than to assist, and there is ever
amongst us the mean assassin with his stiletto in the shape of the anony-
mous correspondent.

Liprary METHODS.

“ But let me turn to the suggestions. Most of them have been
made in connection with the library. Now our most ardent supporters
cannot but own that however excellent our books of referenee, however
large our assortment of other works, our methods are antiquated, and
that we are not keeping pace with the times. It is recommended that
our library should be run on the same lines as the Free Library, where
the arrangements are similar to those of the Free Library in Westminster,
London. The Carnegie Free Library of this town is an admirably
conducted institution which calls for the highest praise of those who
administer it, and there is no reason why our Society should not be
equally up-to-date. Our librarian is admirably suited to the post he
holds; he is a typical bookworm and takes the keenest interest in his
work, whilst the lady who assists him, who | know has rendered help in
adding to the list of lady members, would very soon be able to grasp
the details. As compared with the Free Library, we have attractions
which possibly are not generally known. Our list of periodicals is much
longer. Our rooms are open every day and all day with a part of
Sundays and holidays. Our meetings ought to be of general interest.
Our loans of books are larger than’ the Free Library, being : 3 Vols.,
2 sets of periodicals at a time for members ; 2 Vols., 1 set of “periodicals
at a time for associates. The librarian is prepared to give information
on a variety of interesting subjects. There is an admirable collection
of books for young people, and all under 16 years of age can join the
Society by paying 50 cents a quarter, which entitles them to take out
one book at a time; there are only three such members now on our list.
Lastly, new books arrive every mail.

“JT am told that the novels ordered are not in keeping with the
feeling of the members. The subject is undoubtedly a delicate one, and
I hardly know how to approach it. Our institution is accused, how
rightly I cannot say, of a mawkish false delicacy. I am told that the
novels ordered are too much of the Sandford and Merton type ; that the
age requires strong writing, and that the trend of thought has become
so metamorphosed in these later days that what shocked the early
Victorians is as babes’ food to-day. I am not here to argue these
matters, but one thing is certain, what the reading public want they will
have, and the result has been the formation of small circulating coteries
who import books for themselves to the detriment of the Society. If

358 Timehri.

what is said is true, and if those books are necessary, then let there be a
sub-committee for the purpose of dealing with the matter. The difficulty
we have to face is not new; it has already presented itself to Mudie’s,
Smith’s and other libraries, and their manner of dealing with 1t could be
adopted by us.

VARIED SUGGESTIONS,

“Tt is suggested that we can with advantage advertise our Society
by bringing its attractions to the notice of such persons as are gradually
discovering the existence of Guiana, and that a short circular and
tear-off application for temporary membership should be sent to every
new arrival. Those who travel intellectually invariably make first for
the Museum of a town, and many have told me of the pleasure they
have derived examining the collection in this Museum, whilst hardly a
day passes but enquiries reach us on a variety of subjects. It is also
suguested that there should be some sort of gathering once a month,
when opinions of the various topics of the day might be discussed (a
conversazione, to give it a more high-flown name). Doubt is expressed
as to sufficient food for discussion, but if those who suggest it are really
in earnest there is no fear. For instance, the serious-minded or clergy
would have a topic which is ever with them ‘ Ritual and Church adorn-
ment as a help to devotion,’ or some such equally serious matter. The
Agricultural and Commercial sections would find ‘Guiana and how to
develop it a wide field. There are also topics such as ‘The Absentee
Proprietor from a Non-sympathetic Point of View, ‘The Absentee
Proprietor’ by One of Themselves, ‘Guiana as a Field for Rapid
Fortunes’ by Optimist, ‘ Guiana, its Impossibilities and how I Dread to
Lose my Little All, by Pessimist.

“Then there are topics for ladies such as ‘How can Women
Popularise the Society,’ ‘Should Women Smoke?’ ‘Georgetown and my
Friends. If truthfully stated this would, to say the least of it, be
interesting. The tango too would be sure to call for much entertaining
discussion. (Laughter.) A lady writes me suggesting monthly meetings
for lectures and music. On every occasion the suggestions are accom-
panied by opinions that such meetings should be in the evenings, that
refreshments should be provided, and that free admission should only be
allowed to members whose friends would also be welcome on payment
of a small entrance fee. I have quoted several of the suggestions made
me and there are doubtless inany here who would add to them. Iam sure
every member of the community would be sorry to see this old institution
totter, and it rests with us all to pull our weight and restore it to its former
prosperous position.”

THE DIscussION. _

Mrs. Stephenson stated that she thought it would be a very good
thing to have special monthly meetings where members would express
their opinions, not gossip or scandal or anything of that kind, on books
we have read and the good we might perhaps do to others.

Mr, Sherlock said that the subject was a delicate one and perhaps it
was a case of *‘ fools stepping in where angels fear to tread.” It seemed

Proceedings of the Society. 359

to him that the reason why the Society was not popular was first
hecause it was poor, and secondly because there were very few people in
the colony who really took an interest in it. It was perhaps a hard
thing to say, but the more one went about Demerara the more one was
asked to take part in if he might say so, public life, the more it struck
him that few people really cared for the colony and were anxious to
support it. Perhaps it was an age where if he might say so, sentiment
had disappeared, but it seemed to him that the Royal Agricultural and
Commercial Society should be supported liberally and ungrudgingly by
every citizen of Georgetown. He would suggest that one way to
improve matters would be to write to all those people who ought to be
members and were not, and publish their answers.

Mr. Nunan said he had some statistics which he had asked Mr. °
Rodway to make out for him and which he had intended to hand to Mr.
Garnett but did not because he was late. His idea was that the leading
members of this community who were not members of the Society would
not amount to more than half-a-dozen and they would include some of
the biggest salaried persons in the colony and one or two dignitaries who
ought to know better. As to writing to those who were not members
that was done two and a half years ago and met with a magnificent
response. He came now to a little history of the Society. The begin-
ning of 1910 found it faced with the opposition of a free library and in
1910 it lost about 100 members and associates, so that towards the
middle of 1910 it had about 331 members, At the end of 1910 the
directors having put their shoulders to the wheel and everybody else
having helped they put it back to 432. Next year it was 495, and the
next 494, and then last year 478. But the better class and wealthier
people had in many cases moved away and not been replaced. He did
not think the membership could safely be got far beyond 500. In one
case he did not see any necessity for popularising the Society ; it should
not be made too cheap, and he did not think that the Water street clerk
who did not come in at $5 would come in at $4, and he would not be
worth having. ‘The Society never passed 500 until the year before last,
and several times during that year it went up to 516. The normal
membership was 416, but he thought they could put it back to 500, but
not beyond. What else did they do?

VALUE FOR MONEY.

They were bankrupt in the middle of 1910. They put the revenue
up to $5,434 the next year, the next it was $5,346, and in 1913
$4,762. How did they doit? By giving value for the money. Every
one who paid $10 or $5 got value many times over for it. The
library as far as possible was brought up to date as far as the monthly
arrivals went. They spent about £100 in getting modern classical novels.
They revised the magazines and made economies where possible. Mr.
Garnett pointed to one serious defect in their equipment and that was
the library. They thought two years ago that they could meet that by
making an appeal to the absentee proprietors. They had done very little

360 Timehri.

in direct contributions to the colony though many of them drew consider-
able revenue from it. They sounded the priocipal proprietors and found
that they were willing to make a hearty response. The drought con-
tinued and there was a bad year for sugar. He did not think any of them
had the heart to press the matter just at that stage, and they thought
tat in a prosperous year for sugar they could get £2,000 or £3,000 from
tie big proprietors to help to improve the library. The Museum did not
cme into this list of tinances, but there something could be done. The
(iJovernment gave them instead of the former $4,500, $2,000, part of
which went to the salary of the honorary curator. In any other country
tle museum was a matter for the Government or the Municipality, and
h3 thought in no matter in this country had the Government been more
siort-sighted and more stingy in the wrong place than in its treatment of
‘tieir Museum. They had given a conversazione, lantern lectures, and
rofreshments and attracted members. ‘They would continue. Instead of
tree or four dry-as-dust papers a year, which used to be the case for many
years before 1910, they took up subjects vital to the colony and made
them interesting. He thought Mr. Garnett had taken too pessimistic a
view of the gathering there. It was a very considerable number, and it
must be remembered that it was not known there was to be a presidential
address. He was quite sure that many would not come because they
thought they would have an informal discussion about popularising the
Society and he did not think many were in favour of any scheme of
popularisation which would lower the value of the membership. The
Society had a great prestige, and they were not to go into the highways
of the streets to ask for members. They should instead limit the
members and exact a higher qualification. They should try to attract
only those who would be useful to the Society, and if they went and
hauled in all and sundry, willing to pay $5 or $10, which, however, he
did not say was Mr. Garnett’s suggestion, they would come to sure
disaster.
INFLUENCE OF “ TIMEHRI.”

They made the Society efficient by the revival of “ Timehri,” which
made a profit last year of $195. The year before by the set policy of
the directors they went to an expenditure of $500 for the purpose of
placing the facts of the colony so far as they knew them before the
Governor on his arrival and by advertising the resources of the colony
and they circulated 1,000 copies. That cost $529 over and above
revenue. Even taking that into account, the deficit for three years
on ‘‘Timehri” was $404, and against that must be the fact that
the Society undertook to pay 8d. a copy for the number sent free
of three issues and a shilling a copy thereafter. It had done a
great deal to popularise the Society and if they divided that $404, the
total loss on three years, and set it against the 1,760 copies circulated
for the benefit of the colony, he thought it would be found that the
annual cost of $155 was well repaid. In that sense the Society had
done the work of popularising. They had made the Society known
throughout the West Indies and wherever the scientific world read the

Proceedings of the Society. 361

English language. As regards the present they had sufficient to pay
current expenses and Jeave a substantial balance. Even last year when
the hony. secretary was away most of the year, and although Mr, Laing
had ta be away, they paid off $500 of the outstanding debt in making
permanent improvements. They made a ladies’ and gentleman's room,
and a smoking room, and the price had been about $600 and they gave a
most hearty welcome to the Governor on his arrival with electric signs
and lights. The Society was solvent and had been so from the begin-
ning, but one thing would make it insolvent, and that was if it went
back to the old policy that the idea of the Society was to have
$12 in the till at the end of the year. A Society like this with vast
property on the finest site in Georgetown, insured for $20,000, with
collections worth $100,000, ought not to be afraid to go into debt
$1,000 for the purpose of making permanent improvements. They went
into debt $660 in 1911, and they sent up the revenue from $4,110 to
$5,434. It was only by a business policy and by appealing to the busi-
ness instincts of people and giving value for money, by maintaining a
high standard of efficiency all round and putting their library in order,
that they could maintain their reputation throughout the West Indies.

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REEVERS) TOc THE “EDITOR.
THE LATE Mr. F. V. MCCONNELL.

Sm,—To a large majority of the members to-day the name of
Mr. F. V. McConnell is no doubt an unfamiliar one, but I should wish to—
point out that for many years, soon after my being appointed Curator of
the Museum in 1886, up to 1898, there was no one more interested in or
more closely identified with the development of that institution than the
keen Naturalist who has just passed away.

During those years collecting expeditions, one after another, from
the Barima to the Corentyne, were undertaken by me largely at Mr.
McConnell’s expense, the collections of birds alone being shared, and all
else coming to the Museum. He, from his keen interest, was always
present ; and though privation often was a necessary adjunct of such
trips, he never allowed any such possibility to divert him from the
accomplishment of the object aimed at. As a memento of sinaller trips,
the specimen of the electric eel, which is far and away a record of its
kind, being 7ft. 3in. in length, obtained in the North West District, still
remains in evidence in the Museum.

Of the longer expeditions, such as the savannah and first Roraima
trip of 1894 and the second Roraima trip of 1898, the first jointly with
the Museum, and the second entirely at his own expense, the Museum
shows to-day a large number of typical specimens, which have been
obtained under no other collaboration. Much of the collections thus
obtained served the purpose of exchanges for other desirable outside
material ; and material, such as the constituent barks of the urali poison,
was of more than passing physiological interest in many centres of
research.

The typical biological collections on the summit and about Mount
Roraima, from their special interest and wide significance, were handed
on to the Royal collections, Kew, and the British Museum, where, with
the aid of many continental experts, the results were summarised and
issued as special reports of the Linnean Society in its transactions im
1901—reports which, in conjunction with the earlier results of im
Thurn’s expedition, are records in Tropical Biology of the higher
altitudes.

Beyond this, the Society evidences to-day a further illustration of
Mr. McConnell’s munificence in the quite unique series of enlarged
photographs, taken by himself, of views illustrating the physical features
and the native peoples of British Guiana, mainly of the hinterland, which
I hope will yet furnish a part memorial of his name. ey

From a local point of view I could mention instance upon instance
of his furtherance of the knowledge of the biology of the colony, as,
for example, the oppertunity for research on the migratory birds otf
the colony contributed by me to “Timehri”; and later on the micro-

564 Timehri.

mammalia, mainly of the great savannahs, published by the Annals and
Magazine of Natural History for the British Museum on collections
made by me, altogether unique of their kind.

This record, however, is but a very incomplete one of his wide interest
in the natural history of the colony ; and the national collections of the
British Museum of England, for a long course of years, are indebted to
him for whole series of much wanted and often altogether new material
—new both to the British Museum and often to Science—illustrating the
ornithology and mammalian life, mainly, of Guiana.

For a long course of years he has been getting together as typical
a collection as possible of the avifauna of the colony, and for some years
now, in collaboration with the officer of the British Museum who is the

recognised authority on Neo-tropical birds, has been preparing for

publication a work that would have been the most complete of its kind—
but for his untimely death.

Outside of his contributions to the Society and to science I have no
need to write. All who knew him will mourn the departure of a fine
and accomplished gentleman, unaftected and unpretentious ; of a comrade,
altogether Joyal ; and of a friend, always kindly, trustworthy and honour-
able.—I am, Sir, yours,

J. J. QUELCH.

Melville,

January 26, 1914.

WEST INDIAN UNIFICATION.

Dear Srr,—I understand that the Chairman (His Excellency)
invited me to express my views after Mr. E. Davson’s lecture at
the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society’s Rooms on the subject
of «The West Indies: Their Common Interest and Imperial Aim.”
I hal already left for an urgent Committee meeting, but I should
like to say, in view of this invitation of which I feel the compliment,
that | agree with Mr. Davson in the main. We were both, I think, as
fellow-delegates to the West Indian Agricultural Conference of 1912 at
Trinidad, greatly impressed by the growing feeling of West Indian soli-
darity evidenced by the proceedings of the Conference. This feeling
was apparent not only in the official part of the programme but in the
unofficial and more or less spontaneous proceedings in which Mr. Davson
took no small part. J think we were equally impressed by the minor
obstacles in the way of Federation which the Conference revealed and to
meet these as far as Agriculture was coneerned some of us drew up and
succeeded in carrying resolutions to secure consultation and fully repre-
sentative arrangements in regard to the holding of future Conferences
and to enable important items to be dealt with more comprehensively
by Committees of those interested instead of being almost shut out
threugh the congestion of a lengthy business programme dealt with
consecutively. The Imperial Commistioner, Dr. Watts, whose difficult

OO eS a re

Letters to the Editor. 365

task was ably discharged, appreciated the assistance attorded to future
work by the adoption of these proposals.

The hospitality of Trinidad was prodigious and the physical
energies of the delegates were shown not to have suffered by birth or
residence in a tropical climate, but even a lawyer like myself fled
appalled from a concluding dinner with twenty-six speeches attached to
the menu. If the business element reduces the hospitable displays to a
very minor room and importance in West Indian and Canadian-West
Indian Conferences of every kind in future we shal] have less senti-
mental patriotism and Imperialism, fewer speeches of a congratulatory
and laudatory type, and more business done. I think some under-
standing should be arrived at on that point which will not give offence to
the generous instincts of any selected colony. Speech-making at
Conferences is perhaps not a vice peculiar to the West Indies, but it is
particularly virulent in these parts.

One of the causes of the resolutions above referred to (which I
believe [ drew up) was the feeling that notwithstanding the efforts of
Dr. Watts, British Guiana was a little out in the cold. Sugar chiefly
interested our delegation, and sugar had to be cursorily dealt with in
part of an afternoon, during which Professor Harrison, had not the
Chairman and the meeting waived the restriction in his particular case,
would have had to deal with three or four years of his work and that of
his able subordinates in a ten minutes’ speech. The courtesy of the
waiver in favour of so distinguished and dominant an authority only
revealed the more clearly the inadequacy of the space available for what
is one of our vital concerns in this colony. To British Guiana problems
such as those of balata, timber and cattle, any West Indian Conference
whatsoever can give but a small contribution. In a word, the elemen-
tary fact stands out that British Guiana has vast interests in which the
rest of the West Indies is not concerned or is only concerned indirectly
or toa minor degree. What are our minor industries are the major
industries of many of the smaller and some of the larger islands. Our
future major industries except sugar and rice have no insular equiva-
lents. To speak of British Guiana in the terms of a West Indian island
is amistake. It is a great continental possession of the Crown some
forty-five times as large as Trinidad and some twenty-three times the
size of Jamaica. In regard to this I was glad to read with the rest of
the public in the press of February 10th that His Excellency had
expressed the views of its possibilities (pars. 24 to 28), which
“Timehri” had been advocating for the past three years and that the
actual route for a trunk railway recommended by Mr. Bland was that
suggested even as late as last July by the contributors to that magazine,
who, however, never anticipated such rapid local development or such
light expenditure on labour as that expert indicxtes.

GUIANA’S PECULIAR POSSIBILITIES.
When ample security is provided for the protection of existing
industries, at all events until they can be replaced, and when practical

366 Timehri.

schemes of colonization, irrigation and drainage have materialized,
and as His Excellency no doubt is considering at the moment as
a supplement to his present project, or even as its accompaniment,
the colony by acting as a united community, by taking the necessary
risks, and even by facing large initial financial sacrifices, will secure
the full realization of its legitimate ambitions. No doubt those to
whom His Majesty has entrusted the privilege of advising him will
give him experienced .and cautious counsel. These ambitions are
beyond the possibilities of even the largest and richest of the West
Indian islands.

While emphasizing our distinct interests and reterring to the neces-
sity for attending to them without reliance on anybody but ourselves, I
think the fate of British Guiana will always be bound up with that of
the British West Indian islands and that every effort should be made to
promote co-operation and closer union. The Conferences on Agricul-
tural, Quarantine, Customs and other questions have shown what can be
done without political union. Political union is distant but I do not see
why it can be called wholly unrealizable. West Indian particularism is
vanishing and in the past has owed a great deal to the particularism of
the various administrators quite as much perhaps as to the short-
sighted jealousies of the little island communities. The creation of a
West Indian Chamber of Commerce for which Mr. Davson has laboured
so energetically and successfully will do still more to call attention to
this essential identity. Only with some megaphone of central authority
can we make ourselves heard above the roar of the modern commercial
world.

THE COMMON CouRT OF APPEAL.

The West Indian Appeal Court if created and the abolition of
Roman-Dutch law will do their part. The fact that bench, bar, and
business community nowadays combine to forget the existence of
Roman-Dutch law since the retirement of the older school of Judges
(many of whom like Sir Henry Bovell had given serious study to
our Common Law) does not render the continuance of its debris
any the less a menace and a danger. ‘The system is anomalous and
a colony where one law exists and another law is administered by
tacit consent can hardly be said to be equipped for modern commercial
requirements. It certainly is not fitted for intercolonial or international
trade. Nothing scares off a capitalist or investor more than any uncer-
tainty as to the law. Local merchants take the precaution of staying out
of litigation. Only last month English law was introduced as regards

sale of goods. The Explanatory Memorandum set out in some detail the’

radical alterations which it effected, but the Ordinance hardly created a
ripple on the surface of commercial life. Its effect had been anticipated
by the practice of merchants, who however do not wish a succession of
cases like Synada Bee v. Craigen to call attention to the necessity for
reform. The uncertainty and confusion of the law cannot be evaded by
our pretending that the common law is English or that piecemeal attempts
to alter it have not had the most curious consequences.

Letters to the Editor. 367

HEADQUARTERS OF THE APPEAL COURT:

The question of the West Indian Appeal Court will not, I think, be
easily allowed to retire again into the limbo of suspended proposals. It
is necessary to provide for the fact that Trinidad has three very busy
Judges, Barbados only one, Jamaica (which may under the able and tact-
ful administration of Sir William Manning cease to plough a lonely furrow
and rejoin for many purposes her West Indian sisters) only two, and that
british Guiana is overstaffed in the legal line. To meet local requise-
ments, to conciliate local prejudices and to enable British Guiana to do
with as many Judges as Jamaica, a colony with three times its population,
it will probably be necessary to carry out the entire scheme at once and
to provide any Court of Appeal with a President as extra Judge. Nothing
should be done to diminish the prestige of the new creation by false
economy or by any makeshift arrangement. But these are matters which
can only be decided by friendly consultation between the West Indies and
the Colonial Office, assisted perhaps by a conference of West Indian
Judges and law officers. Where whole measures, however, are more
convenient and equally economical I am no advocate of half-way measures.
Jamaica if it accedes, which cannot be anticipated with confidence, is only
a week by sea from Trinidad even by the Royal Mail circular route, and
Trinidad is the natural headquarters of any Appeal Court.

We shall shortly have one system of civil law and proceduré
throughout the West Indies, except as regards St. Lucia, whose codes
are sufficiently comprehensive to make reference to the Cottume de
Paris merely pedantic. We shall have one system of Criminal Law,
that is the Criminal Law of England. No experienced Judge - or
lawyer will advocate any change or think he can improve upon the
work of the great criminal Judges and lawyers of the Empire. I
have never seen in the West Indies any attempt to improve upon the
English criminal procedure (for attempts to improve upon the
substantive criminal law have been luckily rare) that did not lead to
expense, doubt and confusion.

If the Conference of Customs authorities were assisted by some
leading Imperial expert in Customs and kindred economic matters we
should be likely to make somewhat more rapid approaches to commer-
cial understanding and to a uniformity in Customs matters. At present
the West Indian tariffs are often unscientific in the extreme, and only
some officer of the very highest authority would be likely to secure the
adoption of any radical change. I am sure our own very capable Comp-
troller would avree with this.

A HicH COMMISSIONER FOR THE CARIBBEAN.

The suggestion of a High Commissioner for the Caribbean is
worthy of further consideration. If sucha step were taken the post
would probably be doubled at first with that of the Governorship of
Jamaica, where the Commissioner no doubt would have the assistance of
a deputy, as in the similar case of the High Commissionership for South
Africa which was at first combined with the Governorship of Cape

368 Timehri.

Colony. Capetown until recently was further by time from Durban
than Kingston is from Georgetown. A week is a small matter in the
West Indies. They are at present over-governed.

I have jotted down these few hasty remarks at the ciose of a very
busy day as they represent what I probably would have expressed after
the lecture had I been present when called upon and do not think I
should withhold them as my opinion was invited. I went to the
meeting, however, as a learner and a student and after eight years’ study
of West Indian problems have not learned enough to dogmatize about
any of them. I think the counsel of St. Augustine realizable: ‘“ In great
matters unity; in smaller matters diversity; in all things brotherly love
(caritas ”).—I am, Sir, yours faithfully,

JOSEPH J. NUNAN.

February 11, 1914.

AN AMENDE.
Berbice,
British Guiana,
May, 1914.

DeEaR Srr,—With reference to my Jast article published in the
September number of ‘“ Timehri,” ‘‘Fan Palms and Pond Flowers,”
Professor Harrison, Director Department Science and Agriculture, draws
my attention to an injustice to the Head Gardener of the Botanic
Gardens, Mr. J. F. Waby, F.L.S.

It seems that the Berbicians owe these pretty Gardens to Mr.
Waby’s well-known skill and taste, and not to the late George Samuel
Jenman.

Unwitting as the oversight has been, I am now the more pleased to
be able to give Mr. Waby the credit he deserves for having fashioned
this ‘‘ beauty spot.” There is some consolation, however, in the fact
that Mr. Waby’s abilities are so well-known that I feel that the omission,
reorettable as it is, can do him little or no harm, while the work of the
late Mr. Jenman can well afford to be shorn of the credit which must be
given to the man who, with tender care and skill, raised these Gardens
for the pleasure and interest of the people of Berbice. I should be
much obliged if you would kindly publish the above, so that Mr. Waby
in his retirement may feel that justice has been done to this branch of
the many useful works he has performed during some 40 years’ service
in the West Indies—for which service he has lately been decorated with
the Imperial Service Order.—I am, etc.,

EDGAR BECKETT.

OUR’ LATE” PRESIDENT.

On May 22nd of this year Sir T. Crossley Rayner, Kt., K.C., Chief
Justice of the colony, was taken off with tragic suddenness 1 in the midst
of transacting official duties in his own Court.

Many a warm tribute published at the time from Bench and Bar and
prominent citizens reflected the high esteem in which he was held by all
who were privileged to know him in the discharge of his legal functions
and in the social and religious life of the colony. The Royal Agricul-
tural and Commercial Society in electing him at the end of last year to
the highest honorary office was but acknow ledoine the great interest in
its work shown by the late Chief Justice and his many labours for the
advancement of those aims which the Society was founded to promote.

On the revival of ‘‘Timehri” with the issue of the first number of a
new series in July, 1911, Sir Crossley Rayner, then Attorney General,
was among the contributors with an article on “A Visit to the Kaieteur
Falls,” an account of the journey he made in September, 1910, in the
days before the convenient and comparatively quick means of travel now
established were in existence. At that time, as he remarks in the article
referred to, not more than fifty people had ever seen this wonderful and
impressive sight and only two or three records of visits paid to it had
been written.

The interesting lecture on his journey, illustrated by lantern slides,
given by Sir Crossley Rayner in January and repeated in February of
1911, must still remain in the memory of most members of the Society.
Again in July, 1911, at the Reception of His Excellency the Governor
and Lady Egerton in the Society's Rooms, he contributed to the
significance and interest of that occasion a series of lantern views of the
colony from photos taken by himself and by Professor Crampton, of
the American Museum of Natural History.

In 1912 he became one of the Directors of the Society and finally
in 1914 he accepted the office of President. He brought to the work of
these offices that conscientious performance of duty and painstaking care
which were prominent characteristics of his life, official and private,
sparing neither time nor labour in doing whatsoever he undertook.

In this issue we print the inaugural address given by our late
President on 27th January, 1914, in which he offered a strong plea for
the Society and vindicated its place in the community against current
misconceptions. His advocacy in that address of Railway Development
and West Indian Federation, and his especial insistence on the easy
possibility as well as advisability of a Common Court of Appeal in spite
of differences of legal codes in the various colonies, add an authoritative
voice in favour of a movement which is gathering way and weight for

370 Timehrr.

the future benefit of the West Indies. That his term of office was so
grievously shortened by the hand of death cannot but be a matter of
deep regret for the promise that his few months in the chair had given.
So the Society joins with those who mourn the loss of a colonist stead-
fast, sterling and right-hearted; a Judge whose decisions were always
without fear or favour and animated by a genuine desire to find in
accordance with the equitable view of facts; a man whose generous
largeness of heart impressed his professional brethren, and whose

unfailing uprightness of view was a strength to the moral life of the
community.

a

—— a

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.

Meeting, December 17th, 1913. Elections reported.—Members.—
Mr. Jas. S. Marshall, Hon. C. Clementi and J. A. Varey. Associates.—
Messrs. S. W. Cleavin, V. de Abreu, F.-U. Tronchin, T. Bb. Reed, Junr.,
A. M. Pereira, Dr. R. S. Millar, W. H. Richards, José E. Certad, D.
Bentham, Inspector Craig, R. S. Delgado and A. A. Dummett. Lady
Subscribers.—Misses May Castor, M. B. Crowe, Grace Newsam, Olive
Rose, Lorna Rodway and Mrs. A. P. Sherlock.

The President gave a valedictory address.

The Office-Bearers for 1914 were duly elected, including the
President, Sir Crossley Rayner.

Mr. Mewburn Garnett gave some interesting ‘‘ Reminiscences of old
times and of the upheaval of the Society in 1886,” for which he was
warinly thanked by His Excellency the Governor and the meeting.

A vote of thanks was also accorded to His Excellency the Governor
and Lady Egerton for their presence at the meeting.

Donations to Library.—10 volumes from Mrs. Frankland and
volumes aud 2 periodicals from Hon. J. J. Nunan.

Meeting, January 27th, 1914. Elections reported.—Associates.—
Messrs. Alex. Rose, H. P. Christiani, George Rodger, Egbert Humphrey,
S. Heald, J. H. Kernaghan and F. E. Phillips.

A resolution expressing the regret of the Society at the death of
Mr. F. V. McConnell was carried unanimously and the Secretary directed
to forward a copy to his widow and relatives.

The President, Sir Crossley Rayner, gave an inaugural address, for
which a vote of thanks was accorded.

Mr. Newburn Garnett initiated a discussion on ‘‘ How best to
popularise the Society.”

Several members, including ladies, took part in the discussion, at the
conclusion of which the President said their suggestions would be
considered by the Directors.

Meeting, March 18th, 1914. Elections reported.—Members.—
Messrs. H. J. Taylor, H. K. Sisnett, G. L. B. Gall, F. A. Long, R. R.
Pasea, P. M. de Weever and 8. H. Bayley. Associates.—Messrs. G. S.
Dragten, Harper, L. M. Nightingale, Albert Fry, A. H. Ferry and Albert
Edwards. Lady Subscriber.—Miss Eaton Shore.

Mr. EK. A. W. Sampson spoke of the desirability of allowing a larger
number of periodicals for the evening, and the President stated that the
matter would be considered by the Directors.

aie Timehri.

The President informed the meeting that arrangements were being
made for a Conversazione.

A letter from Sir Charles T. Cox thanking the Society for electing
him an Honorary Member was read.

Mr. J. Rodway told the “Story of our Constitution” for which a
vote of thanks was accorded.

Meeting, July 15th, 1914. Hlections reported.—Members.—Messrs.
J. H. Henderson and R. M. Davy. Associates.—Messrs. A. Gilbert, J. H.
Ho-a-Hing, C. T. Uchlein, A. D. Hymans, A. D. Denny and D. J. Bell.
Lady Subscriber.—Miss Quick.

The Vice-President (Hon. J. b. Laing) said that since last meeting
they had to deplore the sudden death of their President, Sir Crossley
Rayner, and it was agreed that a letter of condolence be forwarded to
Lady Rayner. He also spoke of the death of Mr. Arthur Summerson
who had been a Director and a leading member of the Agricultural
Committee for many years; it was agreed to forward a letter of con-
dolence to his widow.

The Librarian stated that the Book Committee had gone over the class
of Fiction with a view to exclude obsolete and worn-out books and that
a revised Catalogue of Fiction was being printed. He also reported that
the Directors could not see their way to carry out the suggestion of Mr.
Sampson.

The Chairman spoke on the desirability of a fruit export, especially of
bananas and oranges, and hoped that something would be done in the
near future.

Meeting, October 13th, 1914. Elections reported.—Members.—
Messrs. W. L. Harris and Alex. McAndrew. Associates.—Dr. L. J. P.
Clavier, Messrs. O. R. Bennett, G. F. Messervy, H. E. Ennis, A. B.
Allt, P. W. King and John Lawson. Lady Suwbseribers.—Mrs. R. J.
Johnson, Miss Macquarrie, Mrs. C. E. Buck and Miss Bridge.

A Gold Medal awarded to the Permanent Exhibitions Committee for
exhibits at ‘Toronto was exhibited.

The Hon. J. J. Nunan gave a lecture on ‘‘ The Campaigns of France
and Germany.”

At its conclusion His Excellency the Governor moved a vote of
thanks, which was warmly accorded, and spoke of the loyalty of the
Local Forces.

The President also praised the lecture and thanked His Excellency
the Governor for his presence.

Meeting, November 12th, 1914. Elections reported.—Members.—
Sir Charles Major and Mr, G, E. Chamberlin. Associates.—Rev. W.

Proceedings of the Society. 373

Rhodes, Messrs. Geo. King, F. Cabral and J. A. Campbell. Lady
Subseriber.—Mrs. Bourke.

The President spoke of the deaths of Messrs. D. M. Hutson and
Jos. Monkhouse, and it was agreed that a letter of condolence be
forwarded to Mrs. Hutson.

The Hon. C. Clementi gave an interesting lecture on “The Causes
leading up to the Fight with the Germans at Tsing-Tau.”

A vote of thanks was accorded with acclamation.

Lecture, February 10th, 1914. Mr. E. R. Davson read a paper on
‘*The West Indies ; Their Common Interest and Imperial Aim ” before a
large audience including His Excellency the Governor, who introduced
the lecturer and also spoke on the subject. The President, Sir Crossley
Rayner and others took part in the discussion.

Conversazione, March 31st, 1914.

An immense crowd filled the Reading Room and flowed into the
Museum, for it had been announced that Her Highness Princess Marie
Louise was to be present and that His Excellency the Governor would
give a Lantern Lecture on his late trip to the Interior.

An item on the programme was the presentation to His Excellency
the Governor of an illuminated address from the people of Southern
Nigeria.

The President, Sir Crossley Rayner, welcomed Her Highness and
spoke of the circumstances under which the Society was permitted by
Queen Victoria to use the name “ Royal” and how Her Majesty became
Patroness. He then reviewed the work done by Sir Walter Egerton
in Nigeria.

The address having been duly presented, His Excellency made a few
remarks on Nigeria and then lectured on the proposed Hinterland Rail-
way. The lecture was illustrated by a large number of lantern views, a
few of which had been prepared from photos taken by the Princess and
the others by His Excellency.

A vote of thanks, with acclamation, was carried on the motion of
Hon. A. P. Sherlock, seconded by Hon. C. F. Wieting.

Refreshments were provided.

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