EAILWAYS. 129 



" So far as the colony itself is concerned, the proposal is to build a 

 railway from the town of Belize, running south of the Belize or Old Biver, 

 through Crown lands, to the boundary of Guatemala, in the direction of 

 Garbutt's Falls, thus opening up virgin forests, abounding in all the 

 precious woods, &c., already mentioned, the produce of which can be 

 brought to market only by means of a railway. The revenue derivable from 

 this trade would be very large. 



"A grant of land three miles on either side of the line is intended to be . 

 given to the constructors of the railway, embracing a total area of 384,000 

 acres. Of these lands it is proposed that the railway shall give free grants 

 to actual settlers of alternate blocks of as much as they can bring under 

 cultivation, reserving the other alternate blocks for sale in open market. 



" The estimated length of the line is 100 miles. The gauge will be 3 feet, 

 and the proposed capital of the company will be 500,000, in 5,000 shares 

 of 100 each. The proposal has been generally approved by the Colonial 

 Government, and has, we believe, been submitted to the favourable 

 consideration of the Secretary of State for the Colonies." 



One of the chief wants of the country, next to the solution of 

 the labour question, is to obtain due supplies of seeds and plants 

 for establishing large areas under cultivation. Of bananas, 

 plantains, and coco-nuts, there is an abundant supply of 

 "suckers" and seeds always available in the colony, The 

 valuable rubber-tree, cacao, vanilla, sarsaparilla, and many other 

 plants, are found wild in the woods, and but little care and 

 attention is needed to procure seeds or plants. But for nutmeg, 

 cloves, tea, cardamoms, best kinds of oranges, limes, lemons, fine 

 seed of tobacco, plants of cinnamon, camphor, black pepper, 

 ipecacuanha, ginger, turmeric, oil plants, fodder plants, and the 

 numerous choice and valuable fruit-trees which I have 

 suggested for the colony, there should be a well-organised 

 system adopted, either by means of an Agricultural Board or 

 Botanic Garden, which should give special attention to their 

 introduction and distribution. I believe an Agricultural 

 Board was intended to be formed in 1879, in accordance 



