298 TIMEHRI. 
and the estates, so it was decided to ascertain by 
what means it could be increased. In December*1864, 
the Town Council voted $1,000 to assist the Lamaha Com- 
mittee in improving the supply of water vza the canal. 
In March 1865, the Committee resolved to petition the 
Government to order a survey to be made of the lands 
lying between the Demerara River and Mahaica Creek 
and a deputation was nominated to wait upon tke 
Governor and present the petition. The Governor subse- 
quently received the deputation and promised his cordial 
support. Mr, CATHCART CHALMERS, Crown Surveyor, 
was told off for the survey which was to cost $1,000, half 
to be paid by the Town Council and half by the Lamaha 
Committee. - 
The survey was made in due course, the report and 
chart being laid before the Committee on 16th June 1865. 
Mr. CHALMERS sums up by saying that “ it is impraéti- 
cable to obtain a supply of water from the Lama Creek or 
any of its tributaries unless by very expensive artificial 
means.’ He recommended a pumping station to be 
established at the head of the canal. But his schemes 
were too costly to have been entertained by the Com- 
mittee, and nothing seems to have been done beyond 
clearing and widening the existing canal until Mr. Rus- 
SELL appeared upon the scene about ten years afterwards, 
This brings us down close to our own times, and to 
events within the recolle€tion of living colonists, so it 
seems undesirable to pursue these extra€ts from the 
minutes of the Lamaha Committee Meetings any further, 
The following is a List of the Commissioners of the 
canal as far as they can be ascertained from the minutes 
from 1827 to 1865 :— 
