72 Timehri. 



observant that, so far as the tA r o major agricultural industries are con- 

 cerned, the cultivation of sugar and that of rice, one expands at the 

 expense of the other, and for no other reason than that there is not 

 enough labour for both. In the absence of immigration there must 

 needs be a marking of time, while nascent iudustries cannot reach the 

 imago stage. Of natural increase of population there is none. There is 

 room and to spare for a much larger population which will find in the 

 colony opportunities not only to better its condition but to promote the 

 interests of the general community. It is crystal clear that an increased 

 population must precede the introduction of capital. Here there is no 

 middle class who, by dint of frugality and enterprise, can take the place 

 of the capitalist in regard to the management of property for the 

 employment of the labour of others ; and it is admitted that the most 

 intelligent and steady of the ordinary class of peasantry are not qualified 

 to undertake the task. 



During the war increased attention has been manifested towards 

 the question of closer commercial intercourse between Great Britain and 

 her Colonies, especially those of them that have useful raw material to 

 provide her with. That attention is of a remarkable and extensive 

 character, and it remains to see whether a prominent and permanent 

 place is for British Guiana in the future programme of the Imperial 

 Government. In this great question the people of the homeland are no 

 less interested than those of this colony which is yet in its commercial 

 infancy. Here there are vast areas awaiting utilisation and development. 

 There is the clamant cry for captains of industry, but vain must be the 

 call unless and until the means for the efficient employment of capital is 

 at hand. Obviously, the want of population retards the progress of the 

 colony and adversely reacts on its revenue. Ever and anon, the Govern- 

 ment are accused of a want of initiative and statesmanship because 

 development works are not undertaken and progressive measures attacked. 

 The accusers strangely overlook the fact that there is practically no 

 increase of population. Superadded to this material drawback, there 

 is the noticeable tendency of the population to scatter and one which 

 necessarily increases the cost of administration, and the incidence of 

 taxation, the number of taxpayers remaining practically the same. These 

 taxpayers will receive relief only when others are introduced to share the 

 burden. Not without an appreciable reinforcement of this kind can an 

 industrial renaissance be hoped for. 



The statical economic condition of the colony is admittedly un- 

 satisfactory. The Imperial Government, so far as British Guiana is 

 concerned, is still living in the stone age of negligence, ignorance and 

 unconcern. The colony has been left to fend for itself, and ill it has 

 done this, if only because the chilly winds of Downing street have con- 

 tinually been blowing upon it. Hardly can it be a mere coincidence that 

 the purely Crown Colonies of Nigeria, Trinidad and Ceylon have been 

 1 ooming larger than British Guiana on the economic horizon. The mere 



