COLONISATION SCHbME. 



REPORT OF PROPOSALS AND FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE. 



1. British Guiana, often referred to as Demerara from the name of 

 one of the three counties Demerara, Essequebo and Berbice, is neither a 

 West Indian Island nor an island in the South Seas as is sometimes sup- 

 posed even in well-informed circles. It is the only continental possession 

 of the British Empire in South America, on the north-eastern shoulder 

 of which it is situated, and the rich foreshore which fronts its vast forests 

 and savannahs is enriched by the alluvium of the Amazon from Brazil 

 and the Orinoco from Venezuela. It is the natural outlet for a large 

 area of Northern Brazil. It is the fabled home of Sir Walter Raleigh's 

 El Dorado and if the great writer and soldier did not find the gold he 

 sought or the diamonds he dreamed of, it was not due to the circum- 

 stance that they were not there. 



2. British Guiana is thrice the size of Scotland and is twice and 

 thrice respectively the size of Surinam (Dutch) and Cayenne (French) 

 the only other possessions of European Powers in South America. It is 

 larger by about one-fourth than the South American republics of 

 Uruguay and Paraguay and only one-fifth smaller than Ecuador. Yet 

 the population of these republics is four or five times as great 

 and although Uruguay's resources and position for trade are 

 less favourable than ours her total imports and exports are about six 

 times those of British Guiana, She is situated at the southern end of 

 the shoulder of the sub-continent corresponding to British Guiana's 

 position on the north-east. Her population like ours is very mixed in 

 race. 



Population. 



3. Our population is 311,000 and our area is 90,000 square miles 

 The population is therefore about three to the square mile and is almost 

 entirely confined to the coast. We cultivate less than 170,000 acres out 

 of about 58 million acres. Of these 75,000 acres are under sugar cultiva- 

 tion. About 134,670 are East Indians of whom a majority are not 

 resident on estates and of whom a large number (exact figures not attain- 

 able at this moment) were born in India. Of the rest 118,398 are Blacks, 

 2,874 Chinese, 9,665 Portuguese (either born in the Colony or in Madeira 

 or the Azores) 3,698 Northern Europeans, i.e., British. 



4. The reason of the smalluess of the population is that the various 

 indenture systems by which it was sought to increase the colony's work- 

 ing power after slavery was abolished in 1834 and tho temporary 

 apprenticeship abolished in 1838 looked to the immediate labour require- 

 ments without contemplating any system of colonisation. Those brought 

 in under indenture to work had no special inducements to lead them to 

 remain after they hud been paid ofl at the close of their term. They had 

 the provision of a back passage to tempt them to go. 



