102 Timehri. 



the result that the estimated total expenditure under rny proposals 



are now : — 



Ireng River to Huntley ; 331 miles at £3,500 ... £ 1,158,500 



Single rail Georgetown to Rosignol ... ... 18,000 



Bridge across the Berbice River ... ... 100,000 



Total. ... £1,276,500 



or an estimated saving of £3,500 on bringing the line from Ireng River 

 to Georgetown via Wismar. 



It is thus seen that while effecting a saving of £3,500, passengers and 

 freight could be landed in New Amsterdam and Georgetown and all inter- 

 mediate stations and that the existing lines would carry the traffic. 



The great bar to the progress of the Colony have been the barriers 

 set up by the big rivers. Until these are bridged, the Colony will remain 

 in tbe condition of strangulation from which it has been suffering for so 

 many years. To say that the colonists are easy going and good natured 

 is only playing with the subject. How it has been possible for them to 

 put up with tbe inconvenience, annoyance, and awful waste of time all 

 these years, passes the comprehension of a new-comer like the writer. 

 It is impossible to carry on any intelligent and connected business when 

 one is separated by rivers over a mile in width, that necessitate the 

 taking of a ferry and all its attendant delays and annoyances. People 

 live on the West Coast of Demerara, not five miles from Georgetown as 

 the crow flies, simply because they cannot afford the time and the patience 

 to cross the ferry every day, and I for one do not blame them, I pity 

 them. 



The bridging of the Demerara River is a much more difficult matter 

 than that of the Berbice River, and will require very careful survey and 

 close investigation, but I cannot deal with that in this present article. 

 The main point to bear in mind is the fact that the present railway at 

 Georgetown must be carried along the water front, after that, the bridge 

 across the Demerara River may be considered. As advised several years 

 ago, the merchants should sheet off their stellings out to the prescribed 

 line so that a scour is induced parallel with the length of the water front, 

 if this is not done the river will silt up and the stellings will have to be 

 extended further and further into the river. 



In my report of 1917 I allowed for a " Dipper " dredger to excavate 

 the line from Huntley, this being a dredger mounted on a punt which 

 would have to be placed on a truck, when the ground began to rise. 

 Now, however, the Government has acquired one of the finest excavating 

 machines made and it has been installed at Clonbrook in readiness to 

 throw up the new road deviation there, 



