Some Lines of Progress. 219 
of the proceedings those interests are safeguarded. At the present moment 
there is occurring a remarkable reaction towards the methods of the days of 
individual proprietorship. Directors of many of the leading firms, planting 
or commercial, or both planting and commercial, are visiting or about to visit 
' the colony. Why should they not face the problem and in co-operation with 
their local representatives and others entitled to be considered, formulate 
a definite policy ? They may not succeed in framing a scheme which will dis- 
pense with the company promoter but at all events they can see that the bargain 
is not entirely one-sided. 
The maps of South and West Africa, Canada and Brazil show how those 
progressive countries are being covered with a network of railways. The 
necessity for dealing on a large scale with railway questions has created the 
South African Union, where 75 millions sterling have been spent on construction. 
It has united East Africa with the former Uganda Provinces East of Lake 
Victoria Nyanza. It has united Lagos and Southern Nigeria and will eventually 
build up a West African Dominion by the incorporation with them of Northern 
Nigetia On that much abused West Coast 1,100 miles of railway have been 
built in ten years. In Canada the five millions sterling of subsidy and the 
vast land grant to the Canadian Pacific have been so little -egretted that three 
great trunk lines now exist and mighty schemes for connecting the great lakes 
with Hudson’s Bay are being rapidly pushed forward with the aid of lands and 
money(still indispensable to construction even in that progressive land.) How 
long is British Guiana to remain huddled upon the foreshore—a byword to 
the daring British pioneers elsewhere for its neglect of the resources it wrested 
over a hundred yea~s ago from the Hollanders ? 
A question of such vital importance can hardly be classed as politics, so I 
have handled it without reserve. One does not cease to be a British citizen 
by accepting the office of Solicitor General of British Guiana. Moreover the 
furtherance of every form of progress has, at all times, been the object of this 
Society, and I should be sorry to depart from the high traditions of former 
Presidents. The railway question was dealt with from its engineering side 
by Mr. Luke Hill in his Presidential address in 1902. But we have built no 
railways since. The Society might well consider the republication of that 
interesting paper and of the discussion it aroused. 
In rega d to other matters I may conclude by pointing out that it is to the 
Society that the introduction into the colony of the first agricultural chemist 
was due. The Botanic Gardens are the result of its suggestion. The Chamber 
of Commerce and Agricultural Board are merely the development of its com- 
mittees. It contributed much to the original project of the East Coast Railway. 
Its Collectors and Curators from the days of Appun appear to have done yeoman 
service in making the resources of the colony known. The local representation 
a5 the various great exhibitions such as London, Chicago, Dublin, Glasgow, 
and Paris has all been arranged gratuitously by the Society, its officers and 
members. It is thus the parent of the Permanent Exhibitions Committee. 
Numerous horticultural and other local shows have been successfully promoted 
by its means, The mining industry in all its branches has always engaged 
