East Indians in British Guiana. 313 
carts (for hire), and 74 horse or mule carts. Licences were also applied 
for by 1,514 hucksters, 10 pawnbrokers and 2 balata collectors, and in 
respect of 1,159 bateaux, 120 carriages (for hire), and 320 horses and 
mules (for hire). Provision shops have been increased by 28, butcher 
shops by 36, and hucksters by 141. East Indians, or those of East 
Indian descent, are also largely employed in the colony as dispensers and 
bookkeepers for sugar estates, and as interpreters attached to the 
Immigration Department or to the Judicial Branch of the Government 
Service They can also hold their own as artisans or mechanics. In the 
Public Service two East Indians have risen to the position of Magistrates’ 
Clerks—one of them being now on pension. Of three others one is a 
Marshal in the Judicial Establishment, one a clerk in the Official Receiver’s 
Office, and a third a clerical assistant in a Magistrate’s Clerk’s Office. 
Professional life is becoming an irresistible attraction to the educated 
and aspiring young East Indian creoles. Time was when a father’s 
highest ambition was to get his son qualified as a dispenser or bookkeeper. 
To-day we haye in the colony three of these creoles who are doctors— 
one of them being in the Government Medical Service, two others are 
now practising in the legal profession, and three or four more will soon 
be added to their number. In the ministry are two East Indians con- 
nected with the Church of England missions. It may be added that the 
East Indian race here has also produced a Bachelor of Arts (Cantab), 
and a Fellow of Fowler's Phrenological Institute (London). 
The political status of East Indians in British Guiana is precisely 
the same as that of any other race in the community. It is regrettable, 
however, to find so very few availing themselves of the franchise. As 
pointed out by Mr. Duff only 188 or 4.5 per cent. of the total number 
(4,104) of names recorded in the Official List published in May, 1911, 
were those of the East Indian race ; though I believe there has been a 
slight increase of the number since. The fact is, East Indians are not 
quite alive yet to their own political rights and interests. I join with 
our late Immigration Agent General in deploring the fact that these 
people are still unrepresented in the Legislature by any of their own 
nationality. He doubtless realised that the ‘“ Protector of the Immi- 
grants” is not a sufficient representative in the Legislature of our East 
Indian population. He, at any rate, thought that their numbers and 
wealth entitle them to some representation in the Legislature—where, it 
is easy to see, their interests can be vitally injured or vitally promoted 
by any measure of legislation. It is important to point out here what 
Mr. Duff so properly pointed out last year in his annual report that 
though, under the Constitution Ordinance, inability to read or write 
English does not disqualify anyone as a voter, provided he can “read or 
write some language,” East Indians who can read or write their own 
language are “disqualified by the fact that no provision exists in the 
Ordinance for the printing of the necessary papers in any other than 
English.” There are hundreds of East Indians in the colony who have 
the necessary property qualifications as voters but who cannot read 
