Village Administration and Local Government in B. G. 339 
Municipal Regulations by which each of the proprietors should be 
bound to perform certain duties and otherwise contribute to the general 
good under some magisterial authority and control”. The roads through 
the villages were in a deplorable condition and in many eases, im- 
passable. Each estate was liable for its maintenance, and their omission 
to repair the road created a very awkward position, as it was obviously 
impossible for the Government to sell off old communities. In 1845, in 
order to meet this difficulty, an’ Ordinance was passed for the maintenance 
of the road through Queenstown in Essequibo, by means of an assessment 
of a rate to be prepared by elected Commissioners, and levied upon the 
villagers. In 1849 an Ordinance with reference to the roads through the 
village of Plaisance was passed ; this Ordinance provided for the appoint- 
ment of proprietary Commissioners, the assessing of the proprietors “ to 
contribute to the making up and keeping in repair the line of public 
road and bridges running or passing through or over the lands of the said 
plantation, Plaisance, and other dams and kokers necessary for the 
preservation thereof.” Other Ordinences of a similiar nature were 
passed, but complaints of the state of the main road still continued, 
and even as late as 1872, Canon Stevenson, late Rector of St. Paul’s 
at Plaisance, stated that the road leadme to the Railway Station 
was so bad that the loss of a shoe was a common occurrence, and 
remarks that ‘happy was he who had a spare pair of boots 
at the Railway Station. and, I think, happier was he who went 
barefooted.” Sir A. M. Ashmore, in his memorandum, says that ‘the 
election of these Commissioners was the first legislative attempt to 
provide a village organisation.” In 1850, an Ordinance was passed 
dealing with the establishment of a general administration for sanitary 
purposes throughout the colony. This appears to have been the first 
attempt to deal with this aspect of the question. This Ordinance 
established two Central Boards of Health, one for Demerara and 
Essequibo, and one for Berbice ; also local Boards of Health composed 
of the Vestries of the Parishes, and the medical men residing therein. 
This Ordinance was in operation for a very short time, and was repealed 
by Ordinance No. 10 of 1852. This was a much more elaborate measure. 
It established a Central Board at Georgetown in place of two Boards 
in the 1850 Ordinance; the Parish Vestries were made local Boards of 
Health for the rural districts with power to establish general systems of 
drainage for their districts, and to make and enforce sanitary regula- 
tions. Power was also taken to declare new villages so as to bring them 
under the operations of the regulations. 
In 1851, in order to deal with the difficulty in the matter of titles, 
Ordinance No. 4 was passed; it was amended in the following year by 
Ordinance No. 10. It provided for the appointment of Commissioners, 
to divide the lands of villages among, and pass transports to, the 
individual proprietors. 
In 1856, Ordinance No. 33, entitled “‘ An Ordinance for the better 
management and regulaion of villages and estates held in undivided 
