Foreword. iii. 



has summed up all that can be said on the subject. Risks, he said, cannot 

 be avoided. It is better to encounter them than to face the slow strangu- 

 lation of our present decline. To develop our inheritance we must be 

 prepared to meet the initial cost. 



In short the economic side of this magazine will set itself in 

 future to the accumulation of the data bearing upon (1) the mak- 

 ing of Georgetown a first-class port ; (2) the opening up of -the 

 interior by a frontier railway aiming at becoming the Northern 

 section of a South American trunk line ; (3) the irrigating and draining 

 of suitable areas on the Corentyne and on the East Coast Demerara and 

 West Coast Berbice for future settlement ; (4) the introduction of an 

 annual supply of labour and population of a suitable class in the shape 

 of whole families by proper inducements, East Indians for the Coast and 

 Europeans and Africans for the Savannahs being preferred ; (5) the 

 financial questions attending any attempt to carry out such enterprises 

 individually or as a whole and their general effect upon taxation, revenue 

 and public debt ; (6) as incidental to some of the foregoing the ascer- 

 tainment of the market possibilities of our colony timbers and our 

 savannah cattle of which we are in complete ignorance. There is nothing- 

 new about this programme of investigation. If carried out even in part 

 as a constructive policy it will be only an imitation of what has been 

 done elsewhere by poorer but more enterprising communities. 



The present number begins the third volume of the new series of 

 Timehri. The two special numbers of the Colony Volume have done 

 yeoman service and have received a very large circulation. The extra 

 expense entailed by the wide distribution of the magazine in countries 

 where it might usefully advertise the colony has been borne cheerfully by 

 the Society and in time should reap a worthy harvest of return. 

 The number of enquiries as to land, cattle and timber possibilities, 

 which it has called forth from places as remote from us as the Argentine 

 and the Transvaal are a hopeful sign. The scientific articles have also 

 received full recognition in learned circles, some receiving the honour of 

 mention in authoritative catalogues. The articles on our native Indians 

 have aroused special interest. The new volume, we hope, will not fall below 

 the standard already attained and which in the course of time we hope to 

 surpass. Subject to the scientific object and avoiding political questions 

 its great aim is the creation of an informed public opinion in the colony 

 on all questions which affect its welfare. For that purpose, no editorial 

 responsibility is assumed for signed articles and our pages are open to' 

 suitable contributions from members of every race, religion and class. 

 The Presidential Address of Mr. J. B. Laing has been included. 



[The Editor-in-Chief desires to record his special obligations to Rev. 

 •James Aiken, the Scientific Assistant Editor, who completed the prepara- 

 tion of the last number during his absence and who has actively 

 colloborated in the present issue. To Mr. J. Rodway, Assistant Secretary 

 of the Society, among others his thanks are also due.] 



