Development and - Taxation. <S5 



building such a much needed line would present no difficulty. With us, 

 unfortunately, this is not the case. With our small population taxation 

 has reached the limit, or has pretty nearly reached it anyway. While 

 we are quite willing to give grants of land, no one seems to be willing to 

 make a railway simply in return for land. No one, leastaways as yet, 

 has proposed to build it without some kind of guarantee from the 

 Government of payment of interest on capital expenditure. The problem 

 therefore is. whether the colony can afford to pay the guarantee required. 

 The settling of that question can be no light one for those on whom the 

 heavy burden of Government falls. 



When however, we find men, so exclusively associated with sugar 

 as our good friend Mr. Charles Sand bach Parker, the Managing Director 

 of the Demerara Company, engaged in endeavouring to find a way, the 

 problem cannot be given up as hopeless. At the West Indian Agricul- 

 tural Conference last year, Mr. Parker and his fellow representative 

 of the West India Committee, Mr. Davson, held more than one consulta- 

 tion with the delegates frcm this colony of whom I happened to be one 

 as President of this Society and when I saw him in London in December 

 and January, he was already a long way advanced from the position 

 of iion po88umus which the non-resident proprietors are sometimes 

 accused of adopting. Mr. Parker, in an address given on March 13th at 

 a City luncheon given by the Royal Colonial Institute, thus summarises 

 his conclusions : — - 



(1) Surveys should be at once undertaken for construction of a rail- 

 road to open up a tract of land suitable for settlers at the point nearest 

 to civilisation, bearing in mind the ultimate object of a trunk line to 

 Manaos. I understand $20,000 has already been voted by the Combined 

 Court for this purpose. (2) A group of capitalists, English or Canadian 

 if possible, or American, should be induced to undertake the construction 

 of the railway by a guarantee of interest for a certain number of years, 

 liberal grants of land, free import of materials and freedom from taxation 

 for a term of years. (3) It should be stipulated that they import their 

 own labour and undertake not to interfere with the present labour re- 

 quirements of the colony. (4) Governments of Italy and Portugal should 

 be approached with a view to ascertaining whether they would give 

 assistance by way of a joint subsidy to steamers to bring families of 

 settlers at special rates (5) The labour supply available for sugar and other 

 coast agricultural industries should be augmented by increased imports 

 of East Indians. This ought not to fall entirely, as now upon the sugar 

 industry, and I would suggest that the Government pay compensation to 

 the sugar estates at so much per head for all labourers who, at the 

 expiration of their five years' indenture, leave the sugar estates for other 

 employment. The present initial cost, paid by the sugar industry, of 

 immigrants is about £15 per head, of which £1 10s. is for half-cost of 

 their return passage to India plus acreage tax 6s. 3d. per acre per annum 

 on all land cultivated in sugar, which works out at about £2(i a head, to 

 which must be added expenditure on quinine and hospital treatment 



