" Timehri" and Development. 175 



Mr. G. V. de la Bastide's paper, which was read by the President, said 

 that Mr. Hill had made too much of the transhipment or "handling" 

 difficulty. He put the cost at Wismar at 6 or 7 cents per ton and at 

 Rockstone at 10 cents per ton, this would give about 60 cents per ton in 

 the various handlings detailed above on the route criticised by Mr. Hill. 



Detailing the possibilities of further railway development Mr. Hill re- 

 fers first to coast railways, the extension of the East Coast Demerara rail- 

 way to Berbice, the Corentyne railway from New Amsterdam to Skeldon 

 " already surveyed,"' a railway from Suddie to Devonshire Castle on the 

 Aroabisce Coast of Essequibo and continues: "At the present time, 

 however, the hopes of the colony centre in the successful development of 

 its mineral resources, its gold and diamond industries, so our thoughts 

 naturally direct themselves towards the vast areas of our hinterland with 

 its possibilities of hidden wealth, and of which so little is known beyond 

 the mere fringes of our principal waterways and even to that extent only 

 in the last dozen years 



•• Having so far accepted Bartica as the main entrepot for the Esse- 

 quibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni districts, let us see how best to reach it 

 from Georgetown, which, I assume will continue to be the chief port and 

 capital city of the colony. 



" First we have the existing Sprostons* direct steamer route of about 

 six hours along the West Coast and up the Essequibo river which, I venture 

 to think, will be found to be the most convenient and cheapest mode of 

 transport. As an alternative, however, we have a possible 40 miles 

 extension of the West Coast railway around Parika and up the right bank 

 of the Essequibo to a point opposite Bartica, whence passengers and 

 goods might be transported across the Essequibo by steam ferry or a 



wire rope way elevated high above the river there beino- five 



loadings and dischargings (by the route) as compared with one by the 

 steamer route 



" Leaving Bartica, the route of the proposed central trunk line would 

 take an ascending curve round the back of Bartica Point towards the 

 high land at the back of Kalacoon and thence along the ridge of the 

 watershed between the Essequibo and Mazaruni Rivers ; crossing the 

 Potaro River just below the mouth of the Couriebrong close to Potaro 

 landing, thence in a southerly direction crossing the Siparuni below the 

 mouth of the Takoutu, or across the Purro-birro and the Rupununi 

 Rivers and their tributary streams tapping the great Rupununi savannahs 

 along the watershed of the Rewa River, crossing the Quitaro and 

 Cassikitu Rivers to the upper reaches of the Essequibo close to the 

 Brazilian boundary, a total distance of 420 miles Already a cart- 

 road has been formed along the proposed route a distance of some 30 

 miles from Bartica. . . . 



" The first of the branch lines to be constructed would doubtless be 

 one to the Mazaruni diamond fields, branching from the main trunk line 

 30 or 40 miles north of the Potaro, bending round towards the Mazaruni, 



