178 Timehri. 



the volume of traffic passiug over the existing railway between Wistnar 

 and Rockatone and therefore adversely affect the lien which the Govern- 

 ment has upon that railway. Moreover the existing liae between Vreed- 

 en-Hoop and Vergenoegen is a three feet six inches gauge line and the 

 Concessionaires say that they will not be satisfied with anything less 

 than the standard gauge. 



" The third route is that from Bartica — a route with respect to which 

 Your Lordship will be aware there has been previous correspondence. A 

 railway taken from Bartica would follow the line of the Bartica-Caburi 

 road (shown in the map of the colony dated 1902) pass through the 

 Potaro gold-fields about Potaro Landing and thence following the line of 

 what is called the Potaro Road proceed across the Conawarook River, and 

 taking a line along the left bank of the Echilebar River get to the 

 frontier, either at the point where the Ireng and Takutu Rivers join or 

 at a point on the navigable part of the Ireng River above the junction. 



■• The first route would give a probable length of railway of 300 miles, 

 the second of 280 miles, both inclusive of railways already in existence, 

 and the third 200 or 210 miles." 



The fourth route w r as referred to in paragraph 16 of the despatch as 

 " that from Cartabo point which however is not a route to the Brazilian 

 frontier and therefore not to be discussed in connection with the pro- 

 posals now under consideration." This line carried to a temporary 

 terminus on the Cuyuni 35 miles, would, said Sir F. M. Hodgson, " open 

 up a valuable, in all probability a paying, district " and a road in first in- 

 stance to Mara -Mara on the Puruni River would bring a further rich 

 timber and mineral district into communication. The line indicated was 

 the favourite scheme of the Governor at the time, who had a fancy for a 

 Government built and owned railway and thought this comparatively 

 small venture within the means of the Colony to carry through. 



Colonel Link's proposals were rejected, and railways remained in the 

 air, but in 19 L 2 a railway survey was made from the Demerara-Essequibo 

 Railway terminus at Rockstone through the country between the two 

 rivers to the point where the Potaro flows into the Essequibo and thence 

 across the Konawaruk district towards Kaieteuk fall on the Potaro River. 

 The cost of the projected route was ascertained to be too great to enter- 

 tain a project of railway construction on the line surveyed. 



In July, 1912, an able article from the pen of a Member of the Rail- 

 way Joint Committee, which was appointed to consider Colonel Link's 

 and other schemes of railway construction, appeired in " Timehri."' The 

 writer dismissed tourist and mineral possibilities from any serious influence 

 on the policy of railway construction or the routes to be chosen. 

 He sums up the position at that time in the following words : — 



" The gold and diamond prospects mentioned so hopefully in the 

 papers and discussions of 1902 have vanished into die Ewigkeit. The really 

 important mines, at Omai, Peters and Barima, are no longer factors in the 

 problem of the Colony, Enthusiasts with zeal not according to know- 



