182 Timehri 



the route projected in Mr. Bland's report. Apart however from minor 

 alterations of a few miles on either side of the main line now traced, no 

 great departure is likely to be made in the future from the route indi- 

 cated by Sir Walter Egerton for a frontier railway. A recent report of 

 gold found near the Rupununi head-waters will not influence the question. 

 If the Ireng mouth is once brought within ten hours of Georgetown the 

 gold deposits long known to exist in the upper Rupununi, Berbice and New 

 River districts will all be within sufficiently easy reach to be fully tested. 



The long series of discussions has at any rate brought us to a defi- 

 nite general line with a terminus which opens vistas of future develop- 

 ment to the practical imagination. 



Gauge of Railway. 

 The earlier discussions already cited for a long time hovered round 

 the possibilities of tramways or light railways, with a view to the cheapest 

 possible means of access to the gold-fields being rapidly constructed. 

 We have travelled so far from the limited outlook of 1892 in the long 

 years of hope deferred that the merest reference to the tramways or 2'6" 

 gauge railways of the progressives of that time is sufficient. 



As the writer of " Railways Ten Years After " in "Timehri" July, 1912, 

 says: " Although some of the remarks of the writers and speakers of 1902 

 are of purely historic interest (for instance the adoption of the Lartique 

 system could no longer be seriously advocated and no other monorail 

 system was found sufficient favour up to date) the whole discussion con- 

 tains many features of permanent value 



" The question of gauge for a trunk route would appear to be now 

 settled by the insistence on the metre guage in the Brazilian Railways. . . . 

 that standard (the metre gauge) would appear to be a compromise which 

 would have met the views of Messrs. Dorman and de la Bastide who were 

 in favour of light railways which can be widened with comparative ease 

 and cheapness should the traffic render it desirable. 



"The standard gauge of 4ft. 8^in. such as Mr. Luke Hill and Colonel 

 Link advocated, may now be regarded as out of the question for any 

 railway into the interior." 



Finally the metre gauge is adhered to in the report by Mr. E. M. Bland. 



Cost of Railways. 

 The very important question of cost is one on which many opinions 

 have been given and in the absence of any reliable knowledge of the 

 engineering problems to be solved in the construction of a railway all 

 may be taken as more or less partially informed estimates, at least up till 

 the latest one, data more or less complete for which has been furnished by 

 the reconnaisance made by Sir Walter Egerton. 



Mr. Robert Tennant in 1893 estimated for the Demerara-Potaro line 

 (East Bank of Essequebo) £3,000-£4,000 per mile for an ordinary gauge 

 railway. 



