208 Timehri. 



THE PRESENT POSITION OF RAILWAY PROJECT. 



Since the above materials were put together a despatch from the 

 Secretary of State has been received which is to some extent discourag- 

 ing in its criticism of the proposals made by His Excellency the Governor 

 in his despatch on the Hinterland Railway. 



As foreshadowed by the Chairman of the Railway Committee at the 

 first meeting of that body want of knowledge of what the views of the 

 Secretary of State would be has, to some extent, rendered the previous 

 work of the Committee useless. 



The Secretary of State roundly condemns the proposition of an 

 advance of capital by the Imperial Government without a definite term 

 for repayment as one which he cannot place before Parliament. He 

 considers that more definite data as to probable traffic should be fur- 

 nished and thinks it "not impossible to propound a scheme under which 

 that development would pay for itself." 



He further lays it down that control of the colony's finances by the 

 Imperial Government would be an absolutely necessary condition of any 

 loan. 



This latter question is one which in the absence of knowledge of the 

 Secretary of State's views the Committee had not reported on. The 

 present Constitution of the colony gives financial control to the Com- 

 bined Court to the extent of modifying the estimates presented by the 

 Executive. The Combined Court consists of Officials and Electives, the 

 latter being in the majority. 



A change of Constitution would be required to meet the views of the 

 Imperial Government. So far as can be seen at present no considerable 

 opposition is likely to be offered to the necessary change. 



A more difficult question is perhaps the framing of a definite estimate 

 of traffic returns, on which a scheme of repayment might be based. The 

 rate of development would of course determine this, and that rate 

 depends upon 



1. The resources available in gold, timber, balata and gums, the graz- 

 ing possibilities of the savannahs, for cattle, horses, sheep and ostriches, 

 the agricultural possibilities of the savannahs and forest lands. 



2. The available population native and imported. 



3. The calibre and enthusiasm of the leading men of the Colony. 



4. Dependent upon (3) the interest and confidence created in financial 

 centres, from which capital for new adventures may be drawn 



In regard to (1) a good deal is known and stated above. It has been 

 too easily assumed that the interior of Guiana is an unknown territory. 

 There are large areas of it unknown, but there are also quite sufficiently 

 large areas about which almost everything vital to the issues is known, 



