Our Railroad Age. 6i 



is going on in Central Asia. The time will come, how- 

 ever, when the establishment of railroads throughout the 

 Republics of Venezuela and Colombia, and which will 

 conne6l with the great central line, will indicate the 

 desirability of a Guiana line to conne6l with the 

 Venezuelan system, thus placing British Guiana within 

 reach of the benefits of the great railroad system of the 

 continent of which she forms an integral portion. She 

 is a growing colony, with almost unlimited room for ex- 

 pansion, and her commerce and industries will not always 

 be so restri6led as they are at the present time. And 

 in the days of rapid transit that are coming swiftly and 

 surely upon the world, it wull not do to be behind hand 

 and dependent upon ocean transit wholly, whilst coun- 

 tries thousands of miles farther from Europe and the 

 United States than we are, will be brought by rail within 

 two-thirds nearer, by time, than we will be of those 

 centres of civilisation. These fa6ls should be an incen- 

 tive to the pushing forward of local railroads toward the 

 west, even into the very penetralia of the vast wilderness 

 that lies between the Essequebo and the proposed Central 

 line of the South American railroad system. Besides, as 

 is well-known, the railroad is the pioneer of civilisation. 

 Colonisation follows the railroad into the wilderness, it 

 never precedes it, properly speaking, — at least not in 

 that systematic manner that can alone guarantee per- 

 manent development. For the a6lual progress and 

 prosperity of the country in the immediate future, there- 

 fore, as well as to enable her to keep pace with her 

 neighbours in times that are comparatively more remote 

 although praflically not more than a generation ahead of 

 tis, if so far, it is fast becoming an imperative necessity 



