The Crown Lands of British Guiana.* 



By yohn Dalgleish Paterscn. 



lY experience of the wood-cutting industry has 

 been acquired on the Demerara River, hence 

 what I may write herein should be taken as 

 striftly applicable only to thatdistrift. 



Reducing the price of Crown Lands from $i to 25 cts. 

 per acre is most commendable, as much of the land for 

 cultivation would even be very dear at that small price. 

 It might be as well to lump all the fees and stamps, &c. 

 conne6led with the purchase of such land in one, and fix 

 the price at so much per acre inclusive of everything ; 

 the scale per acre being constru6led from the existing 

 fees, stamps, &c., about to be used, as recommended by 

 the Crown Surveyor ; thus in buying 350 acres, and using 

 existing fees &c., the price per acre would be $1 34, 

 This way of putting the price of Crown Lands is far more 

 comprehensive than $1 per acre with a long string of fees, 

 stamps, &c. attachable to the bargain. In the way I sug- 

 gest a man would know at once that instead of a $ i an acre 

 he has to pay $1 34, which is a matter of paramount 

 importance to the class of working man likely to put his 

 savings in such an investment. With regard to the 

 5 cts. per acre tax on uncultivated land, I am of opinion 

 that if the land is worth cultivating profitably, it will 



* The following paper has been handed to us by the Chairman of 

 the Seleft Committee on the Crown Lands' Regulations, by consent of 

 the writer, and refers to the report of that Committee dated September 

 6th, 1894. 



