The Crown Lands of British Guiana. 333 



furthermore, I think there are ways and means of obtaining 

 a Letter of Decree from a Judge in the matter through the 

 medium of a promissory note, a sale at Au6lion, and a 

 Lawyer. To all pra6lical intents and purposes, in most 

 cases, this Letter of Decree is as good as a transport. 



To make a long and expansive story short, in this 

 matter, let the Government give transports for all lands 

 that have been undisputedly claimed for the last 5 years 

 and charge the recipients with the cost of making such 

 transports. In the first instance the land must belong to 

 somebody if you want the colony to progress ; I don't 

 suppose you are going to make a gigantic " public works" 

 of the Colony ; therefore as your first progressive step 

 let the land be properly and individually owned. All the 

 people I may say who claim lands are either themselves 

 old settlers or the descendants of old settlers, and from 

 that fa£l I would deem they had a better right to the 

 land than any one else, and should be the first to benefit 

 by the profitable use of it. 



Referring to licences of occupancy, such a case as the 

 following may occur — a man may want a piece of land 

 for his residence and such land might be unprofitable for 

 cultivation, this might be the case with a wood-cutter or 

 ballata colle6lor; it is necessary that his house be near 

 the highway, i.e. river or creek. Is it fair then that the 

 licencee of such land, at great expense to himself, should 

 be compelled to keep 6 acres of barren land in cultiva- 

 tion, or do without that which would otherwise be a 

 very valuable piece of land in the general conducting of 

 his business? Would this come under the head of 

 " beneficial occupancy" ? I would also advise the adoption 

 of the inclusive system of charging per acre for licences 



UU 



