|8 TiMEHRI. 
tain that the present area in sugar cultivation can not be 
maintained. Such estates as are now barely paying their 
way, and making no adequate provision for wear and 
tear of machinery, &c., must soon cease working; and 
eventually the larger and better equipped properties 
will have to adopt the same course, after realizing as 
much as possible of the invested capital. 
Were this to happen within the next decade, it needs 
no prophet to predi6l what the effe6l on the Colony 
would be. What does the present revenue not derived 
dire6lly or indire6lly from sugar and gold amount to, 
or what is it likely to be even ten years hence, if sugar 
growing be discontinued, and rice, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, 
&c., be substituted ? Besides, who will guarantee that 
the stress of the world's competition will not reduce any 
or all of them to the same low price comparatively, as has 
obtained for sugar in recent years? What is to enable 
the British Guiana grower to compete more successfully 
in any of these articles than in sugar? The same 
economic laws hold good in each instance. 
The sugar industry here has been gradually developed. 
The organised application of large capital has been 
necessary to utilize the Coast lands for cane growing, 
for which their soil and climate are known to be better 
suited than for any other produ6l. Skilful agriculture, 
scientific manufa6lure, and a free investment of money 
in machinery and improvements, have placed the name 
of the Colony high up among the progressive sugar 
countries of the world. Under fairly controllable labour 
conditions, sugar can be grown as cheaply in British 
Guiana as in any other part of the globe. The in- 
dustry will rise or fall according as in the coming 
