Notes on Labour, &c. 17 
admitted to be a good worker, but compared with the 
black he is said to fail. He does not spend enough, his 
wants are too few, he feeds and clothes himself cheaply, 
he is too thrifty and saves nearly all his money. It is 
hard to understand how these features can be considered 
unsuitable in a labourer, whom all good colonists would 
desire to see prosperously settled, chiefly by his own 
efforts, gaining an independent living, and saving suffi- 
cient to render his old age comfortable without public 
assistance. 
It is not unlikely the very lack of these qualities that 
most conduces to the non-increase of the black race in 
this Colony, for it is well known that when the earnings 
of labourers are considerably in excess of their require- 
ments, the natural increase of population is rapid, if the 
climate is favourable. 
What British Guiana needs for its development is 
abundant labour, and capital, and there would be no lack 
of the latter if the former were av« liable. If the bounties 
granted by European countries < n sugar produ6lion be 
not removed^ Imperial aid to carry on our immigration 
system on a liberal scale would probably be the best 
way of giving help to the Colony, and would be some 
recompense for the loss we have sustained by the opera- 
tion of that unfair system. 
It is idle to think that fresh capital will be introduced, 
until there is a tolerably certain prospe6l of a fair return 
for its investment. This applies to gold mining, sugar 
growing, cocoa planting, and such other industries as 
depend on capital for their prosecution. 
With a cessation of immigration, or a diminished 
supply such as is proposed for 1898, it is absolutely cer^ 
P 
