26o TlMEHRI, 
population of a country is above criticism, and affords 
a very fair index to its prosperity, but the system adopted 
in Guiana was an anomalous one. I shall not discuss 
the question here, beyond hinting that the tradition of 
Mahommed and the mountain might have furnished a 
suggestion, but the importation of agricultural labourers 
from the other side of the world, from the confines of 
far Cathay and the borders of the Indus, at an enormous 
expense, and burdened with the obligation of carrying 
them back again after a limited period, together with all 
their accumulated wealth — by no means an inconsiderable 
amount — leaving the country so much the poorer by what 
they carry away, seems hardly to be the true solution of 
the problem. Be that as it may, the battle of labour was 
bravely fought, and vi6lory for a time seemed assured, but 
viewing the position of the colony from a standpoint 
beyond the narrow circle of local interests it may be 
doubted if it was not purchased too dearly. The vi6lory 
of Bannockburn threw Scotland behind two centuries in 
civilisation and enlightenment, and if sugar had gone to 
the wall thirty years ago, and the interest at that period 
partially aroused in our mineral resources been allowed to 
take root, to be followed by the development of our gold- 
fields on a scale commensurate with their importance, 
who can say what might have been the status of Guiana 
to-day ? We cannot tell, but hardly that of a bankrupt 
colony living upon appearances. Sugar in British 
Guiana has had its day. Never again can the old order of 
things be restored ; nor should it be desired. The country 
which fosters one particular form of industry to the 
exclusion of all others cannot be held to be truly pros- 
perous, and if the future progress and welfare of the 
