The British Guiana Exhibition. ioi 
tion with the first of these biennial Exhibitions, the idea 
originated of inviting competition from neighbouring 
colonies situated much as is our own, and thus, on the 
one hand, of strengthening, even if only in small degree, 
the somewhat loose bond between the various very 
disconnected places usually thought of by the outside 
world as one whole, under the name of the West Indies, 
and, on the other hand, of showing to the people of our 
own colony the many points in which they are far behind 
the people of neighbouring colonies in variety and, es- 
pecially, in neatness of industry. In accordance with this 
idea, our neighbours in the colonies of Surinam and 
Cayenne were invited to compete at the Exhibition of 
1879; and by a further extension of the same idea the 
Exhibition of this year was opened to nearly the whole of 
the West Indies. And the success of this opening of our 
Exhibitions having been, taking various disadvantageous 
circumstances into consideration, already very marked, 
it is to be hoped that on the next occasion the Exhibition 
will be opened to the whole of the West Indies, including 
under that somewhat vague name, Dutch and French 
Guianas. Nor should this phase of the subject be left 
without a mention of our gratitude to the people of 
Cayenne and St. Lucia, who of all our invited guests 
have as yet responded most liberally to our call, and 
have thus set an admirable example to all other West 
Indian colonies. 
In turning now more immediately to the contents of 
the most recent Exhibition, it may simplify our work if 
it is at once pointed out that, as is necessarily the case, 
the exhibits were very evidently divisible into two great 
