The creation of East Indian land settlement schemes in the late nineteenth century in colonial British Guiana was partly due to both the costly repatriation schemes and the cessation of re-indentureship at that juncture of our country’s history.
A definite attempt was made in 1871 to settle some East Indian immigrants when government purchased Plantation Nooten Zuil, an abandoned 578-acre cattle and provision farm on the East Coast of Demerara. The proposal was to settle time expired immigrants in lieu of their return passages by offering them half an acre to build a house, one and a half acre for farming and half an acre for common pasturage. Unfortunately this scheme failed largely because of poor drainage and excessive flooding and immigrants felt the site was badly chosen. In the end Government was forced to abandon the project.
It was not until 1880 that another attempt was made towards the establishment of an immigrant village settlement. This time around government purchased Plantation Huist D’ieren, a partially abandoned estate on the Essequibo Coast.
The settlement of Huist D’ieren (experiment)
Following the purchase of Plantation Huist D’ieren by government in 1880 the land was divided into two-acre cultivation plots along with quarter-acre residential lots and then distributed to immigrants in lieu of their return passages. Initially seventy-three immigrants took up the offer. In the beginning the settlement of Huist D’ieren was placed under the direct supervision of Veeraswammy Mudaliar, Chief Interpreter in the Immigration Department. But by 1882 so serious were problems experienced by residents that the settlement had made virtually no progress. Maintenance of sea defences and public roads became too burdensome and backdams, kokers and main drainage trenches were all in deplorable conditions.
Henry Turner Irving assumed duty as Governor of the colony of British Guiana in May, 1882. Within a few weeks after his arrival, he acquainted himself with several aspects of immigration and the immigration system in general. He was obviously conscious that East Indian immigration was by then firmly established and it had become the mainstay of the sugar industry. Hence, he promptly made an innovation to the land settlement scheme. In this regard he must have been influenced by both the difficulties confronting the initial settlement of Huist D’ieren and the rising cost of repatriation, along with his earlier experience as Governor of Trinidad where a significant Indian immigrant population was already in existence.
As early as May, 1882 the Governor suggested that instead of issuing grants of land to immigrants and confining them to land settlement schemes it would be more satisfactory to provide them with the opportunity to purchase land in localities best suited to their individual needs. He was of the view that a more effective system was for government to “foster spontaneous settlement by rendering available for it the abandoned estates” as no “artificial means are required to stimulate the settlements of the Indian population.” According to him settlement brought about in this manner would be more likely to succeed than those established through grants of land in lieu of return passages. Moreover, it was his view that someone establishing himself and his family on a homestead of his own would hardly attempt to claim his right to a return passage. The administrator very realistically argued that government should embark on effecting crucial infrastructural works including roads, dams, bridges and sea defences before offering lots for sale and he was confident that costs incurred would be recovered. It would seem that Governor Irving had made a careful study of the immigrant psyche at that point in time.
After outlining his intended approach on the settlement of immigrants Irving disclosed: “to give practical effect to these views I have instructed the Immigration Agent-General to select one of the abandoned estates in the hands of government which may appear more suitable for the purpose in order that its drainage may be restored and that it may be set out in lots for sale.” Consequently grants of land in commutation of return passages ceased and in its place came the sale of residential and cultivation lots.
In the case of Huist D’ieren the original system was scrapped and infrastructural works were effected. The land was then divided into 2 acres cultivation lots and