History This Week – No.5/2010
By Gwyneth George
This article examines some of the major transportation issues in British Guiana in the 19th and early 20th centuries to explain the preferred modes of transportation and the type of transportation system established in the colony.
The first transportation lines that existed in British Guiana were those established by the Amerindians, the Indigenous peoples of South America. These were usually trails used to conduct their trading activities. Detailed information on the actual routes traversed by the Amerindians is not available but Schomburgk, one of the pioneers of travels in the interior, recorded the existence of a lot of trails in the Rupununi area and was looking for a trail that was said to lead from Demerara to Corentyne.
On establishing settlements in British Guiana, the Dutch used the navigable rivers to trade with the Amerindians. Their main lines of transport were restricted to areas between the mouths of the rivers and the first dangerous waterfalls or rapids of these rivers. It is recorded that the rivers were used as the Dutch Settlers found it impossible to construct roads along the banks of the river and between plantations. Hence communication was maintained chiefly by water, while footpaths were used between some of the most important ports and habitations.
By the late 18th century, given the difficulty of coastal navigation and the absence of coastal roads, two canals were dug to link the lower Demerara River with the hinterland immediately to the east and west of it and by the end of the eighteenth century, three such canals were in existence. These canals became essential to communication with the coastal estates and for transporting the produce to ships in the lower reaches of the river. As far as the early colonists were concerned, the waterways were ideally suitable for transporting their produce as the transportation of produce was mainly effected by rivers and the Atlantic Ocean.
However, due to the width of the rivers and the difficulty of establishing bridges as a result of the size and powerful currents of the larger streams, it was found necessary to establish ferries across the Demerara and Berbice rivers. But this service always had to be heavily subsided by the government; for example, between 1898-1914, Sprostons, a private company, received subsidies amounting to $57,000. It was because of this that the Governor decided to purchase five steamers to run to various parts of the colony. But it was soon recognised that river transportation was not always ideally suitable for all parts of the colony.
According to one Historian, the construction of roads may have been stimulated by the need to move troops quickly from one location to another. This awareness, coming immediately after the Berbice Slave Rebellion in 1763, may have been brought on by the inadequacy of the existing transportation system in terms of capturing runaway slaves. Consequently, by 1807, it was therefore possible to travel by road along the West Coast of Demerara to Parika on the East Bank of the Essequibo River by means of a rudimentary road designed to meet the needs of the plantation.
By 1847, the transportation system was further expanded when the railway system commenced. This system was designed to facilitate the transport of sugar and other produce from the estates that lie along the coastline of Georgetown for export. The planters also saw the pressing need to “substitute mechanical for manual labour”. In its early stages, the East Coast Railway extended as far as Plaisance, but by 1864, it was extended to Mahaica and by 1897 the railway from Vreed-en-Hoop to Greenwich Park on the West Coast Demerara had commenced. However, the railway system was also heavily subsidised by the government since by 1912, the Demerara Railway Company was also receiving a subsidy of $168,000 to run the two railways.
Up to 1899, interior transportation continued to be largely confined to the rivers and was serviced by private launches and sloops. These facilitated the limited activities which were carried out in that area. It was not until gold, then diamonds, were discovered that an attempt was made to construct trails in the interior. Civil aviation, which commenced in 1913, was seen as an alternative mode of transportation but since it had not been established on an extensive scale, the service was limited and the cost prohibitive. Like the railways, the service was also subsidised by the government.
The dilemma for the colonial government was the heavy investment required to maintain all modes of transportation. But the dilemma was not only one of cost, but the need to keep labour as close to the estates as possible. For instance, when the railways became so popular that there were calls to extend it, the planters feared that to extend the railway would encourage the Blacks and East Indians to settle near it as peasant farmers. As one writer points out, with Emancipation, the plantocracy foresaw a labour shortage and anything that was suspected of drawing labourers away from the estates was viewed with suspicion. Nevertheless, the importance of the railways was summed up in the statement that “they tap the wants of our sugar estates on the Coast, the extension to Berbice taps the cattle ranches and the farms of Mahaica, Berbice and West Coast.”
Governor F.G. Guggisberg in delivering his inaugural speech to the Legislative Council in 1928 noted that the land transport system of the country was confined to the alluvial belt where a motor road supported by ferries ran from Springlands in the East to Charity in the West. Practically all the roads were of a non-permanent nature and heavy rainfall entailed prohibitive annual maintenance cost. The triple line of communication by road, rail and waterway along the coast was not only maintained or subsidised by the government but was far in excess of local requirements of trade. For instance, the government had assumed total responsibility for the railways in 1922 and this incurred a total commitment of over $200,000 per annum. This, coupled with the heavy cost of road maintenance, was creating an unduly heavy burden on the small revenues of the country. It is this burden that forced the government to enunciate a policy aimed at coordinating the various modes of transportation.
It is this policy of 1928 that explains most clearly the rationale for the preference of one type of transportation over the other, and the thinking of the colonial government when dealing with the transportation issues of the day. It is this policy that would also dictate the type of transportation network that would be put in place and would remain the dominant feature for most of the twentieth century.
The policy enunciated that the waterways of the country would remain the main trade routes until such time as the volume of production justified expenditure on new land communications. The policy also enunciated that marine and river surveys showed that the waterways were suitable for trade routes to the hinterland. Additionally, there was the need to investigate the double line of land communications between Parika and Berbice, and to maintain only these roads and railways in this section which were justified in the interest of trade and the financial situation of the colony. As early as the third decade of the twentieth century, the continued existence of the railway service was justified on economic grounds. It was not only the case of a preference of one mode of transportation over the other but the cheapest and most suitable mode that was necessary to support the colonial economy.
The policy above highlights three issues associated with the transportation system in existence Firstly, the waterways were considered the most satisfactory mode of transportation for the needs of the colonial economy. Secondly, emphasis was placed on the main trade routes on the coastal belt. Thirdly, the waterways were seen as the most suitable and cheapest trade route to the interior. This is not surprising when one considers the limited attempts to encourage the development of any other industry which threatened the existence of the sugar industry, and competed for the small labour supply. The sugar industry was seen as the salvation of the colony and therefore there was no interest in funding expensive schemes such as road works if they did not support a viable economic activity, or if the population did not warrant it. This is the thinking that dominated the colonial period and not only inhibited the development of the country but retarded the establishment of a viable transportation network.
By 1930, therefore, the main lines of communication were concentrated along the coast, the areas of economic activities of the colonial government. The limited effort to open up the hinterland was not done with the aim of encouraging settlement, but as a means of exploiting the mineral wealth of the region. Transportation policy up to 1930 also favoured the construction of railways rather than roads, due to the relative cheapness of railways as against roads. Understandably, railway construction provided revenue and jobs for the Mother country. Roads were always viewed as a secondary mode of transportation to waterways and railways, since the latter two were felt to be ideally suitable for the needs of the colony which were focused mainly on getting the produce of the colony to the mother country.
