In a “Secret” memorandum dated May 04, 1939 to the British Cabinet Committee, a report titled “Report of the British Guiana refugee commission to the advisory committee on political refugees appointed by the president of the United States of America” was circulated.
In a “Secret” memorandum dated May 04, 1939 to the British Cabinet Committee, a report titled “Report of the British Guiana refugee commission to the advisory committee on political refugees appointed by the president of the United States of America” was circulated. The report discussed the British Government making a tentative offer of lands in British Guiana as a possible site for the settlement of the involuntary refugees created by recent events in Europe. The President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees agreed to appoint an impartial commission to investigate these areas.
Excerpt:
This Commission was given the following terms of reference: — To study and report on the suitability and practicability of large-scale colonization in British Guiana for involuntary emigrants of European origin, from the physical, climatic and economic points of view, to estimate the approximate numbers that might be settled there (a) immediately; (&) over a term of years; to calculate the probable cost of such settlement; if mass colonization appears feasible, to recommend a general plan of settlement.
Areas available for examination
The following areas were made available for examination: —
a) The district south of 5'0 north latitude between the Essequibo River and the Brazilian boundary on the west of the territory, covering an area of about 22,500 square miles, of which 4,400 square miles are open savannah and the remainder forest.
b) The district south of 5" north latitude lying between the Essequibo and Courantyne Rivers and the Brazilian boundary on the south of the territory, covering an area of about 14,800 square miles which is almost entirely forest.
c) An area covering about 4,600 square miles, partly mountainous and principally forest country, in the Northwest District of the Colony, "lying between the watershed of the Barima and Kaituma Rivers on the north and the watershed of the Cuyuni and the North-west District river system on the south.
The above areas include some 855 square miles of Indian reservation which would not be available for examination, and also areas extending to between 3,000 and 4,000 square miles over which grazing, mineral and other rights have been granted for specified periods.
The Commission assembled in Georgetown, British Guiana, on 14th February, 1939.
It will be useful at this point to examine in some detail the general nature of the problem confronting the Commission.
In 1934 the Assyrian Commission examined the Rupununi savannahs of British Guiana with a view to settling the Assyrian people in the hinterland of the Colony. Its report was unfavourable. The conclusions of the Assyrian Commission were not, however, necessarily germane to the problem with which this Cornmission had to deal since it presented a number of special features. These are: —
(a) The extreme urgency and necessity with which the refugees were being forced to find new homes.
(b) Considerable sums of money would presumably be available for the establishment and maintenance of any settlement which might be possible.
(c) The present proposal differed from that of the Assyrian project in that it contemplated the settlement of a much larger number of people and on a scale which would justify the considerable capital investment obviously necessary for the development of the country for colonization
Methods of approaching the hinterland.
The hinterland of British Guiana, especially that area lying south of the fifth parallel of north latitude, has been very sparsely settled and contains to-day a negligible number of European colonists, owing principally to the extreme difficulty of access. At present it may be reached by an arduous canoe or launch journey up the Essequibo and Rupununi rivers or by an equally arduous land journey over the Rupununi Cattle Trail, through which are driven, with considerable losses/the cattle now raised on the savannahs of the far interior.
A third method of approach, and perhaps the easiest one, is via the Amazon, Rio Negro, Rio Branco and Rio Takatu to the British frontier. This route, however, is through Brazilian territory and available only in the height of the wet season. It is open to river steamers drawing from four to six feet of water from June until September, approximately.
It may, therefore, be said that any attempt to settle people in substantial numbers would involve the construction of a road which would pierce the forest belt between the sea (or those points on the navigable rivers which may be reached by deep water vessels) and the savannahs which stretch broadly speaking from the 5th parallel to the second parallel of north latitude between the fifty-ninth and sixtieth meridians of west longitude. The time, money and effort involved in constructing even the cheapest kind of transport route would certainly be so great that it could only be justified if settlement on a large scale were found to be possible.
The report went on to describe the sustainability and the potential costs of establishing and maintaining the trial settlements for a period of two years, with a population of 5,000 people at an estimated at $3,000,000. The concluded with the following statement “This is a rough figure and is to be accepted with caution.”
