The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-09
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
They Dislike the Idea of Venezue-
Ian Arbitration.
BITTER AGAINST UNCLE SAM.

o"ouid the boundary Dispute DO Decided
Against Them Ninety-nine Out of Every
hundred Englishmen I'm British Guiana
Would Lose Money.
GE0RGETowN, British Guiana. April r
III inc Venezuelan British Guiana bound
AIRY olsputc Is decided in favor of Vene-
zueia ninety nino out of every hundred
HhSiishmon i'll this country will lose
money by 1T, and tho same may be said of
nearly evcry American living in tho col
ony, except tho United States consul.
BRUSH Guiana Is divided into throo coun-
Iies, Damarara Berbice and Essequebo
Practically all OF tho gold fields arc sit
uaeed In Essequcbo county, and noarly all
or the territory which comprises that
county Is under dispute.
AS tho sugar industry has dwindled
down to very small factor, owing to the
reduction In the price of sugar, the great
expense OF Keeping tho plantations from
pcing Hooded and tho difficulty In getting
inporcrs ut reasonable price, who can
stand tho climate, gold has become the
1nalnstay of tho colony, and rs 1t Is to
gold, and possibly timber, In the future
from tho E'sequebo county that the resi-
dents here have to look, it may DO imag-
lned that the interest over tho boundary
dispute is very great.
While the rest of tho world Ia looking
upon the question rs practically settled, so
Tar rs 1t concerns the possibility of war,
the point OF view here is entirely different.
The people, that is tho Englishmen, who
control everything, despite the largo ma
1orlty OF tho foreign population, do not
lear war, looking upon such IL thing with
the usual British eyes which 500 nothing
but victory for themselves But they do
fear arbitration above all things, for no
matter how little of Esscqucbo county
were given to Vonczuela IA number of gold
mines would pass out of British control
The mcagcr dispatches received hero are
scanned most eagerly by everyone.
Under the circumstances il is not to be
wondered ut that the feeling here against
thc United States Is very strong, and the
Americans hero do not hesitate to blnmo
the Washington government openly. In
stead of tho feeling diminishing it is
growing with the delay, for until the
question is decided any introduction Of
machinery to get out the gold will he i'm
possible. The men will .lot invest any
more money in Essequcbo county with n
chance of having the whole territory taken
out of their hands.
Gold there is here and to what extent
may be judged by tho registrations for
tnrce days amounting to 2,9Sl ounces, and
every bit OF it was taken out by placer
mining. Owing to the volcanic nature of
the country, and tho difficulty experienced
In getting to tho fields, long canoe trips
being necessary, up to the present timo
the mining has boon very crude Just be-
fore the dispute became acute arrange
ments wore being made for introducing
machinery, and since all these things have
come to stop it may easily DO seen how
the whole of British Guiana has boen af-
footed. EEW
The British claim that there were So. 600
British subjects in Esscqucbo county cx-
elusive of government officials Is very
misleading. If line should DO drawn
due south from the Morocco river 1t would
be found that the actual settlers between
that and the Schomburgk limo would not
number 1899, If that, while in the north
west district that on the coast directly
south of the Orinoco river, where the best
quartz is supposed to exist, there are not
moro than 300 actual settlers Fully
10000 of the 50, 900 live on the islands in
the mouth of tho Esscqucbo river, which
arc not in liSDutp