St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-07
BRITONS WILL LOSE
ARBITRATION is WHAT THEY
MOST FEAR IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
GOLD LAND IN DISPUTE.
ANY TERRITORY GIVEN VENEZU-
Ella WILL OCCASION LOSS TO
ENGLAND.
Operations In the Gold Country Sus-
pended Pending the Finding of
Boundary Commission.

GEORGETOWN, British Guiana March 13.
If the Venezuelan British boundary dispute
is decided in favor of Venezuela, 80 out of
every 100 Englishmen in this country will
lose money by it, and the same may be said
of nearly every American living in the col
ony, except the United States consul. British
Guiana is divided into three counties, Dem
arrara, Berbice and Essequebo. Practically
all of the gold fields are situated in Essequebo
county and nearly all of the territory which
comprises that county is under dispute. Gold
has become the mainstay of the colony and
as it is to gold and possibly timber that the
residents here have to look, it may be i'm
agined that the interest over the boundary dis
pute is very great. While the rest Of the
world is looking upon the question as practi-
cally settled-as to a possibility Of war-the
point of view here is entirely different. The
people, that is, the Englishmen who control
everything, despite the large majority of the
foreign population, do not fear war, looking
upon such thing with the usual British eyes
which nothing but victory for themselves.
But they do fear arbitration above all things,
for no matter how little Of Essequebo county
is given to Venezuela, number of gold mines
would pass out of British control. The meager
dispatches received are scanned most eagerly
by every one.
Under the circumstances, it is not to be
wondered at that the feeling here against the
United States is very strong, and, what is
more, the Americans here do not hesitate to
blame the Washington government openly. In
stead of the feeling diminishing, it Is growing
with the delay, for until the question is de-
cided, any introduction of machinery to get
out the gold will be impossible Men will not
invest any more money in Essequebo county
with a chance of having the whole territory
run out of their hands. Gold is here, and to
what extent may be judged by the registra-
tions for the last three days; the day before
yesterday 673 ounces, yesterday 308 ounces,
today 1000 ounces Owing to the volcanic
nature Of the country and the difficulty
perienced in getting to the fields, up to the
present time, the mining has been very crude.
Just before the dispute became acute arrange
ments were being made for introducing ma
chinery, and since all these things have come
to stop, it may easily be seen how the whole
of British Guiana has been affected.
The claim that there are $1,000 British sub
jects in Essequebo county, exclusive of gov
ernment officials is very misleading If
line should be drawn due south from the
Maroco river it would be found that the
actual settlers between that and the Schom-
burgk line would not number 1900, while in
the Northwest district, on the coast directly
south of the Orinoco river, where the best
quartz is supposed to exist, there are not
more than 2,0G0 actual settlers.
Fully 20 coo of the So coo live on the islands
in the mouth of the Essequebo river, which
are not in dispute. There are over 5000 min
ers who never stay in the unsettled territory
more than four months at time; 1900 or 5000
Indians, 3D. 900 coolies, and it is estimated that
there are at least 5000 persons who owe
allegiance to other nations. Under the cir
cumstances, it can be seen that Venezuela can
easily pay the actual settlers for their land
and be gamer at that.