§ Topographical Survey.
§ Considerable areas of the coastlands of British Guiana have now been photographed. The photographs will enable topographic maps to be made which will provide data for the study, among other things, of drainage and irrigation problems. It is hoped that it will be possible to photograph further areas in the interior of the Colony beginning next month.
§ Rice.
§ Proposals are under consideration for the establishment of a joint company consisting of the Colonial Development Corporation and the British Guiana Government for increasing the production of rice in British Guiana and providing additional and up-to-date milling facilities.
§ Agricultural Development of the Interior.
§ In view of the unsatisfactory result of the soil survey of the Potaro area, investigations are being made into the possibility of growing cocoa elsewhere in the Colony on the coastal and riverain areas.
§ Bananas.
§ The British Guiana Government, in association with two commercial firms, is carrying out experimental banana production.
§ Timber.
§ The Colonial Development Corporation are going ahead with their plans, referred to in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Parker) on 5th July, for timber extraction on a large scale in the Bartica triangle. The Corporation has registered a local company to take over its operations. The full value of these operations will not be obtained until the Corporation's large modern sawmill at Georgetown is completed in 1953.
§ Rupununi Livestock Development.
§ With the assistance of the Economic Co-operation Administration, steps are being taken to obtain expert advice on pasture and breeding questions concerned with the cattle industry in the Rupununi savannahs. An abbatoir has been set up in the Rupununi and substantial quantities of meat are being transported by air to the coast from this area.
188W§ Communications.
§ The report on the survey of the first 25 miles of the road from Bartica to Potaro has now been received. There appears, however, to be little economic justification for the construction of this road at present. It will not now be needed for the timber project in the Bartica triangle; there will be no rapid agricultural development in the Potaro area; and certain gold mining operations in the same area have been abandoned.
§ For similar reasons, it is not proposed at present to undertake further costly investigations into the possibilities of dredging the Essequibo River Bar. Road and rail communications in the coastlands and air communications into the interior are, however, being improved.