British Guiana: the Suspension of the Constitution

• Author: Ronald V. Sires
• Published date: 01 December 1954
• Date: 01 December 1954
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295400700403
• Subject Matter: Articles

BRITISH GUIANA:
THE SUSPENSION OF THE CONSTITUTION
RONALD V. SIRES
Whitman College
N
OCTOBER 8, 1953, soldiers and marines were landed in British
Guiana, and on the following day the Colonial Office announced
v
that the constitution of the colony would be suspended because of
the imminent danger of Communist subversion. A constitutional system
that had been in operation for only six months was not to be allowed to
continue to function because the political party that had come to power
after the first election, the People’s Progressive party, was said to espouse
ideals and use political methods that were dangerously far removed from
those expected of colonial governments within the British Empire. It is
the purpose of this article to portray the economic and political background
of this dramatic action by the government of Great Britain and to suggest
what problems must be faced in the future government and administration
of British Guiana.
The economic and political problems of British Guiana may be under-
stood only in relation to her unusual geological and topographical situation.
Despite the fact that the area of the colony is some 83,000 square miles,
only a relatively small percentage of the total is suited to agriculture.
Successful agriculture can be carried on only along a small part of the
banks of the four principal rivers -
the Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice and
Courantyne - and a narrow coastal strip some eight or ten miles in depth,
and in this restricted area it is necessary to carry on a ceaseless battle to keep
the land dry. Fresh water must be drained from low-lying lands, and
costly seawalls have to be built to hold back the tides. An aerial view
of the cultivated area will show an extensive system of canals carrying
fresh water to outlets at the coast, where in many cases it must be pumped
into the sea. Any relaxation of efforts in drainage or in defense against
the sea would be disastrous to the agriculture of British Guiana. While the
cost of these works is an important element in the cost of production, the
canals provide a means for the transport of canes from the fields to the
sugar factories. In the coastal area, the plantations were blocked out in
very long rectangles, each having a narrow frontage on the coast and
extending some miles inland. It should be obvious that, before the use
of DDT
in recent years, such a low-lying coastal area was a breeding place
of mosquitoes, so that the population suffered heavily from malaria.
From the earliest days of settlement, British Guiana has provided a
classical example of the plantation system in agriculture, with its require-
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ment of a steady supply of field labor. Yet even before -he emancipation
of the slaves in 1834-38, it was found advisable to permit and even to
encourage the slaves to cultivate small plots for raising crops which they
could consume or sell in local markets. After the emancipation, the slaves
continued this system, founding numerous villages on lands bought from
abandoned estates, where they grew enough food and raised enough fowl
to live satisfactorily; they worked on the estates only when it was to their
advantage to do so.’ The result being a shortage of available labor for
the plantations of British Guiana, legislation was passed to encourage the
importation of foreign laborers -
Portuguese, Chinese and East Indians;
the last being the most numerous and the most dependable for staying on
the estates and doing field labor. It was in this way that the population
of British Guiana took on racial and cultural characteristics that to the
present day distinguish her from most of the other British colonies in the
Caribbean area. In 1911 the East Indians constituted over 42 per cent of
the total population, being somewhat more numerous than the Negroes
themselves.2
2
It is in such a setting that the relations of employers and workers on
the estates must be viewed. On the one side, we see the owners and ad-
ministrators of the estates -
formerly individuals but now generally cor-
porations -
striving for the largest possible production and &dquo;profit,&dquo; while,
on the other, we see a Negro and mainly East Indian peasantry, trying to
make a living from the cultivation of small plots and not more than three
or four days’ labor per week on the estates. The employers have looked
upon the laborers both on and off the plantations merely as necessary
instruments to be used in planting, cultivating, cutting, loading and working
in the sugar factories. They were to be kept on or near the plantations so
that a satisfactory supply of labor would always be available. The peasants,
on the other hand, were not willing to give more than a limited amount
of time to estate labor, preferring to devote most of their time to raising
their own provisions. There was thus a constant tug-of-war between the
plantation owners and the peasant population; the labor supply being un-
satisfactory to the former, and the conditions of labor, including housing
and the amenities of living, being unsatisfactory to the latter. By any
acceptable definition, the conditions of life among the workers were far
below a decent level: diet and water supply were inadequate, the incidence
of malaria and infant mortality was high, and provisions for housing and
education were most unsatisfactory. A possible defense for the owners of
the plantations was that they were carrying on a struggle with factors that
1
Rawle Farley, "The Rise of the Peasantry in British Guiana," Social and Economic Studies (Mona,
Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University College of the West Indies) II
(March, 1954), 87-103.
2 Colonial Office, Report of a Commission of Inquiry into the Sugar Industry of British Guiana, Colonial,
No. 249 (London, H.M.S.O., 1949), App. XXX. (Hereafter cited as Rep. Comm. Inq., 1949.)

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were to a considerable extent beyond their control. Large expenditures had
to be made for drainage and sea-defense, and canals had to be kept free
from weeds; at the same time, it was difficult to make a profit in view of
British free trade in sugar after 1846 and the increasing competition of beet
sugar. Costs of production were high by comparison with those in such
places as Cuba and Hawaii.
II
It would be idle to expect the development of a democratic system of
government in a colony whose economic life was based on a plantation
economy with its clear dichotomy of owners and slaves or peasant freemen.
When the British took over from the Dutch in 1796, they found in British
Guiana a system of government that was different from anything that
existed at the time within the Empire. Executive and legislative functions
were placed in the hands of the governor and a body known as the Court
of Policy, composed of three officials, plus four unofficial members chosen
for eight-year terms by a College of Kiezers (Electors), themselves chosen
for life by a small electorate. The British adapted a recent Dutch innova-
tion by providing that when the Court of Policy was dealing with financial
legislation it should be afforced by six persons elected for two-year terms.
This Combined Court could deal with financial legislation only; the powers
of the Court of Policy in other matters continued as before.3
The constitution of British Guiana as thus briefly described was both
cumbersome and ineffective. It was practically impossible to achieve a
wholesome co-operation between the Imperial Government and the
planters represented in the legislature. Local opinion insisted that the
colony legally possessed a complete right to legislate, but the Imperial
government was determined to use its power to protect those who were
unrepresented in the constitutional system. In order to ameliorate the
condition of the slaves, it passed an act in 1833 for the abolition of slavery
in this colony, contrary to the will of the planters. It adopted free trade in
sugar in 1846 and was soon presented with a legislative strike by the
Combined Court which resulted in the loss of a large revenue to the
colonial treasury. In 1887 the Combined Court gave to the Imperial govern-
ment an opportunity for clear-cut constitutional reform when it refused
to pass the necessary revenue bills. It was apparent that a constitutional
system would have to be fashioned under which the interests of the planters
could be more effectively adapted to the wishes of the Imperial government.
In 1891 the constitution was generally overhauled. An executive
council was created to take over the executive functions of the Court of
Policy. Of this court, one half of the membership would be appointed,
3
Sir Cecil Clementi, A Constitutional History of British Guiana (London, 1937), pp. 42-64, 83-108, 298-315.

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and the other half, chosen by an enlarged electorate. The Combined Court
was allowed to continue with its old functions intact; the College of
Kiezers with its function of choosing half of the members of the Court
of Policy was abolished. It was made clear that the governor possessed
both an original and a casting vote in both the Court of Policy and the
Combined Court; and in 1911 the instructions to the governor stated that
he had an exclusive right to initiate legislation in both bodies.
But the constitutional changes of 1891 brought about no basic improve-
ment in the processes of government in British Guiana. The continued
existence of the Combined Court, in which financial authority was divorced
from general legislative responsibility, made...