WCP684

[1]

1 Waterloo Place

Weymouth

till tomorrow only

28/Aug/03

A.R. Wallace Esq.

Dear Sir

I shall be most pleased to give you any information concerning Brit. Guiana that is in my power. I should unhesitatingly say that a post under the Government as a gold officer in one of the districts would be most [2] suitable. The work is very light & most of the gold officers do not know how to fill in the time. I believe the pay is very small £120 - £150 or something like that but I do not know for certain. The chief duty of a gold officer is to weigh all the gold that is taken out from the "places" before taken into Georgetown in order that the Gov^t are not cheated over the amount dutiable. Licences have to be issued & so on. I have a friend far in the interior diamond mining but [3] I don’t fancy he would employ your friend.¹ Then there is a g German syndicate (I know the manager) working a "wash drum" for gold at Amai but I think it is doubtful whether a post could be found there. Perhaps a post could be obtained timber cutting at Grunheart Camp, Essequibo Railway; a letter to the manager would elicit a yes or no. I should strongly recommend your friend to get employment if he can, in the North West of Brit. Guiana. No one knows anything about the region of the delta of the Orinoco [4] & many striking form <MS burned> doubtless to be obtained there as the ^typical Venezuala fauna there then mixes with the Guiana. The climate is more healthy also, & abnormal rainfall, & floods are very rare. My collector on the Potaro tributary of the Essequibo has experienced fearful floods & rainfall in the past 18 months & his collection has been very small. Omai on the Essequibo is a splendid locality for moths & perhaps the German Syndicate could find employment. The climate is bad however, or one should say Anopheles are common!

Yours very sincerely | W. J. Kaye² [signature]