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152 CHAPTER ELEVEN PATRIOT AND BUSINESSMAN In every representative assembly in the world there is usually one man who stands out as the Tribune of the People. Such a man will make a mistake but such a man is vitally necessary. Mr. Webber has filled the role of Tribune with distinction. An orator who can move his hearers to laughter and to tears, Mr. Webber is the man you need to be ever vigilant in your cause, but ever ready to encourage Government in any measure which will benefit you. . . . An electoral district would be proud to have Mr. Webber as its own representative. —“A POLLING-DAY LETTER TO THE VOTERS,” Daily Chronicle, September 18, 1930 Verily man has been given dominion over all things, and the last enemy to be underfoot is death. I ponder as I fly. If death is conquered, then there must be no more births. The theme is not attractive. There are worse things than death which is, after all, only a manifestation of life, and probably just as good. —A. R. F. WEBBER, “Hors D’Oeuvre of the Ocean Passage” AFTER WEBBER RETURNED FROM THE IDYLLIC ARABY AND RUPUNUNI, he still had to face the rough and tumble of elections. At that point of his career, he was well liked and respected by the electorate, although he remained a thorn in the government’s side. Penning an election biography on Webber, Reno Rohini observed that “having done much traveling in British Guiana, especially in the interior and being an observant and well-read man, he made good use of his opportunity to study the country’s problems. He acquired a first-hand knowledge of things and was well-informant [sic] on the various topics and discussion of the times.”1 And well might he be. Webber needed such knowledge as he traversed the country, advocated on the people’s behalf, and sought to make the government reverse itself on the constitution as well as on its economic policy. Rohini noted that “his adherents were the masses in the majority, while his detractors were quite a few of the ‘classes.’”2 PATRIOT AND BUSINESSMAN 153 As the new elections loomed (they were scheduled for September 18), the Electives fanned out into the community to present their views about the defects of the 1928 constitution and the need to adopt one that reflected the views of the people more accurately. On March 15, 1930, in his contribution to the debate on a loan of £12,000 to the government from the Colonial Development Fund to build the Bartica-Kaburi Road and its extension to Butukari on the Essequebo, Webber made it clear that from the time the constitution was changed, “this colony has been cursed with the most powerful Administration and the most incompetent in the history of the country from the time when it came under the British flag.”3 Therefore, his main task was to make the government more responsive to the needs of the people and to allow the elected members to participate in the governance of their land. As far as Webber was concerned, constitutional and economic reforms were the most important issues that faced his people. A week and a half earlier at Danielstown on the Essequebo coast and “amidst loud applause,” Webber “explained that the Constitution question was a most important one [issue] at the present time.”4 He urged his listeners to reelect the fourteen Electives so that they could work to change the constitution. Acknowledging that R. E. Brassington and S. M. de Freitas, two of the Electives, were good men, he advised his audience: “Get your constitution changed first and then change your representatives—every day, if you like.”5 Even as he prepared for the elections, Webber found time to make a radio address to the members of the International Shortwave Club in Canada and the United States on the possibilities of investing in Guyana. In “one of the most interesting and enjoyable programmes ever broadcast locally,” Webber argued that Guyana provided an “opportunity for a man of genius and inspiration to plan and execute a great railway venture from Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana to Manaos, the capital of the state of Amazonas.”6 That was his dream. It was also his uncle’s dream. Such an endeavor would open up the South American continent to world trade and bring it closer to the developed-nation status that one saw in the United States...

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