I was pleased to see the article captioned “Buxton: Holding fast to its roots and boasting striking historical features” by Alex Wayne, together with the accompanying photographs, in the Guyana Chronicle of July 26, 2014 (http://guyanachronicle.com/category/pepperpot/page/2/). It reminds one of the glorious days of Buxton-Friendship as one of the premier villages in Guyana.
However, I am disappointed to note that the writer has copied verbatim several whole paragraphs from an article of mine titled “Buxton-Friendship” (first published in the In the Diaspora column of Stabroek News, http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/features/daily/11/16/in-the-diaspora-70/, and since reproduced on various websites on the internet), incorrectly identifying the source of two paragraphs as a female villager of Buxton and neither placing the other paragraphs in quotation marks or acknowledging their source.

In my view, this form of plagiarism is unbecoming of a journalist of a national newspaper. I hope the editor of the Chronicle will enlighten this writer on the ethics of the profession and acknowledge the source of these paragraphs.

The paragraphs I refer to are as follows:

“Indians, who started arriving in the village in the 1890s, emulated the Africans in striving for education and social betterment in the country. By the 1950s, they were scattered throughout the village with concentrated enclaves in the area along the seashore, referred to as Buxton Front, where there were some of the most renowned sea fishermen in the country. On both sides of the railway embankment around the railway station they worked as pawnbrokers and jewellers, and operated clothing and hardware stores; and in the area along Brush Dam they raised cattle and grew rice in adjoining estate lands.
“Most, if not all of them, adhered to Indian cultural traditions, and Buxton could boast of having some of the most educated and finest Indian musicians and singers of Chowtaals, Ramayan and Bhajans.
“I remember Saturdays and Mondays as prime market days at the municipal market next to the Post Office, just off Company Road, a stone’s throw from the railway station. The interaction and relationships between Africans and Indians were based on mutual respect and trust, befitting two peoples who depended on the fruits of each other’s labour.
“East Indians from the estate areas of Lusignan Pasture and Annandale Sand Reef to the west, and Vigilance to the east would bring their produce of garden vegetables (ochro, bora, calaloo, etc.) to sell to the African villagers who would sell them fruits, plantains and ground provisions (cassava, eddoes, sweet potatoes, etc.). Both groups would then patronise the fishermen and the butchers who operated their stalls in a corner of the market, where the odour was quite distinct. Before noon, the efficient Mr. Brown would have already completed his rounds and collected from vendors all market fees,” she recalled.
“Buxton-Friendship’s loss of Indian fishermen and business people was the gain of Annandale and Lusignan. Almost overnight, in the midst of the turmoil and agony of 1964, a market developed in Annandale North’s Centre Street, rechristened “Market Street”. It quickly replaced Buxton’s municipal market as the commercial centre for the surrounding areas; and by 1965, African Buxtonians were also patronizing the vendors in Annandale. Likewise, many of the hardware and clothing stores relocated to Annandale; and the fishermen formerly of Buxton Front became the enterprising fishermen of Lusignan East, where the fishing industry was taken to new heights as the importation of salted cod and canned fish was banned during the period of economic hardship of the 1980s.”
Harry Hergash

EDITOR’S NOTE: The “Guyana Chronicle” wishes to apologize to Mr. Harry Hergash for the partial reproduction of his excellent article without acknowledging him as the author; and while we agree that plagiarism is unconscionable and intolerable in the journalistic profession, the cause of Mr. Alex Wayne’s non-acknowledgement of the source of the paragraphs lies in Mr. Hergash’s own letter to us: “ …and since reproduced on various websites on the internet), incorrectly identifying the source of two paragraphs as a female villager of Buxton and neither placing the other paragraphs in quotation marks or acknowledging their source.”
This happened once to an editor of this newspaper, who is always careful to acknowledge source of material she uses. The only problem was that the source of a thesis, part of which she used, was not quoted in Wikepedia, so she credited Wikepedia. For that she received much flak from the media house that published the original article. Unless and until a solution can be found, where writings are circulating in cyberspace without crediting the original authors and publications, situations will continue to recur during researches for material to boost and authenticate articles.
However, the “Guyana Chronicle’ has taken note of this oversight on Mr. Wayne’s part and reiterate our apologies to Mr. Harry Hergash.