See Plan. width as far as Mullapoor, on the Kala Nuddee, some parts of the ghaut itself being a few feet wider. The road surface, however, is as yet not formed, and the road is neither drained nor bridged. From Mullapoor to Konay the road has not been touched. 3. At the beginning of last month a deadly fever broke out amongst the 1,850 labourers employed upon the Kyga Ghaut; nine hundred men were attacked with the disease, and within two days sixteen hundred left their work, and returned to their homes in Goa and the Southern Concan. A couple of hundred sickly Canarese from the adjacent villages remain at work, and are employed in widen ng the lower portion of the ghaut and improving the road onward to Mullapoor. Their labour can effect but little, I fear. 4. Failure having occurred at the Kyga Ghant the gang of convicts were removed to the Arbyle and coast line in order that this road might be opened by the 1st March next; and as the country in this direction is healthy, there is every probability that the engineer's anticipations will be fulfilled, a bridge over the Bell keny river remaining for completion at that date. On this road there are some 2,600 labourers, 380 convicts and two companies of sappers employed. 5. But the Arbyle and coast road, though opened to a minimum width of 18 feet by the 1st March next, can after all be considered only a cleared road for the greater portion of its length. Though coated in parts with moorum, it can never, until it is metalled throughout, bear even a moderate traffic. The daily passage of even so low a number as 50 carts will entirely cut it up, and when the road is once brought into use we may expect that a daily average of at least 300 carts will pass over it. 6. It thus appears that the Arbyle Ghaut and coast road is expected to admit of cotton passing along it two months hence, to Beitkol and on to Alliguddy and Konay; but such cotton, if brought down, can be conveyed only to the sites where the Manchester Cotton Company or others propose to establish presses; for as yet buildings for presses have notbeen constructed, and presses have not been set up. I have been over the Manchester Cotton Company's premises at Alliguddy, and saw what was pointed out to me as the foundation for the press building being dug. This foundation, being below low water mark, will probably give some trouble, and I have no doubt that a road will be available to bring cotton to Alliguddy before there are presses at Alliguddy to screw it for shipment. An office building, and a workshed built of plank and roofed with iron, have been already constructed by this company, and the walls of a range of ba racks wherein to house their labourers, give evidence of the earnestness with which this company prosecutes its undertaking The Cotton Supply Association whose sole object is the general improvement of cotton, have not any establishment at Sedashegar. The complaint communicated in the Secretary of State's letter, No. 19, dated 13th November 1862, must, therefore, have been made by them on behalf of the Manchester Cotton Company, who have entered into commercial speculations at that place. The accompanying plan, on which Captain Baker, the cxecutive engineer, has shown the progress of the various works at Be tkool and its neighbourhood, has been prepared for transmission to the Secretary of State, as required in the 19th paragraph of his letter already quoted. This plan will be useful for reference in disposing of the complaints of the Manchester Cotton Company, who state that works have not been completed by the time at which they had been led to expect they would be available for conveying cotton to the site of their presses, and for landing and embarking goods; and that in order to avoid great inconvenience and additional loss, they have been obliged themselves to construct a pier, which was one of the works Government had undertaken to make. They complain that having sent presses to Sedashegar at great expense, they could not for some time land them for want of a pier; that being ultimately landed on the north-west of the cove, on the opposite side to that on which the pier was to have been built, and near the spot where the wharves have now been commenced, they were unable to convey them to their establishment, and that they have been lying where landed for months with no early prospect of their removal. 7. The disingenuousness displayed in this complaint is to me apparent. It is subject of complaint that works are not completed so as to be available for conveying cotton to the site of their presses; and immediately after the complaint is, that their presses were landed on the north-west of the cove, where they have been lying for months with no early prospect of their removal. It is thus suggested, in the first place, that presses are ready, but that cotton cannot be conveyed to them for want of roads; and in the next place, while it is shown that the presses are on the opposite side of the cove, at a distance from the company's establishment, the labour and agency through which they were placed there are not given. 8. I have already stated above, that neither press, buildings, nor screws are in existence at Alliguddy, and I will now explain why the company's machinery was landed on the north-west of the cove. That point, at the spot marked A in the plan, was the position chosen by Sir W. Denison for a wharf, and under the orders of his Government the hill was cut away there, so as to form a landing with a frontage of 75 feet and a depth of 100 feet. 9. The 2nd and 15th paragraphs of Captain Baker's report dated 1st instant (No. 1), which accompanies this, give the history of the landing in June last of the Sering patam's stores, among which were the presses referred to by the company; a perusal of that history No 81.Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 3 March 1863 . in b BEITKUL ΛΟΟ Wharf wall B P Saddle Road to Ankola junction by the Arbyle ghaut will show that those presses were landed by the sole exertions of Government officers, and that they were landed at the north-west of the cove because that was a prepared spot, and at the same time the most sheltered spot in the bay. It will be gathered also from that history that even had the bay been studded with piers, the Cotton Company had not themselves the means of landing their heavy machinery; and now, in regard to its removal from where it has been landed for them, it is presumed they consult their own convenience, and await the erection of buildings, for its reception. 10. The pier which the Cotton Company complain that they have been obliged themselves to construct, in order to avoid great inconvenience and additional los-, is a paltry affair of 30 feet in depth by 21 feet in width, situated on the edge of the sandy beach in front of the south corner of their premises, and which under agreement will merge in the wharf wall whenever this is brought up to it. It consists of dry stone sheathed with plank, and may have cost, with the tramway which runs from the company's premises to its head, perhaps a couple of thousand rupees. 11. The Secretary of State has given most earnest injunctions that no time should be lost in making the port of Sedashegar available, and in improving the means of communication to it, and it has been reported that the officer in charge of the roads is well supplied with assistance and money. As already said, until February 1862, practically nothing had been done for Sedashegar; since then the Kyga Ghaut and Aibyle Ghaut roads have been pushed on, but deadly sickness among the labourers has necessitated the abandonment of the former for a time. The alternative road via Arbyle it is anticipated will be passable in two months bence. When this road has been opened no time should be lost in preparing metal to be laid upon it after the first fall of rain; many of the labourers employed upon it might then also perhaps be transferred to the Kyga line between Konay and Mullapoor, a distance of 20 miles now altogether unmade. It may be hoped that after the 1st March, when the hot weather has set in, this portion of country may be more healthy than it has been since the rains. There is in Canara a great want of labour, and this want has been intensified by the attempt to restrict the wages of labour, so as not to interfere with the market in the neighbouring districts of Belgaum and Dharwar. This I think has been a mistake, and the engineer should be authorised to give the full price that labour will fetch in North Canara. 12. The Manchester Cotton Company have imported their labour from Cochin, at six rupees per head per mensem, exclusive of housing and passage to and fro. Had we a steamer available at Sedashegar, something of the kind might be done by our officers, and with fair wages and suitable arrangements for providing food at a reasonable rate, we might anticipate that our roads and wharves would progress with a rapidity hitherto unknown. A considerable quantity of stone has been prepared for the wharf walls, which now begin to appear near the north-east corner of the cove, as shown in the plan. Here, too, labour is but scant; 30 men are working at the wharf wall, and 700 men, includ ng convicts and sappers, are quarrying and preparing the stone. Here also the removal of the restriction on prices of labour will surely tend to improve the supply, and time and money will in the end be saved. I think the wharf from the south-west corner of the Manchester Cotton Company's ground, along the east side of the cove, should, with the proposed pier projecting at the point C, be completed without delay, and that as the hill is cut away to fill in the backing of the sea wall, the level so obtained should be appropriated to warehouses; as trade increases the wharf wall with warehouses should be extended along the west side of the cove, and a pier be constructed at the points A and F. All these piers, except perhaps the last, will be beyond the influence of gales from the west. 13. Captain Searle, the officer in charge of the wharf works, should give his attention also to the preparations necessary for the contemplated lighthouse on the Oyster rock. The want of a steamer is much felt in connexion with this work, and the departure of the "Nimrod" should be expedited. Captain Baker reports that every endeavour is being made to complete this work by the end of May next. 14. I do not think it necessary to press on the river groin. I am told that the deposit of one year is removed the next, and that any perceptible silting up is unknown. The experience of future years will show whether the groin is necessary, and whether the river might not be greatly improved by shutting off its backwaters, so as to enable it, by an increased volume of water, to sweep away the bar at its mouth. 15. I was unfortunate in not. finding the superintendent, Dr. Forbes, at Beitkool; I am told that since his appointment he has paid the place two flying visits of 36 and 18 hours. This is to be regretted, for the constant presence and fostering care of a superintendent is essential to the well-being of the settlement in its infancy. Drainage, roads, making of allotments, and many other matters connected with an infant colony, require his best and immediate attention. In the mere matter of conservancy, in tant arrangements are necessary to prevent a pestilence overtaking the place; I trust therefore the superintendent will be instructed to take up his abode at Be tkool, where he should proceed to build himself a house, so as to make it patent to all that it is really the intention of Government that a port should be established there; Mr. Maxwell, agent of Messrs. Nicol & Co., is the only person who has commenced to build a house of stone. All other dwellings at pre-ent in existence are mere sheds, and it is not to be expected that a bazaar will spring up until it is seen that the superintendent has permanently taken up quarters. Some six months See Plan ago the Government of India were addressed on the subject of transferring the post office from Sedashegar to Beitkool. This is a transfer that is most urgently called for, and should be carried out pending the confirmation of higher authority; the other Government officers at Sedashegar should also at once be removed to Beitkool, and buildings should be prepared for them without delay. 16. To these and other matters the superintendent's attention should be given, and he should be required to furnish, periodically, reports of the progress made in advancing primarily the interests of the community established at this new port, and secondarily, through them, the development of the resources of a country, the extent or value of which is as yet but little known or appreciated. 17. I have not touched upon the impetus to trade on the Kala Nuddee, the Toodry, and the Suruswutee rivers, which the establishment of the port at Beitkool would doubtless give. The capabilities of these rivers are great, and the luxuriance of the country on their banks is sufficient to show that to the cotton of the upper country, palm oil, sugar, pepper, &c. from the lower might be added to swell the exports from Sedashegar. 5 January 1863. J. D. Inverarity. Sir, No. 3466.-Public Works Department. To the Chief Engineer at the Presidency, Bombay. Office of the Superintending Engineer, Southern Circle, I HAVE the honour to acknowledge Captain Holland's, No. 6437, with Despatch, No. 19, from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for India, on the subject of the Sedashegar harbour and its approaches. 2. On the transfer of North Canara to Bombay, on the 1st of February 1862, the works referred to were proceeding very languidly. About 78 men were employed on the commencement of a road round the shores of Beitkul Cove, destined to give access to the wharves suggested by Sir William Denison on the northern side of Carwar Head; and about 870 men were employed on the Kyga Ghaut approach, to the head of the Kalanuddee navigation. The wharves on Carwar Head had not been commenced. 3. It was determined on the transfer, to abandon, for the present at least, the idea of wharves in the situation selected by Sir William Denison, and in place of them to construct at once a quay or landing place on the eastern shore of Beitkul Cove. A plan and estimate for a screw pile pier were called for, and it was arranged that every effort should be made to open the Kyga Ghaut, and to provide an alternative line by the Arbyle Ghaut and Ankola. A lighthouse was also ordered. These arrangements are detailed in the joint report by Colonel Turner and Mr. Hope, especially deputed by Government to determine the course of action to be taken on the transfer. 4. I attach a sketch showing the arrangements settled on, and also exhibiting the progress of the works to the present time. The sketch also shows what has been done by the Manchester Cotton Company. 5. Immediately on the transfer, the number of men employed on the works was increased from 948, as shown above, to about 1,800. A company of sappers and miners, and a gang of 350 convicts, were also placed at the disposal of the executive engineer. 6. Every effort was made to augment, to a further extent, the force of labourers, but at that late season of the year it was found impracticable to do so. The local labour was engaged, or about to be engaged in agricultural operations, and work people from other districts could not at that season be induced to come to Canara, notwithstanding that the rate of wages was considerably increased; that other inducements in the way of facilities for food supplies were held out; and that Government addressed a circular letter to the civil heads of the adjoining district, instructing them to aid, to the best of their ability, the executive engineer of North Canara, in procuring labour within their respective ranges. 7. Still, with the men that could be got together, the Kyga was made passable for carts; and access by the Arbyle Ghaut and Ankola to Konay was provided. Konay is within one-fourth of a mile of the Manchester Cotton Company's land at Alliguddy; and though at the close of last season, the latter was cut off from Konay by a heavy mass of granite rock, yet had the company been prepared to receive cotton at that time, they could have done so with but very slight inconvenience. The fact, however, is, that at the time the road was completed to the extent above specified, that is, down to Konay, the company's vessel had only just arrived; their plant was not landed, and all through the past year, and up to the present moment, they were not and are not in a condition to receive a single bale. There is now no impediment between Konay and the company's land. 8. I have |