6. On the completion of this line I came to Konay with my carts, &c., as then reported. I met here Mr. Haywood and Dr. Forbes. The latter expressed himself pleased that I had come, as he wished me to assist him with coolies, he being unable to procure a single one.

7. I took about 100 men off the Government works on the Beitkul and Ankola line, and placed them at Dr. Forbes' disposal. They ran away, and a second 100 men were taken from the same work and given to Dr. Forbes, who set them to work at the landingplace, completing it to its present state, and protecting the front with trees, as above described.

8. In completing this work, and to save expense and trouble, the level was reduced from 4 feet to 1 foot above high water mark. Government will therefore at some future time be put to the expense of raising this landing-place again to its proper level.

9. Under demi-official instructions from the Secretary to Government in the Public Works Department, Colonel Turner, the services of Corporal Banks, a very clever mechanic, sent (by the Government of Madras) to Beitkul with one of Nasmyth's steam pile-driving machines, were placed entirely at Dr. Forbes' disposal during the latter part of March 1862 and the whole of April. Mr. Boesinger was also directed to give every assistance from the Government stores.

10. As soon as the ground was levelled, we handed over to the company 248 feet of rails for a tramway, with a waggon complete; Mr. Banks also fixed on the landing-place a threeton crane. The company were also provided with chains, blocks, ropes, in fact everything they chose to ask for; we only required a receipt for each article as it was issued.

11. I forward herewith lists of articles, the property of Government, which have been supplied to the company on their requisition. The first is a list of articles still in their possession; some of which (viz., rails and waggon) I should be glad to have returned ; but I refrain from asking for them, being anxious to give the company all the assistance in my power. For another item, viz., the anvil, I applied to the company some time back, when I was much inconvenienced for want of anvils; they, however, were unable to find it anywhere. The second list shows what articles have been issued to and expended by them. The third list shows what articles have been issued and returned. The total of the three lists represents the total issues.

12. On the arrival of the "Seringapatam" the company proceeded to land the cargo; and as long as no piece exceeded three tons in weight there was no difficulty. When, however, they began to lift the heavy pieces of machinery, weighing from five to eight tons each, a new 4 inch Manilla rope, brought out from England in the ship for this express purpose, broke at once with a weight of 4 tons. A committee condemned the rope, and then condemned all the ropes in the Government stores. The company then decided upon taking all their heavy machinery to Bombay, to be landed there, and sent down to Beitkul after the monsoon.

13. This would have put the company to great expense. Mr. Boesinger, therefore, went to Mr. Haywood, and offered to land the whole of the cargo if he was not interfered with by others. The work was entrusted to him, and Mr. Haywood engaged another Government officer, Mr. Lowe, inspector of police, to assist. Platforms were fixed to the company's boats, the timber and planks being obtained from the Government stores, and in 12 days (four of which were monsoon days) the whole of the cargo was safely landed, the tackle used being the very same Government tackle condemned by the Cotton Company's committee. Mr. Boesinger's whole time for these 12 days was devoted to the company.

14. No accidents occurred to coolies, boats, or cargo, only an old yard of the ship was broken, and the shears erected by Dr. Forbes had to be re-erected in a stronger and better

manner.

15. Such is the history of the landing of the cargo of the "Seringapatam," given to me by Mr. Boesinger; I was not present at Beitkul at the time. I do not see what more assistance we could have given, nor do I understand how the company can complain that they were unable to convey their machinery to their establishment, and that there is no early prospect of their removal.

16. It appears to me that if the company had made better arrangements, if they had despatched their ship earlier from England, they might have avoided the difficulty of landing heavy weights, such as pieces of eight tons each in the month of June. Had the ship arrived in the fair season, the whole of the cargo might have been landed close to Allyguddy. Again, no preparations were made for ballasting the ship, as the heavy pieces were taken out; for this reason it took 12 days to disembark all the cargo. Fortunately for the company, the monsoon was a very late one.

17. As to the removal of the cargo to Allyguddy, I presume the company are pleasing themselves in keeping it still at Carwar Head. I see no reason why they should not remove it now if they wish to do so.

18. With regard to the present state of the works, and the probable time of completion, I have the honour to report as follows:

19. Pier.-The site of the pier has, to suit the company and Messrs. Nicol & Co., been fixed at the point C on the plan above referred to; plans and estimates for an iron screw pile pier and a wooden jetty were submitted to Government during the monsoon. Government have decided upon the former; but as the estimate framed by Messrs. Knight & Co. of the Seedpoor iron foundry works, Howrah, Calcutta, was high, viz., 1,40,000 rupees, I have been directed to communicate with Frederick Johnson, Esq., in England, the contractor of the Madras pier, the contractor for the screw pile bridges on the Baroda Railway, as well as Messrs. Knight & Co., and also to advertise in the public papers. The pier cannot now be commenced till after the next monsoon; it will, however, I hope, be completed next season.

20. Wharf. During the past monsoon a large quantity of stone was collected for the wharf wall, which was commenced as soon as the season permitted; only a commencement, however, has been made, and the work must progress slowly, as labour is very scarce and work can only be carried on at low tide. The wall is also some distance out in the cove, and roads have to be made out to the site before the work can be commenced. It is impossible to say when the whole of the wharfage from Carwar Head to Allyguddy will be ready: if so many works are ordered at once, progress on each must be slow. In any case it is a matter of years, not days or months; sufficient, however, will be completed this season south of the point C to accommodate all the shipping or cargo likely to come to Beitkul this year.

21. Road from Konay to Beitkul.—I do not think any complaints can be made regarding this work. Last May, and up to July even, it was almost, if not quite, impassable for foot passengers. A road of 10 feet minimum width has been cleared through the rocks (granite) during the monsoon. This road is now being widened, and the sandy portion in front of Allyguddy is being covered with hard soil. A very fair road, 30 feet wide, may be looked for in March; when completed the road is to be 60 feet in width, a very considerable work in easy soil, a still more difficult one when carried through spurs of hard granite.

It

22. The following table shows the present state of the road as regards width; but it cannot be considered passable for carts, as every day's work blocks it up temporarily. can, however, be quickly prepared for traffic, when that traffic is expected.

See Plan.

23. Connecting this road with the future town of Sedashegar and the Kyga road is the Konay bridge. Piles for foundations are now being prepared; a pile-driving machine is now on its way from Dharwar, and arrangements have been made with Messrs. Knight and Co., of Calcutta, for the erection, by July next, of an iron lattice girder bridge, of eighty feet waterway. For present traffic, a wooden trestle bridge is in course of construction.

at sea.

24. Lighthouse. A party is stationed on the Oyster Rock, preparing the site and making a road and landing place. This is a very heavy work, owing to its distance, 3 miles out It is sometimes very difficult to get out to it or to get back again in native boats, and no steamer is available. The late monsoon has also delayed the commencement of. work for two months, and owing to such a large lantern being sent out from England it has become necessary to alter the plan originally sanctioned. Every endeavour is being made. to complete this work this season.

25. River Groin.-This is an important work, but with my limited supply of labour something must give way. I have made an attempt to commence it, but jungle wood piles are not procurable. There is so much sickness in the district that even the contractors in the forest department are, I understand, quite unable to bring down to Sedashegar the timber they have bought or contracted to bring down. The groin must stand over till other more important works are completed.

26. Kyga Ghaut Road. This line was opened out to a minimum width of 12 feet, last season, as far as Mullapoor. The ghaut, in length, itself is generally much wider; the greater portion varying from 16 to 20 feet in width. It is not, however, either formed, drained, or bridged. The superintending engineer travelled over it with carts, and I believe without difficulty, in the middle of November. I also, and the prisoners also, have taken carts up and down the line with ease.

27. In the beginning of December there were 1,850 men at work on the ghaut, under a contractor who brought 1,600 of these from Goa, Rutuagherry collectorate, and the Sawaut Waree State. He promised me a great many more by the end of December, when all the crops would be gathered. Out of these men 120 were reported sick. But towards the end. of November we had a very severe storm, followed by bitterly cold land winds. There was at once a very marked increase of sickness all over the country, on and above, and just below the ghauts. I learn from Major Anderson that at Moondagode the crops even were left standing, owing to the inhabitants being too sick to reap them.

28. The effect on the ghaut was electrical, in 48 hours the whole of the 1,600 men from other districts had vanished, and only a couple of hundred sickly Canara coolies, residents of the neighbouring villages, remained.

29. This is a great misfortune, but it cannot be wondered at, or striven against. In one day the per-centage of sick rose from 7 to 50 per cent.; the subordinates of this department, the contractor's principal agent, all his establishment, and 50 per cent. of his coolies, were down with fever. Laden carts were left standing on the road, as the cartmen were unable to move; two or three men quickly died. Can we be surprised at our coolies deserting? At their preferring work on the Parpoolie Ghaut, in a healthy climate, and near their own homes, on 23 annas a day, to work in such a deadly jungle on 3 annas a day?

30. All the workmen employed on the cotton plantation at Kadara fell sick at the same time; most of them, including some of those brought from Salem at great expense and trouble, disappeared. Much money has been lost in advances, in medicine, and in short work. There are not coolies even to keep the plantation free of grass and weeds, and yet these men were well paid, well housed, and their wants carefully attended to.

31. The small villages all along the Kyga line are almost deserted; the large ones as Yellapoor and Mullapoor, have become small ones. Even at Yellapoor the mamlutdar was unable to procure people to grind grain purchased for the prisoners.

32. My endeavours to introduce foreign labour into Canara have failed; my hopes of carrying out the wishes of Government and of earning some little credit for myself have failed; I have done my best. At one time I was full of hope and sanguine of complete success; by the next post, I learnt the utter failure of the ghaat works. I had then full 5,000 men at work, exclusive of convicts and sappers; now I have only 3,500 coolies, 500 convicts, and two companies of sappers.

33. The contractor is still on the ghaut with his 200 men; they are widening out the lower portion of the ghaut, but they cannot be induced to move higher up further away from their villages, and into a colder climate. He is also endeavouring to get one or two of the most important bridges built, the stone having been already prepared. I have resolved on keeping the contractor on the ghaut as long as a single cooly remains there. Though they cannot do anything to the upper portion, they will improve the lower portion, and the road from the foot to Mullapoor; however little they do, it will be so inuch done towards next year's work.

34. The Dharwar gang of convicts, 348 strong, reached the ghaut just after the coolies deserted; they were employed for a few days widening out the reverse slope towards Iddagoonjee, and have done excellent work. But on the failure of the contract work it was considered advisable, and indeed necessary, to make sure of the Arbyle line. Under instructions from the superintending engineer the gang was moved from the Kyga to the Ankola and Beitkul road; they are now on their way repairing the Arbyle Ghaut and road as they

come.

35. Arbyle Ghaut and Road.-The same fever which has driven the workmen from the Kyga has prevented them from going to the Arbyle. It is especially difficult to obtain any labour for the repairs of the portion between Sungutikope and Yellapoor. The Arbyle is a cleared road only for a great portion of its length; it is moorumed in parts, and most of the rivers are bridged. The prisoners are now putting it in order; water and supplies are more plentiful, and the road generally is more level than the Kyga line: the distance by both routes is about equal. I feel sure therefore that it will be preferred by cartmen to the Kyga. Although far inferior to the Dharwar and Coompta road, it will by the 1st March be sufficiently good to bear a moderate traffic.

36. Bunkapoor and Yellapoor Road.-The portion of this road lying in Canara districts between the frontier and Moondagode has from the 1st December been transferred to the executive engineer, Dharwar, who will be able to devote more time to it than I could do. For the reason mentioned at the close of para. 27, progress thereon must be slow. But it is a short line of 4 miles, and may possibly be available for traffic this season. The continuation from Moondagode to Yellapoor is a cleared line, good in some places, but indifferent in others. All the labour that can be procured is put upon it executing repairs.

The

The chief difficulty is the Baidlee nullah, which must be bridged as soon as possible, but I fear it cannot be done till the country is more healthy, as the site of the bridge is about the very worst place in Canara for fever. For this river an iron girder bridge of 60 feet waterway is required. I have only just received the section, and will submit my proposal as soon as possible.

37. Road from Beitkul to the Arbyle Road, near Ankola.-This line was cleared to 12 feet in width last season from Ankola, as far as Ahmedhully; the Hyderghur Ghaut was cleared of rock and widened, and a passable road completed to Konay by the 14th April last. This was only a temporary line, the correct line running from Ahmedhully along the coast to Urghy, Binghy, and Beitkul. During the monsoon the proper road has been steadily proceeded with. One party has been employed forming and mooruming the road at the Ankola end to a width of 18 feet; they have advanced as far as the first range of hills, about 4 miles. Another party worked from Beitkul, and have made a road 28 feet wide up to the Saddle H, and 24 feet mean width down the hill side to the low rice ground in Binghy Bay.

38. Since the crops have been gathered labour has come in pretty plentifully on this line. There are a good many villages on the coast, fish can be obtained, and there is no fever. In addition to two companies of sappers and miners employed in blasting rock, we have 2,607 coolies on this line. By the 1st March there will be a good road 18 feet minimum width from Ankola to Ahmedhully, 10 miles, and from Beitkul to Urgy, 3 miles. Between Urgy and Ahmedhully is a flat of six miles over rice fields; this will be raised, and the portions near the hills will be moorumed by coolie labour. The chief difficulty is in procuring carts to moorum the distant portions. I have applied to the collectors and engineers of Dharwar and Belgaum for assistance. The collector of Belgaum has answered to the effect that Canara has so bad a reputation for fever and want of food that he fears he cannot send me a single cart.

39. Feeling sure I should meet with this difficulty, I have during the monsoon prepared a considerable number of wheelbarrows and hand carts. Mooruming the road in this way must necessarily take time, and will be very expensive; but I think I am right in my belief that the Government will readily sanction expensive work when they understand that it is necessary, and that if cheap work alone is to be done it will not be done at all.

40. Over the Bellikerry creek a timber pile bridge of 210 feet waterway in seven bays of 30 feet each, will be erected. This will not be ready by the 1st March, but as at low tide there is very little water in the creek, sometimes it is only nine inches deep, cotton carts can easily cross. In this there is no hardship, as bullocks and men must rest somewhere, and the village of Aorsa at the bridge site is the natural halting place. The carts can be halted on either side according to the state of the tide, being taken across the creek when it is low water.

41. Should the mooruming be incomplete, an alternative line over the Hyderghur Ghant to Konay and Beitkul is available. The cotton merchants have only to go themselves or send their agents over each line, and choose the one they like best; it is only a 20-mile ride from Beitkul via Binghy to Ahmedhully, and back via the Hyderghur; a ride any one of them may make in one morning before breakfast.

42. Last season Dr. Forbes, Mr. Haywood, and others seemed to doubt my statements that carts could be brought to Konay with ease, and declared I only got them over the line by the assistance of coolies. I immediately placed myself at their disposal, and offered to go up the Kyga and down the Arbyle with all or any of them. No one felt disposed even to take a ride a few miles out and back. I have again suggested to the agent of the Manchester Cotton Company the advisability of their engineer, Mr. Fleming, accompanying me as far as Ankola at least; it was arranged that he should do so, but the trip was put off by him. I would respectfully request that it should be intimated to the agents of the Company, and of Messrs. Nicol & Co., that they should personally inspect my roads before they make official complaints condemning them.

43. I have now answered, as fully as I can, para. 3 of the Despatch. Before concluding, however, I will take this opportunity of laying clearly before Government the results of my experience in North Canara, and my views of future requirements.

44. In Canara we have to contend with four most serious disadvantages :

1. Want of labour.

2. Want of food.

3. Deadly fever about the ghauts.

4. Cholera on the coast during the monsoon.

The first two wants result from the last two disadvantages.

45. The district is in a most pitiable state. From all accounts it was healthy enough a few years ago, when the Devamany and Arbyle roads were made. But fever becomes worse and worse every year. There is hardly a soul in Canara, man, woman, or child, who is not constantly ill for days together with fever of a bad kind. If any escape, it is only those whose occupations never take them from the coast, and who can avoid exposure to the sun and rain. The impossibility of procuring proper food predisposes every one to fever.

46. As before stated, fever has rendered impossible the vigorous prosecution of the Kyga road and Arbyle road repairs. In August last I sent an assistant to Coondapoor, provided him with ample funds for advances, and directed him to engage and send to me for the Ankola and Beitkul road the 2,500 men who used formerly to come every year for work in North Canara and Dharwar. He succeeded in engaging about 800, by the middle of September, and despatched about 400 in gangs of 50 or 100 each. There had been a good deal of cholera all along the coast during the monsoon, but by that time it was disappearing. However, immediately on arrival of the first gang of 59 men, one was attacked and died; two or three others died a few hours afterwards; the rest ran away, stopped the others on the road, and all Mr. Powell's exertions and advances have gone for nothing.

47. From the above only one conclusion can be arrived at. If work is to be done in North Canara, labour must be supplied by Government; shelter must first be provided for officers and men, and a commissariat must be established. For work on the coast; permanent labour on high wages must be engaged from Cochin and Malabar; for works inland, every convict in the Presidency should be sent to Canara. Good and experienced medical aid, with an ample supply of medicine, especially quinine, is required. In fact, Government must do as private firms do, viz., first procure the labour and superintendence, aud make them comfortable; then commence work.

48. Beitkul is head quarters; next monsoon there will be a large number of Europeans here belonging to this departinent alone; it will be absolutely necessary that Government should sanction a partial suspension of work in April, to enable us to build huts for ourselves, prisoners, and guards, before the monsoon. And as even grass cadgans and such like materials are procurable only in small quantities and with great difficulty, any assistance that Government can give us in supplying wooden houses or iron barracks from Bombay, would be very acceptable.

49. We might get contractors from Bombay, perhaps, to build stone, brick, or mud houses, but they cannot procure either labour or materials as long as there is such a demand for the immediate construction of so many miles of road, wharves, lighthouses, &c. &c., and we have only 735 labourers, including 110 convicts and 14 sappers, for all Beitkul works.

50. The Manchester Cotton Company have obtained about 300 coolies from Cochin, give them houses and 6 rupees per mensem. We must send an officer and one or two subordinates to Cochin aud Malabar, and obtain at least 3,000, and if possible, 5,000 men from thence; we must pay them probably seven rupees per mensem, provide them with food and medicine, give them advances, and build lines for them; but above all, we want every convict and every sapper who is available; then and then only will the works progress as fast as every one wishes. There is at present no road at all between Beitkul and Mullapoor; for this, for the completion of the Ankola line, for the Beitkul wharves and roads, for town roads, and for the river groin, we require as many coolies as we can collect. For works in the water we require a small steamer, half a dozen cargo boats, two ships' cutters, a dredge and barges. Were the latter here, the filling in behind the wharf wall would proceed with rapidity and cheapness, and deeper water would be obtained in the cove at the pier site.

51. The superintendent and assistant magistrate ought to be here to make sanitary arrangements. I am held strictly responsible for this by the superintending engineer, but I can do nothing; I may give as many orders as I please, but I cannot enforce them or punish those who offend against them. Now already the necessity for some arrangement is most disagreeably apparent.

52. Postal arrangements are very bad. It is useless for the auditor to inform me regularly every month that I am reported for the non-submission of some return; a telegram from Captain Ker from Poona was six days on its road from Dharwar to Beitkul; Mr. Chief Secretary Robertson's telegram of 26th instant reached me on the 30th, 24 hours after the Honourable Mr. Inverarity had left Sedashegar. It takes 11 or 12 days in the monsoon for letters from Bombay to reach Beitkul; the superintending engineer's letters take 8 or 9 days to reach me from Belgaum, and my own letters to my subordinates in Soopa and other distant places are 19 days in transit.

53. The mail cart from Dharwar can easily, during the fair season, come as far as Mullapoor; it can all the year round go to Coompta, or at any rate, to Munky Ferry, three miles from Coompta, and there is no reason why the post office should still be kept at Sedashegar, on the opposite side of the river.

54 The extension of the telegraph from Dharwar is also a work requiring early attention to enable the residents here to communicate speedily with Bombay. The benefit the cotton trade would receive from the telegraph is apparent.

55. If the above arrangements are made, good roads can be completed next season down the Kyga and Arbyle Ghauts, and ample accommodation provided at Beitkul for present traffic; if not, it will take years to complete the approaches to Sedashegar.

56. I have