submitted, and of the resolution recorded by us, are herewith forwarded for your information, and we would solicit your special attention to paragraph 4 of the letter from the superintending engineer, Southern Circle, No. 3316, dated the 3d December 1862.

3. We also beg to transmit copy of a further communication from the superintending engineer, Southern Circle, No. 3360, of the 9th December 1862, reporting his proceedings in connexion with the public works at Beitkul, and of the resolution passed by us thereon.

We have, &c. (signed)

H. B. E. Frere.
J. D. Ince, arity.

Enclosures in No. 36.

Public Works, Beiteul.-No. 120 of 1863.

EXTRACT from the Proceedings of Government in the Public Works Department, dated 23d January 1863.

READ the following letter from the Superintending Engineer, Southern Circle, to the address of the Chief Engineer at the Presidency, No. 3360, of the 9th December 1862:

In continuation of my No. 3316 of the 3d inst., I beg to report that I arrived at Sedashegar on the 21st ultimo, and purpose leaving on the 11th instant.

2. The works ordered for execution in the neighbourhood of Beitcul, and in connexion with the harbour, are the wharf wall, lighthouse, river groin, road leading from head of cove to Konay.

3. For the wharf wall a considerable quantity of stone has been quarried and roughly dressed, but up to the date of my arrival none had actually been laid. Temporary ramps leading down to the site of the wall had, however, been made, and preparations for actual building were in progress. A portion of the wharf wall had been lined out in a depth of from two to five feet water, low tide.

4. I urged on the immediate commencement of actual building operations, sufficient stone being ready to admit of an effective beginning, and the lower course of a portion of the work has been laid. The most difficult part of the work will be that portion below the low tide-mark; but now that a commencement has been made, I trust nothing will delay the successful prosecution of the work. I fear, however, from the quality of the labour employed, and the character of the undertaking itself, the wall will prove expensive. The stone used is of very fine quality, a handsome granite; but as it has to be split into blocks by wedges, it is likely to prove costly.

5. At the lighthouse nothing had been done except clearing the site. Captain Baker was awaiting the arrival of the long-promised steamer, without whose aid communication with the Oyster Rock must necessarily be very uncertain and tedious. I have, however, pointed out to him that it is useless waiting any longer for this vessel, and that he must do without her as well as he is able. I have instructed him to station a non-commissioned officer with a party of workpeople on the rock, to begin building at once, and to manage as best he can by the aid of common boats.

6. I have seen a fresh design for a lighthouse substituted by my order for that returned with your No. 950 of the 3d ultimo, and have approved of it. It will be forwarded to you shortly, as soon as a copy of and an estimate for it can be made. It is for a hollow frustrum, with interior wooden stairs, and as it will be built of granite, is low; and as I have provided for thick walls, I do not anticipate any danger to the column from any amount of wind force, and the building is far above the influence of the waves. My reason for preferring this style of building to a solid frustrum with exterior stairs will be given in detail when I submit the design.

7. The river groin was ordered in your office, No. 1734 of 28th March last, but nothing could be done by the executive engineer last season.

8. The effect of the last monsoon was to carry the deep channel at the mouth of the river considerably more to the north than it was last year; this is, therefore, a more favourable time for constructing a groin than before the rains. Still I do not anticipate the executive engineer will, under any circumstances, be able to construct a spur such as is shown in the sketch which accompanied your No. 1734 of 1862, for the long dry split shown in that sketch on the southern bank of the river did not last year exist, nor does

it now.

9. The progress of the work will soon carry the groin head into deeper water than the executive engineer will be able to deal with, and put a stop to the operations long before the extent of spur contemplated by Colonel Turner is reached. Every little will, however, help towards deflecting the river current to the northern bank, and to keep the main channel open in that direction.

10. I have directed Captain Baker to lose no time in beginning actual work on this groin, and have instructed him to detach a non-commissioned officer with a working party for the especial duty; arrangements for carrying out this order have been made.

11. At the close of last season a difficult foot track at several places over steep rocks was the only direct means of access from Beitkul Cove to Konay. During the monsoon, Lieutenant Doveton's company of sappers, assisted by such common labour as could be collected, has been employed widening out this pathway; and there is now a very fair road, about 20 feet wide, along the whole distance, which, but that it is much encumbered with loose rock, is passable for carts. This is the beginning of the wide road which will eventually be constructed along the whole frontage, and be prolonged in front of the new town at Konay.

12. Across the Konay creek a rude temporary bridge has been thrown, to which I have ordered certain improvements to be made, until an iron lattice bridge can be substituted. 13. The subject of this iron bridge was discussed in the correspondence, which ended with your No. 5032 of 1862, and in the exercise of the discretion given me in your No. 5020 of 1862, I have directed the executive engineer to procure from Messrs. Knight & Co. an iron bridge in two spans of 40 feet each, and to conclude a contract for its erection forthwith; orders have accordingly been sent to Messrs. Knight & Co., and I have settled on the exact site of the bridge, and hope to see it concluded by the commencement of the

monsoon.

14. The design for this bridge, submitted with the previous correspondence, provided an aggregate waterway of 120 feet, but I have reduced this one third, or to 80 feet, which will give ample opening. Messrs. Knight & Co.'s contract for the smaller bridge, and the probable cost of its entire completion, will be reported hereafter.

15. Until the iron bridge is ready, the measures I have ordered for adoption will provide an efficient temporary passage over the creek, which in the dry season is a very trifling obstacle.

16. During my stay at Sedashegar, Captain Ker, with his gang of convicts, and the second company of sappers and miners, arrived in the "Berenice." The convicts, about 130 in number, instead of sending to join the Dharwar gang at the Kyga Ghaut, I have detained at Beitkool. Their aid is invaluable in lifting the heavy blocks of stone for the wharf wall, work which the common coolies of the country are quite unable to handle.

17. The second company of sappers I have sent to work on the road between Beitkool and Ankola, to which work I have also removed Lieutenant Doveton's company. On my arrival I found the confined space in the cove, and on the road leading to Konay, too much crowded with labour of all kinds; and the first thing I did was to take steps to reduce the number to a more manageable amount, by sending all superfluous men to the Ankola line, where there can hardly be too many.

18. I wish I had felt justified in taking immediate steps to procure a screw pile pier from Calcutta, but the orders conveyed in your No. 991 of the 4th November last, and accompaniment, to invite tenders for the work from various distant parties, were so specific that I felt I had no option in the matter. As it is it will take months to procure tenders, and all hope of making a commencement of the pier this season must be abandoned. After all I very much doubt if any tender as favourable as that already made by Messrs. Knight & Co. will be forthcoming.

19. With a length of wharfage complete, the road to Konay open, and a pier constructed, Beitkul harbour may well wait for further improvements until its trade has developed itself a little.

20. The Manchester Cotton Company have been active at their settlement at Alleguddy, between Beitkul and Konay. They have built a small stone jetty, laid down a short length ⚫ of wooden tram, have set up a work shed, and erected a neat little office, with an iron roof and plank walls. They have fixed on and levelled the site for their press-houses, and have all the materials for it ready, as well as the machinery to put into it when it is ready.

21. They will have to sink deep for the foundations of the presses (some 20 feet), but this is their only difficulty; and, as far as I can see, they ought to have one or two presses at work by March next. The building they contemplate having iron roofing and framework will not take long in execution, and I can see no reason why they should not, in the next spring, export a small quantity of cotton from Sedashegar, provided we can open up the road by the Arbyle Ghaut, so as to admit of cotton carts reaching Alleguddy. This I think we shall be able to do; but on this point I shall be in a better position to report in the course of a few days.

RESOLUTION of Government.

The satisfaction of Government should be expressed to Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy, at his proceedings in connexion with the works at Beitkool; and, under the explanation given in paragraph 18 of his letter, he is authorised at once to conclude a contract with Messrs. Knight & Co., or with any other parties, for an iron screw pile pier.

EXTRACT from the Proceedings of the Bombay Government in the Public Works Department; dated 23 January 1863.

READ the following papers:

LETTER from the Superintending Engineer, Southern Circle, No. 3316, dated 3d December 1862, to the address of the Chief Engineer, at the Presidency.

It may be interesting to you and to Government to receive reports of my proceedings during my present visit to North Canara; I propose, therefore, to do myself the honour of furnishing you with the details of my journey as I complete each important section of my inspection. The subject of my present letter will be the approach from the Dharwar frontier to the head of the navigation of the Kallee Nuddee, at Mullapoor, viâ the Kyga Ghaut.

2. I crossed the frontier on the 12th ultimo; met Captain Baker at Iddugonjee, the point of divergence of the Arbyle and Kyga Ghauts, on the 14th; reached the ghaut itself on the 17th; Mullapoor on the 20th; and Sedashegar on the 21st.

3. From the frontier to Iddugonjee the road has long been in use, and though narrow, that is, only about 18 feet wide, it is, except here and there, in pretty good order, and quite passable for carts; indeed carts in some numbers, carrying merchandise to Tudry and Ankola, via the Arbyle Ghaut, are now using it, and a little repair will set it entirely to rights.

4. From Iddagonjee the new line by the Kyga turns off, and this also, though narrow, from 12 feet (the minimum) to 16 feet in width, is perfectly passable for carts, and on good gradients. It winds about too much to avoid drainage works, but will be straightened and considerably shortened when the bridges and drains are built. I took my laden carts from Iddagonjee down the ghaut to Mullapoor without any assistance or any difficulty, and they traversed a greater part of the distance, lighted only for a short time each night by a waning moon. This fact will enable you to estimate the value of assertions that have been so freely, and I may say unfairly made, that the greater portion of the work done on the Kyga Ghaut was destroyed during the last monsoon. I have already reported to you on this subject, on information supplied by the executive engineer; I can now add the testimony of my own observation and experience. The ghaut suffered hardly at all from the effects of the late rains, and but that we must stop it up to admit of the prosecution of the cuttings, it would without further improvement take a small amount of traffic. I say a small amount, because the surface is not of course in a fit state at present to bear much wear and tear, and would soon get cut up in the absence of a moorum, or metal covering.

5. Captain Ker and his gang of convicts I have ordered to work eastward from the top of the ghaut, where the prisoners will find employment more suitable for them than on the ghaut itself, and where they can be better guarded and managed. On this part free labour is most difficult to procure, and here, therefore, the prisoners are relatively more valuable. The only thing I fear is fever, but that is everywhere, except close to the sea; and if the prisoners suffer, they may be moved westward, as I have provided for. I hope, however, as the season advances, fever will abate; and further, that the convicts being better fed and cared for than common coolies, will not be affected in the same degree. One thing is certain, if the convicts cannot work on this line, coolies cannot, or will not; and in this event the prospects of the season's operations will be but gloomy.

6. This is perhaps a convenient place to offer a few observations I have to make on the sanitary state of the district this year. Last season I had to bring to notice the difficulties that fell in our way from this cause, and so far from there being at present any improvement, matters are now far worse.

7. Just as I crossed the frontier on the 12th ultimo, I passed a man lying down on the road very ill with fever. On the next short march of 12 or 15 miles I saw three were in the same condition. Yellapoor is like a deserted town. The few people that are seen are ague shaken and emaciated, and in every house there are one or more inmates affected. The mamletdur and his first carcoon have been obliged to leave, and indeed no one remains who can possibly get away. At every hamlet along the road it is the same, and some villages have been altogether abandoned. The post comes with irregularity, owing to many

of

of the runners being laid up, and I was informed by Mr. Goldfinch that hardly a post arrives without the report of the death of some person from fever. As to the European officers and subordinates, I was struck, as others have been, by their altered appearance. Since last year nearly every one, from Captain Baker downwards, is suffering or has suffered, and unless matters mend, as I trust they will, we shall meet with some obstruction from a cause altogether beyond regulation or control; the district is getting as bad as the Dung.

8. The rains too, this year have, it is to be regretted, held on to an unusually late period; indeed, there has been a heavy fall at the ghaut within the last five or six days which I think will be productive of undesirable results. Before this fall the dense jungle was still undried, the grass and undergrowth long and green, and the late unexpected and very undesirable moisture will defer for many days longer the thorough drying up which is so very

necessary.

9. I hope I shall not be thought anxious to make too much of the difficulty, but it is a very serious one, and should be fully explained to Government; and if any confirmation of my account of the state of matters is wanted, I would refer to Mr. Goldfinch, whose personal experience of a residence in North Canara, and whose more extended official information, will enable him to speak with more authority than I can.

10. On the ghaut when I passed down only about 1,500 men had been collected. They had all been imported from Rutnagiree, Sawunt Waree, &c., by the individual who has, with my consent, received a contract for executing the ghaut and road works on the schedule of rates given in para. 17 of my letter to Captain Baker. This number of men is far less than I expected to see, or than Captain Baker led me to expect I should see; but the rice crop, as is well known, was very late this year, and the people cannot leave their homes until it is cut and stacked.

11. Reinforcements are, however, coming daily in twenties and thirties, and if not alarmed by the unhealthy state of the district, I believe, that shortly there will be three or four thousand men at work. This number is less than Captain Baker reported he expected to have, but I never thought his hopes would be fully realised, and I believe he will have done very well if he gets and keeps the number just named.

12. Without some such arrangement as a contract, it would have been very difficult to have got, or to have kept labour. The adoption of the contract plan relieved Captain Baker of the details of accounts of works, of personal accounts with each man, of advances given and recovered, and of all the complications due to keeping the records of a large fluctuating body of men; and added to this, he is spared the difficult and expensive arrangements for feeding the people, all of which have now been provided for by, and fall on the contractor. On the other hand, the schedule of rates, considering extra cost of labour in the district, is extremely moderate, and I have little hesitation in saying that, working departmentally, we could not have kept within such prices. Most of them are the contractor's own tenders, and though he might perhaps have been beaten down a little, he appeared desirous to act so fairly, and his offers were so reasonable, I did not desire to make any reduction, being convinced it is as much for the interest of Government as for the contractor, that he should desire a reasonable profit from an adventure which is as creditable to his enterprise as it is advantageous to the prosecution of these important works.

13. Such men as this contractor and his managing agent (a person who has executed contracts elsewhere) are much needed in this department, and I shall be very glad if the result of the present arrangement is as satisfactory to the individual concerned as it will be to us if carried out, as there is every reason (setting aside disorganization on account of sickness) to hope it will be.

14. At present, the proportion of fever cases on the ghaut is not very great, only about 4 per cent.; but the men are fresh, and it remains to be seen what the effect of a longer residence will be. The contractor's managing agent has, however, suffered; Lieutenant Maccartney, Royal Engineers, has been very unwell from fever the last few days, and the other Europeans, Mr. Stapleton, and Serjeants Ferrell and Cresswell, are also ill.

15. I have arranged, as you will see from my letter to Captain Baker, for the general use of timber bridges on the line as being cheaper and more quickly executed, and as overcoming many of the difficulties more rapidly than stone arches. My idea is, that when the timber superstructure is worn out, iron shall be substituted; and as there are few or no cases in which pile supports will be applicable or necessary, a great deal of what is done now, will, I trust, come into permanent use.

16. You will observe from the 15th para. of my letter to Captain Baker, that I have had to find fault in respect to one point of his management. Up to the date of my visit, as the contractor's men arrived, they were employed on clearing the line of jungle to admit of the commencement of the excavation, but this, though necessary to a certain extent, had not been properly regulated by Captain Baker's subordinates on the spot, and far more jungle has been cleared than was necessary. The loss that has been incurred, though considerable, is not of moment, and I fortunately arrived with Captain Baker in time to put a stop to further loss, and I trust matters are now so regulated on the ghaut, that any further unprofitable expenditure need not be apprehended.

17. At Mullapoor, Mr. Maxwell, of the firm of Nicol & Co., is making preparations for the erection of cotton screws and saw mills, but I doubt very much if his arrangements will be completed this season. His main difficulty appears to be connected with the labour supply, and his European engineer and workpeople have been suffering from fever. On the whole, I doubt very much whether cotton in any quantity will come down from Kyga this year, even if we are successful in opening it entirely. Until screws are erected, there is no object in bringing cotton by this route, and I shall be greatly surprised if Mr. Maxwell is successful in setting up his machinery before the monsoon. At present, beyond the collection of a small quantity of material, the erection of a chupper residence, the excavation of some foundations, and the erection of a small landing jetty, nothing has been done.

MEMORANDUM from the Chief Engineer at the Presidency, No. 1765, dated the 15th December 1862.

SUBMITTED to Secretary to Government.

THE chief engineer has already suggested to Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy that Captain Baker should make Beitcul his head quarters during the monsoon; little, if anything, can be done, and the chief engineer has,been informed by the subedar-major of the sappers, that the company at Beitcul have not suffered from fever.

2. Colonel Kennedy's attention will be called to recent orders by the Commander in Chief respecting sanitary arrangements; these are equally applicable to gangs of workmen. Colonel Kennedy has probably attended to this already, but as it is not noticed in his letter to Captain Baker, it appears necessary to remind him.

RESOLUTION of Government.

THE Honourable the Governor in Council approves of Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy's views, and directs that the satisfaction of Government be expressed to that officer at the general result.

2. The attention of the principal inspector general of the medical department should be called to paras. 6 and 9 of Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy's letter, dated the 3d December

1862.

(signed) H. Rivers, Lieut. Col., R. E.

Secretary to Government.