290 MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTEICT. 



CHAP. XII. It is needless to detail the controversy that ensued, but it 

 P , ultimately closed in a compromise, the part selected for the 

 History, cantonment bazaars, public offices, hospital, &c., being the spur 

 on which St. Stephen^s Church, Bombay Castle, the jails and 

 bazaars now stand. ^ The officer appointed to survey the 

 station was Major Hansen, Deputy Quartermaster-General. His 

 report^ is interesting as drawing attention to the swamps of 

 the station and suggesting their being drained, but he did not 

 consider them necessarily unhealthy, for, although mostly impas- 

 sable, springs were constantly oozing from the rising grounds in 

 their vicinity, and thus they partook more " of the character of 

 running streams than of stagnant water." He also earnestly 

 urged on Government to limit and allot ground to private 

 individuals who had already built or were building houses. He 

 remarks, " At present the extent is very undefined, and the claims 

 are, in many instances, so very unreasonable, that I think as little 

 time as possible should be lost in defining the relative limits of 

 each man's property. '^ He urged that the Government bungalows 

 for private individuals should be built on the slopes along the 

 western lake, and that a suspension bridge should be thrown 

 across this piece of water. He also discussed the passes to the 

 hills, being strongly in favour of the Gudalur. It was also due 

 to this officer that the central ridge already referred to was 

 selected for the public buildings. His views were generally 

 approved by Government, but they resolved to station only one 

 company of sepoys, instead of two, at the place, and ordered the 

 proposed native barrack accommodation to be reduced accord- 



Convalescent The various military buildings as well as private residences 



^'^^^' were pushed on with great rapidity. On the 8th January 1830 



*'the Convalescent Depot" at Ootacamand was notified as ready 



for occupation, and the first detachment of convalescents arrived 



in May following. During part of the year 1829 Mr. Lushington 



appears to have resided on the hills and to have taken a very 



active part in pushing on the works, visiting with this object the 



several ghats. He renewed, on behalf of Government, the lease 



of Mr. Sullivan's house " Stonehouse," and purchased from him 



for Government the Bishopsdown property as a residence for 



invalid officers for Rupees 35,000. 



Mr. Sullivan's But though Mr. Sullivan hailed Mr. Lushington's change of 



Portk)^DoV" policy with enthusiasm, the views of these gentlemen differed 



Nilagiris ■ — ■ — 



transferred ' The limits were soon extended, and two or three years later included the 



to Malabar, whole Ootacamand Valley.— See Map, 1st Edition of Dr. Baikie's work. 



* The report is dated 23rd September 1828. In March of this year Surgeon 



Dalmahoy had submitted the report rei^rred to iu Chapter IV, Part I, but his 



remarks were mainly confined to Kdlagiri. 



