MANUAL OF THE NiLAGIIU DISTRICT. 307 



apply now that a railway has been constructed to the foot of CIIAP. XII. 

 the ghdts. No carriage could then be obtained except from recent 

 Mysore, Salem, and Coimbatore ; and in view to meet this difli- History. 

 culty it was proposed to establish cattle depots at Gundulpet 

 and Mettapollium. It was feared also that the troops would 

 contract fever in marching from the Hills, especially on the 

 Mysore side. 



Such was the state of affairs when Sir Henry Pottinger sue- Sir Henry 

 ceeded to office, which he retained until April 1854. He pians'subl 

 differed from his predecessor in regard to the character of the mitted for 

 barracks, which he considered should be permanent, and -^vemDgton. 

 consequently the plans for such a barrack, to accommodate 

 500 men, were called for, and the plans for temporary barracks 

 remitted for further alterations. Meanwhile orders were given 

 in the Revenue Department to acquire the site from the Badagas, 

 and to collect timber on the Hills. This order was after- 

 wards countermanded, and teak selected for the work. In 

 November 1849 two sets of plans and estimates, the one for 

 temporary barracks, amounting to Rupees 61,500, the other for 

 permanent two-storied barracks, amounting to Rupees 4,20,000, 

 were submitted to Government. If stone were to be used instead 

 of brick, the extra cost was estimated at Rupees 30,000. Before 

 sanction the Medical Board were called on for report on the sites 

 and plans. Their reply was favorable as regards the site ; they 

 also approved a two-storied building. The scheme for a 

 Convalescent Depot was sanctioned by the Home authorities in 

 1850-51 and the work begun,^ though the boundaries were 

 not fixed and notified until 3rd May 1853. In 1852 Sir Richard 

 Armstrong, the then Commander-in-Chief, recommended that 

 the name should be changed from Jackatalla to Wellington, 

 in honor of the illustrious duke, who from the first had evinced 

 an interest in the establishment of a sanitarium on the Nilagiris, 

 which he must have seen from afar in his youth, and had 

 expressed his unqualified approbation of the measure. The 

 proposal did not find favor with Sir Henry Pottinger, being 

 unprecedented, and likely to be unintelligible to the natives. 

 Eight years later, 3rd April 1860, Sir Charles Trevelyan thought 

 otherwise, holding " that this interesting military establishment 

 could not be connected with a more appropriate name " than 

 Wellington, and ordered it to be so called henceforth. On the 

 30th November preceding this notification the post of Comman- 

 dant on the Nilagiris was abolished, that of Joint Magistrate 



' It -was the building of the barracks, and consequent present and prospective 

 demand for firewood, which led, in 1849, Captain Ouchterlony to suggest the 

 ' -tablishment of Australian fire-wood reserves. In the first instance the trifling 



'ua of Rupeea 7i was sanctioned for raising nurseries. 



