596 



MAXfAL OF THK NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



Notes on 

 Public 

 Works. 



Military 

 buildings 



CH. XVIII. entertain his offer, and it is to be hoped that the line may shortly 

 be begun. A branch railway on the metre gauge is about to be 

 made between Bangalore and Mysore. Its extension from Mysore 

 into the Waindd might be profitable, and would certainly develope 

 that large coffee tract ; but it could scarcely serve the Nilagiris.^ 

 Any point on it would be as far from Ootacamand as Mettapollium 

 is, and Coonoor would be altogether out of its reach. 



Though communications are obviously the most important of 

 public works on. the Nilagiris, nearly twice as much (excluding 

 repairs) has been expended on military buildings. Of these 

 there are but two, viz., the barracks for convalescent soldiers at 

 Wellington and the Jisylum for soldiers^ orphans at Ootacamand. 



The Wellington barracks were begun in 1848 and completed 

 in 1860. In 1876 another block was added to them. Appendix 

 No. 16-A gives particulars. They can accommodate 54 non- 

 commissioned officers and 820 privates, and have cost in all 

 £166,740. Each married soldier obtains 5,376 cubic and 384 

 square feet of living space, at a cost per head of £362. Each single 

 soldier obtains 1,530 cubic and 77^ square feet at £166 per head. 

 This cost covers that of every out-building, &c. Ample provision 

 has been made for the comfort of the British soldier in the 

 Wellington barracks, which are very substantial buildings, well 

 built of the best materials. Indeed a larger number of soldiers 

 might quite conveniently be accommodated by utilizing the wide 

 back verandahs, which are enclosed. These barracks are amply 

 provided with ablutionary water laid on in pipes by gravitation. 

 The drinking-supply comes from a pure spring, and is piped to 

 the point from which it is drawn. The barrack sites are all well 

 drained. The latrines are worked on the dry-earth system, and 

 the night-soil is daily removed from the buildings to a sufficient 

 distance, where it is sold. The soldiers' food is admirably cooked 

 in stoves. But the site on which these barracks are built has 

 proved to be not altogether a healthy one. 



The Ootacamand Lawrence Asylums were begun in 1863, and 

 all work upon them was stopped in 1871. They are incomplete. 

 Appendix No. 16-B gives particulars. The Male Asylum has been 

 completed at a cost of £57,500. Nearly £4,000 have been 

 expended on the Female Asylum, the out-buildings of which have 

 been temporarily converted into quarters : an additional outlay 

 of some £34,000 for sergeants and masters will be needed to 

 complete it according to the original design to accommodate 300 

 girls, with a chapel for both boys and girls. The girls are now 

 lodged in what was intended to be the hospital for both branches : 

 this was built for about £8,000. The buildings which have 



^ This view is not endorsed by me. — Ed. 



Lawrence 

 Asylums. 



