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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



raised to (he lieight of 20, and sometimes 30 feet above tlie water. 

 They have two complete aud distinct tiers of apartments. The upper 

 one is appropriated to what are called deck passengers, who pay a 

 very small sum of money, have no very luxurious accommodations, 

 and provide themselvhs with food. The cabin passengers, or those 

 who live in the apartments, fare differently, and are, of course, re- 

 quired to pay a higher sum for their passage." 



These are the very boats best adapted for our Indian rivers, modi- 

 fied by giving them greater length, so as to ensure the smallest draught 

 of water, they would more immediately suit the wealthier classes of 

 the Indian community, and the conveyance of high priced or perish- 

 able articles, or those which are liable to spoil in the common sailing 

 boats. 



Objection has been made to the use of high pressure steam engines ; 

 and the many accidents on the American rivers have been quoted to 

 show the impolicy, if not inhumanity, of employing them; but we 

 think these fears over-rated, as they have been with railway steam 

 engines ; and certainly since steam has become so universal in its 

 application, vast improvements have taken place in the machinery, 

 so much so, that it is now of rare occurrence to hear of the blowing 

 up of a river boat, aud when this is the case it is generally found to 

 be more the fault of the parties managing the engine than from any 

 defect in her construction. It is true that steam tugs answer the pur- 

 pose, but this to a limited extent only, and they are totally unfit for 

 the more extended purposes of commerce. The results of experience 

 show that extended accommodation is required ; that under the pre- 

 sent system, the benefits of steam power, while they answer all the 

 purposes of the government in times of peace in carrying bullion, 

 stores, &c., to and from the presidency, the mercantile community aud 

 the multitudes of Europeans and natives continually travelling to and 

 fro, are either wholly debarred from sharing in these advantages, or, 

 otherwise, they are made to pay these exorbitant rates of freight 

 which are always the accompaniments of monopoly. 



The Select Committee recommended tugs of low pressure, in order 

 to decrease the draught and furnish more space in regular built boats ; 

 but had steam tugs answered the purpose in America, on the Missis- 

 sipi, better than the boats, they would assuredly have adopted them. 

 On the Mississipi, river boats are propelled, against a strong current, 

 at between eight and nine miles per hour, averaging the voyage from 

 New Orleans to Louisville, which is 1680 miles, and vthich has been 

 performed in eight days. In India, up to the present day, they have 

 attained nothing like that speed, although it is certain that the current 

 of the Ganges is of much less force than the Mississipi. 



The Reports of Select Committees have invariably recommended 

 the employment of steam boats in our Indian rivers: the advantages, 

 says one of them, given in so far back as 1829, are self evident ; tirst 

 for expedition, secondly their power of moving up and down the rivers 

 at a greater draught of water than at present; thirdly, less risk of 

 grounding, and they might have added, the application of their power 

 to back them olf the shoal when grounded ; fourthly, a saving in 

 anchors and cables. Again, it is maintained by them that the Indian 

 government will themselves be the greatest gainers by it, and recent 

 events have testified to the correctness of these calculations. The 

 heavy losses sustained by disaster and plunder by the native vessels 

 of every class are wholly unknown to steamers in the present day. 

 We know of no instance where they have been plundered, and for this 

 ten years past of any vessel of this kind having been lost. On the 

 other hand, in common with the sea steamers, they have laid the 

 foundation of a vast moral revolution in the commercial, agricultural, 

 and political state of society, bringing all parts of this vast empire 

 into one narrow circle of communication, and the country itself within 

 a few days pleasurable sail of Great Britain. 



Two manifest causes exist for the non-adoption of river steam 

 navigation in India. The first is the Indian government having as 

 many steamers as they desire under existing circumstances, they are 

 indisposed to add to the load of debt with which they are already 

 overwhelmed by any considerable outlay beyond that which they have 

 gone to advance steam navigation via the Red Sea: the other is, the 

 European merchants have so many calls for their caoital, as merchants, 

 bankers, agriculturists, brokers, and agents, that with them it is im- 

 possible, irdividually or collectively, to speculate to any extent in this 

 way, and the natives are either too poor or too timid to embark in 

 anything requiring a large expenditure, when the returns are not 

 directly manifest to them according to their strict rules of mathema- 

 tics. It is, therefore, left to the capitalists of this country to unite 

 and subscribe the necessary funds ; and attempts have been made 

 time after time to get up a company for this purpose, but the tempo- 

 rary derangement of commercial affairs, and the little encouragement 

 given by the East India Company, who were content to enjoy their 

 monopoly, proved insurmountable barriers to success. Times, how- 



ever, are altered, money is superabundant, and the direction of East 

 India affairs is beginning to distinguish itself by a more liberal line of 

 policy than has been displayed in bygone times ; it is, therfore, to be 

 hoped that British capital will not only be employed largely in the 

 extension of steam navigation in the rivers of India, but also in deve- 

 loping those vast resources which India is known to possess to a far 

 greater extent than those lands upon which we are now dependent for 

 our cotton, sugar, tobacco, indigo, and other staple commodities, which, 

 to the millions at home, have become, from long usage, absolute ne- 

 cessaries. 



The following rates of hire for the large boats will give an idea of 

 the expence of travelling on the Ganges. Assuming a voyage to 

 Allahabad to last 2s mouths, the charge would be for a Dacca pinnace, 

 1st class, at IS to 20 rupees per diem, or for the trip 1,200 to 1,400 

 rupees, about £140; ditto, of the lowest class, at 12 or 14 rupees per 

 diem, or for the trip, 900 to 1,000 rupees ; Budgerow, of the 1st class, 

 for the trip 050 rupees; ditto, of lowest ditto, 450 rupees; Patella, of 

 500 maunds (about 18 tons), 150 rupees ; Oolak, of ditto, 150 rupees ; 

 Pulwar, of ditto, 150 rupees. 



Of the distance to be traversed from Calcutta to Allahabad, we 

 have 232 miles from Calcutta to the mouth of the Moorshedabad 

 river Bhagratta, 248 from thence to Patna, 127 to Ghazeepore, and 

 200 to Allahabad. The extreme rise of the Ganges at Allahabad is 

 45 feet, by the loth of October it usually falls to feet. 



A plan has been suggested for a canal communicntion, by which a 

 vast distance, and consequently loss of time, would be saved ; but the 

 stupendous nature of the undertaking and the expence attending it 

 precludes the necessity of discussing this subject, which probably in 

 some future day will be carried into effect, if railroads do not render 

 such an undertaking unnecessary. It is certain that the want of good 

 roads is most sensibly felt in India. In the Madras presidency there 

 are no roads beyond that city ; around Calcutta the roads are few and 

 very indifferent, and many of the roads in the interior are no other 

 than water courses, laid dry for a greater portion of the year. 



NUNHEAD CEMETERY. 



The first stone of the Chapel to be erected in the Cemetery of All 

 Saints, Nunhead, near Peckham, was laid on Monday, the'l7thof 

 June, by the Rev. Dr. Russell, the chairman of the London Cemetery 

 Company, assisted by B. Hawes, Esq., the deputy chairman, and the 

 other Directors. This extensive cemetery containing above 50 acres 

 was enclosed and laid out in the year 183S, since which time the ser- 

 vice has been read in temporary buildings, but the company having 

 resolved to erect chapels suitable to the extent of the ground, and the 

 increasing accommodation required by the populousness of the vicinity, 

 which includes Peckham, Camberwell, Deptford, Lewisham, &c., se- 

 lected the designs submitted by Mr. Thomas Little, architect, under 

 whose direction they are now in progress. Both chapels are iu the 

 style of architecture prevalent in England about the middle of the 

 14th century, known as decorated English. The principal chapel is an 

 octagon with a high pitched roof, and groined ceiling, modelled after 

 the Chapter House at York ; the exterior is to be built of Kentish 

 Rag and Bath stone. Mr. Winsland is the contractor. 



With regard to these chapels, considerable interest was excited in 

 the early part of this year among the architectural profession for the 

 result of the competition, which the Directors of the London Ceme- 

 tery Company had instituted, by offering premiums of 100/. for the 

 best, and 60/. for the second approved design, limiting the expendi- 

 ture to 6,000/. Sixty-five sets of designs were sent in. 



Architectural competitions have almost become a bye word for 

 jobbing of all sorts ; there has been too often " a foregone conclusion." 

 Intrigue and interest have been set to work, and advertisements have 

 so otten been issued for designs, merely to cover a premeditated job, 

 or favour a previously selected architect, that competitions are 

 " caviare to the general." It is highly gratifying, however, in this in- 

 stance, to record the good faith with which the Directors acted ; 

 deeming themselves incompetent from unprofessional experience, to 

 decide upon plans and designs, where it was evident great taste and 

 talent had been displayed, they referred the selection, and submitted 

 all the drawings to Sir Robert Smirke. The report which he made 

 to the Directors was as follows :— 



TO THE ARTISTS. 



15, Bridge Sireet, Blackfriars. 

 The Directors of the London Cemetery Company feel it due to the artists 

 who have favoured them with designs for the Chapels at Nunhead to express 

 their thanks for the exertions made on their behalf, and their appreciation of 



