AVENUES. 



Extract Letter to Major Birdwoop, Deputy Chief- Engineer. 



Madras, Qth December 1859, 



SiRj — I had the honour of receiving your lettertrf 16th August 

 last, No. 3900, forwarding for my opinion a letter from Mr Fraser 

 regarding avenue trees on the Nilgiris and in the Coimbatore 

 district. 



1. As regards the general question, I shall be happy at all 

 times to afford your department every assistance and advice, but 

 I cannot undertake the charge of avenues generally, for I have 

 a much smaller establishment at my disposal for this purpose 

 than district engineers possess, and my time is fully occupied 

 with my own duties. 



2. If, as I gather from Mr Eraser's letter, the D. P. W. cannot 

 efficiently manage the avenues of Coimbatore, the natural course, 

 I think, is to replace them under the collector, who has subordi- 

 nates in every village quite competent to manage them. There 

 is, in fact, nothing difficult in managing them ; all that is requi- 

 site is ordinary care and frequent attention ; and as neither your 

 department nor mine have the requisite number of subordinates 

 to do the work, the best plan will be to retransfer it to the col- 

 lector, who has. In fact, Mr Fraser does himself propose what in 

 effect amounts to this — viz., that the village authorities should be 

 made to look after these trees ; but he requests that they should 

 act in this respect under my superintendence. This last sug- 

 gestion is in my view objectionable, because, in the first place, I 

 cannot superintend them ; and in the second, because it never 



