The Military Board is near the river side. It is composed of a paid Member, the Commandant of Artillery (ex-officio), the Chief Engineer (ex-officio), and the Commissary-General (ex-officio). There is a secretary and two assistant secretaries, besides forty-three clerks and several native writers, who are employed in the six departments—General and Miscellaneous; Public Works, Roads and Canals; Draftsmen's; Ordnance; Commissariat; and Stud. The arms and accoutrements of a corps which are indented for by the commanding officer, are checked by this board. All Ordnance stores for practice, or service ammunition of the Artillery, or for corps; all estimates and charges for fortifications or military buildings, for civil buildings, roads and canals; in fact every item entering into the operations of war, or required in time of peace, is indented for and checked at this office. Indents are annually forwarded to the Court of Directors so as to keep the arsenals and magazines filled. Sometimes the Court clip the indents. During the Affghan war the Board sent up twelve 9-pounders instead of six 18-pounders, because it is said 9 × 12 = 108 and 18 × 6 = 108, being the ratio as to calibre, however 18-pounders will breach when 9-pounders will not. The paid member is an exception to Virgil's adage: non omnia possumus omnes.
The new plan which has lately been very judiciously introduced into her Majesty's army, for the education of the officers, which requires them to have some knowledge of mathematics and "that symbolical language, by which alone the laws can be fully decyphered by which God has thought good to govern the universe,"[106] leads me to remark how necessary and important it is that the officers should possess some amount of scientific learning. Thus, the member of this Military board, for instance, has an estimate sent him for erecting a building. The amount of pressure on the foundation, its superficial extent, etc., call for a considerable amount of scientific knowledge.
The Commissariat Department embraces the supplies for armies in the field; for instance, to find 25,000 or 30,000 camels for a campaign, etc. It is said that when the Commander-in-Chief took the field, in October, 1848, the government, not having previously given sufficiently early notice to the Commissariat, were obliged to buy grain at war prices, showing the penny-wise and pound-foolish system of a government, which spent £12,000,000 in the Burmese war, and £7,000,000 in the Affghan war. On the 1st of May, 1838, the Commissariat expenses for the year were, 3,800,000 rupees, or £380,000; before this, they had been £440,000.
The Company's Dispensary is not far from Government House. The reader may form some idea of the quantities of medicine consumed, when he is informed that £50,000 worth is annually sent out to Calcutta from England. The depôts up the country are supplied from this dispensary.
Near to the dispensary is the Ice-house. Ice was first introduced into Calcutta by a Mr. Tudor, of America, a person of enterprising spirit. Previous to this experiment, the good people of this luxurious city, used to cool their wines, beer, water, etc., by the application of saltpetre, but which practice is now discontinued. There was a person called an abdar, whose sole business it was to cool such drink as was required, and who conducted the process in a room built for the purpose; a bottle of wine could be cooled in ten or twelve minutes; but the consumption of saltpetre was great and expensive; the best white, costing three and a half, to four rupees for eighty-two pounds. Most persons still keep an abdar, who now cools the wine with ice. At its first introduction into India, ice was sold at four annas (sixpence) for a seer (two pounds), but now it is to be had for threepence.
Most of the steamers plying between Calcutta and Suez, take in a supply of ice for the outward and return passengers. At Madras—called the Benighted City—the benefit of Mr. Tudor's exertions have also been felt, for it, too, has now an ice-house. This invaluable article may likewise be procured at Bombay.
The Public Library, or Metcalfe Hall, is in a line beyond the ice-house, and separated from it by a street. It is a very handsome building, and has received its name in honour of the late able and talented Lord Metcalfe. The foundation-stone was laid by Brother J. Grant, the Provincial Grand Master of Bengal, assisted by Brother James Burnes, K.H., Provincial Grand Master of Western India, those masons holding office, and by a convocation of the craft, with masonic honours, on the 19th of December, 1840, in presence of the late Earl of Auckland, G.C.B., Governor-General of India, and a large assemblage of visitors.
The late Lord Metcalfe (then Sir Charles) had, as acting Governor-General, given liberty to the press of India, on the 15th of September, 1835; and there is a metal plate in the Hall, with an inscription to this effect. The funds for the erection of the building were raised chiefly by public subscription, and the valuable piece of ground on which it stands, was the munificent grant of Lord Auckland, as Governor of Bengal. The building was designed by the late Mr. C.K. Robinson, a magistrate of Calcutta, and a gentleman of great architectural taste and judgment. It was built by Messrs. Burn and Co., and cost about 68,000 Company's rupees, of which sum 16,390 rupees were contributed for the Library, and the balance by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, and other bodies, who had originally intended to do honour to Sir Charles for the emancipation of the press, and for his public and private virtues. Owing to the alterations, the expenses exceeded the estimate, upon which Sir E. Ryan, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, liberally gave upwards of £400 sterling towards paying the balance.
The Public Library owes its origin to Mr. J.H. Stocqueler, at one time editor of the "Englishman" newspaper, who, in August, 1835, circulated an address among the principal inhabitants of Calcutta, urging the necessity of this establishment. The nucleus of the Library was formed by donations from private individuals, and by the transfer, from the library of the College of Fort William, of a valuable collection of books, consisting of 4,675 volumes. This transfer was made by the Governor-General, Lord Metcalfe (then Sir Charles), on certain conditions, one of which was, that an establishment should be provided for the reception and care of the books, subject to the approbation of the Honourable Court of Directors, who sanctioned the measure in their letter of the 14th of August, 1839.
It appears, that in 1846 there were 6,821 sets of works, and 15,408 volumes, of which 423 volumes were on East India affairs, and 362 Oriental and Hebrew. There are works in Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. In fact there are books upon the arts and sciences, and upon almost every subject, in all languages. There are more than ninety proprietors. The subscribers are divided into three classes, enjoying different privileges, as to the number of books to be taken away at any one time. There are three curators, a librarian, two sub-librarians, and an establishment of about ten native servants.