Page:A Statistical Account of Bengal Vol 1 GoogleBooksID 9WEOAAAAQAAJ.pdf/108

Rh ‘for the purpose of making better provision for constructing, repairing, cleaning, and lighting the public streets, roads, and drains, for the prevention of nuisances, and for the improvement of the said town and station generally.’ The first Municipal Commissioners were, the Magistrate of the 24 Parganás, Messrs. H. Leonard, C. P. Caspersz, E. D. Kilburn, F. Schiller, and Bábu Rámgopál Ghosh; Mr. V. H. Schalch, the Commissioner of the Presidency Division, was also afterwards appointed a Municipal Commissioner; and in 1863, the whole of the Government proprietary right in the land was made over to the Municipality, in trust for the town of Canning,— ‘subject to the control of Government as to the manner in which the lands shall be disposed of for the benefit of the said town and port, and as to the manner in which the rents derived therefrom, and the sale proceeds of leases, as well as the funds derived from any other source of municipal revenues, shall be expended, distinctly reserving to itself the right to take any of the land that may now or hereafter be required for imperial or other public purposes,— such, for instance, as the making of roads or tanks, the enlargement of the railway premises, the construction of wharves, quays, or jetties, and the building of public offices or works of defence, without giving any compensation to the Commissioners, or having to purchase any rights but such as are held adversely to them.’ This trust was afterwards confirmed in June 1863, and a deed was drawn up conveying the lands in perpetuity on a freehold tenure, subject to the previous conditions.

Rules were also passed empowering the Commissioners to grant leases and to borrow money on the security of the land, but the Government itself declined to grant any loan. The balance of the Matlá funds on the 1st January 1863 (composed of sale proceeds of parcels of town lands, and rents accruing thereon) was made over to the Commissioners, and the works in progress under the Public Works Department, in connection with the city, were also transferred to them.

The expenditure necessary for the various works,—namely, raising the ground, digging tanks, constructing roads, protecting the river frontage, draining the town, and making landing arrangements,—was estimated at upwards of £200,000; and to raise funds for immediate purposes, the Municipality, in November 1863, with the sanction of Government, opened a loan of £100,000, upon debentures, at $$5\tfrac{1}{2}$$ per cent. interest, redeemable in five years. The privilege of commuting