Page:Professional Papers on Indian Engineering Volume 2 (1865).pdf/150



an article on Anglo- Indian Architecture, in Vol. I., I expressed an opinion that the style of building usually adopted in the Upper Provinces for our dwellings, was ill adapted to the climate. Having lately been called upon to act as member of a Committee on the Ventilation and Cooling of Barracks, I have been led further to consider the question of the best form of barrack, and now venture to offer the following suggestions on the subject.

The general fault of all Barracks that I have yet seen is, that they are very hot in summer, and cold and draughty in winter that there is no proper system of ventilation;-that the men have virtually to live in their bed rooms, in an uncomfortable fashion, and without any privacy;-—that they are very expensive and exceedingly ugly.

Now, there is little doubt that the present fashion of barracks arose from our first tropical stations being on or near the sea coast, in which numerous doors are required through which the refreshing sea breezes may sweep through the building. But it is prima facie unlikely that buildings erected after the same fashion in a totally different climate such as that of Hindostan, should answer their purpose. For several months in the year it is necessary in these provinces to exclude the external air all day long, and (but for the sake of ventilation) through the night too, and when to the heat is added the abomination of a dust-storm, not to mention the normal plague of flies, the discomfort of the present arrangement is indescribable. The best fitting door will hardly exclude the dust, and half the doors won't shut, while the other half have broken panes of glass.