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 ;

BENGAL. Bengal

line

315

on the Calcutta side of the river, so as to avoid the A pontoon bridge already connects

present cost of transhipment.

Howrah

with Calcutta, but this

cart traffic.

After

much

is

only suitable for passenger and

discussion, a site for the railway bridge

was

selected about 23 miles north of Calcutta, near the town of Hugh'; the connecting branch railway running from the Hugh' station

Railway to the Naihati station of the Eastern Bengal Railway, a distance of 3I miles. The bridge, when completed, will present an imposing appearance, and the design is a novel one. of the East Indian

The

estimate

amounts

for

bridge

the

alone,

exclusive

of

approaches,

the

^353,700, of which the iron-work, machinery, etc., will cost ^125,000. The site selected for the bridge is a narrow reach of the river, where the main stream flows under the right bank. The depth of the main channel varies according to the season from 65 to 70 feet. The depth of water at the site of the two central piers is 24 and 36 feet below low-water mark, and it is intended that these piers should be sunk to a depth of 60 feet below the bed of the river. For steamer navigation, a clear headway of 35 feet above extreme flood level is proposed to be given. The bridge will be altogether 2roo feet in length, and will consist of a central double cantilever girder, 320 feet long, resting on two piers placed 120 feet apart in the middle of the channel of two main girders, each 440 feet in length, and each weighing 1400 tons, one on each side of the central girder; and of two masonry to

viaducts, each

A

abutment.

450

feet in

roadway, 26

length, extending inland feet wide, for

from each shore

a double line of

rails

is

also

provided, the extreme breadth from outside to outside of the main girders being 35I- feet. The wrought-iron caissons for the foundations of the central piers will be 66 feet long by 25 feet broad, with semicircular ends.

been made

The

girders are to be all of steel.

construction of the bridge was yet be assigned for

Canals

.

No

provision has

footway outside the girders for foot passengers.

for a

—The

its

commenced

The

in 1882, but a date

cannot

for irrigation purposes, in

Bengal

completion.

canals, navigable

are divided into three circles,

and

—the

Orissa, South-Western,

and Son,

—

each of which forms a distinct system of its own. At the close of r 881-82, there were in operation in Bengal, 456 miles of navigable canal, 2ro miles of canal for irrigation only, and 1943 miles of distributing channels, from which 1,326,868 acres can be irrigated. The capital invested in canals classed as productive works amounted at The total expenditure, imperial the close of 188T-82 to ;^5,245,798. and provincial, incurred in the irrigation branch of the Public Works

Department was

^ 559 335

Administration

.

.

—The

-

Civil Service

Covenanted and Uncovenanted.

is

divided into two classes— the

The former

includes

civil

servants