CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
rupees per month for each set of apartments—a handsome income for their owner.
Previous to the erection of Writers' Buildings, private houses had been leased by Government as required for the occupation of the young writers, who received free quarters, and, in common with all civil servants, drew numerous allowances in the way of diet money, palanquin hire, and, in the case of the seniors, family allowances and house-rent. In 1785, new rules were issued as to the pay and allowances of the Company's civil servants, and it was then ordered that all writers drawing less pay than three hundred rupees per month should be allowed quarters in the "New Buildings," two to each house, or set of apartments, and should receive one hundred rupees a month in lieu of all former allowances, the right to quarters to cease on being appointed to an office the salary of which exceeded three hundred rupees a month.
For nearly fifty years Writers' Buildings continued in the use for which it was originally intended, and maintained a reputation for fast living and extravagance of every kind, which was only natural under the circumstances. The youthful writer, arriving in India, released from the irksome monotony of a weary six months' voyage, and free for the first time from the strict
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