ON THE THRESHOLD OF TO-DAY. 213
ment was in Chowringhee and the Public Works Department in the Strand Road. The Treasury Building (the subject of Sir George Trevelyan's ire) stood where it now does, but its present shape was assumed between 1877 and 1882: and the same period witnessed the construction of the Imperial Secretariat behind it, which stands on the site of what was once known partly as Loudoun Buildings and partly as Spence's Hotel. The General Post Office was opened to the public as far back as 1868: but the Central Telegraph Office was in Clive Street in 1869 and in Fancy Lane in 1870, and the existing building was not commenced before 1873.
To the seventies, that is to the energetic Lieutenant-Governorship of Sir Richard Temple, must equally be assigned the Indian Museum in Chowringhee, which was declared ready for occupation in 1875. The Small Cause Court was to be found in Mangoe Lane in 1870. Its modern habitation at the corner of Bankshall Street and Hare Street was erected four years later, and may be deemed quite an ancient landmark by the side of its neighbour, the Military Account Department's offices. The Bengal Secretariat led a nomadic existence for years. In 1854 it started its career at 1, Council House Street: two years later it had been transferred to Somerset Buildings, at the corner of Hastings Street and Strand Road: and during the seventies it occupied two houses, one in Chowringhee on the site of the present School of Art, and the other in Sudder Street. It was not until 1880 that a permanent home was found in Writers' Buildings, and the East Indian Railway Company compelled to seek quarters elsewhere.
