Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/43

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hands it had rested hitherto, and a committee was appointed to inquire into it. By the advice of this committee a directorate was formed of six members, three being servants of the Company and three free merchants ; and an agent, who was not in the service of Government, was to act as secretary and manager on a fixed salary.

From 1805 to 1844 the Madras lotteries continued to flourish. In 1844 the system was suppressed throughout the British Empire and the lotteries came to an end. Up to that date considerable sums were devoted out of the proceeds to the roads of Madras. At the beginning of the century these were in a bad condition, having been cut up by the carriage of heavy artillery, ammunition and commissariat stores, and they required remaking. Under the direction of Major T. F. De Havilland of the Madras Engineers the roads were remade on the plan then quite new invented by M'Adam, who was known to fame later (1821) as the best roadmaker in England. Besides the roads, which still testify to De Havilland's excellent work, several handsome bridges spanning the Cooum were built at various points, facilitating the increasing traffic of the town. Charities in the Mother country also benefited by the Madras lotteries.

Colonel James Lillyman Caldwell, afterwards K.C.B., was Chief of the Madras Engineers at the time of the projection of the scheme for building the cathedral, and he was called upon to furnish the plans. He had already distinguished himself at the taking of Bangalore (1791), where he was wounded, and he was accounted an able and distinguished officer. It seems strange that the man of war should be called upon to design a cathedral; but the Government engineer, even in these days, has to turn his hand to many things which would not be in his province in England. Caldwell proved himself equal to the occasion, and provided the building committee with