VIZAGAPATAM.
between the flagstaff and the sea, are several more Dutch tombs of later date.
After the Dutch finally relinquished the place it rapidly decayed, and up to 1846 it was 'a miserable fishing village.' About that time, Messrs. Arbuthnot & Co., having obtained (see p. 289) the lease of the Pálkonda estate, built a factory at Chittivalasa, about three miles to the north, for making jaggery from sugar-cane, the cultivation of which they set themselves to develop. This factory at one time turned out 6,000 tons of sugar annually. At about the same period the firm set on foot an export business in local produce, principally oil-seeds. The factory was afterwards (in 1867) converted into a mill for spinning and weaving by steam the local 'jute' referred to on p. 101. It is the only jute mill in the Presidency and is now a flourishing concern belonging to Arbuthnot's Industrials, Ltd., containing 98 looms (50 more are being added) and over 2,000 spindles, employing 800 hands, and turning out about 26 lakhs of gunny bags annually.
The export trade originated by Messrs. Arbuthnot & Co. quickly attracted other European firms, and the town took a fresh lease of life. The ruins of the residences erected by the merchants both during this period and at the end of the eighteenth century when the exports of the hand-woven fabrics of the place was still a profitable business, stand along the road running to Chittivalasa,and are still known by their names. Dawson Méda, Lawson Méda and ' Malkan' (Malcolm) Méda are instances, and the last of these is now the property of the Vizianagram estate and is kept up as a halting-place. That estate also owns a large house (now much out of repair) near the clock-tower. The most favourite bungalows at present are those facing the sea, alongside the flagstaff bastion and the Club.
The European community thus established did much for the town. They supported the voluntary municipal association started in 1861 and referred to on p. 214 above and organized subscriptions for a hospital, school and church. This last was opened for worship in November 1863 and consecrated by the Bishop of Madras in the following March. The people of the place subscribed Rs. 3,011 towards the cost of the building and Government gave a similar sum on condition that it was handed over to them. The voluntary association is also responsible for the clock-tower already mentioned, a quaint erection with Gothie embellishments and buttresses, resembling the belfry of an English village church, which was put up to carry a clock presented to the community by one of its members, Mr. John Young.
228
