BUILDINGS IN INDIA.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "Sracrezon.") &a,—Your paper occasionally contains statements with regard to India which make me wonder who your informant can be. For example, with regard to the damage done to the buildings in Calcutta by the recent earthquake, you say that Calcutta houses are jerry-built, and that, practically, Calcutta is rebuilt every twenty years. I have known Calcutta since 1857, and I do not know a single house in the European quarter that has been rebuilt, yet all of these houses were at least forty years old when I made their acquaintance forty years ago. Again, Writers Buildings were erected in the early years of the century, and they are still the nucleus of the Bengal secretariat block. I should like to see this sort of jerry-building take the place of the 9 in. and 14 in. brick wall
houses in London.—I am, Sir, &c., C. H. L.
[The word " rebuilt " is perhaps too strong, but we have painful evidence of the proportion which the cost of repairs bears to the value of houses in BengaL—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
