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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 4, p. 309.

x] PUBLIC WMORXS ORGANIZATION 309 branch had hardly been formed as yet; but the Government of tration. India had entered into arrangements with companies for the Constitu- construction of certain trunk lines, some of which had been Public partially completed, while others had been begun or surveyed; Worksa - - , „ ,. „ . - - . Secretariat and there was a Consulting Engineer at head-quarters to assist and engi- and advise in dealing with these matters. In I854 a Secretary neering staff. to the Government of India for the Department of Public a Works was appointed, the first incumbent of the post being Lieutenant-Colonel W. E. Baker of the Bengal Engineers. The Secretary is shown in the lists of the day as 'vested with the powers of the late Military Board.' The control exercised by the new central office over civil and military and irrigation works was probably less at this time than it became at a later date, owing to the organization being incomplete. The first effort towards a general control over the operations of the Provincial Governments seems to have taken effect in a call for annual budget estimates and progress reports of works. The first series of the latter was for the year 1854, and the attempt of Major (afterwards Sir Henry) Yule of the Bengal Engineers, then Under Secretary, to reduce these from chaos to order forms one of the early Selections from the Records of the De- partment. The total expenditure by the Government on works and repairs of all kinds for that year was 226 lakhs. Of this nearly a crore was on communications of all kinds, including navigable canals; over 54 lakhs was on irrigation; 562 lakhs on military works ; 3 lakhs on land for railways and their control. In addition 59 lakhs had been spent by the East Indian, and over 9 lakhs by the Madras, Railway Company. Thus the total outlay on public works of all kinds by Govern- ment, and by companies with capital guaranteed by Govern- ment, was close upon three millions sterling at the current rate of exchange. In the year 1849-50, or only four years before, the outlay, it is believed, did not exceed 60 lakhs. The staff of engineers was at this time drawn from many sources. The Engineer corps of the three Presidencies sup- plied the nucleus, and a few more came from the Company's Artillery; some were recruited from the line regiments of the Company's service, and a few officers of Royal regiments in India were employed with permission of the British Govern- ment. Lastly, a considerable number of civilians had been engaged in England and in India, and steps had been taken to increase the supply from both sources. The Thomason College at Roorkee, which will be referred to later on, was beginning to supply engineers and subordinates in fair numbers,