CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
was the accommodation for the household, that Lord Cornwallis, in 1793, rented a house in Old Court House Street, at Rs. 500 a month, for the use of his staff.
Adjoining Government House, to the west, stood the Council House, the two buildings together occupying the width of the present Government House grounds. For a twelve-month after the recovery of Calcutta there was no Council Room, as is shown by the "Consultations" for June 22, 1758, when it was agreed that—
"there being at present no proper places for the public offices, from which circumstance many inconveniences arise in carrying out the business of the settlement, and as it will be proper likewise to have a room to hold our Councils in contiguous to the Secretary's and Accountant's Offices, the dwelling-house of the late Mr. Richard Court be purchased for the Honble. Company, and appropriated to the above uses."
It is not likely that this house of Mr. Court's could have been to the south of "the Creek," as at that date, 1758, the settlement was only just beginning to extend on that side. It was probably a house near the hospital, and remained in use till 1764, when the Council House on the
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