CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
devoted to the new Fort and to dwelling-houses. Not only had most of the former houses been destroyed, but the number of Europeans requiring accommodation had greatly increased, owing to the large number of military officers who had come with the troops from Madras. The junior officers and young writers had to manage as best they could in slight "apartments" of mat and thatch, while the seniors fared but little better in badly patched houses, both building materials and builders being scarce. Even in 1768 it was said that, though the town of Calcutta was daily increasing in size, "the English inhabitants multiply so fast that houses are extremely scarce." Under these circumstances it was natural that the building of a church should be relegated to the distant future, when the new Fort should have been completed, and that, in the mean while, the chaplain had to find what place he could for the celebration of Divine Service. The banishment of the Romish priests from the settlement for a time, allowed him the use of their chapel—a "damp and unwholesome" little brick building, on the site of the Moorgehatta Cathedral; but in 1760 this chapel was restored to its rightful owners, and a room, which cost Rs. 2,500, was built by the main gate of the Old Fort for use as a chapel, as a temporary measure, till a
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