Collector Connolly
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The Connolly Canal became a reality, this account relates, with land for it being voluntarily surrendered by their owners when he met them from time to time. Then, he would invite the Village Headmen to the rest houses along the way, instilling “in them a sense of commitment” and getting them “to muster free labour” in return for a “sumptuous noon meal.” Villagers “used to volunteer enthusiastically in the name of the new project - in a sense, a harbinger of the Sramadan of the present day.” As for the Nilambur teak plantation, this was apparently a response to teak being in short supply for the Bombay ship-building industry. The first 50 square miles of forest land he got on lease from the Trikkalur Devaswom in Nilambur in 1840. He then got down forestry experts from England in 1844 to start planting 1500 acres with teak.
There used be a Tanjore Commissioner’s office in Royapettah. The building it was in was probably Amir Mahal. The Commission was instituted in 1798, the year Amir Mahal was built to house Government offices and the Commission could well have been one of its first occupants. A few years later, it became the home of the Sadr Adalat, the Chief Court of Civil Judicature, which was established in 1802. When the Court was abolished, the General Police Office moved into Amir Mahal and stayed from 1872 to 1875. The building was later restyled and refurbished by Robert Chisholm when it was decided by the Government to make it the home of the Princes of Arcot after it bought Chepauk Palace. The British set up the Commission in 1798/99 to administer Tanjore.
