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Untitled Article
seen it estimated at 4000 / . is on the cdv ^ r of the Monthly Repositoryan Estimate which was , I suppose , calculated from one contained in the
First Number of the Unitarian Repository , published in Calcutta in October 1823 , in which it is stated that "' the estimated expense is Sa . Rs . 30 , 000 , but on account of the increased and increasing value of landed property it is probable that Sa . Rs . 40 , 000 may be ultimately required . " But the former of these sums , at the
exchange of Is . lOd . per Rupee , then and till very lately current , amounts only to 2 J 5 QI ., and the latter to 3665 / . 13 a . 4 d . either of which forms a very considerable deduction from the amount stated in the Monthly Repository , and consequently removes , in some measure at least , the
appearance of extravagance in our plans . The rate of exchange has very recently become more favourable for remittances to England than it was at the above-mentioned date , which it is not improbable may occasion a change less favourable for remittances to India . In this event the amount
stated in the Monthly Repository will approach nearer the truth , as the same amount in pounds sterling will then produce a smaller amount in Sicca Rupees . From these remarks you will perceive that any given sum in English currency is not a fair
criterion of the expense actually incurred , or estimated to be incurred , in Bengal currency , unless with fexpress reference to the rates of exchange prevailing between the two countries . Confining my remarks , therefore , to the estimate contained in the
Unitarian Repository , I think I can shew by actual experiment that it was formed upon a just consideration of the circumstances of the case . Within the last five years two Dissenting Chapels have been built in Calcutta , the one by the Baptists , the other by
the Independents ; the one capable of Containing a congregation of about 200 , the other of 400 persons ; the one having a vestry , a baptistery , a range of offices for carriages and
palankeens , but no school-room ; the other having a vestry and a schoolroom , but no baptistery nor any accommodation for carriages and palankeens ; the one without , the other with , punkahs ; and bath built in the
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very plainest and least expensive style , and furnished with the same regard to economy . Now , according to printed reports lying before me , the Baptist Chapel cost altogether upwards of Sa . Rs . 24 , 000 , and the Independent Chapel , exclusive of school-room and
vestry , nearly Sa . Rs . 33 * 000 , and , inclusive of school-room and vestry , upwards of Sa » Its * ' 36 , 000 ; but in comparing the actual cost of these two chapels with the estimated cost of the Unitarian Chapel , I beg yOur attention to the three following particulars . First , we have allowed
ourselves a considerable latitude by estimating the probable expense of the Unitarian Chapel at from 30 to 40 , 000 Rupees : if our funds enable us to build a vestry , a school-room ,
outoffices for carriages and palankeens , a printing-office , and a dwelling-house for the minister , all of which are contemplated as desirable , the ultimate cost cannot be less than the
lastmentioned sum ; if only a Chapel be built , the ultimate cost will not be more than the first-mentioned sum . Secondly , it seems desirable ( to avoid a diminutive appearance on the one hand , and to prevent on the other a striking , disproportion between the usual number of attendants and the
number it is capable of accommodating ) that the Unitarian Chapel should be larger than the Baptist and not so large -as the Independent one ; and also that the furniture , such as seats , railings , &c , should be executed in a somewhat superior manner to that
bel 6 nging to the other two chapels : if , according to these views , it be furnished somewhat more tastefully than both of the other chapels , aud be built larger than the smallest of them , the ultimate cost will be proportionately affected . Thirdlv one
important item of the ultimate cost is the price of the ground , and in this particular we have laboured under great disadvantages in consequence of the unprecedented increase in the value of land during the last few
years . At present , indeed , and tor the last two months , money has become very scarce , purchasers fewer , and land less valuable , but we had purchased our Chapel ground several months before the change was even thought of by the best-informed in these matters , and were consequently
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30 Letter from the Rev . W . Adam to the Rev . Jumes Yate ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1826, page 30, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2544/page/30/
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