1 Lawrence Memorial
2 Asylum, Murr.
3 The Kashm{r Rail-
4 way scheme,
5 Road from Srinagar
6 to Gilgit.
7 624 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
8 agrowing surplus, All this is indubitable proof of good and honest work
9 done, and it is hoped that, under the beneficial influence of the Council
10 of Regency, the “ Happy Valley” will, at no distant date, reach that degree
11 of real happiness and prosperity which nature intended for it, and to which
12 it is the birthright of the humblest Kashmiri subject to aspire.
13 About two-and-a-half miles from the Church at Murri, at an elevation
14 of 6,898 feet above the sea-level, is-the useful institution known as the Sir
15 Henry Lawrence Memorial Asylum, Murri. The Asylum was founded in
16 1860, by public subscription, to perpetuate the memory of Sir Henry Law-
17 rence. The object of the institution is to provide for the children of soldiers
18 serving, or having served, in India, It is supported by the interest from
19 the endowment, a Government grant-in-aid, and by public subscription.
20 The institution comprises a High School, Middle School and Upper Primary
21 and Lower Primary Departments. The girls are taught geography, history,
22 arithmetic, algebra, euclid, Shakespeare, physiology, and Indian vernaculars,
23 and are, besides, thoroughly trained in every-day domestic life, such as
24 making beds, scrubbing floors and making the clothes for both boys and
25 girls. The institution is doing substantial and good work, and does great
26 credit to the British army in whose behalf it was founded and is
27 maintained.
28 In the year 1890, the Kashmir Darbar re-opened communications with
29 the Government of India regarding a proposal to connect the Kashmir
30 Valley with the Indian Railway system. Several alternative routes were
31 ‘suggested, and General de Bourbel, Chief Engineer to the Kashmir State,
32 issued an interesting report on the practicability of these routes. The
33 route most welcome to the military authorities would go vid Abottabad, to
34 join the North-Western Railway at Hassan Abddl. The other would start
35 from a point at or near Rawalpindi, and, passing four or five thousand
36 feet below Murri, which would be left at a distance of a few miles, would
37 roceed direct to the fine new cart road to Kohala, or on the further side of
38 the Jhelum river, taking in the Punch trathe en vowte from Kahuta to
39 Rawalpindi. The survey made has resulted in a most favourable report, and
40 a definite scheme is now under consideration. The proposed capital is thirty
41 lakhs, and the traffic returns are estimated at twenty lakhs annually. The
42 Kdshmir Council have expressed their willingness to lodge Government se-~
43 curities to guarantee four-and-a-half per cent. interest for fifteen years on the
44 K4shmir portion, which would form about two-thirds of the whole line, and it
45 is hoped the Government of India will do the same for the British portion of
46 the line. Strategically, the line would add materially to the strength of the
47 frontier. The interests of the Empire demand that the Kashmir frontier
48 should be permanently garrisoned by British troops, as in the case of Quetta,
49 and that every facility should be provided for the conveyance of troops in
50 that direction. It is hoped that the new line will be worked by the North-
51 Western Railway at fifty-five per cent. of the gross earnings to cover the
52 expenses of working.
53 Communications between Srinagar and Gilgit have been improved by
54 means of a road which is now under construction between these places. Mr.
55 Johnson, Executive Enginecr, submited a scheme for diverting the road from
56 a point selected by him, and carrying it across the Indus ona suspension
57 bridge. The scheme is calculated to afford facility in crossing the Indus in
58 times of flood, and to improve the means of communication with Gilgit. The
59 greater part of the new road from Bunji, on this side of the river, will be on
60 the level, while, as far as Péri, thirteen miles to the other side, the ground
61 Sri Satguvd!tagties PeyHytaidbtanbe good. ThN amathariélibrary@erhdikoonto travellers