latter.

THE SMALL CAUSE COURT.

This court was originally housed for many years in the large, white
building in the Museum compound to the north-east, close to the Sudder
Street entrance, and now in the occupation of the Director of the
Zoological Survey of India. It was enclosed by a high brick-wall
having an entrance on Chowringhee Road through a large gateway,
supported by two upstanding pillars. There used to be only three
Judges, First or Chief, Second, and Third, and I recollect some time
after my arrival in Calcutta one of the first incumbents of the office
of the Chief Judge was the late Mr. J.T. Woodroffe, Advocate-General
of Bengal, and father of Sir J.G. Woodroffe, Judge of the High Court.
He would, however, only accept the appointment temporarily, as he
considered his future prospects at the Bar too good to jeopardise by
being absent beyond a certain time. I was very intimate with him at
that period; in fact, we lived in the same boarding house for quite a
long time in Middleton Row, now run by Mrs. Ashworth, and it is rather
a singular coincidence that when this lady was a little girl her
mother, Mrs. Shallow, presided over this very house. The present court
was built on the site of the old post office and the residence of the
Calcutta Postmaster, a Mr. Dove--a large, fat man, but one of the
best. As Calcutta grew and litigation increased the number of Judges
was also gradually increased until there are now, I believe, six and a
Registrar to do the work that three, formerly, were able to cope with.

POLICE COURTS.

The Chief Presidency Magistrate has lately changed his court from
Lall Bazaar to Bankshall Street, formerly occupied from time
immemorial by the Board of Revenue. Originally there were only two
Magistrates sitting on the Bench, the Chief, a European barrister
designated the Southern, and a native known as the Northern,
Magistrate. The courts were formerly held in the large, white building
in the centre of the Police compound, since pulled down, on the top
floor of which the Commissioner of Police for a long time resided. It
was found at last, as in the case of the Small Cause Court, that the
increased work had outrun the existing accommodation; so Government
built the police court on the site of the old Sailors' Home which has
lately been vacated and found the Commissioner of Police a handsome
residence standing on the site of the premises of the United Service
Club.

[Illustration: T