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In addition we must add all duties connected with the first surveys of properties granted by Government.
I should say that the following work undertaken by the Cadastral Branch is not cadastral work:-
(a) and (b) quoted above.
(c) Mr. Clark's report on the country between Mombasa and Wanga ordered
by the Secretary of State.
(d) Some instances, such as the Sites Board at Mombasa, where surveyors
are called upon to do the Land Office work.
(e) Preliminary reconnaissance work. This would fall to the Topographical Section if and when it exists, and its work would very much expedite the work of the Cadastral Branch.
(f) Laying out of town lands. I should make a rather sharp distinction between the laying out of townships and their survey after laying out. The former should perhaps be either Land Office or Public Works Department. The latter cadastral work.
(g) Partition and sub-division of private lands. This should be private work, registered by the Land Office and checked by Cadastral Branch. (h) Compilation and recording of land selections upon general charts. This
should be Land Office work.
(i) Showing of maps to the public. This should be Land Office work.
(j) Pointing out of beacons on the ground. Except when owner is on the
spot at the time of survey, this should be Land Office work. (4) Report on properties should be Land Office work, aided, I presume, by
administration.
(1) Laying out of roads. Public Works Department or Land Office.
If all the above duties are taken over from the Cadastral Branch, it would of course involve a considerable increase in the staff of the Land Office. The con- sequences to the Cadastral Branch would be a very material increase of their output. I believe that it would be following the line of least resistance to press for an increase of Land Office Staff to lighten the work of my Department.
It should not be forgotten that am assuming that we do not get the staff of District Surveyors that I have asked for. If they are granted some modifications in my remarks would be necessary.
Nairobi, June 6, 1907.
31999
No. 82.
G. E. SMITH, Major, R.E.,
Director of Surveys.
NORTHERN NIGERIA.
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(No. 401.).
MY LORD,
(Received September 7, 1907.)
Government House, Northern Nigeria,
Zungeru, August 1, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's despatch, No. 287, of the 11th of June last,* in regard to the proposed survey of the tin mining area in Northern Nigeria, and, in connection therewith, beg leave to refer Your Lordship to the proposal contained in paragraph 10 (? 9) of my despatch, No. 325, of the 3rd ultimo.t I would remark that in any case there would appear to me to be no necessity to survey the whole 200 miles of the tin mining area but only each claim as a licence is issued.
2. With regard to the employment of Mr. James Scott on survey work, I desire to invite Your Lordship's attention to the enclosed memorandum from the Director of Public Works.
I have, &c.,
E. P. C. GIROUARD,
High Commissioner.
* No. 50.
† 28265: not printed.
133
Enclosure in No. 82.
The DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS, Northern Nigeria, to the, SECRETARY TO THE ADMINISTRATION, Zungeru. SECRETARY,
Ir absolute accuracy is required in reference to tin mining areas it would not be possible to place the survey in better hands than Mr. Scott's, provided he is given his own time. Mr. Scott states that a surveyor with one European assistant and two native surveyors could carry out a survey of 200 square miles in 18 months, including a recess during the rains. I doubt it; and, further, I do not know where the native surveyors are to come from unless from India, and I would not recommend this in view of recent experience.
2. A trigonometrical survey in any part of the country would presumably form part of a complete similar survey to be eventually carried out over the Protectorate. The whole question of survey is now under His Excellency's consideration.
3. In reference to the concluding remark in paragraph 2 of the Secretary of State's despatch, I cannot think that any cadastral survey could be carried out-at slight expense, in view of the absence of native surveyors, and the consequent necessity for employing unnecessarily skilled European surveyors at places far removed from headquarters.
J. E.,
July 24, 1907.
33674
SIR,
No. 83.
UGANDA.
Director of Public Works.
MR. II. HESKETH BELL to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received September 21, 1907.)
Metropole Hotel, Brighton, September 17, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 25635/1907,* covering a copy of Major Hills's report on the Survey Department of Uganda Together with a memorandum on the subject by the Chief Surveyor.
Hills.
2. I find myself generally in accord with all the views expressed by Major
3. I appreciate the disadvantages of taking surveyors off their regular duties in order to utilise them on pressing works which do not properly belong to either the topographical or cadastral surveys of the country. It has happened, however, during the last two years, that a surveyor was sometimes urgently required for tracing a new road or for work in connection with the laying out of a township. None of these jobs separately took up more than a few weeks of a surveyor's time, and as soon as they were completed he was free to resume his ordinary work. was also left to the Chief Surveyor to select a man who had either just completed the survey of a particular estate or who could be temporarily detached without serious delay or detriment to the work he was engaged on. It would neither have been reasonable nor economical to send for special surveyors from England to carry out the small jobs above referred to, and the Executive was obliged to call upon the Survey Department for the temporary help required.
It
4. The laying out of roads, of a proper gradient, throughout the Protectorate, is now of prime urgency, and I believe that at least two men will be required for two years to do what is required in this direction. I therefore strongly recommend that two Road and Land Surveyors" should be appointed provisionally, at salaries of £300 a year, for this work and for other jobs in the Public Works Department. These men might eventually be drafted into the Survey Department, to take the place of others who might not wish to renew their engagements. In the meantime, their salaries would, of course, be a charge against the appropriation for Public Works. The survey of the Mabira Forest is now being executed by a surveyor in the employ of the concessionaires, and his work is subject to the supervision and direction of the Chief Surveyor and Land Officer. No special appointment, such as that referred to in the 18th paragraph of Major Hills's report,t is therefore
necessary.
• No. 72.
† No. 38.