PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ཟ། ། ག ཱ། T
Reference :-
C.O.885
18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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In their judgment a restriction in the output of the cadastral survey is in present circumstances fully justified. They will accordingly be glad if the Earl of Crewe will take steps to reduce the cadastral staff, as opportunities occur, by one surveyor at £350, and three at £300, as suggested. On this understanding they sanction the proposed rapid survey by a party of Royal Engineers, which will result in the preparation of a geographical map, on a scale of 1/250,000, at an estimated cost of £9,259, spread over two years. This, they note, will meet the most urgent present necessities on the topographical side.
As regards details of the estimate for this survey, I am to say that my Lords offer no objection to the salaries of £526 per annum proposed for the Lieutenants if, as they understand, this rate is paid in analogous circumstances in British East Africa. They assume that the non-commissioned officers will draw no pay from Army funds in addition to the amounts provided in the Protectorate Estimates, and that the pay of officers and non-commissioned officers will be reduced, as usual, on the voyage.
As the survey will only occupy two years their Lordships consider that outfit allowances should be at the rates usual for Boundary Commissions instead of at the rates provided in the Protectorate Estimates.
25325
(No. 73.)
MY LORD,
No. 120.
FIJI.
I am, &c.,
G. H. MURRAY.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 13 July, 1908.)
[Answered by Nos. 124 and 132.]
Government House, Suva, Fiji, 25 May, 1908. REFERRING to paragraph 19 of my despatch, No. 126, of 25th October, 1906,* I have the honour to report as follows on the proposal to carry out a trigonometrical survey of the Colony.
2. At the October (1906) meeting of the Legislative Council a motion was submitted and approved authorising the expenditure of a sum not at present to exceed £4,000 on trigonometrical survey work. Previous to that meeting
Mr. Blair, the then newly arrived Assistant Commissioner of Lands, had reported briefly on the subject, and strongly recommended that a trigonometrical survey of the island of Viti Levu should be undertaken. But as both he and Mr. Ward, the Commissioner of Lands, were new to the Colony, and as the latter was in indifferent health, which has since necessitated his retirement on pension, further considera- tion of the proposal was postponed. I concur with Mr. Blair in thinking that the time has now come for commencing the work, and, if the necessary arrangements can be made, it should, I think, be undertaken with as little delay as possible.
3. I am the more anxious for the commencement of this survey work in that I think it may be properly and economically combined with the survey which, as will be evident from other despatches, seems urgently required to determine once for all what "native land" there is not occupied or required by the natives.
4. The Commissioner of Lands states that the whole question of reform in the Lands Department, and especially in the records of that Department, depends upon trigonometrical survey. Nothing of the kind has yet been attempted, and the small and absolutely necessary amount of survey already done, especially by private surveyors, is of an unsatisfactory character. On the details of the survey it is perhaps somewhat superfluous for me to enter, except to say that it is pro- posed first to cover the Island of Viti Levu with a primary triangulation by using some thirty observation stations, and, at the same time, to establish the position of an equal number of other stations without visiting these except to clear the hill tops and place signals. When this has been accomplished, I am advised that it will only be necessary to break down any triangle in which land may be opened up, and then all new surveys in that area will be laid down in their correct position
• 45337: not printed.
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on a general map of the island. At the same time boundaries of old surveys will be picked up, and the latter will gradually be built on and incorporated with the new record maps.
5. The primary triangulation above referred to must be carried out by an officer specially selected for it and employed upon it uninterruptedly. There is no officer of the Fiji Lands Department available and competent for this delicate work; and it is thought that there is not sufficient prospect of promotion to induce a suit- able man to come here permanently but provisionally for the purposes of this survey. It has therefore been suggested to me that an officer should be sought from the Ceylon Survey Department to be seconded, say, for three years, together with
an assistant.
6. To take charge of the first portion of the work, i.e., the triangulation of the principal island of Viti Levu, Mr. G. Thornhill, of the Ceylon Survey Depart- ment, has been mentioned as a very suitable officer, with Mr. Woodhouse as an assistant, and it is thought that as the former gentleman could be seconded for three, or even, if necessary, two years, and the latter appointed to Fiji permanently, it would be possible for Mr. Woodhouse to carry on the work of trigonometrical survey of the other islands after Mr. Thornhill's withdrawal. I am aware that the Ceylon Government has a very large amount of survey work on hand, but I hope that, if Messrs. Thornhill and Woodhouse are willing to come and can be spared, that Government will be willing to assist the Government of Fiji by sparing these officers.
I
7. The salary suggested for Messrs. Thornhill and Woodhouse is £300 and £200 per annum, respectively, with travelling and field allowances of, say, 5s. per diem. I am not aware what the present emoluments of these officers are, and, consequently, whether the proposed remuneration in Fiji would attract them. think it would be as well, therefore, to leave the question of salary and allowances open; and perhaps the Ceylon Government would arrange terms subject to your Lordship's approval. Both officers would receive free passages to Fiji, and Mr. Thornhill would be entitled to a free return passage at the expiration of his agreement.
8. In addition to the salaries, £500, above referred to, the Acting Commis- sioner of Lands estimates the cost of transport and travelling at £300, and that the services of thirty coolies will be required as linesmen, and for clearing, &c., which he estimates to cost £750, so that the expenditure for the first year will be £1,550. Mr. Blair thinks that the triangulation of Viti Levu will be completed in about two and a half years, so that its cost will amount approximately to £3,875.
9. I find that by a misunderstanding the instruments required for the trigono- metrical survey have already been ordered and are now in the Colony. The cost, some £180, will be met from the amount already approved by Legislative Council and charged in the Supplementary Estimates.
10. I trust your Lordship will approve the survey, which is of real and urgent necessity, especially in connection with the settlement of the surplus land question, upon which I have recently written at considerable length, and that arrangements may be made for the early arrival in the Colony of the surveyors required to carry
on the work.
26218
(No. 415.) MY LORD,
No. 121.
I have, &c.,
EVERARD IM THURN.
SOUTHERN NIGERIA.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received July 20, 1908.)
[Answered by 33831: not printed.]
Government House, Lagos, Southern Nigeria, 30 June, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to enclose copies of certain correspondence with the Director of Surveys, from which it will be seen that in April, 1907, Mr. Cotton