PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
11973
58
No. 28.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE SURVEYORS' INSTITUTION.
(Confidential.)
[Answered by No. 39.]
Downing Street, 10 July, 1909.
SIR,
I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you the accompanying memorandum, showing the conditions on which it is proposed that candidates for junior survey posts in the Crown Colonies and Protectorates should in future be selected. The memorandum is provisional only, and is subject to the concurrence of the Governments of the Colonies and Protectorates concerned, and I am therefore to ask that it may be regarded as confidential.
2. You will observe that it is an essential part of the scheme that candidates for these posts who have no special degree or diploma should pass qualifying tests in mathematics and knowledge of instruments, &c., and Lord Crewe is anxious, if possible, to secure the co-operation of the Surveyors' Institute for this purpose. He would be glad to know whether the Institute would be prepared to undertake both the mathematical and theoretical examinations.
I am, &c.,
FRANCIS J. S. HOPWOOD.
Enclosure in No. 28.
PROPOSED ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES FOR COLONIAL
SURVEY APPOINTMENTS.
1. For the purpose of selecting surveyors, Ceylon, the Federated Malay States, the East Africa and Uganda Protectorates, and the Colonies and Protectorates in West Africa will be grouped, and the candidates will be required to pass the same tests and go through the same preliminary training. Candidates will, however, be allowed to indicate their preference for particular Colonies, and, if they choose, to await vacancies.
2. Candidates must be between the ages of 21 and 25, but it will not be possible in the case of West Africa for any selected candidate to proceed to the Colony to which he is appointed until he is 23 years of age.
3. Anyone wishing to become a candidate for these posts will be required to fill in a form of application, accompanied by testimonials, and to furnish the names of two referees. If the information thus obtained is considered satisfactory, he will be asked to call at the Colonial Office for a personal interview, and, if accepted, will be nominated as a candidate.
4. A candidate not exempted under paragraphs 5 or 6 of this memorandum will be required to pass two tests :-
(a) A qualifying examination in mathematics, including algebra, geometry,
and plane and spherical trigonometry, and
(b) A qualifying examination in the use and adjustment of surveying instru- ments. This examination will be carried out by the Surveyors' Institution, and will include the use of the theodolite, level, compass, chain, tape, plane-table, clinometer, and barometer. It is not, how- ever, necessary that candidates should have had other than academical experience of the use of these instruments.
5. Candidates who have passed with honours in mathematics, physical science, or engineering, or have obtained an equivalent diploma or distinction in a University in the United Kingdom, will not be required to undergo any further technical or educational test.
6. A candidate who has passed the examination for the Associate Membership of the Surveyors' Institution, or who has obtained the surveying diploma of the Royal Geographical Society, will be exempt from the technical test referred to in paragraph 4 (6), above.
7. Candidates who have passed the qualifying tests or have been exempted will then be required to undergo a medical examination by one of the medical advisers to the Colonial Office.
8. According to the number of vacancies, candidates will then be sent to the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, for a two months' course of instruction.
If
59
reported on favourably by the Director-General of the Ordnance Survey, but not otherwise, a candidate will become a Survey Probationer and will be granted the amount of his actual travelling expenses incurred in connexion with the course, and a lodging allowance of 2s. 6d. a day and a subsistence allowance of 5s. a day for each day spent at Southampton.
9. A Survey Probationer will be sent out to the Colony or Protectorate to which he is posted at a salary of £250 a year, or £300 a year in the case of West Africa. He will draw half-pay on the, voyage out. At the end of one year he will, if approved by the Surveyor-General or Director of Surveys, be appointed to the Department at the ordinary rate of pay attached to junior survey appointments. If not so approved, his employment will be terminated, and he will have no claim to any compensation beyond a free passage back to England.
11973
No. 29.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.
(No. 172.)
SIR,
[Answered by No. 38.]
Downing Street, 12th July 1909. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 54 of the 11th of February,* enclosing memorandum by the Surveyor-General on the subject of the establishment of a system of Survey Probationers in the Federated Malay States. I caused Colonel Jackson's memorandum to be referred to the Colonial Survey Committee for their consideration, especially as regards the possibility of applying the scheme generally to those Crown Colonies and Protectorates for which survey candidates are most frequently required.
'ኒ
2. I enclose a copy of a memorandum† which has been prepared as a result of a discussion of the matter by the Committee. You will notice that in some respects Colonel Jackson's proposals have been modified, particularly as regards the duration of the course of instruction which probationers should undergo before they take up their appointments. I am inclined to think that the Committee's pro- posals on this point should be accepted, both because, no matter how long the preliminary course of instruction might be, it would still be necessary for the final instruction to be given in the country in which the men are to serve and under the conditions which exist there, and because there would be serious difficulty in arranging for a six months' course at the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton.
3. With regard to paragraph 9 of the memorandum, I observe that Colonel Jackson did not specify the rate of pay which should be given to cadets after the end of their probationary service and before they are absorbed in the ordinary estab- lishment. In my opinion it would not be possible to maintain during this period of waiting, which might in some cases prove to be long, the rate of salary paid during probation, as the indefiniteness of the prospects would have a prejudicial effect as regards the class of candidates who would offer themselves. On the other hand, the proposal in paragraph 9, that they should after the probationary period at once come on the scale of salary of the junior ranks of the ordinary staff, would be unduly liberal in the case of the Federated Malay States, where the scale is £360-£480 à year. I would suggest that the difficulty should be met by creating for this purpose new grade of junior surveyor at a salary of £300 a year, rising by annual incre- ments of £20 to £340 a year.
4. I shall be glad to be furnished with your observations on the proposals con- tained in the memorandum, and I would take this opportunity to enquire, with reference to your despatch, No. 24, of the 27th of January, whether you would lesire that steps should be taken, pending the introduction of any new system, to select any more candidates with Colonial experience for temporary service in the Federated Malay States at a salary of £420 a year.
• No. 11.
† Enclosure in No. 28.
+ No. 8.
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