CO885-(18-19) — Page 251

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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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of trifling importance and will not in any way check the growth of trade or agri- culture in the kingdom.

4. I attach particular emphasis to the recommendation that the Survey Depart- ment be entirely relieved of extraneous engineering surveys, so that the whole staff can be continuously employed upon their legitimate work. Without this the com- pletion of the estate surveys may drag on for an unlimited period.

5. Granted this and with the small increase of staff recommended, one man now and two more within the next two years, I consider that the Department is fully equal to the present requirements of the country.

6. A copy of the report and of this despatch has been furnished to His Excel- lency the Commissioner of Uganda.

Enclosure in No. 38.

REPORT ON THE SURVEY OF UGANDA. Preliminary Remarks.

I have, &c.,

E. H. HILLS.

This report deals mainly with the survey of the Kingdom of Uganda and only in a very minor degree with the question of the survey of the whole Protectorate. No systematic survey has yet been undertaken outside the kingdom, nor is it probable that the finances of the Protectorate will allow of any appreciable expenditure upon this head within the next few years. It seems therefore preferable, while bearing steadily in mind the advisability of extending the precise survey into the other provinces as soon as the general progress of the country warrants the increased cost, not to burden this report with details and recommendations which must remain without practical effect for several years.

Surveys outside the kingdom must for the present be treated as special jobs. With the exception of the laying out of some estates in Usoga, there are none of pressing importance at the present moment.

The precise survey of the Kingdom of Uganda is a necessary corollary of the Agreement of 1900. The history of this question was fully set forth in the despatch from Commissioner Sadler to Mr. Lyttelton, No. 97, of July, 29th, 1905,* and need not be recapitulated here. It is much to be regretted that, when the agreement was entered upon, the cost and time involved in making a complete survey was apparently not taken into consideration. If a technical expert had been consulted he would have pointed out the difficulties and at the same time could have indicated methods whereby, while giving the natives all the land to which they were entitled, the labour of demarcating the boundaries between private and Government land could have been much reduced. The original agreement cannot, however, now be reopened and the only course is to carry out the survey at as small a cost as possible. The speed at which the work is done is, within wide limits, comparatively unim- portant.

In addition to the cadastral survey for the allocation of native estates a topo- graphical map of the country is required for military and administrative purposes. The work upon this is proceeding pari passu with the large scale work.

General Organization of Survey Department.

The present authorised strength of the Survey Department is as follows:-

Chief Surveyor (Mr. R. C. Allen).

Assistant Chief Surveyor.

15 surveyors.

1 Indian surveyor.

4 Indian clerks and draughtsmen.

The Chief Surveyor also acts as Land Officer. This combination of duties has not been altogether to the advantage of the survey as it has tended to keep the Chief Surveyor too much of his time in the office, instead of visiting the parties in the field. Evidence is not wanting that the field work has suffered from this cause.

No. 10 in African No. 777.

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The result has been a certain inelasticity in the work of the whole Department. Rigorous instructions as to methods have been issued, and the work has been con- trolled by a system of reports, rather than by personal inspection. While order and method are highly essential to the successful conduct of a Survey Department this order can be carried too far, and the perfect surveyor is one who is ready to adapt his means to existing conditions and is alive to the importance of using any methods of work which will give him the desired results with the minimum of labour. Sub- ordinate and inexperienced members of the survey staff must be hedged in by strict orders, but the senior members, more especially the heads of the topographical and cadastral parties, should be allowed the utmost latitude. To take a single example, over the greater part of the country the method of tertiary triangulation is the best for fixing the points required for the estate surveys. There are, however, certain districts where it is difficult to get the points for a close triangulation without exten- sive clearing. To " 'force" through a tertiary triangulation over such a country may be most extravagant, and the method should be abandoned and that of traverses between the principal or secondary trigonometrical points substituted. To determine the exact limit at which it becomes judicious to replace triangulation by traversing can only be done by the experienced man upon the ground.

To maintain the requisite freedom of method, combined with a due degree of efficiency, it is of considerable importance that the party system of work should be introduced at once, in place of the present individual system, and should be main- tained intact. The theodolite hand of each party, either topographical or cadastral, should act as the responsible head arranging and allocating the work, and should be held accountable both that the methods used are the most suitable for the particular country and that due rate of progress, combined with the prescribed degree of accuracy, is kept up.

The Assistant Chief Surveyor acts also as Assistant Land Officer and, as the Land Office work is not beyond the power of one man, there is no valid reason why the Chief Surveyor should not pay more frequent visits to the field parties. He should in general visit every party at least once during the year.

The Assistant Chief Surveyor might also spend more of his time in the field and could advantageously be employed upon special jobs, such as the continuation of the main triangulation, or the examination and checking of the topographical sheets.

The ultimate development of the whole Department will presumably take the form of the appointment of a Commissioner of Lands, with a Land Officer and a Director of Surveys under him. This extension need not, however, be contemplated for the present.

While the Chief and Assistant Chief Surveyors have spent rather too much of their time at headquarters the reverse is the case with the surveyors, who have been kept in the field for the whole year without intermission. This is a thoroughly unsound practice, and should be terminated at once. quite impossible that men can retain their keenness and faculty of work unimpaired In a tropical country it is during such a long period as two years, or even more, and it may be laid down as a general principle that no surveyor should spend more than nine consecutive months in the field. A recess season of three months in each year, to be spent at head- quarters, must be arranged for. into recess at the same time and for convenience of arranging quarters at Entebbe, It is not necessary that the whole staff should go the topographical and cadastral parties may well take a different three months. When in recess the surveyors must be provided with quarters. It is understood that, owing to the shift of the military garrison and the moving of certain officials to Kampala, there will probably be vacant houses at Entebbe available for this purpose. Should this not be the case, to build a survey mess house, providing accommodation for, say, 12 men, with common dining and ante rooms, on the lines of a regimental mess, would not be very costly.

It need hardly be remarked that the recess is not meant to be a period of idle- ness. The fair plotting of the work done in the field and preparing the sheets for printing or photographic reproduction, calculating and checking areas, checking all trigonometrical and traverse computations and preparing the plane-table sheets for the next field season, provide plenty of occupation. Nor is there any fear that a