CO885-(18-19) — Page 256

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

The output of such a party will be 300 square miles. This is, however, on the assumption that it is kept continuously up to strength. To allow for six months' leave in every three years is equivalent to diminishing the output by one-sixth, reducing it to 250 square miles. The cost will, therefore, be £8 2s. per square mile, or 3d. per acre. In East Africa the fee payable to a licensed surveyor for the survey of an estate of one square mile is £12, a sum which is in approximate conformity with the practice of other colonies. In Ceylon, according to the annual report for 1905, the average cost of the revenue survey is £30 per square mile. It would appear, therefore, that the Uganda cadastral survey bears favourable comparison with other work of the same class, thus confirming the conclusion already reached that it is not possible materially to accelerate the progress, beyond the rate here laid down, without a larger staff and hence increased expenditure.

The total sum payable by the natives as survey fees may be taken as £10,000; so that for an area of 15,000 square miles the actual cost works out at £121,500, less £10,000, say £112,000, a sum which may fairly be taken as a rough estimate of the expenditure involved, for future survey work alone, in the fulfilment of the Agreement of 1900. It will be observed that all earlier estimates of the cost were grossly under the mark.

Finally, it should be noted that this estimate includes no part of the money spent on the administration of the Survey Department or on the principal triangulation. On the other hand, no allowance is made for the possible future extensive use of natives on the survey, a development which might reduce costs to a very material -extent.

We can now revert to the question of the waste incurred by shifting a party in the middle of its field season. To close up the work in one place, move the party to another district, make the requisite triangulation sufficient to start on the new ground, warn the native owners and arrange with them for the clearing of their boundary lines, would take on the average at least six weeks. This loss of time would diminish the total output for the season by 50 square miles, or, reduced to the money equivalent, would mean a nett loss of about £400. Unless, therefore, political considerations are so urgent that this loss becomes negligible, such a shift should be sedulously avoided.

Employment of Natives on Survey Work.

The conditions in Uganda are different to those obtaining in East Africa. The Baganda, being of a much higher class of intellectual capacity than any of the other neighbouring tribes,, are probably capable of receiving a fair technical education. There is considerable probability that, in the future, men will be obtainable in the country competent to become valuable members of the survey staff. Already some of the natives employed have been trained as chainmen, a duty for which they are fully fitted, but such men belong only to the lower classes of the population and their capacity is little or no guide to the degree of competence which may be fairly expected from educated natives of the upper class. The High School at Kampala is now training selected boys, sons of chiefs, &c., and an early opportunity should be taken of obtaining two or three such youths. on the completion of their school course, and training them in survey work. Que rate of pay expected would be about Rs. 30 to Rs. 35 per month during apprenticeship, afterwards rising by steps to a maximum-not, however, to be reached for several years-of Rs. 100 per month. This is equal to £30 per annum, and as such men would travel much more cheaply than Europeans, would require fewer porters, could live largely on the native food, and, finally, would not suffer from the climate, nor require long periods of leave, the total saving compared with European surveyors at £300 per annum would be very large.

Pay and Status of Survey Staff.

It will be evident from a perusal of Mr. Read's prefatory memorandum* to the Colonial Office paper, "Survey of British Colonies and Protectorates in Africa," that there are wide discrepancies in the pay of the survey staffs in the different Colonies. Not only are the rates of pay different, but the titles and grading of the members of the different staffs, as well as their terms of employment, allowances, and leave conditions, appear to have been settled independently in each separate case, with

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no regard for general conformity. Thus, in East Africa the survey staff, under the new proposals, are graded as:-

Director of Surveys, at ... Deputy Director of Surveys, at Assistant Director of Surveys, at District Surveyors, at Senior Surveyors, at

Junior Surveyors, at

While in Uganda the corresponding ranks are:-

Chief Surveyor and Land Officer, at ... Assistant Chief Surveyor and Land Officer, at Theodolite Surveyors, at Surveyors, at

no provision being made for annual increments.

£800

500-667 525

360-400

300-340

250-280

£650

400

350

300

Of the two countries there is no question that Uganda is far more unhealthy and there is no obvious reason why the Chief and Assistant Chief Surveyors should be paid much smaller salaries than the corresponding officers in East Africa. In the latter Protectorate, morcover, the conditions as to allowances are also more favour- able, the cadastral staff drawing field allowances, and the old privilege of free transportation from the coast of 15 loads annually is still granted. This concession is.not given to members of the Uganda survey, to whom it would be of substantial value.

If the survey of these African possessions is to progress and a uniform degree of efficiency is to be attained, it seems necessary that the conditions of service and rates of pay should be more closely harmonised. This question will no doubt be fully discussed by the Colonial Survey Committee, and the suggestions here put forward are advanced more' as a basis for discussion than as an attempt at a final settlement of the various points involved. Upon this understanding the following recommendations are made:-

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(1) That a department be formed, called the "Survey Department of Africa," and that all surveyors required for work in the various Colonies and Protectorates be enlisted as members of this department.

(2) That appointment to the lower ranks be temporary only, with the con- dition that no man be employed temporarily for more than seven years. The higher ranks to be permanent and pensionable. This may be regarded as the prime condition of efficiency. It will be impossible to attract good men into the service, and keep them in it, unless this is granted. No inferior limit of age should be fixed to appointment to the lower ranks, i.e., youth should not be a bar. On recent occasions the appointment of fully qualified men to the Uganda Survey has been refused on the ground of their youth. This does not appear to be politic. There are many cases where excellent young men are willing to go to the tropics at a salary of £250 to £300, immediately on leaving college. The man of 27 or 28, however, who is ready to accept such employment, will often be one who has been a failure in England.

(3) That frequent opportunity be taken of transferring men from one Colony to another, to the advantage both of their individual healths and also of the work, such interchange tending to prevent survey work in any one Protectorate getting crystallised. Such transfers would naturally be made on promotion.

(4) That the members of the department be graded as:—

Directors of Surveys.

Deputy Directors of Surveys.

Assistant Directors of Surveys.

District Surveyors.

Senior Surveyors.

Junior Surveyors.

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