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Of course, it would be a mistake to lower the School entirely to the standard of the men I have mentioned, but an exception should be made in the regulations governing educational requirements in order to admit them to the School with a view to their obtaining third class surveyorships. There is ample scope for the employment of men of that nature in every country, especially in such lands as Northern Ashanti, the Northern Territories, and Northern and Southern Nigeria.

If the men, after entering the School, are anxious to get on, there is nothing to prevent them from learning the necessary mathematics in their private time.

In connection with the foregoing remarks, you will not get many well-educated natives anxious to take third class billets at £60 a year. The rough and ready surveyor just mentioned is the man for the post.

In concluding my remarks on educational requirements, I wonder how many surveyors remember anything about algebra though they may use the formulæ daily. These are times of labour-saving appliances, and the survey art has its machine for ordinary calculations much as has the science of sausage-making.

7. With regard to the payment of cadets, Mr. Cotton and I entirely disagree. I admit that it may be possible to get sufficient cadets who are willing to pay for their instruction. But by adopting this system you shut the door against the man who cannot afford to pay, and thereby exclude a very large number of promis- ing natives. I will not go as far as saying that the better off a native or his parents are, the worse man he is, but I certainly do think that in the majority of cases the youth in question is inclined to be lazy and independent.

8. I cannot at the present moment name an instructor, but on his careful selection depends the success of the School. A theorist should on no account be appointed. If a suitable man is not forthcoming in time I recommend that an officer of the Royal Engineers should be applied for as a temporary measure.

9. I recommend that the School should be started early next year, and have the honour to volunteer my services in starting and organising. A fortnight's visit to Acera or Lagos would be all that would be necessary.

10. In conclusion I have the honour to impress on His Majesty's Government the necessity of taking early steps to regulate the appointments of surveyors in all Departments in every Colony (vide paragraph 2 of my report), and also to prohibit the engagement of outside native surveyors once the Government Survey School has begun its output. Interchangeability of staff and uniformity in rewards for cadets will then be obtainable.

The Honourable

The Acting Colonial Secretary, Victoriaborg, Accra.

I have, &c.,

F. G. GUGGISBERG, Director of Surveys, Gold Coast Colony.

Enclosure 4 in No. 41.

MINUTE BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS.

HONOURABLE COLONIAL SECRETARY,

It is with diffidence that I make any comments on the proposals put forward by the Directors of Surveys of the Gold Coast and Lagos Colonies.

2. These proposals, though agreeing in the main principles, are at variance with each other as regards some of the details. These differences must be settled by the Colonial Survey Committee, who must be the ruling body of the School.

3. The standard of education required from cadets should be as high as possible, as a well-educated boy is more likely to make a successful pupil. The standard, however, should not be fixed so high that suitable men with sufficient education are debarred from entrance to the School as moral qualifications are as important as educational.

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4. If pupils are required to pay fees many promising boys would be unable to afford the necessary expense of a three years' course. I understand that difficulty has been experienced lately at Sekondi in getting apprentices to attend the technical schools started by the railway on account of the question of expense, though at Sekondi a small "subsistence" allowance is granted. If, however, it is decided to collect fees, I think that the question of scholarships might well be considered, so that a boy or man with brains but no money might still have a chance of being trained in survey work.

April 3, 1907.

16336

No. 42.

UGANDA.

W. E. L.

I

SIR DAVID GILL, SIR G. TAUBMAN GOLDIE, AND MR. G. H. DARWIN to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received May 8, 1907.)

SIR,

ACTING on behalf of

The Royal Society,

[Answered by No. 74.]

34, De Vere Gardens, London, W., May 7, 1907.

The Royal Geographical Society,

The Royal Astronomical Society, and

The British Association for the Advancement of Science,

we have the honour to ask if you will be so good as to submit the following sugges- tions for the consideration of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

We understand that at the present moment a joint Anglo-Congolese Commission is engaged in mapping the zone of the boundary between Uganda and the Congo State and that their labours will terminate early in 1908. The zone mentioned crosses the Equator and includes the meridian 30° East of Greenwich for a length of about 21° of latitude.

It is especially important that this portion of the 30th meridian should be accurately triangulated. The general scheme for the measurement of the 30th meridian throughout Africa has been strongly urged by the International Geodetic Association, and is highly desirable from a scientific point of view. Also, it is only right to add, wherever a portion of this arc is measured, a framework is pro- vided for local surveys of a fundamental and permanent character, which will eventually many times repay its cost.

The suggestion, therefore, which we are desired by the above-mentioned bodies to ask you to bring to the favourable consideration of the Secretary of State is this: that advantage should be taken of the presence of the Boundary Commission in the region in question to measure that portion of the arc of the 30th meridian which falls within the sphere of their operations.

We realise that this measurement will add somewhat to the labours and cost of the Commission, but we would point out that much of the work incidental to the measurement of an arc of meridian is necessarily accomplished by a boundary commission. The ground is necessarily reconnoitred, bases are necessarily measured, trigonometrical stations are necessarily selected. The additional work consists chiefly in greater refinement in the observation of the angles and in the astronomical determinations. If the opportunity is not now taken, the measure- ment, when it is eventually undertaken, as it assuredly will be one day, will cost from twice to thrice as much as it would cost to execute now.

So strongly do we feel the necessity for carrying out the measurement under the favourable conditions which now exist, that we are prepared to contribute, on behalf of the above-mentioned bodies, the sum of £1,000 towards the cost of the work, which we estimate to be about £2,000.

It is perhaps hardly in our province to suggest the detailed methods to be employed, since the matter would necessarily be entirely in Government hands, but we would recommend for consideration that the time to be occupied should be from

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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about 15th January, 1908, to the 31st May, 1908, that the personnel should consist of two officers and two non-commissioned officers of the Commission and that in addition one skilled observer should be sent from England.

It should be mentioned that we are in a position to offer to Government, free of charge, the loan of two Repsold theodolites which are admirably suited for use in the suggested measurement.

17359

We have, &c.,

DAVID GILL.

GEORGE TAUBMAN GOLDIE. G. H. DARWIN.

No. 43. UGANDA.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE ACTING COMMISSIONER. (Sent 11.55 a.m., May 17, 1907.)

TELEGRAM.

May 17. Please inform Allen definitive position of Anglo-German Boundary Commission trigonometrical point Entebbe is,-latitude, 0° 4′ 2·75" N.; longitude. 32° 27′ 45-20" Ē. Height of zero mark on the lake gauge at Port Florence is 3,720 feet above mean sea level.-ELGIN.

11073

No. 43A.

EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE. COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY. [Answered by No. 53.]

Downing Street, 17 May, 1907.

SIR,

I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to transmit to you, to be laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, with reference to your letter of the 27th of March,* the accompanying copy of a despatch from the Officer Administering the Government of the East Africa Protectorate, enclosing the revised estimates of the Survey Department of the Protectorate, together with copies of reports from Major E. H. Hills, C.M.G., R.E., relating to that Department.

2. These reports have been carefully considered, and Lord Elgin concurs generally in Major Hills's recommendations.

3. It will be noted that under a re-arrangement of these estimates the sum of £2,094 has been transferred from "Special Expenditure" to "Other Charges," under the main head, No. 27, and that, according to the estimates enclosed in Mr. Jackson's despatch of the 15th of February,t the total expenditure of the Depart- ment for 1907-8 now shows an excess of £510 over the amount of £17,853, which their Lordships provisionally approved in your letter above mentioned.

4. It is proposed, should it be found necessary, to meet this excess out of savings effected during the present year, and Lord Elgin will be glad if their Lordships may now be moved to accord their final sanction to these proposals.

16336

SIR,

No. 44. UGANDA.

I am, &c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.

[Answered by No. 52.]

Downing Street, May 18, 1907. I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to transmit to you, to be laid before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, the accompanying copy of a letter§ from

{ No. 42.

No. 17 in African No. 865.

† No. 25.

Nos. 20 and 27.

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representatives of the Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, regarding the measurement of that portion of the 30th meridian east of Greenwich lying within the zone which is now being surveyed by the Anglo-Congolese Boun- dary Commission.

2. As these gentlemen point out, the measurement of this meridian throughout Africa is a work of great importance both from the scientific and from the prac- tical points of view. The Cape Government have spent £50,000 or £60,000 and the British South Africa Company more than £36,000 on the work, the Egyptian Government are making preparations for the measurement of that portion of the meridian which lies within their territory, and the Imperial Government must no doubt eventually take its part in the international enterprise even if the matter is postponed for the present.

3. The only section of the meridian with which the Imperial Government is concerned is the small portion referred to in the enclosed letter, and, as the Societies referred to above are willing to defray one-half of the cost of the measurement, the present opportunity is a very favourable one for having the work done. Lord Elgin would, therefore, ask their Lordships to sanction the proposed arrangements..

14022

SIR,

No. 45.

I have, &c.,

NORTHERN NIGERIA.

H. BERTRAM COX.

COLONIAL OFFICE to MR. J. SCOTT.

Downing Street, May 21, 1907.

I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to inform you that he has had under his consideration a despatch* from the Acting High Commissioner for Northern Nigeria enclosing your memorandum of the 6th of March on the subject of the proposed cadastral survey of the tin-mining area of the Protectorate.

2. As the preparation of an estimate of the cost of the survey involves various matters in regard to which a knowledge of local circumstances is necessary, I am

to request you to take an early opportunity of calling on Major C. F. Close, C.M.G., R.E., at the War Office, Whitehall, S.W., in order to supply him with any informa tion which he may require.

&c.,

18722

(No. 232.)

MY LORD,

No. 46.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

am,

C. P. LUCAS.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received May 27, 1907.) [Answered by No. 54.]

Government House, Lagos, May 4, 1907.

I HAVE the honour to forward herewith a report furnished by the Director

of Surveys; this report was called for on the receipt of the undermentioned telegram from the Governor of the Gold Coast:-

Following telegram received from Secretary of State for the Colonies:-

C

Send home as soon as possible

sion in annual report."

•

[No. 34]

for inclu-

A copy of this telegram was furnished to Mr. Cotton as a guide to the information required. I fear that, excellent surveyor as Mr. Cotton is, he does not furnish very lucid reports upon the work done by his Department.

I have, &c.,

• No. 31

W. EGERTON,

Governor.