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of 1876 and the Railway Ordinance of 1898, will need careful enquiry and considera- tion; and the views of the public on this subject, as well as those of other officials concerned, must be taken into account.

In the meanwhile, I will only point out that the salary of the Director of Public Works is double that proposed for the Director of Surveys; and that the relative importance of the holders of official appointments is gauged, to some extent, by their respective salaries.

5. Topographical Work (paragraph 6).—As stated in my despatch, No. 174, of the 6th May current,* it was anticipated that the map of this Colony would have been completed by the end of the current year. Unfortunately, this anticipation has not been fulfilled, and it is now estimated that a vote of £1,100 will be required, for "Map Production," in 1908.

Having regard to the heavy expenditure already incurred by the Gold Coast Government in connexion with the map in question, and to the many urgent demands on our available funds, especially for the development of Ashanti and the Northern Territories, I do not consider that any further considerable expenditure would be justifiable, under existing circumstances, on account of topographical work. Such work is never directly remunerative, and is always of the nature of a luxury rather than a necessity, in contradistinction to the revenue-producing surveys of mining, agricultural, and town lands; and I trust that these facts will be kept in view if it is proposed to appoint a Surveyor-General for West Africa, as is apparently contemplated in Major Guggisberg's letter of the 22nd February last, forming Enclosure (3) in my despatch, No. 136, of the 12th April last.f

6. Selection of Staff (paragraph 9).-For the post of Director of Surveys, the report recommends the appointment of Mr. A. J. Stronach, late of the Gold Coast Survey, and now in the service of the Ceylon Government. I do not know Mr. Stronach personally; but, although I have no doubt that he is an efficient surveyor, I should greatly prefer entrusting this new Department to an officer of the Royal Engineers, even at an increased salary. I would suggest that, if the general scheme is approved, the appointment of Director of Surveys should be offered to an Engineer officer on a salary of £600 (duty allowance £120), or even £700 (duty allowance £140), if necessary. Failing such an officer, I am prepared to endorse the recommendation in the report, namely, that this appointment should be offered to Mr. Stronach, on a salary of £500 (duty allowance £100).

7. Speaking generally, the other recommendations appear to be in order; but I have made certain alterations (shown in red ink) in the attached Establishment Estimate, indicating the modifications I consider advisable in these proposals.

I have, &c.,

JOHN RODGER,

Topographical works, including the revision of maps.

Miscellaneous surveys.

We deal with each of these separately in the following paragraphs :—

DEMARCATION OF MINING CONCESSIONS.

4. Although the bulk of the work of demarcation of mining concessions has been completed, there will be for the next few years a steady demand for the survey of from four to five mining concessions and from five to six timber concessions annually, the latter demand being due to the fact that those mines which are working are gradually exhausting the wood fuel on their concessions and are obliged to take up timber rights over adjacent lands.

There will thus be sufficient work to employ one large party for at least six months in every year, and this party should earn at least £1,000.

THE DEFINITION OF GOVERNMENT LANDS AND OF TOWN BOUNDARIES.

5. Towns under the Towns Ordinance 1892.

(a) These are approximately 90 in number. Of these the majority are of com- paratively little importance as far as immediate necessity for survey exists.

(b) The three towns of Accra, Cape Coast, and Sekondi possess town councils, whose duty it is to define the main streets, and general division of the towns into building plots, &c. In order to carry out this duty the Town Council Surveyors must have a fixed base to work on so as to avoid encroaching on Government lands.

(c) This fixed base should be an accurate survey of the town boundaries and of the Government lands lying within or close outside those boundaries.

This accurate survey should be executed by the Government Survey Department to safeguard the Government's interests.

(d) In addition to these three towns the following list shows those that are not in possession of a town council and of which an early survey should be made by the Government, not only to define the boundaries inside which the Towns Ordinance applies but also to define the Government lands and open spaces where such exist. The list is not in order of importance :-

Ada.

Axim.

Elmina.

Komenda,

Dixcove.

Shama.

Aburi.

Akuse.

Kpong,

Tärkwa.

Enclosure 1 in No. 56.

Governor.

PROPOSALS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FUTURE SURVEY WORK ON THE GOLD COAST, prepared by Major F. G. GUGGISBERG, R.E., Director of Surveys, and Captain W. E. LEES, R.E., Director of Public Works.

SIR,

We have the honour to report on the result of our conference on the best means of carrying on the work of surveying the Gold Coast Colony and its dependencies, on the Gold Coast Mines Survey ceasing to exist under its present organisation.

2. In considering the question of making the new Department a branch of the Public Works Department or an independent unit we have examined thoroughly into the nature and quantity of the work lying before the new Department, the conditions under which it must be carried out, and the time at the disposal of the Director of Public Works for the duties incidental to controlling such work.

GENERAL NATURE OF THE WORK.

3. Future survey work divides itself into four main heads, viz. :—

The demarcation of mining and agricultural concessions.

The definition of Government lands, involving the more or less complete

surveys of certain towns.

Keta.

Dodowa.

Prampram.

Saltpond. Dunkwa.

Winneba.

land

Oboase. (Not under Ordinance

but Government exists.)

(e) The towns under the Ordinance that are not given in the above list need not be surveyed until necessity arises.

(f) The question of Government lands raises an important point. The record of these lands is incomplete and the boundaries are in the majority of cases ill-defined. We therefore recommend that the Director of Surveys should include in his duties the charge of Government lands including the survey, clear definition on plan and on the ground of the boundaries, and the upkeep of the "terrier" or record.

(g) A further duty in connection with lands is their valuation. Under the Public Lands Ordinance of 1876 (Section 6 (5)), the Director of Works is made partly responsible for declaring the true value of lands acquired. Also under the Railway Ordinance of 1898 a similar duty is laid on the Director of Public Works, and in addition when it is necessary to occupy temporarily other lands for railway purposes, the Director of Public Works can be called on to make a final assessment of compensation under Section 4 of the Railway Ordinance.

(h) It seems a reasonable as well as a convenient distribution of work to assign the duty of valuation of lands as above described to the Director of Surveys. In order to clearly define the position of the latter with regard to lands, we recommend that he should be known as the Director of Surveys and Commissioner of Lands.

18686: not printed.

† No. 41.

Shown here in italic and obliterated type.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

TLC.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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