CO885-(18-19) — Page 321

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

muimumin C.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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3.-Southern Nigeria.

It was recommended that Mr. Cotton should be informed that the Colonial Office did not approve of what he had done, and considered his explanation inadequate. He should be directed to work to instructions which Major Close would draw up.

1

4.-Annual Report.

It was agreed that the third annual report should be published in June, and that Directors of Surveys should be instructed to complete reports on their departments up to the end of March and send them in at once. It was pointed out that as the report would cover the survey work in the Eastern Colonies, its title would have to be altered.

5.-Miscellaneous.

It was agreed that an appreciation of the work done in Northern Nigeria by Captains Ommanney and Evaus should be sent to the War Office in order that it might be recorded in their records of service.

Mr. Read agreed, on behalf of the Colonial Office, to the issue to the Intelligence Officer of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast of certain instru- ments (watch, theodolite, prismatic compass, and aneroid) from the stock remaining over from Boundary Commissions.

Major Close undertook to draw up a list of institutions to which a circular might be sent with a view to obtaining candidates for colonial survey appointments. Major Close mentioned that he had received a report on Lieutenant Fishbourne's work in Uganda, which was satisfactory both as regards the amount and the accuracy of the work done.

3736

No. 111.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Confidential.)

MY LORD,

(Received February 1, 1908.)

[Answered by L.F. transmitting copy of No. 115.]

Governor's Rest House, Ibadan,

Southern Nigeria, 10 January, 1908.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, Confidential, of the 29th of November,* transmitting a copy of a note received from the Director of Military Operations severely criticising the work of the Survey Department. I regret that I am compelled to admit that these criticisms are deserved.

2. Mr. Cotton is most impatient of any instructions regarding his work. He has certain fixed ideas regarding survey work and prefers to follow them in lieu of following the wishes of the Government or of the Director of Military Operations. 3. Mr. Cotton informed me before he went on leave that he had written an exhaustive report on the whole province and asked me whether I should like to see it; this was the first I had heard of the report and I naturally said I should like to see it. He has not shown it to me and I understand he has taken it home with him. I trust that it will be referred to me before any action is taken on it, as Mr. Cotton is only too fond of sending direct communications to your Lordship instead of sending them through the Government.

4. I have invited the attention of the Acting Director of Surveys to the com- ments of the Director of Military Operations and have directed him to strictly follow the suggestions made.

5. In the country near the coast and to the east of the Western Province, where thick bush and forest exist, the correct mapping of topographical features is difficult, but in the western and northern portions of the Lagos Province the country is open and mapping of natural features would have been easy.

• No. 102.

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6. The territory of the Egba Government is now being mapped. Mr. Cotton should have been aware that it was not my wish that it should be left undone, but simply that the rest of the map should be done first.

7. I instructed Mr. Cotton to supply me with copies of the second and third sheets of his map before proceeding on leave. He, however, went on leave during my absence from Lagos without furnishing the copies of the map, and I have not yet been able to get them from the Survey Office, although I hope to do so within the next few days. The non-possession of these maps has been extremely incon- venient to me during my recent tour through the Western Province.

7302

(No. 93.) MY LORD,

No. 112.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

I have, &c.,

W. EGERTON,

Governor.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 29 February, 1908.)

[Answered by No. 130.]

Government House, Lagos, Southern Nigeria, 8 February, 1908. REFERRING to your Lordship's despatch, No. 846, of the 23rd of October last,* on the subject of the establishment of a Survey School in Lagos for training native surveyors, I have the honour to state that I have been in correspondence with the Governor of the Gold Coast regarding the transfer of Mr. J. B. Esumann Gwira as Native Instructor of the proposed school at a salary of £200 per annum, which it will be remembered is £80 in excess of what was stated in Mr. Antrobus's letter of the 26th of September last to be his then salary.

2. The Governor of the Gold Coast, however, in reply to my letter, stated that this officer had already accepted a salary on the scale of £200-£10-£250 in the Gold Coast Survey Department, and although I then intimated that under those circumstances this Government is prepared to pay Mr. Gwira £250 per annum, the offer has been declined. I am therefore ascertaining whether a competent Native Instructor can be obtained locally.

3. The Acting Director of Surveys suggests the 1st of May for the opening of the school, provided the European instructor referred to in paragraph 4 of your Lordship's despatch arrives by that time. Probably the most satisfactory method of obtaining an instructor will be to apply that an officer of the Ordnance Survey Department may be seconded for a term of five years for service in Lagos.

4. A vote for the cost of the school was taken in the Legislative Council on the 4th of December last, and is included in the schedule enclosed in my despatch, No. 686, of 5th December, 1907.†

4948

SIR,

No. 113.

UGANDA.

I have, &c.,

W. EGERTON,

Governor.

COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.

[Copy to Governor, No. 172, 22 July and to Director of Military Operations,

14 August, 1908. L.F.]

[Answered by No. 119.]

Downing Street, 10 March, 1908.

In reply to your letter of the 15th of January, I am directed by the Earl of Elgin to request you to inform the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury that he

• No. 95.

† 44947 not printed,

‡ No. 108.