CO885-(18-19) — Page 322

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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has given further consideration to the question of the expenditure on surveys in the Uganda Protectorate.

..

2. He fully concurs in the opinion expressed by their Lordships that the expenditure upon the cadastral survey of Uganda is disproportionate to the revenue of the Protectorate. As they are aware, the necessity for this work is not to be found in the commercial or agricultural development of the country, but solely in the rather unfortunate wording of the agreement of 1900, which conceded to the natives not only extensive rights to land, but rights in such a form that the exact demarcation of the estates then surrendered in perpetuity compels a precise survey.

3. The question of substituting more rapid and approximate methods has been most fully considered, and Lord Elgin is advised that such a course is hardly practicable. It must be noted that the staff of the Survey Department, composed of men who are engaged upon temporary agreements and who are often actuated with the keen desire to earn their livelihoods in a more healthy climate, is not one that can be looked to for any very strenuous efforts, nor can any great degree of enthusiasm be reasonably expected. Rapid and approximate methods of survey would demand the services of an entirely different type of surveyor, and if the work were entrusted to the present staff the inevitable result would be that at the end of a few years it would be found that the work had to be repeated.

4. The only practicable course which Lord Elgin can suggest for reducing the annual expenditure is that the staff of the Survey Department should be temporarily reduced, as the agreements with individual surveyors fall in or opportunities occur for employing them elsewhere, with the effect of diminishing the annual output of work.

He is of opinion that this would have little or no prejudicial effect on the development of the country. The native landholders are actually in possession of, and engaged in cultivating, their estates, and a slackening in the rate of issue of the definitive titles would be of comparatively little importance.

5. If the staff were reduced by a complete cadastral party of one surveyor at £350 and three at £300, the annual saving would be £2,024, while the annual estimated output of work would be reduced from 600 square miles (a maximum figure never yet reached) to 300. Lord Elgin would be inclined to insist upon this latter rate being actually kept up.

6. Should the financial state of the Protectorate appear to warrant an increase in the future, the whole matter can be reconsidered in a few years' time. It might then also be considered whether the survey fees paid by landholders, which are at present very low, might not with justice be raised so as to bear a more reasonable proportion to the actual cost of the work.

In putting forward this suggestion Lord Elgin must point out that the total cost of the cadastral survey will be increased, in an appreciable though not easily measurable degree, by this diminution in the speed of the work. Whether the immediate annual saving is worth this increase in the future; an increase the effect of which cannot be felt for years, is a matter which he is fully prepared to leave to their Lordships' judgment. It would seem not unreasonable to suppose that, long before the effect of the increase can be felt, the country will have become self supporting.

8. As regards the question of the topographical map Lord Elgin is desirous of meeting the views of the Lords Commissioners. He is advised that, while for many administrative and military purposes a map on the 4-inch scale would be the most useful, the most urgent present necessities can be met by a more rapid survey, resulting in a geographical map on a smaller scale. He would propose 1/250,000 or 4 inch to I mile.

9. To execute such a map it would be desirable to adhere to the constitution • and strength of the Royal Engineer party proposed in his letter of October 19th last, but the total time necessary, including a due allowance of leave, would be reduced from three to two years, and the cost would thus be diminished from £12,661 to £9,259.

10. Their Lordships will observe from the draft Estimates for 1908-9, which are being sent to you in a separate letter,† that the Governor's estimate of the saving on the ordinary Survey Department, after taking into consideration the proposals already laid before them, amounts to £1,893. If they adopt his Lordship's present

No. 92.

† See No. 10 in African No. 895.

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proposal, the annual expenditure will therefore be reduced by £3,917, against which must be set the sum of £9,259, spread over two years, to cover the cost of the rapid geographical survey.

8970

SIR,

No. 114.

I am, &c.,

FRANCIS J. S. HOPWOOD.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

MR. E. P. COTTON to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received March 12, 1908.)

38, Woburn Place, Russell Square, W.C., 12 March, 1908. I BEG to forward herewith two sheets of the new map* of the Western Province which, with the three sheets already despatched, comprise the survey work for 1907, exclusive of cadastral and other special work, including the determination of some twenty positions in the Central Province by telegraphic exchange with Lagos Observatory.

2. The total amount of work on these five sheets is about 6,700 linear miles, comprised of entirely new surveys.

3. These two sheets should not be regarded as completely surveyed areas, they are forwarded because the information appearing on them is considered of considerable importance; the filling in work is at present proceeding, together with the survey of the Egba territory.

4. As these sheets have been criticised somewhat adversely, perhaps I may be permitted to offer some explanation of the course which I adopted.

5. Questions such as the following are continually arising:—

(a) What are the boundaries of the Colony of Lagos? (required for legal

purposes).

(b) What is the position of the boundary of Northern Nigeria, say, between

Budo Egba and Odumfa Hill? Define and mark it.

(c) Disputes arise between two communities regarding their boundaries as,

for instance, the Ibadans and the Ifes; the boundary has to be defined.

(d) A concession is applied for, will it overlap with some other concession? (e) A forest reserve has to be defined.

(/) Where can cotton be grown in the Western Province?

(g) A disturbance occurs at a town. Where is the town?

These and many other similar questions are continually being pressed for. 6. On the other hand, a contour map is necessary, but not, in my humble opinion, so urgently required as the topographic features already obtained and projected.

7. It became my duty to consider what inconvenience would be caused by delaying the contours for one year, or at the most eighteen months; for what might they be required in the Western Province during that period?— (a) A military expedition, the chances of which are remote; (b) for the construction of new roads- not more than 40 miles are carried out in any year proper levels for which could be carried out in a week; (c) for a railway from Ibadan to Oyo-the same answer applies as in (b); (d) for Ilo Waterworks a first-class contour map has already been supplied by the Survey Department, both to the Public Works Department and to Mr. Quill.

8. With the means available and a large amount of sickness in the staff I feel sure you will agree that a proper course was adopted.

9. The contour work can be carried out much more expeditiously, econo- mically, and accurately when dealt with separately, and, as already stated, cannot cause much inconvenience, and when weighed against the benefits derived from the information given on the five sheets already supplied, I believe it will be seen that considerable discretion was exercised.

• Not reproduced here.