CO885-(18-19) — Page 323

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

| | | | | | / | | | | | | | |

19

Reference :-

C.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

168

10. Nothing would (in this matter) give me greater pleasure than to conform to your wishes in the carrying out of this work, which has been my chief object during the past six years.

5066

SIR,

No. 115.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

I have, &c.,

E. P. COTTON.

COLONIAL OFFICE to Mr. E. P. COTTON.

[Copy to Governor, 18 March, 1908. Confidential. L.F.]

[Answered by No. 116.]

Downing Street, 18 March, 1908.

AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to inform you that he has received from the Governor of Southern Nigeria a copy of your letter of the 5th of December last,* in which drew attention to the comments on the work of the Survey Department

you of Southern Nigeria, contained in the second annual report of the Colonial Survey Committee.

2. Lord Elgin regrets the tone of your letter, which he cannot but regard as improper, and he concurs in the criticisms which have been passed on your work. His Lordship has received despatches from the Governor which show that he also is dissatisfied with the progress which has been made in recent years.

3. Lord Elgin has accordingly caused the instructions of which a copy is enclosed to be prepared, and it is necessary that you should undertake to be guided by these instructions and to produce a complete topographical map of a definite area within a year of your return to duty. In view of the fact that an elaborate framework is completed for the country in which the Survey Department will be working, the area to be completed should be at least 7,000 square miles.

4. If you are not prepared to give this undertaking, his Lordship will be forced to consider the question of dispensing with your services.

5. I am, however, to impress on you that these instructions are not intended to override any directions which may be given to you by the Governor or in any way to relieve you of your responsibility towards the head of the Government under which you serve.

6. With regard to paragraph 9 of the instructions, I am to mention that the question of the spelling of native names is still under consideration and that it will probably be necessary to give you additional instructions on that point.

Enclosure in No. 115.

I am, &c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DIRECTOR OF SURVEYS, SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

1. The duty of the Survey Department is to produce maps which shall be useful to the Administration, the military forces, and the public.

2. The Director of Surveys is responsible for all official maps of Southern Nigeria. No official compilations of maps of Southern Nigeria will be undertaken in England. Sketches produced by other departments, by civil and military officials and travellers, may be used and adjusted between fixed points on main or minor traverses, provided that the Director of Surveys is satisfied of their bona fide character, and that no gross errors are to be detected.

3. The work so far produced by the Survey Department covering Sheets 73 D, 73 E, and 73 J, is a framework on which the mapping of the area in question is to be based.

4. In future it is to be understood that the horizontal framework need not be so elaborate as it has been in the past.

• Enclosure in No. 105.

169

The framework should be as follows: in close country-

i. Main traverses, limiting error, 1/1,000;

ii. Minor traverses, limiting error, 1/100;

iii. Compass traverses, limiting error, 1/10;

or, in open country-

i. Main triangulation, limiting error, 3 seconds;

ii. Minor triangulation, limiting error, 20 seconds;

iii. Plane-tabling.

A few latitudes (p.e., not greater than 2 seconds of arc) and telegraphically determined longitudes (p.e., not to exceed 0'5 seconds of time) should be arranged for to confirm the main framework.

The total lengths of the amount executed in any sheet of the three classes of traverse should, in future sheets, be approximately as 1, 4, 16.

The sides of the main triangles should be as large as the character of the country will allow.

The sides of the minor triangles should be about 8 miles in length. There should be about two plane-table fixings per square mile.

5. The vertical framework is to consist of:-

i. Main levels, along the railway and from Lagos to Akure;

ii. Minor levels rapidly run from main level points and closing on similar points where possible, the minor level lines should be about 25 miles apart and may be of irregular plan to suit the necessities of the case;

iii. Relative barometer heights.

NOTE. In open country the level lines are to be dispensed with and trigono- metrical heights will take their place.

6. In sketching hill features the following rules will be observed:—

i. for the scale of 1:125,000 the approximate contours (form-lines) will be

at 100 feet intervals;

ii. the heights of the summits of hills should be determined and also the heights of the bases of the hills. Differences of height may be deter- mined by barometer;

iii. the heights of the highest points of defiles and passes, and of a number

of positions on the watercourses, should be determined;

iv. the positions of ridges and prominent spurs should be fixed and minor

features should be sketched;

v. aneroid barometers may be freely used for the determination of relative heights, but heights so determined must be distinguished from levelled or trigonometrical heights, and exact positions to which heights refer should be marked;

vi. in undulating country a few scattered heights should be shown in addi-

tion to the form-lines;

vii. all heights should be based on mean sea-level at Lagos.

7. A plate* of conventional signs is attached as a guide.

8. The maps produced by the Survey Department should be complete topo- graphical maps; ie, they should show:-

(1) All creeks, rivers, and streams.

(2) All hills and undulations of the ground, as far as the scale will allow.

(3) All villages (the approximate population should be noted).

(4) All main roads, minor roads, and the more important tracks (to be dis-

tinguished according to class).

(5) Railways and stations and telegraph lines.

(6) Post and telegraph offices, rest houses, mission stations, civil and military

stations, concessions.

(7) The limits of mangroves, thick forest, scrub, grass land, open country,

and swamp.

(8) Tribal limits, provincial, district, and other boundaries.

9. The spelling of place names, except in the case of a few well-established names, is to be in accordance with the rules of the Royal Geographical Society.

29431

• Not reproduced.

Y