CO885-(19-20) — Page 433

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TELEC.O. 885

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE

BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

56

present while the pupils are writing their answers, and he himself marks the papers, Under the test is not such as would usually be accepted as an independent one. present conditions the future of the School depends entirely upon the European Instructor, who joins in July.

General Conclusions.

done The Director of Surveys has, personally, worked hard, and has, doubtless, his best, but has proved himself incompetent as the head of a department. He has made no real effort to comply with the specific orders given him by the Secretary

of State.

In general, the methods throughout the Department require entire re-casting so as to comply with these instructions and to conform with modern surveying practice. The following points appear to be those on which attention should be concentrated in the immediate future:-

(1) The starting of the triangulation and levelling already alluded to. (2) The introduction of routine and system into the computing and drafting

office.

(3) The abandonment of elaborate compass traverses and of unorthodox and

indefinite methods of contouring.

(4) The instruction of the staff in the accepted methods of detail survey, by

plane table or compass, and of contouring, by clinometer or aneroid.

(5) The establishment of adequate and systematic controls over the work,

both in field and office.

This revision of the survey methods cannot be entrusted to the present Director.

Future Programme.

The first duty before the Department is the completion of the topographical The steps that should be taken to this end have map of the Western Province. already been sufficiently indicated. Pending the required revision of the survey methods and the instruction of the staff, it is not possible to give any estimate of the cost or probable duration of the work. If, however, the Uganda precedent is fol- lowed and the topographical survey entrusted to a trained Royal Engineer party, it is possible to arrive at a fairly close forecast of the total expenditure involved. The country is a more difficult one than Uganda, and the climate is decidedly more trying to white men; per contra, the existing traverse net would shorten the work, 50 that we may, without risk of serious miscalculation, take the same rate of output as estimated for Uganda as the basis of our reckoning. The total area of the Pro- vince is about 23,000 square miles, so that if we allow for a similar party to that authorised for Uganda (2 lieutenants, 2 corporals, 4 lance-corporals), the total time taken on the actual work would be, at the outside, four years. This would mean four field tours of a year each, with four months' leave after each tour, 5 years in all.

The total cost would be:-

Annual cost at work, £3,615 × 4

Pay on 16 months' leave

Pay on board ship (four outward voyages).....

Outfit, instruments, tools, tents, and mules

Passages, out and home (four voyages)

Total

Say, 16s. per square mile.

The Intelligence Officer.

£14,460 3,166 408 .2,660 1,681

£22,375

The mapping work of the Survey Department being confined to the Western Province, that of the rest of the Protectorate is done by the Intelligence Officer (Captain Beverley), who has just completed a compilation of the map of the Central A large number of and Eastern Provinces based upon all available material. useful route surveys have been done by officers, lately with perambulator and com- pass, and these have been adjusted to positions fixed astronomically and to traverses executed by Captain Woodroffe, R.E., and Lieutenant Moir, R.E.

57

There is no material for arriving at the ground forms, but the map shows all important roads and tracks and is universally conceded, both by the military and civil authorities, to be of the greatest value.

The whole cost of the work in the Intelligence Office is small, £920 for 1908, and, should funds be available, it may be suggested that an office which has proved itself so efficient might, with advantage, have its annual grant increased.

E. H. HILLS.

June 1, 1909.

19738

No. 25.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 5.41 p.m., 12th June, 1909.)

TELEGRAM.

In view of Hills's report* and Cotton's unsatisfactory record of service, strongly recommend he should not return to this Colony and filling his place by appointment of Royal Engineer officer for five years; suggest Guggisberg.-EGERTON.

19266

SIR,

No. 26.

SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

COLONIAL OFFICE to MAJOR E. H. HILLS.

Downing Street, 22 June, 1909.

I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th of June,* enclosing your report on the Survey Department of Southern Nigeria. Lord Crewe will not fail to give careful consideration to the recommenda- tions made in your report, and, in the meantime, he desires me to convey to you his thanks for the trouble you have taken in your inspection, which cannot fail to be of great benefit to the future progress of the survey work in the Colony and Protectorate.

2. I am to add that the Crown Agents for the Colonies are being instructed to issue to you the amount of your allowance at the rate of £100 a month for the period from 17th April to 8th June, during which you were absent from England.

I am, &c.,

9030

No. 27.

R. L. ANTROBUS..

FOREIGN OFFICE to DIRECTOR OF MILITARY OPERATIONS.

[Answered by No. 32.]

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Director of Military Operations, and, with reference to Major-General Ewart's communication of March 4th last, is directed to transmit herewith a further despatch, with its enclosures, which has been received from His Majesty's Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar respecting the proposed survey of that island.

The Secretary of State concurs in Mr. Clark's proposals, but would be glad to have any observations which Major-General Ewart may have to offer on them before approaching the Secretary of State for India.

Foreign Office,

July 5th, 1909.

• No. 24.

↑ Not printed.