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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO.

15335

20

No. 5.

SIERRA LEONE.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.

[Answered by No. 6.]

(No. 254.) SIR,

Downing Street, 15 July, 1913. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 26, of the 21st of January last,* in which you recommended that a survey of the Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone should be undertaken with special reference to the demarcation of private lands in the peninsula and of chiefdoms in the Protec- torate. I have given careful consideration to your proposal, and 1 fully agree that a survey is desirable, but there are various reasons which lead me to suggest that the work should be carried out on a wider and more systematic basis than is contemplated in your despatch.

2. Experience in other Colonies has shown conclusively that partial surveys, not based on a complete and accurate framework, are of no permanent value and that the work must sooner or later be done over again. No framework of the kind exists in the Protectorate of Sierra Leone, and, however carefully the boundaries of chiefdoms were marked out and recorded, there is no map on which they could be delineated in their true position. The matter has additional importance owing to the grant of exclusive rights, the limits of which ought to be accurately known and surveyed.

3. The existing maps are compiled almost entirely from material supplied by administrative officers, many of whom have shown great zeal in the matter. Their surveys, however, have been obtained by rough methods and are necessarily wanting in precision, and the fact that they are not founded on a triangulation deprives the maps compiled from them of any claim to accuracy. These maps, as I have indicated, are useless for the delineation of boundaries, and for general topo- graphical purposes, also, their value is very small. If, then, a survey is to be carried out, the opportunity should be taken to place Sierra Leone on an equality with other Colonies and Protectorates in tropical Africa, of which excellent topographical maps exist or are being made. You will observe, indeed, from the notet from the Director of Military Operations of which I enclose a copy that the preparation of a topographical map is regarded as an essential condition for the employment of officers and men on the Survey.

4. In the notet referred to, the Director of Military Operations expresses the opinion that the map prepared by the Colonial Survey Section in 1904 will, either in its present or in an enlarged form, meet all necessary requirements so far as the peninsula is concerned, and that for the trigonometrical and topographical work in the Protectorate, a party of Royal Engineers should be sent out consisting of two officers and two non-commissioned officers, with emoluments amounting to about £2,000 a year. In addition, there would be a charge for labour and transport, and as it would be desirable for the party to return to England for three months during each wet season, there would also be a recurring charge for passages.

5. It is, of course, impossible to give any accurate estimate of the cost which would be involved in this work, but similar surveys have been executed elsewhere for ten shillings a square mile, and, at this rate, the survey of the whole Protec- torate would cost about £15,000. The scale of the survey is a matter which could best he decided on the recommendation of the officer in charge of the work, but, pending his report, it will be desirable that it should be executed on the scale of 1: 250,000, with a view to enlargement to 1: 125,000, if necessary. I enclose a set of maps of Uganda which will show the degree of detail which is possible on the smaller scale even in a country where there is much variety of hill and water features.

6. Consideration of the arrangements for such cadastral survey as may be necessary should be postponed until the views of the officer in charge can be obtained. This branch of the work must in any case follow the triangulation, and as the trigonometrical stations would be permanently marked, the cadastral survey could be satisfactorily carried out by a small staff as occasion required.

• No. 2.

† No. 4.

21

7. I shall be glad to receive your views on these suggestions, and, if you concur in them and consider that the work should be undertaken without delay, steps will be taken to select the necessary staff. In this connexion I would observe that I have not overlooked your proposal that the survey should be placed under the direction of Major Guggisberg, but I regret that I have not been able to accept it, owing to the other claims on him. The suggestion that natives of Sierra Leone should be trained at the Lagos Survey School will be borne in mind, but as the course lasts for three years and the students would probably not be immediately fitted for inde- pendent work, I do not think that it can be adopted so far as the trigonometrical and topographical work is concerned.

8. If, however, you see no objection to postponement to the autumn of 1915, it is probable that it could be arranged for the survey to be undertaken by the Colonial Survey Section, whose work in the Malay States should be finished early in that year.

It is understood that, if the Section were employed, the Army Council would be prepared to contribute part of the cost.

I have, &c,

32860

SIR,

No. 6.

SIERRA LEONE.

L. HARCOURT.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 22 September, 1913.)

(No. 429.)

Government House, Sierra Leone, 9th September, 1913.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 254, of the 15th July last,* on the subject of the proposed survey of the Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone.

2. I fear that I must have failed to make myself clear in my despatch, No. 26, of the 21st January last.f I had no intention of suggesting a partial survey, and the scheme I had in view was a complete survey of the Colony and Protectorate, commencing with the Colony. My reference to the desirability of defining the boundaries of the different chiefdoms was merely an argument in favour of having an accurate survey. I therefore cordially welcome your proposal to place Sierra Leone on an equality with other Colonies and Protectorates in tropical Africa, of which topographical maps exist or are being made.

3. I concur in all the suggestions made in your despatch, except as regards the map of the peninsula. The Director of Public Works, who is at present in charge of Crown lands in the Colony, is of opinion that an accurate map of the peninsula to a scale of not less than six inches to one mile is required, and that a fresh survey would be necessary in order to obtain this. The map prepared by the Colonial Survey Section in 1904 is to a scale of one inch to one mile, and it seems improbable that an accurate map of six inches to a mile could be obtained by enlarge- ment from that map. In view of the importance of being able to ascertain what lands belong to the Crown, I concur in Mr. Copland's opinion.

4. I consider that it is desirable to undertake the work without delay, and would ask that steps may be taken to select the necessary staff. Subject to your approval, I will insert a sum of £2,000, under a separate head-" Survey of Colony and Protectorate "-in next year's estimates.

5. As it is desirable to take advantage of the dry season as far as possible, you will perhaps consider the advisability of sending out the staff at the beginning of November. A special vote can be taken, if necessary, for the cost of two months' work this year.

• No. 5.

I have, &c.,

E. M. MEREWETHER,

Governor.

† No. 2,