CO885-(21-23) — Page 453

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

mwimmin C.O. 885

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

value, and in making this statement I am supported by the experience gained in other lands, such as Egypt, where prin- ciples similar to those suggested by Mr. Gowers were at first adopted, but where the control of the actual survey has long since been handed to the Survey Depart-

ment.

4. This is a technical matter, on which I agree generally, provided that the village boundaries are clearly defined. Experiments are now being made to see if this is the case.

5. The framework of two sub- districts has already been laid down. In paragraph 11 of memorandum No. 2, suggestions are made for the first year's work.

6. The taki assessors will gradually be absorbed in the school and then in the revenue section. The continuation of the taki assessment is dealt with in para- graph 18 of this memorandum.

(In (25) His Excellency says all pay to be found from rerenue in usual way.)

7. In practice. I suggest that the Surveyor-General should arrange with the Resident as to the increase annually of his section, which increase would depend on the output of the school; should draw up the estimate for the sec- tion, and send it to the Resident, who would find all funds.

8. The technical side of the question is dealt with in paragraphs 2 and 3 of memorandum No. 2. From the assess- ment point of view I submit that all that is needed is for the revenue survey sec- tion to hand to the Political Officer suffi- cient data to enable him to form and -charge his assessment.

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The classification of the soil is a matter for the Political Officer charged with the assessment. In Egypt this is done before survey, so that the actual boundaries of the different classes of soil can be sur- veyed and shown on the map. I think this nicety would be superfluous in Nigeria as the boundaries mentioned would rarely pass through the middle of a holding.

(In (25) His Excellency agrees.)

4. The skeleton traverses, based on the fixed trigonometrical points, should coincide as far as possible with village boundaries.

5. The first year's work to be frame- work and instructional; no cadastral surveys to be attempted by the native staff till they have received adequate training. I much doubt whether they can be considered reliable in less; and even mallams require a longer training in writing and figuring than they get at present.

6. About half the existing staff to be taken into the Survey School at once; the rest to go on with their existing rough measurement, the value of which is mainly to accustom the population to the idea of a land revenue assessed on their holdings according to extent.

7. The pay of the native revenue staff should be charged to the province em- ploying them. So should the due pro- portion of the pay of instructors, or officers detailed for their inspection or supervision by the Director of Surveys. The Native Administration funds should bear this charge; they already bear the cost of the machinery employed in col- lecting the revenue, e.g., district and village headmen's pay.

8. From an assessment point of view all that is needed is a capability accu- rately to delineate the boundaries of holdings, to calculate their area, and to tie them on to the fixed points of the skeleton framework. From the point of view of the Director of Surveys more training in topography is possibly desir- able. The chief object of the work, how- ever, is to ensure the equitable assessment of the land revenue, and, until a staff is available to carry out a systematic classi- fication of soils and of irrigation facili- ties, the revenue payable must necessarily be based on that payable by land of the lowest value that can be profitably culti- vated, so that the expenses of survey must be kept as low as possible.

9. Mr. Gowers's figures speak for themselves. The cost of the survey should be minimised by the employment of as many natives as possible, but I sub- mit that unless sufficient and efficient technical supervision by Europeans is provided the cost of the survey will greatly outweigh the extra expenses of Europeans.

10.

of :-

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9. In the Kano Emirate there are, at vated, on all of which a revenue of Is. a low computation, 2,000,000 acres culti- can be paid. This gives £100,000 against £50,000, the present assessment, and as the increase can only be made by assess- ment on a basis of survey (having in view future developments) the cost of the survey is amply justified. I have no hesitation in saying that by the time these two million acres are surveyed the holders of half of them will be in a posi- tion to pay 2s. per acre as easily as they (unquestionably) can pay 1s. to-day. The survey maps should consist 10. The unit of the survey maps

should be the village. (a) Revenue sheets on a scale of

The village (by which is meant something rese:nbling the 1/2,500. On these all holdings and villages will be shown as is done in

parish, not necessarily a collection of houses Egypt. From these revenue sheets

or residential village) varies much in area, but for administrative separate plans of villages can be made if desired, but as the bound-lage as it stands, even at the cost of a loss reasons it is desirable to retain the vil- aries of the villages will be clearly of uniformity in the size of the unit. indicated on the sheets, there seems no necessity for a separate map.

Certain adjustments must be, of course, made, but the villages as at present re- (b) District sheets (in Kano Pro- vince, sub-district sheets).

corded contain from 20 to 600 holdings, Scale and the latter are not too large for con- 1/25,000. These will show all village boundaries and as much to-

venient recording, and the former are not necessarily too small. An average of pographical detail as possible. 17 districts near Kano, 10,000 as the Known levels will be shown, but con- touring will have to be deferred

number of holdings; if each village until a staff is available.

averages 250 holdings, there will be 40 villages in the district. As each sub- district averages 100 square miles, each village averages 24 square miles, so that on the whole, on a scale of 18 inches to the mile, there would be only about one sheet to the village, i.e., 40 maps per dis- trict. There are 60 districts at present. and may be 70 presently, i.e., 2,800 maps for the Emirate.

11. Records are in two groups :—

(a) Assessment.-This is a matter for the Resident.

(b) Survey. This is distinctly a matter of survey organisation and all survey records should be metho- dically preserved from the begin- ning in the Record Office of the revenue survey section. A perma- nent building is a necessity, and could be economically combined with the Kano Survey School (see para- graph 19 of memorandum No. 2). 12. The unit of the framework survey is, I submit, an entirely technical ques- tion. As the execution of the detail survey will be taken up sub-district by sub-district, and village by village, it naturally follows that the framework, being arranged for the convenience of the detail survey, would probably be along the district boundaries.

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11. It is essential that from the first the records shall be kept in a form which the Native Administration can grasp and maintain.

12. The unit of the framework survey should be the sub-district, and these should be completed in turn, beginning with those which are nearest Kano, and gradually forming a series of concentric circles in which varying rates per acre can be applied according to their dis- tance from Kano.

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