PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TQ
69
was engaged. A university man of good mathematical ability and slight survey knowledge, and of the class of European required, could be obtained at a salary of £300, could pick up the technical work of the revenue section and learn the language and customs of the country under the survey instructor's supervision, and could eventually, when the section has grown so large and gone so far afield as to be out of range of supervision of the survey instructor, take entire charge of it.
Advantage II-The relief of the School Instructor, and of the Revenue Surveyor, for the first two years, would be facilitated. This question is of importance, in view of the education of the pupils. being conducted in Hausa. With the text book which is now being written by Mr. R. Sydney Smith, both in Hausa and English, there should be no serious difficulty in making arrangements for the Revenue Surveyor, provided he is appointed soon, to carry on the school work during Mr. Smith's next leave of absence, for by then the mallam instructors would be sufficiently trained to go on with the work under his supervision.
Advantage III-The school classes could, during their training, practically complete and keep up to date the survey of two sub-districts (Tefida and Danisa).
Advantage IV-The school and revenue offices could occupy the same building, thus economising in construction, which must necessarily, in view of the preservation of records, be of a more permanent nature than mud.
(b) Mallam assistant instructors. We recommend that four mallam assistant instructors should be appointed to the school. The three men at present employed as instructors to the taki class, and one survey mallam at present on the strength of the Survey Department, could be fairly quickly trained up to the required standard by Mr. Sydney Smith. If the taki classes are to be continued in 1914,
these men can do the work, being lent for the requisite number of hours a week for the purpose. It would be practically impossible to find any other mallamai but the men mentioned who could be trained as instructors in sufficient time to take the Survey School work.
up
(c) Pay of mallam instructors.—The pay of the men suggested is at present as follows:-
No. 1, school mallam (Nagwamatse)
No. 2, survey mallamai (Shiebu)
No. 3, school mallam (Abubakar)
No. 4, school mallam (Sani)
£36
30
18
18
We recommend that the above men should be transferred to the Survey School in 1914, to serve as assistant instructors of the grades given below, but that they should begin at the rates shown opposite their names. They should, if satisfactory, advance incrementally to their full salaries :-
Title.
1st mallam instructor 2nd maflam instructor
3rd mallam instructor
4th mallam instructor
Grade. £60 4-72 42-3-54
Pay in 1914. £40
36
36-3-42 36-3-42
24 18
(d) In fixing the grades, we have been influenced by the advisability of making the pay of the instructors slightly higher than that of the junior grades of surveyors and draftsmen whom they will be turning out. (For these rates see paragraph 17.)
(e) We submit that, should the Survey School be made part of the Nassarawa School, the above instructors would still be necessary for the survey class alone, and that the number we have suggested is the minimum with which the school instructor can reasonably hope to discharge all the work entrusted to him.
12. Survey school recess.-The school recess should coincide with that of the Nassarawa School, which is arranged to enable each pupil to spend the last fortnight of Ramadan and the first fortnight of Salla laya in his home. This, with the journeys, gives a recess of about two months.
The new class should begin annually after the recess.
13. Agreement. It is advisable that some form of agreement should be entered into with the Emir by the pupil to serve the Administration as mallam assessor, surveyor, or draftsman for a period of six years from the date at which he completes his survey school education.
We recommend that this agreement should take the form of a promise on oath to the Emir, which promise could be repeated if the man extended his term of service.
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The Emir of Kano looks favourably on this suggestion, and we submit that such an oath would be more binding than any form of legal agreement.
14. Nature and duration of survey course. When the pupils join the junior survey class they will already have been taught reading, writing, and arithmetic in the Nassarawa School, and the majority will have served as taki assessors.
It is too early at present, especially in view of the unknown adaptability of the native to survey work, to lay down the exact course of education. From experience gained up to date, it seems probable that there will be no serious difficulty in training the pupils sufficiently to enable them at the end of ten months to execute all the field work of chain surveying,
The experience gained during the first year's working of the school will enable an exact syllabus to be drawn up.
On the conclusion of the junior class course, about 75 per cent. of the pupils will be selected as mallam assessors and transferred to the revenue survey sections of their respective provinces. The remainder will be admitted to the middle class for training as mallam surveyors and draftsmen. The middle class will be further strengthened by taking into it a certain number of mallam assessors who, after at least a year's service as such, show exceptional promise as surveyors.
These mallamai should necessarily continue to be paid at their mallam assessor rate while completing their education.
After a year in the middle class the pupils join the senior class for a further year's education, at the conclusion of which they will receive appointments as mallam surveyors and draftsmen.
The question of specialising the pupils in certain branches of survey, thus leading to their becoming available for work at the end of the middle class course, is a matter which should be considered, but on which it is not advisable at present to make recommendations.
During their course in the middle and senior classes, the pupils would be attached for certain periods to the topographical and cadastral branches of the Survey Department for field training, preferably during the leave of the European instructor.
15. Strength of classes. We recommend that, under normal conditions, each junior class should consist of 20 pupils, this being the greatest number which the European instructor can, in addition to his other two classes, supervise efficiently. The number of pupils in the middle and senior classes would usually depend on the requirements of the Survey Department generally; owing to the dearth of trained natives, the number should at present be made as high as the material available will allow.
16. Taki assessors and classes.-(a) In the present taki class there are 44 pupils, of whom 11 are Kano natives and six are Katsena natives available for the Kano revenue section. In addition, there are 33 taki assessors employed under the resident of Kano. All these taki assessors, and the taki class, will. in the course of time, be taken by batches into the junior class of the Survey School for training as mallam assessors or surveyors.
(b) Should the Administration desire to continue the present system of taki assessment as forerunners of the more accurate revenue survey, a taki class of suffi- cient strength to replace the casualties in the ranks of the taki assessors can be trained as heretofore. The Director of Education could select the men for this class, and the services of the mallam instructors of the Survey School could, by arrange- ment, be placed at his disposal for the requisite number of hours a week.
17. Rates of pay. (a) Taki assessors transferred to the Survey School should continue to be paid at the rates (£12 to £24) drawn by them when on the taki staff. Pupils transferred direct from the Nassarawa School should begin at the lowest rate of taki pay.
(b) The rates of pay of the appointments eventually filled by the pupils should be as follows:-
—
5th class mallam surveyors (revenue)
4th class mallam surveyors and draftsmen
3rd
2nd
31
1st
Chief draftsman
Chief surveyor
27
31
11
*
£24 3 36 £36 3 42 £42- 4- 50 £60 4 72 £96 6-150 £164-12-240 £200-10-250
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