3IO NATURAL SCIENCE. April. 



Ordnance Survey. Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the 

 Board of Agriculture to inquire into the present condition of the Ordnance 

 Survey. London: [Pari. Paper C— 6895] , 1893. Price 4id. 



There are, we suppose, few readers of this journal who do not take 

 with them upon their perambulations sheets of the one-inch Ordnance 

 Survey maps of the district they are visiting. As, however, there 

 may be some such people, and as it a golden rule that one cannot too 

 often be reminded of a good thing, we call attention to this Blue 

 Book just issued. The report opens with a history of the Ordnance 

 Survey, which may be said to have begun with the measurement of a 

 base-line on Hounslow Heath in 1784. The one-inch to a mile 

 map was commenced in 1797, and continued steadily till 1824, when 

 the whole of the South of England and part of Wales were completed. 

 In 1824 an Irish survey was commenced on a scale of six inches to a 

 mile, and this was extended later to the whole of Scotland and the 

 six northern counties of England ; the one-inch maps issued since 

 then having been reduced from those on the larger scale. Since 1855, 

 moreover, the whole of the country has been surveyed anew on a 

 different system, and the result of this work is seen in the " new 

 series one-inch map," so well-known and so valuable to everyone. 



After the " histor}' " comes the " methods and processes of the 

 Ordnance Survey," which need not detain us here. The Committee 

 was appointed to consider (i) What steps should betaken to expedite 

 the completion and publication of the new or revised one-inch map 

 (with or without hill-shading) of the British Isles ? (2) What per- 

 manent arrangements should be made for the continuous revision and 

 speedy publication of the maps (1:500 (towns), 25-inches, 6-inches, 

 and i-inch scales) ? (3) Whether the maps, as at present issued, 

 satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public in regard to style of 

 execution, form, information conveyed, and price ; and whether any 

 improvements can be made in the catalogue and indexes ? To the 

 first of these questions the answer given is that the continuance of 

 the Temporary Edition (" Advanced Edition") of the maps by photo- 

 zincography seems desirable. 



To the second question, the Committee replies: "The i-inch 

 map is the one most used by the public for general purposes, both 

 military and civil. We recommend strongly that its revision be carried 

 out at all times independently of that of the larger scales, and that 

 whatever funds are necessary should be provided to carry out these 

 recommendations at as early a date as possible." That the 

 " Cadastral Maps " (5 feet, 10 feet, 25 inches, and 6 inches to the 

 mile), in consequence of the largeness of the scales, rapidly get out 

 of date. "Scarcely any of them have been revised [since 1854] , 

 and it is urgently necessary that the advantage of so splendid a work 

 as these maps of Great Britain and Ireland undoubtedly are should 

 not be destroyed for want of a regular system of revision." With 

 regard to the " town maps." they very properly advise that the 

 municipal authorities "should be placed under a statuteable obligation 

 to maintain and correct a copy of that map, showing all alterations 

 in the town inserted in accordance with instructions and regulations 

 to be issued by the Ordnance Survey Department . . . and that failing 

 such proper maintenance, the ordnance surveyors should do what is 

 found to be necessary, and charge the cost to the town." At present 

 this revision is done in a few towns (e.g., Edinburgh) by private 

 publishers, who keep the maps up to date, and actually sell their 

 own correct version to the displacement of the Government Survey. 



