310 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: [Parl. Paper C.— 6895], 1893. Price 43d. 
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 ‘“‘ history ’’ comes the ‘“‘ methods and processes of the 
Ordnance Survey,” which need not detain us here. The Committee 
was appointed to consider (1) What steps should be taken 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 1-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 1-inch 
map is the one most used by the public for general purposes, both 
military and civil. Werecommend 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 sosplendid 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 (¢.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. 
