SURVEYS AND MAPS 35 



tailed than any other branch of the pubUc service. It is doubtful, 

 however, whether the economies realized in this way offset the 

 waste that is incurred in development which is not based on ade- 

 quate mapping. This argument for a comprehensive programme 

 of high-precision basic surveys has long been stressed by experts, 

 but its validity is not yet recognized by the general pubHc. 



The geodetic and topographical surveys of a new country are 

 in fact as fundamental as roads, bridges, and railways, and there- 

 fore it can be argued that survey work, like other branches of 

 development, should be financed by pledging the future and anti- 

 cipating the increase in revenue at which development aims. All 

 states view the financing of roads and railways as capital expendi- 

 ture for which they will readily secure loans on general security. 

 Yet, except in the Union of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and 

 one or two of the colonies^ surveys are financed from current 

 expenditure, so that it is impossible to make a long-term plan with 

 any certainty that it will be carried out. The present system can 

 be explained by the fact that surveys cost so little in comparison 

 Vv^ith roads and railways that they have not been considered as 

 belonging to the same category. The effects are particularly 

 unfortunate in the case of geodetic triangulation, where continuity 

 is essential. 



It is necessary to discriminate between the first production of 

 maps and their subsequent maintenance. The former is properly 

 a subject for capital expenditure and the latter for financing from 

 revenue. The analogy with roads and bridges is here quite exact. 

 The necessity for maintaining a map and of maintaining the bench 

 marks and beacons on the land itself, a matter of considerable 

 difficulty in parts of Africa, is very commonly forgotten. The 

 topographical survey of the Orange Free State is an example of 

 the importance of maintenance: the whole operation was a model 

 of efficient organization, good technique, and able direction; time 

 and usage have proved the resulting maps to be as reliable as they 

 are artistic. The triangulation control was carefully carried out 



1 In the Union of South Africa approximately one-quarter of a million pounds 

 have been expended from loan funds since 1903 upon the principal triangulation 

 surveys. Since 1927 the annual vote has been ;^2 1,000 ; in 1935 ^^30,000 was provided 

 from loan funds, the increase being for the topographical sur\'ey. The topographical 

 survey of Sierra Leone was financed from 'Loans ser\dce' at a cost of jCy8 fioo. 



