SURVEYS AND MAPS 37 



difficulties with regard to staff. Moreover, the purchase of instru- 

 ments would be tantamount to locking up capital, if they are not 

 put to constant use. 



On the whole it would seem that in any case geodetic survey 

 and possibly also such topographical survey as is required in the 

 more productive regions, should be financed from loans. Cadastral 

 survey is in a different category; it is so closely connected with the 

 raising of revenue that it may very well be made to depend on the 

 revenue. Moreover, it can be taken up when and where wanted, 

 because once the framework has been established it is not so 

 necessary to presume continuity in the subsequent processes. 



An annual budget may contain no item of expenditure for geo- 

 detic survey or topographical survey, but if departmental appro- 

 priations are carefully examined, it will sometimes be found that 

 large sums of money are expended on surveys to provide maps or 

 topographic data, the value of which is seriously limited through 

 the fact that they have not been made as part of a comprehensive 

 plan. For example, the South African Commission of 1921^ stated 

 that the Irrigation Department budget provided at that time for 

 an annual expenditure of /^ 19,000 and the Railway Department 

 ;;(^ii,ooo for reconnaissance surveys, the greater part of which 

 would have been unnecessary if there had been reliable topogra- 

 phical maps of the country. In 1933 the Union Government found 

 it necessary to authorize a reconnaissance survey to provide a small- 

 scale map of the Union on 1:500,000 (8 miles to i inch), esti- 

 mated to cost ;^6o,ooo and to take three years to complete. This 

 survey will not materially assist the general topographical survey 

 of the country. Such unco-ordinated measures have no permanent 

 value and are proportionately much more expensive than a general 

 topographical survey. 



STAFF AND TRAINING2 



EUROPEANS 



In the Union of South Africa the training of survey officers, 

 which has a fundamental bearing upon the whole survey system, 

 is organized in co-operation with the University authorities and 



^ See above, p. 29. 2 This section deals with British Territory only. 



