SURVEYS AND MAPS 49 



war. The series of maps published by the War Office are on a scale 

 of 1:250,000, and a few sheets on 1:125,000. These cover about 

 one quarter of the country, and the remainder will be incorporated 

 in a new War Office i :500,ooo series now in hand. The country 

 therefore relies on maps which are now much out of date and do 

 not show roads, but the original fieldwork was of a high standard 

 and the sheets could be cheaply and quickly revised. The Tri- 

 gonometrical and Topographical branch of the Survey Depart- 

 ment was finally closed down in 1921, when the Government 

 decided that the only essential surveys were those of farms and 

 town plots for alienation. After the visit of Brigadier Winterbotham 

 in 1929, a proposal was made to revive the topographical section 

 on a small scale with a view to this revision, but this was rejected 

 as part of the economy measures of 1930. The only topographical 

 survey of any importance which has been carried out since the War 

 is one of a portion of the Kakamega Goldfields which was done in 

 1932 on a scale of 1:62,500. It is clear that a topographic branch 

 and a publishing office are badly needed as additions to the Survey 

 Department. 



Uganda, which publishes its own maps, showing roads and other 

 recent developments, has 1:1,000,000 and 1:500,000 maps of the 

 whole country. Also there are produced a i :50,ooo series, designed 

 as a key to property surveys combined in some areas with topo- 

 graphy, and a topographic i :250,ooo which, with the rather out- 

 of-date War Office series on the same scale, covers more than half 

 of the country. For the remainder, compiled 1:250,000 District 

 maps are available. 



The Nigerian Survey Department has produced compiled maps 

 on 1:1,000,000 and 1:500,000 which are kept well up to date. 

 There are also recent topographic maps on i : 1 25,000, and i :62,500, 

 but only a relatively small area is at present published (about 

 12 per cent of the area in the i : 125,000 series). For geographical 

 purposes the Survey Department published in 1933 a valuable 

 series of i :3, 000,000 maps of Nigeria, showing relief, communica- 

 tions, temperature, rainfall in wet and dry seasons, vegetation, 

 population density and products. These were modified and re- 

 duced for inclusion in the Handbook of Nigeria (1933). 



The Gold Coast Survey Department produces topographic series 



