i3 2 



NATURE 



[September 7, ign 



Turning now to tin- War Office, the first matter to 

 which I would call attention is that nearly all the accurate 

 topographical surveys of the Empire have I" en started by 

 soldiers. This applies to the United Kingdom, Canada, 

 Australia, South Africa, Tropical Africa, and last, bul 

 greatest of all, India. The accounts of the struggles of 

 soldiers at the end of the eighteenth century to obtain 

 sanction for what is now known as the Ordnance Survey 

 form very interesting reading. In fact, all over the world 

 it was military requirements which produced the topo- 

 graphical map ; and it is still the War Offices of the world 

 which control the execution of almost all geographically 

 important surveys. During the last few years the largest 

 block of work undertaken by the War Office has been the 

 accurate survey of the Orange Free State, which has an 

 area of about 52,000 square miles — nearly the size of 

 England — and an adjacent reconnaissance survey in the 

 Cape of Good Hope covering an area of a hundred 

 thousand square miles. There has been some inevitable 

 delay (due to causes which need not be gone into now) in 

 the publication of the sheets of this survey, but the work 

 is being pushed on. The survey of the Orange Free State 

 is fully comparable with the admirable surveys carried out 

 by the French Service G^ographique de I'Armee in Algeria 

 and Tunis. Some work has also been done in the Trans- 

 vaal. Other surveys carried out in recent years under the 

 direct control of the War Office are those of Mauritius, St. 

 Helena, a portion of Sierra Leone, Malta, and Hong Kong. 



The most notable work which is now being carried 

 out in the Self-Governing Dominions is the Militia Depart- 

 ment Survey of Canada, with which excellent progress has 

 been made. 



The total area of the Crown Colonies and Protectorates 

 under the rule of the Colonial Office amounts to about two 

 million square miles. British African Protectorates form 

 a large portion of this total, and I will indicate briefly 

 what is being done to survey these tropical Protectorates. 

 From the geographical point of view the brightest regions 

 are East Africa, Uganda, and Southern Nigeria. In East 

 Africa topographical surveys of the highlands and coast 

 belt are being pushed on by military parties as part of 

 the local survey department. The area of exact work 

 done amounts now to some 30,000 square miles. In 

 Uganda a military party has recently completed a large 

 block of country, and in this Protectorate thoroughly 

 trustworthy maps of 32,000 square miles are now available. 

 In Southern Nigeria a completely reorganised surve) 

 department is tackling in a thoroughly systematic fashion 

 the difficult task of mapping a forest-clad country. We 

 shall shortly see the results. 



For the information of those who have not travelled in 

 Tropical Africa it should be remarked that surveying in 

 such countries is attended by every sort of difficulty and 

 discomfort, and too often by illness and serious discourage- 

 ment. It is one thing to sit at home in a comfortable 

 office and plan a scheme of survey, and quite another 

 thing to carry it out on the spot. We do not, I am con- 

 vinced, give enough honour and credit to those who 

 actually get the work done in such trying circumstances. 

 Honest, accurate survey work in the tropics puts a much 

 greater strain on a man than exploratory sketching. To 

 picture what the conditions are, imagine that vou are to 

 make a half-inch survey of the South of England : cover 

 the whole country with dense forest ; put mangrove 

 swamps up all the estuaries; raise the temperature to that 

 of a hot-house ; introduce all manner of insects ; fill the 

 country with malaria, yellow fever, blackwater fever, and 

 sleeping sickness; let some of vour staff he sirk ; then 

 have a fight with the local treasury as to some ne, 

 payment, and be as cheerful as von can. That is one side 

 of the medal. On the other "side there is the abiding 

 interest which the surveyor feels in the country, the natives, 

 and the work; the sense of duty done; and the satisfac- 

 tion of opening up and mapping for the first time a portion 

 of this world's surface. 



There is i,,, time to mention other surveys in Africa, 

 and I will pass on to a very interesting part of the world, 

 the Federated Malay Slates, in this" prosperous country 

 much excellent geographical work is being done by the 

 combined survey department which was established under 

 a Surveyor-General in the year 1907. The department is 



NO. 2184, V0L - 87] 



in good hands, and the commencement of a regular topo- 

 graphical series is being undertaken. 



1 wish it were possible to prophesy smooth things about 

 Ceylon. From our special point of view the situation 

 leaves much to be desired. There is not yet published a 

 single topographical map, and the topographical surveys 

 are progressing at a rate which, under favourable con- 

 ditions, may result in the maps being completed in the 

 year 1970. 



In closing this inadequate review of the principal surveys 

 which are being undertaken in the Crown Colonies and 

 Protectorates, I should mention that the coordinating 

 factor is the Colonial Survey Committee, which every year 

 publishes a report which is presented to Parliament. 



The India Office is, of course, concerned with that great 

 department the Survey of India. The Indian Empire 

 has an area of about 1,800,000 square miles, and as, under 

 the arrangements approved in 1908, the standard scale of 

 survey is to be one inch to one mile, the area of paper to 

 be covered will be 1,800,000 square inches. Actually this 

 is divided into about 6700 sheets. The Survey of India 

 has always been famous for its geodetic work and for its 

 frontier surveys and methods. Its weak point used to be 

 its map reproduction. This has been greatly improved. 

 But personally I feel that if, for most military and popular 

 purposes, a half-inch map is found suitable for England, 

 as is undoubtedly the case, there is no reason why a half- 

 inch map should not also be suitable for India. It is 

 mainly a question of putting more information on the 

 published map, and of engraving it and using finer means 

 of reproduction. If this smaller scale were adopted all 

 the information now presented could be shown, and the 

 number of the sheets would be reduced from 6700 to 

 1675, a saving of 5000 sheets. It is difficult to avoid the 

 feeling that the Survey of India is over-weighted with the 

 present scheme. The scheme has, however, many merits. 

 It will be impossible to carry it out unless the department 

 is kept at full strength. 



The Board of Agriculture is the Department which is 

 charged with the administration of the Ordnance Survey. 

 The Ordnance Survey spends some 200,000/. a year, and 

 for that sum it furnishes the inhabitants of the United 

 Kingdom with what are, without doubt, the finest and 

 most complete series of large-scale maps which any country 

 possesses. There is nothing in any important country 

 (such as France, Germany, Italy. Russia, or the United 

 States) to compare with our complete and uniform series 



of sheets on the scale of ^s'stt. Thesi si ts are sold at 



a nominal price, and are, in effect, a free gift to land- 

 owners, agents, and all who deal with real property. They 

 are also, of course, invaluable to county and borough 

 engineers and surveyors. They reallj are a national asset 

 which is not half enough appreciated. The whole concep- 

 tion of these large-scale plans has stood the test of time, 

 and is greatly to the honour of a former generation of 

 officers. 



Much might be said about the small-scale maps of the 

 Ordnance Survey, which are now published in a verjy 

 convenient form. As mentioned below, the latest small- 

 scale Ordnance map is the new international map on the 

 million scale. Some sheets of this map will shortly be 

 published. 



The Foreign Office is concerned with the surveys of the 

 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, which are at present mainly of an 

 explanatory character. The taking over of the Province of 

 Lado has recently thrown fresh work on the Sudan Survey 

 Department. The Foreign Office, which administers 

 Zanzibar, has recently given orders for the survey of the 

 Island of Pemba, 1 dependency of Zanzibar, and this is 

 being carried out by a small military parte. 



Bul ill- great iervio to Geography rendered by the 

 Foreign Office in recent years was the encouragement given 

 t.. die project of 1I1, International Map bj thi assembly of 

 an international committee in November, tooq. Sir 

 Charles (now Lord) Hardinge presided at the opening 

 session, ["hen ites from Austria-Hungary, 



France. Germany, Great Britain, Canada and Australia, 

 Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United States, and, as is 

 known, the resolutions which were devised by the Com- 

 mittee were agreed 10 unanimously. After the conclusion 

 of the work of (he Committee the Government communi- 



