758 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



avoidance of the costly necessity for repeating bad work ; and, secondly, by the 

 gain in time, due to the fact that the local statf would not be called upon to learn 

 the use of an unfamiliar set of instruments. 



Similar advantages would arise from a partial specialisation of the angular 

 measurements. Thus the first-class observer with a theodolite must possess cer- 

 tain qualities of eyesight, health, and judgment, rarely combined in one individual. 

 When such a combination of qualities is found it should be made the best use of, 

 and a good man should not be wasted on second-class work. At present, upon 

 the system of regarding each colony as an isolated unit, it is not possible to employ 

 every man to the highest advantage, and there are doubtless many examples at 

 present in Africa of able men being set tasks much below the standard of their 

 ability, and, per contra, men of no such qualifications being given work beyond 

 their powers. It is only by working with an extended organisation, employing a 

 large stafl'and responsible for a large area of country, that any approximation can 

 be made towards that ideal wherein every member of the establishment is used to 

 the best advantage according to his special qualifications. 



To turn from the triangulation to the question of topography, we shall find 

 analogous arguments in favour of entrusting this work to one central department. 

 Whether we consider the necessity for a uniform system of training for the topo- 

 grapher, or whether, looking at the matter from the other side, we consider the 

 desirability of a close degree of uniformity in the resulting map, we arrive at the 

 same end. Nor need we confine ourselves to theoretical arguments ; practical 

 results are before us as examples. It is not possible at the present moment to 

 point out a single case of a thoroughly satisfactory topographical map of any 

 country whatever which has not been executed by men trained in a properly 

 organised survey department or, what is equivalent, in the Corps of Royal 

 Engineers. Examples of failure to accomplish this are numerous. Thus we have 

 the cases of the British Colonies in South Africa before the war ; of Canada, 

 where no topographical map existed until two years ago, when the work was 

 taken up by the military department; and of Ceylon, where, in spite of the vast 

 sums spent on survey and the small size of the island, no topographical map of the 

 slightest pretensions to completeness exists of any part of the country. 



It may also be noted that, especially in the case of a developing country, it is 

 of enormous advantage that the map shall be begun and finished within some 

 reasonable time. If a long interval elapses between the commencement and the 

 completion, the first sheets are out of date before the last are done and the whole 

 exhibits a most undesirable lack of uniformity. 



With a central organisation the mapping of each protectorate can be taken 

 up in turn and dealt with rapidly, thus producing a homogeneous map impossible 

 to a small local body. Upon the converse point, the question as to whether 

 our central department should or should not undertake cadastral survey, the 

 arguments are perhaps not so one-sided. It is, however, quite clear towards 

 which side the balance of advantage tends. Taking into account the intimate 

 connection of the cadastral survey with the system of land holding and land 

 taxation, the fact that these systems necessarily vary and that as a financial matter 

 of accovmt the receipts and expenditure of each colony are separate, it is not 

 diilicult to see that the land survey is better left to local control. This would 

 not preclude any particular colony from arranging with the ^;entral body for the 

 execution of any definite piece of work of this class, upon terms agreeable to both 

 sides, in a similar manner to that in which cadastral survey is executed by the 

 Indian survej' for provincial Governments, and it need hardly be pointed out 

 that the geodetic points fixed by triangulation would in any case be available as a 

 framework for the large-scale map. 



The geographical survey of the British Empire, apart from Africa, will not 

 on this occasion detain us long. I exclude from present consideration the great 

 self-governing colonies — Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — and also the whole 

 country lying within the sphere of the survey of India. Ceylon has an elaborate 

 land survey system ; and though, owing to past mistakes, the geographical mapping 

 of the island is in a most lamentably backward condition, there are good grounds 



