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It is obviously and abundantly true that no student of history, economics, or 

 politics can disregard the effect of geographical environment. But it is not, 

 as a fact, disregarded by writers on these subjects. The question is, to a large 

 extent, whether we should annex these portions of their studies, group them and 

 label them ' Geography.' Our right to do this will depend on the value of our 

 own original investigations. We have the right to use the results obtained by 

 others, provided that we add something valuable of our own. 



Before this human aspect of geography — or, for that matter, any other 

 aspect of the subject — is recognised by the world of science as an independent, 

 indispensable, and definite branch of knowledge, it must prove its independence 

 and value by original, definite, and, if possible, quantitative research. 



Part II. Geography and the Government Department*. 



Whatever definition of Geography is accepted we are all in agreement that the 

 map is the essential foundation of the subject. I propose now to indicate very 

 briefly how the British Government, as represented by the great Departments of 

 State, is, in this respect, assisting the cause of Geography. The Departments 

 which are interested in maps and surveys are the following •. The Admiralty, 

 the War Office, the Colonial Office, the India Office, the Board of Agriculture, 

 and the Foreign Office. 



The immense services rendered, not only to this country, but to the whole 

 world, by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, are known to all. 

 But it would be somewhat rash for a soldier to talk about hydrographic surveys, 

 so I will confine my remarks to surveys on land. 



First it should be remarked that the British Government as a whole has for 

 many years shown its interest in Geography, and has recognised the good work 

 done by the Royal Geographical Society by contributing an annual sum of 500?. 

 towards the funds of the Society. Next it should be noted that from time to time 

 British Governments have contributed large sums of money towards Arctic and 

 Antarctic exploration. The most recent examples of this very practical form of 

 encouragement will be remembered by all ; I mean the Government expenditure 

 on Scott's first Antarctic Expedition and the handsome sum contributed towards 

 the cost of Shackleton's great journey. 



Turning now to the War Office, the first matter to which I would call atten- 

 tion is that nearly all the accurate topographical surveys of the Empire have been 

 Started by soldiers. This applies to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, 

 South Africa, Tropical Africa, and last, but greatest of all, India. The accounts 

 of the struggles of soldiers at the end of the eighteenth century to obtain sanc- 

 tion for what is now known as the Ordnance Survey form very interesting read- 

 ing. In fact, all over the world it was military requirements which produced 

 the topographical 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 Geographique de l'Armee in 

 Algeria and Tunis. Some work has also been done in the Transvaal. 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 Department 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 



