114 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



lishment of Survey Boards. I believe that the existing system works well 

 and without friction, but I believe also that this is due mainly to the 

 common sense and goodwill of the men working it, rather than to any 

 advantages in the system. 



What is the survey situation in South Africa at present ? In January 

 1921 a Survey Commission was appointed, and in July of the same year 

 it issued a Report. This was not by any means the first report on survey 

 questions in this country that has been made ; nor was this Commission 

 the only one that has investigated the subject ; but as it is the latest, and 

 the only one on whose recommendations action has been taken, we may 

 confine our attention to it. The Report of this Commission is a most 

 admirable document ; and if I quote from it my excuse must be that 

 Government documents are seldom read except by the few who are pro- 

 fessionally and immediately interested. The Commission drew attention 

 to the great waste that resulted to the country in the absence of a scientific 

 system of carrying out cadastral surveys ; it pointed out the need for 

 greater co-ordination and unity of control in survey matters ; and it 

 dwelt very strongly and forcibly on the great need for a good topographical 

 map of the country. The Commission made a large number of recommen- 

 dations, all in the direction of securing greater unity and more reliability 

 and scientific precision in the surveys of the country, and of making the 

 survey more complete and comprehensive . As a consequence of this Report 

 in 1927 a Survey Act was passed, which gave effect to most of the 

 recommendations of the Commission, though not to all. 



As a result of this Act, survey in South Africa is unquestionably in a 

 very much sounder position than it has ever been before. The present 

 organisation is that there is a Director of Trigonometrical Survey, who 

 is responsible ' for such trigonometrical, topographical, level, and tide 

 surveys . . . etc., as the Minister may direct ' ; while in each province 

 there is a Surveyor-General who is responsible for controlling cadastral 

 work in his province, and also, be it noted, ' for conducting when required 

 by the Minister a general triangulation and topographical survey of any 

 portion of the Union.' As a matter of actual fact, the Director of Trigono- 

 metrical Survey has been charged with the duty of carrying out a topo- 

 graphical survey, and no Surveyor-General of a province has as yet, so far 

 as I know, been entrusted with this duty. The Commission recom- 

 mended the appointment of a Director-General of Surveys. The Act does 

 not carry out this recommendation ; but it establishes a Survey Board ' for 

 the purpose of promoting and controlling all matters ' affecting survey ; 

 and it empowers the Governor-General, if he think fit, to appoint a Director- 

 General of Surveys, to whom the Minister ' may . . . assign the functions 

 of the Survey Board.' The Act also establishes a ' Survey Regulations 

 Board ' for the purpose of making regulations for survey practice and 

 securing uniformity. 



It would seem, therefore, that the Act recognises the need for unity of 

 control, but provides it for the present by a ' Survey Board,' which con- 

 sists of the four Surveyors-General and the Director of the Trigonometrical 

 Survey ; and provides also for the possibility of replacing the Survey 

 Board by a Director-General. 



