E.— GEOGRAPHY. 115 



These measures do not go so far as the Survey Commission recom- 

 mended ; but they undoubtedly constitute a great step forward in securing 

 unity of control and uniformity of practice. 



The situation with regard to cadastral surveys in the Dominion is 

 difficult. A vast amount of surveys of farms and properties has been 

 done, and exists stored in various archives. It varies largely in quality, 

 but includes much most valuable material. But it is most difficult of 

 access, and it has long been felt by the thinking surveyors of this country 

 that more use should be made of it. The subject has been ably dealt 

 with in an article in the Survey Journal for March 1924 by Mr. 

 Whittingdale, who argues that it should be collected, co-ordinated, and 

 plotted in the form of a regular series of cadastral plans. Whether such a 

 work would be practicable I am not competent to say, though it is interest- 

 ing to note in the same article that experimental cadastral plans, 

 presumably made in the suggested way, have already been constructed in 

 the office of the Surveyor-General, Cape Town. But of its desirability I 

 have no doubt whatever. It is, to my mind, and as I have attempted to 

 show in this paper, a cardinal principle that survey work that is done should 

 be published and made available ; otherwise it is largely wasted ; and the 

 preparation of a series of uniform cadastral plans of the Dominion should, 

 I think, take a high place in the Survey programme. It should not be 

 forgotten, of course, that certain compilations of the existing farm surveys 

 have been made in the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Natal, but these 

 do not quite meet the want. 



The Survey Commission did not touch on the question of a regular 

 cadastral map, but it devoted a substantial part of its Report to the subject 

 of topographical survey. South Africa is at present singularly deficient 

 in good topographical maps, and there is, I think, little doubt that they 

 are a crying need. The need for such a survey has been consistently 

 advocated for many years past ; and it is difficult to add anything of value 

 to the arguments which have already so often been put forward. My 

 excuse for speaking at all on the subject is that public apathy in the matter 

 is so great that it is only by constant reiteration that one may entertain a 

 faint hope that at some time a little interest may be aroused. 



I am going to give you two short extracts from statements made by 

 others which put the question clearly and forcibly. 



The first is by a Director of Irrigation in South Africa, and was quoted 

 in the Survey Commission's Report. 



' The need for an accurate topographical contoured survey is felt 

 almost daily by services such as irrigation, roads and bridges, railways, 

 and agriculture. Hundreds of thousands of pounds would be saved in a 

 few years to these services if reasonably accurate topographical maps 

 existed.' 



The next is from a statement prepared by the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, on the need for expediting the topographic mapping of 

 the United States. 



' Topographic maps . . . serve as a base on which most problems 

 affecting human activities may be studied and investigated and plans 

 made for their solution. The lack of topographical maps in any area 

 retards the development of that area and increases the expense of planning 



