116 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



public works. The possession of such maps insures the economical 

 planning of improvements and reveals possibilities for the development 

 of resources that otherwise would remain unknown.' 



The Survey Commission stated that in South Africa a topographical 

 survey is particularly necessary from the geographical circumstances of 

 the country. It pointed out that, in the absence of waterways, roads 

 and railways must be laid down before a country can begin to progress; 

 and further that irrigation and conservation of water wiU play a great 

 part in the development of the land. It then stated that a necessary 

 preliminary to undertaking any schemes of the nature mentioned was a 

 knowledge of the topography, and that a good topographical map would 

 save enormous sums that are continually being spent in reconnaissance, 

 and would obviate a great amount of wasted effort. To this weighty 

 statement we might add the enormous value of a good topographical map 

 to all who are concerned in the government and administration of the 

 country. 



Another reason which makes the need of a topographical map of first 

 importance is the question of geological survey. Geological information 

 is deprived of a great part of its value until it is correctly plotted on a 

 reliable map. Perhaps the best example and proof of this is the case of 

 the Geological Survey of the United States. In that rapidly developing 

 country it was felt that geological survey must be pushed on as fast as 

 possible. The geologists found, however, that they must have good 

 topographical maps ; and there being none in existence, they set out to 

 make them ; with the result that, as I stated earlier in this paper, the 

 Geological Survey of the United States includes the Topographical Survey. 

 In South Africa the same considerations apply with peculiar force ; and 

 it seems incredible in a country where geological survey and mineral 

 development has such possibilities, that the value of a topographical 

 map should have been so long ignored. 



Numerous instances could be given of the savings that result from 

 the estabhshment of a good topographical survey early in the history of 

 a country, and of the losses that are consequent on the lack of such a 

 survey. 



Some of the most illuminating examples are those connected with 

 railway construction. The Report of the Commission gives two cases 

 taken from Nigeria, in the first of which for lack of reliable topographical 

 knowledge the Lagos-Kano line was badly laid out, and enormous sums 

 of money were subsequently expended on reconstruction to improve the 

 line and lessen the running expenses. The waste in such a case, as the 

 Report points out, includes not only the cost of the necessary recon- 

 struction, but the greatly enhanced cost of running trains on the original 

 bad line with its unnecessary curves and gradients. 



In the second case a topographical survey was made before the railway 

 was located, and it is stated that the result fully justified all expectations, 

 and that the chief engineer was able to report that he was in consequence 

 enabled to complete his reconnaissance work in record time and to dis- 

 cover routes through difficult forest and hill country that would otherwise 

 have been unobtainable. 



When the Uganda railway was constructed the lack of a topographical 



