378 GEOGRAPHICAL WORK OF THE INDIA OFFICE. 



by the firm, as well as supervised the construction of a series of 

 Library maps of the great divisions of the globe, designed by 

 Alexander Keith Johnston. He also designed and superintended 

 the construction of the first detailed plan of London on the 

 6-inch scale, and assisted in editing the series of Biblical maps in 

 Dr. Smith's Ancient Atlas. During his service in the India 

 Office he produced a large number of maps, which have served 

 as useful models of cartography for the native draughtsmen 

 and lithographers of the Surveyor-General's Office at Calcutta. 

 Foremost among these may be mentioned the excellent maps of 

 the Haidarabad Circars in continuation of the series commenced 

 by Mr. "Walker, and the elaborate and valuable sets of maps prepared 

 to illustrate the Moral and Material Progress Keports of 1871-72, 

 1872-73, and 1881-82. Mr. Saunders was also the author of 

 "A Sketch of the Mountains and River Basins of India" and of the 

 greater part of the General Catalogue of the Geographical Collection 

 of the India Office. The elaborate geographical arrangement of the 

 catalogue was entirely Mr. Saunders' creation. 



In 18S5 the Geographical Branch underwent a further change. 

 The appointment held by Mr. Trelawney Saunders was abolished, 

 and the present writer was placed in charge of the Geographical 

 business, under the control of the Registrar, the correspondence, &c. 

 being transacted under the general supervision of the Library 

 Committee. Thus in eight years the geographical work came under 

 the successive control of four different committees in the India 

 Office. This, however, is a change similar to that which the geo- 

 graphical departments of most countries have had to undergo. The 

 English Ordnance Survey was originally placed under the old Board 

 of Ordnance, then under the War Office, and has since been trans- 

 ferred, first to the Office of Works, and now to the Agricultural 

 Department. In India, the Survey Department has oscillated 

 in like fashion between the Home and Revenue Departments. 

 The fact is. that surveys (apart from revenue surveys), while 

 supplying the basis of statistics for all, have no special and 

 inherent connexion with any one particular department. At the 

 same time, the work, though important, is limited in quantity, so it 

 has always been necessary to place it under the wing of some larger 

 department. 



There is ample scope for its future usefulness, and in the Record 

 Department there is every hope that the traditions of its short but 

 active and profitable past will be not unworthily sustained. 



