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3. There is also in progress a Topographical 
survey. The scale of the Standard map is one inch 
to the mile, and other larger scales are used for 
special surveys, the largest being 1 chain or 66 feet 
to an inch for Town Planning work. 
4. Topographical work is very laborious and 
consequently expensive owing to the nature of the 
country which does not allow very much sketching 
of detail. It is rare to be able to see details of the 
natural features more than ten yards away in the 
jungle and whenever a fixation has to be made by 
reference to Trigonometrical points a clearing is 
necessary. 
5. The total area of British Malaya is approxi- 
mately 55,000 square miles and up to the end of 1923, 
rather more than 7,000 square miles of the Standard 
map have been surveyed and published in addition 
to a good deal of work on larger scales. 
6. The Department has a very efficient map 
producing branch and an Instrument making and 
repairing branch. 
7. The value of Topographical surveys either 
in the form of the finished Standard map or of re- 
connaissance maps is even greater in a jungle 
covered country than in open country. A great 
deal of the preliminary work for railway or road 
location, for water supply and hydro electric schemes 
can be avoided. This is true of any type of country, 
but it is especially true of a country of the type of 
Malaya where it is necessary actually to walk over 
the ground in order to determine its configuration. 
8. The Senior Officers of the Survey Depart- 
ment are Europeans, the majority of whom are 
licensed surveyors of Australia, New Zealand or 
