THE SCHOOL OF MILITARY SURVEY AND ITS COURSES FOR COMMONWEALTH SURVEYORS

Abstract

On the first of January 1949 the Survey Training Centre of the Royal Engineers became the School of Military Survey. In the previous two years over fifty Colonial Survey Officers or Probationers came to the Training Centre as students on various courses. Many of these have now taken their places in the Colonial Survey Service. More students may come in the future not only from the Colonies but also from the Dominions, for just as the Military Survey courses are open to the military officers of the Dominions so are the Colonial Survey courses open to the survey students from the Dominion Governments. Some information about the School and courses may be of interest to these potential students and to many readers of this Review, and these notes have been written with the intention of providing this information     

A TRIANGULATION SYSTEM FOR NEWFOUNDLAND

Abstract

Following a request from the Commission of Government of Newfoundland, the Canadian Government has consented to an arrangement whereby the Geodetic Survey of the Department of the Interior will assist the Island Government in laying down two main nets of triangulation as the basis for the survey development of Newfoundland. The completion of the final practical details was reached in Ottawa recently, and the work, it is expected, will extend over a period of five years.     

TRAVERSING IN ANTHILL COUNTRY

Abstract

It is laid down in the Survey Rules of Northern Rhodesia that all areas to be alienated under freehold title or long lease must be surveyed by triangulation and that traverse methods must not be employed without the permission of the Commissioner for Surveys. This of course is all very well under normal text-book conditions, but there comes a time when triangulation is neither safe nor economical. Such conditions prevail in the Copperbelt districts of N. Rhodesia, where the bush is thick, the terrain more or less flat and the haze usually considerable. To make things a little more difficult the countryside is littered with anthills, both small and large; some as much as 30 feet high and 100 feet in circumference at the base. Traversing under these conditions can be very interesting and at times definitely backbreaking.     

THE TRAINING OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANTS IN MALAYA

Abstract

The subject of the training of European surveyors has received a great deal of attention in the course of the last two Empire Conferences, but little or no mention has been made of the native surveyor, his education, work, and prospects. The subject is very important, however, and the account of the training of Africans for the N. Rhodesia Survey, which appeared in vol. iii, no. 21 of the Empire Survey Review, was read with considerable interest. It may not be out of place, therefore, to introduce this paper on the means adopted in Malaya to recruit and train an efficient staff of subordinates or “Technical Assistants” as they are termed locally.     

A TEST OF AUTO-COLLIMATION

Abstract

In the July 1940 issue of the Empire Survey Review Mr A. V. Lawes contributes a valuable article, “The Application of the Gauss Method of Collimation to the Adjustment of Survey Instruments”. One section of the article describes four methods of adjusting collimators at solar focus, in other words of assuring that the emitted rays are parallel or that the target appears at an infinite distance. Mr Lawes rightly claims that auto-collimation is the most accurate of the four methods, and he warns readers that “the reflector used in this method must be as perfect optically as the objective”. However, he fails to give any method of testing the result obtained by following his directions, and experience suggests that auto-collimation may give a result considerably in error even though the reflector may with some justification be presumed to be good.     

LONG LINES ON THE EARTH

Abstract

The Arc of the Geodesic.—In the first part of this paper a method was given for computing the azimuth of a geodesic. The method gives the convergence of the geodesic correctly up to the second power of e the eccentricity. The formula (9), however, also depends on the assumption that σ, the arc-length of the geodesic, can be obtained with sufficient accuracy from the Supplemental Dalby Theorem, that is to say, by a purely spherical computation. It is, therefore, needful to show that this supposition is justifiable; a means must in fact be indicated for verifying the assumption.     

THE YEARS 1935–6 AND 1936–7 IN THE GOLD COAST

Abstract

THE Gold Coast can now be said to have recovered from the slump which caused such disastrous consequences in 1931–2 and resulted in a heavy reduction in the establishment of the Survey Department. So far there has been no increase in staff, but more badly needed money for buying stores and increasing the labour staff has been available, and authority has now been given for an increase of 12 in the establishment of African Surveyors; this will result in the re-opening of the Survey School in 1937.     

THE YEAR 1934 IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The year has been made noteworthy by the decision of Government to amalgamate the Land and Survey Departments under the direction of the Surveyor-General with the title of Commissioner of Lands and Surveyor-General. As the fusion of the two Departments took place only towards the end of the year, this report covers only survey activities for the year 1934.     

THE YEAR 1937 IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The year 1937 showed no diminution in the demands on the Land and Survey Department from both Government and private sources. Although there was practically no increase in staff over that of the previous two years, the output by nearly every branch showed a considerable increase on that of 1936. In April the number of super-scale posts was increased to three by the creation of the post of Principal Assistant. Nine European and two African officers were recipients of the Coronation Medal.     

CONDITION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CONFORMAL PROJECTION

Abstract

In the Empire Survey Review for October 1938 (iv, 30, 480) a simple demonstration of the condition to be satisfied for conformal representation was given. This condition may be expressed by the equation w = f(z), where w and z are complex variables representing corresponding points in the w-plane and z-plane respectively, and f(z) is an analytic function of z.     

GEORGE EKEM FERGUSON: AN AFRICAN PIONEER

Abstract

THE present Survey Department of the Gold Coast came into being in the year 1901 on account of the mining boom which necessitated a large number of concessions being taken up by Companies. In the absence of an effective central organization most of these concessions, which were indifferently surveyed by private surveyors, resulted in much overlapping of boundaries, involving a considerable amount of litigation. The Department has justified its existence by producing maps of the Colony and its Dependencies, providing plans for townplanning and communication roads as well as by training Africans as surveyors. Before the institution of the Survey Department Government surveys, mainly cadastral, in the Colony were controlled by the Public Works Department.     

THE UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY: ITS WORK AND PRODUCTS

Abstract

As the name of the Coast and Geodetic Survey indicates, it is the agency of the United States Government which is responsible for geodetic control surveys. Originally our geodetic surveys were made for control of surveys of the coast and to provide a proper base for the nautical charts of the coastal waters. By Congressional action in 1871 these activities were expanded to furnish basic control for the interior of the country, including geodetic connections between the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States.     

WITH THE FIELD SURVEY UNITS IN FRANCE

Abstract

Colonel MacLeod has already given in this Review (vol. i, 151–6, 207–14, 253–9) an excellent general account of the activities of the Field Survey Units in the Great War, but perhaps the details of some of the problems that presented themselves and the personal experiences of a Field Survey Officer may still be of some interest.     

Pioneer Geodesy: the Arc of the 30th Meridian in the Former Northern Rhodesia

Abstract

This paper discusses the part played by graphic illustrations in enhancing the written word in the teaching of social science subjects. Data for the study were obtained from students within the Calgary School System.     

LATERAL DISPLACEMENT OF SIGNALS OBSERVED

Abstract

I notice that in the last two numbers of the Empire Survey Review a lateral displacement is mentioned or implied.     

TRAINING AFRICAN SURVEYORS IN UGANDA

Abstract

Under the Buganda Agreement, which was made in 1900 between the British Government and the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, approximately 9,000 square miles of the kingdom of Buganda were divided into numerous estates, which were allocated to the various reigning chiefs and people of importance at that time. The British Government agreed to survey these estates, most of which were one square mile in area; thus, the term “Mailo” as applied to the land owned by the Baganda, came into use. Since the original Mailo survey, which was completed in 1935, many of the estates have been subdivided. The land has been sold piecemeal, gifted and bequeathed, so that plots now exist which are even less than one acre in area and some in and near large townships are as small as half an acre. The task of the Survey Department is a gargantuan one and, in 1949, it was estimated that there were some 150,000 outstanding surveys.     

THE EAST AFRICAN ARC

Abstract

Choice of Beacon.—The general question as to whether luminous or opaque signals should be used in ruling triangulation has recently been discussed in the Empire Survey Review (No.9, pp. 151–2 and No. 12, pp. 335–6). It may here be summarized that opaque beacons of suitable design are sufficiently accurate and offer the considerable advantages of being immediately available for subsequent work, of requiring little or no attention, and of being visible from all directions without rearrangement. Moreover, if of the tripod or quadripod type, they need not be dismounted during occupation of the station for observing, so that 0bservations by more than one observer are not interrupted. The only occasion for using luminous beacons arises from bad visibility, whether through atmospheric haze or lack of a suitable background or through the economic necessity of completing observations at night. These conditions are not peculiar to ruling triangulation. An ”all-round” type of luminous beacon—a pressure oil lamp or a rotating mirror system—can be used for nightwork or against a dark background, but single-direction luminous beacons are necessary to overcome haze.     

THREE YEARS AND MORE OF THE RISING SUN or A COLONIAL SURVEY DEPARTMENT UNDER A NEW MASTER

Abstract

The late war has been responsible for many unusual situations—not the least of which was that of certain British Colonial Surv1ey Offices passing under the control of an Asiatic Invader, and it is thought that the story of one of them—the Survey Department of Malaya—will not be without interest to readers of this Review.     

INTERPOLATING FROM TRAVERSE TABLES TO SECONDS

Abstract

In the Empire Survey Review, no. 4, 1932, Mr. Clendinning has described a method of interpolating from traverse tables to seconds. Below is another method, due to Prof. Nekrassov, for use with traverse tables published by him. The method is described in The Geodezist, Moscow, 1936, no. I, pp. 47–52.