A PLEA FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE SCOPE OF THE DOMINION AND COLONIAL SURVEY DEPARTMENTS

Abstract

In the remarks which follow, the word “scope” will have the meaning given in the Concise Oxford Dictionary—“Sweep or reach or sphere of observation or action, extent to which it is permissible or possible to range, opportunity, outlet, vent”. Another good definition is “field of action”. The object of the paper is to show that greater efficiency will be obtained if all types of survey work in a country, except possibly railway surveys, are done under the supervision of, or by the staff of, a Survey Department of wider scope than is normal.     

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.     

THE MODIFIED MERIDIAN DISTANCE IN THE CONICAL ORTHOMORPHIC PROJECTION

Abstract

Recently the writer of this article became interested in the conical orthomorphic projection and wanted to see a simple proof of the formula for the modified meridian distance for the projection on the sphere. Owing to the exigencies of the war, however, he has been separated from the bulk of his books, and, consequently, has had to evolve a proof for himself. Later, this proof was shown to a friend who told him that he had some memory of a mistake in the sign of the spheroidal term in m⁴given in “Survey Computations”, perhaps the first edition. Curiosity therefore suggested an attempt to verify this sign, which meant extending his work to the spheroid. This has now been done, with the result that the formula given in “Survey Computations”, up to the terms of the fourth order at any rate, is found correct after all.     

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.     

GEODETIC SIGNALS IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA

Abstract

So much has been written in the Empire Survey Review and other publications on the somewhat controversial subject of “Luminous or Opaque Signals in Geodetic and Primary Triangulation” that it may be of interest to give an outline of the types of signals used on such work in Southern Rhodesia, with particular reference to the completion of the Eastern Geodetic Circuit in 1935 and the type of signal that it has been decided to adopt for future work.     

THE STATE OF THE SURVEYS OF BRITISH AFRICA IN 1905-06

Abstract

Whilst turning over some old papers the other day I came across a copy of the first Annual Report of the Colonial Survey Committee, and the recent, much regretted death of Sir Herbert Read reminded me of his services in the development of the surveys and explorations of British possessions in Africa, especially his suggestion, which was approved by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, of the formation of the Colonial Survey Committee, an Advisory Committee which was set up in August, 1905. This Committee advised the Secretary of State “in matters affecting the survey and exploration of British Colonies and Protectorates, more especially those in Tropical Africa”.     

NOTES ON THE GEODETIC SURVEY OF SOUTHERN RHODESIA

Abstract

Triangulation.—Apart from Simms' Geodetic Chain, Gordon's Chain, the Copper Queen Limb, and a section of the Victoria and Umtali Series, all the primary triangulation shown on the accompanying map has been executed since 1933. The work of Simms and Gordon has been remodelled, however, being greatly strengthened, and these chains are now called Simms' and Gordon's Series. For an explanation and plan of the above Series, see “A Note on the Trigonometrical Survey of S. Rhodesia”, in the Empire Survey Review, no. 27, vol. iv.     

SURVEY IN THE GREAT WAR

Abstract

Artillery Survey.—Included in the term “Artillery Survey are two distinct problems, the first that of determining the “line” and “range” at which fire should be opened, and the second that of laying the gun in the required line. To appreciate these problems it. is necessary to know a little about the technique of gunnery, and for the benefit of those who have no acquaintance with the subject the following brief résumé may be given.     

SOME EFFECTS OF PULLEY ECCENTRICITY IN BASE MEASURING APPARATUS

Abstract

The comprehensive paper on the suspension of tapes by M. Hotine in the January, 1939, issue of the Empire Survey Review (v, 31, 2) did not contain any reference to this question, as was pointed out by A. J. Morley in a letter published on page 261 in the same volume (v, 34, 261). A brief analysis has been made by F. Yates of the theoretical effects of pulley eccentricity and misalignment (“Gold Coast Survey Department Records” VoL III, 1931, page 43) but I have not seen any further reference to the subject and have recently experienced the effects of such a defect in our own apparatus, so the followingnotes nlay be of interest. Before proceeding to details I will describe briefly those parts of the apparatus which are considered here and give a short summary of the whole paper.     

SOUTHERN RHODESIAN MILITARY SURVEYORS IN THE WORLD WAR, 1939–1945

Abstract

For some two months prior to the formation of the two companies, an intensive course of survey training and “refreshing” had been undergone by all ranks in the field sections, culminating in a combined Royal Artillery/Royal Engineer survey exercise from 1st to 10th October, carried out under operational conditions in all respects (even down to a 30-hour non-stop period of “photo-topo” compilation for the map on which the “final shoot” took place).     

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.     

TRAVERSING WITH THEODOLITE AND CHAIN

Abstract

As Mr H. F. Rainsford (E.S.R., no. 37, vol. v, July 1940) says, the ordinary accurate survey traverse, through its “ordinariness,” has been neglected in the printed word. The technique—perfected by much practice—has been handed down by word of mouth only from father to son, from surveyor to pupil.     

THE EARLY HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS OF THE BRITISH ISLES

Abstract

The 200th anniversary of the publication by Murdoch Mackenzie (Senior) in May 1750 of his “Orcades, or a Geographic and Hydrographic Survey of the Orkney and Lewis Islands, in 8 maps”, is an opportune moment for a brief résumé of the contribution made by Mackenzie and his successors in the field of nautical surveying. The appearance of this work ushered in a new era in marine survey, for it was the first charting carried out in this country based on a rigid triangulation framework. The importance of this fact can further be appreciated when it is remembered that a contemporary topographic map like General Roys' famous “Map of the Highlands” begun in 1747 was little more than an elaborate compass sketch; thus under Mackenzie's influence, marine surveying at this period was ahead of its topographic counterpart.     

THE TWO METRES: THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN FOOT

Abstract

Introductory.—From time to time the question of the relation between the metre and the foot is raised, most frequently perhaps from Africa. Had there been no more than a single metre to consider the question would no doubt arise but seldom: the most recent authoritative comparsion would be generally accepted. But actually it is the existence of two metres—the “ legal” and the “international”—which complicates the question, so much indeed that there is no metrological factor which has influenced survey, British and foreign, more than the relation between these two metres. The question was discussed in this Review (I, 6, 277, 1932), but memories grow shorter, attention is more diffused, and besides there is required a more explicit statement of the situation as it affects British surveyors, especially in Africa, whence the question has been raised anew. To illuminate it, unfortunately the need recurs to repeat some well-known facts.     

THE EAST AFRICAN ARC

Abstract

It was suggested some time ago in the Review (E.S.R., vol. ii, no. 9, p. 182) that observing procedure in a ruling triangulation should be made the subject of a discussion at the forthcoming Empire Survey Conference. I hope it will be. We shall perhaps learn why India finds thirty measures necessary, as no doubt they are necessary in India, whereas South Africa and Southern Rhodesia are able to secure much the same degree of accuracy from the same instrument with only eight; why Canada, again with the same instrument, prefers the golden mean of sixteen; why some of us still prefer the measurement of angles to directions vvhile others would insist entirely on the measurement of directions from a “close” R.O. It is only by pooling the experiences gained in diverse circumstances that we can avoid being overborne by our own successes or failures, encountered possibly in very exceptional circumstances which may not recur.     

UNITS OF LENGTH AND AREA,III

Abstract

In two papers on this subject (v, 34, 236, and vi, 40, 85) some difficulties were examined and missing evidence explored. Reference was made to the past existence of divers acres in the British Isles. In a lecture by Professor A. E. Snape, M.SC., on “Our Units of Measurement”, delivered at the University of Cape Town and printed in the South African Survey Journal (III, Part viii, 24, 340, 1930), some other units are considered and additional evidence adduced. For example, the Cheshire acre is given as 2.11 statute acres.     

THE TRAINING OF AFRICANS FOR SURVEY IN NORTHERN RHODESIA

Abstract

Prior to the year 1931 there was no systematic training of Africans for land survey work in Northern Rhodesia, and those natives then in the employ of the Survey Department as assistants to the European surveyors in the field were no more than “capitaos”. Asurveyor, after his arrival in the colony, usually had to find his own native assistant, or chainman, and any native who appeared to have a commanding manner with his fellows, and who was clean and respectful, was eligible for the position. Preference in some cases was usually given to natives who had completed service in the native regiment or police, for their early training had taught them to obey orders, to conduct themselves well, and to control other natives.     

MAPPING OUT OF CROWN LANDS IN CEYLON

Abstract

13. As mentioned earlier (xi, 83, 199) the “Final Village Plan”, which is evolved from the 4-chains-to-an-inch (1:3,168) “Block Survey” village plan after inquiry and settlement of claims as between the Crown and private parties, provides a sound basis for mapping-out and for the subsequent administration of the Crown estate. But as (in all cases) the development of Crown land could not await Block Survey and “Settlement”, it was also necessary to undertake mapping out in areas which had not been systematically surveyed, and for which no continuous large-scale plans were available.     

THE SIERRA LEONE TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY

Abstract

The survey of Sierra Leone was fortunate enough to be completed just in time before the economic blizzard (if I may be permitted a well-worn journalistic cliché) descended on West Africa in common with the rest of the world and largely curtailed such activities. I do not propose to deal here with its technical side to any great extent. An excellent account of bush surveying is to be found in the “Handbook of the Southern Nigerian Survey”, which account always filled me with the greatest awe and respect for the men working there, their output being vastly greater than anything we were able to achieve in Sierra Leone. Truly “there were giants … in those days”.