LAND REGISTRATION IN BUGANDA

Abstract

The paper which follows wag prepared by Messrs. T. N. N. Brushfield and A. J. Relton for consideration at the Conference of Commonwealth Survey Officers that was held at Cambridge from Monday, 15th August, to Friday, 26th August, 1955, and it was introduced to the Conference by Mr. A.P. Mitchell, C.M.G., Director of Surveys, Land Officer and Commissioner of Mines, Uganda. When introducing the paper, Mr. Mitchell had some rather important and interesting remarks to make which we have been asked to publish with the paper. Accordingly, the latter has been arranged in two parts, Part I consisting of Mr. Mitchell's remarks and Part II the paper itself as prepared by Messrs. Brushfield and Relton.     

THE YEAR 1935 IN CEYLON

Abstract

I Was on special short leave in England in June and personally represented Ceylon at the Empire Surveyors' Conference and the Empire Meteorologists' Conference in London, returning to. Ceylon in October. During my absence Mr. R. W. E. Ruddock, Deputy Surveyor-General, acted for me.     

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.     

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE DETERMINATION OF HEIGHTS ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL

Abstract

Preliminary Note.—The substance of this article was written in 1921 at the request of Lieut-Col. Wolff, who was then in charge of the Levelling Division of the Ordnance Survey and with whom the author collaborated in writing “The Second Geodetic Levelling of England and Wales, 1912–21” under the direction of Sir Charles Close. It was not intended for publication and was not again considered until 1928, when a discussion by correspondence was started by the Surveyor-General of Ceylon on the subject of hill circuits in levelling. In this discussion the survey authorities in Great Britain, Canada, India, and South Africa took part, but the main theme was the accumulation of error due to the large number of sightings necessary in hilly country and the question whether a common formula for such country and for flat country was justifiable. In his contribution Dr. van der Sterr made a brief allusion to the subject of the present paper and Dr. de Graaff Hunter went into details. His contribution and the following remarks therefore have some arguments in common.     

THE WORK OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY OF THE IRISH FREE STATE

Abstract

Up to 31st March 1922, the work in Ireland with regard to the revision and supply of Ordnance Survey Maps was governed by similar rules to those existing at the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain. No changes were made in the Irish Free State until the revision of Co. Waterford was completed on the 25-inch scale in 1923. It was then decided to depart from the usual procedure of taking up the work of the revision of Counties according to a cycle of years, and to revise those particular portions of the country in which extensive alterations had been carried out by reason of the division of properties by the Congested Districts Board and the Irish Land Commission. Accordingly, those portions of Counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon which had undergone the greatest development were taken up for revision. In all eighty-nine sheets were specially revised and completed by 1928.     

THE COMMONWEALTH SURVEY OFFICERS CONFERENCE, 1955

Abstract

The sixth Conference of Commonwealth Survey Officers, which was held between Monday, 15th August, and Friday, 26th August, 1955, differed from all previous conferences of the same kind in that it was held at Cambridge instead of London. The advantage of meeting in Cambridge was that delegates could be accommodated in some of the Colleges so that those who were interested in the same subject were able to foregather in the evenings for private and informal discussions after the officialmeetings had concluded.     

MAP REPRODUCTION IN THE TROPICS

Abstract

The useful paper on “Map Printing in Ceylon” which was written by Mr. W. S. Maddams of the Ceylon Survey Department for the 1935 Conference of Empire Survey Officers has been read with interest in the Gold Coast. The writer of the present note was not present at the Conference but has read the report of the discussion on that paper. It appears to him that Mr. Maddams makes certain generalizations, based on his own, experience in Ceylon, regarding map reproduction in the Tropics and, however true these statements may be as regards Ceylon, they certainly do not apply to the Gold Coast and probably not to some other tropical countries. As it is possible that another Colony, when starting a map-printing establishment of its own, might be led, on the strength of the paper read at the Conference, to believe that less expensive (though less elaborate) methods than those used in Ceylon are not possible in a tropical country, the following notes on the methods used and found successful in the Gold Coast may be of some value. They are not intended to be a criticism of Mr. Maddams' paper but only to supplement it with a record of experience obtained in another part of the world.     

COMMONWEALTH SURVEY OFFICERS CONFERENCE, 1951

Abstract

The Conference of Commonwealth Survey Officers which was held in London between Monday, 9th July, and Friday, 20th July, 1951, was the fifth of its kind, the last one having been held in 1947. Meetings took place in the Lecture Hall of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which body also put a comfortable lounge at the disposal of delegates and provided other amenities which added considerably to their comfort and were much appreciated.     

A WINTER SURVEY

Abstract

The work described in this paper was carried out under the instructions of the Ontario-Manitoba Boundary Commission, of which the writer is Chairman. The other two Commissioners are Mr S. E. McColl, Director of Surveys for the Province of Manitoba, and Mr C. H. Fullerton, Surveyor-General of the Province of Ontario. The surveyor in charge of the work was Mr J. W. Pierce, a qualified Dominion, Ontario, and Manitoba land surveyor.     

A FIFTY-YEARS RETROSPECT

Abstract

The Ordnance Survey and the War.—I shall not inflict upon the readers of this Review any very long account of the work of the Ordnance Survey during the Great War. At that time the work of the Survey suffered from one necessary disadvantage: all the young men on its establishment, whether in the R.E. Companies or on the Civil Staff, left for active service. As a slight compensation for this inevitable dislocation all money difficulties in the preparation of maps for war disappeared.     

THE POST-WAR PROGRAMME OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN

Abstract

In 1938 the committee to investigate the activities of the Ordnance Survey, presided over by Lord Davidson, issued its final report. One of the terms of reference of this committee was “to review the scales and styles of Ordnance Survey maps placed on sale to the public and to recommend whether any changes are desirable”.     

The Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 Map

Abstract

The One Inch to One Mile Map, first published by the Ordnance Survey 175 years ago has been superseded by the new metric 1:50 000 series. This account describes the cartographic production stages of the new series and is a sequel to the paper by J. G. Price—Cartographic Journal, June 1975.     

SURVEY NEWS ITEMS FROM CEYLON

Abstract

Personnel.—Mr G. K. Thornhill, O.B.E., F.R.G.S., F.S.I., F.R.Met. S., Surveyor-General, retired from the Public Service on the 7th June, 1937.     

Edgar Hynes Thompson: aerial triangulation and ISP Commission III

This author worked with E. H. Thompson in several different contexts in the course of his military and civilian career, notably in developing Thompson's ideas about analytical aerial triangulation into a production system at the Ordnance Survey and later as a lecturer under Thompson at University College London and as Secretary of ISP Commission III when Thompson was Commission President. This essay thus stands as a separate contribution from a close colleague.     

IMPROVEMENTS IN REPRODUCTION METHODS OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY

Abstract

The following six notes describe some of the ways in which reproduction methods of the Ordnance Survey have recently been improved. They have been written by different officersof the Ordnance Survey and Ministry of Supply whose initials appear at the end of each note.     

A FIFTY-YEARS RETROSPECT

Abstract

The Ordnance Survey after the War.—I might class the four years after the War, during which I remained at the head of the Ordnance Survey, as interesting but troublesome. As is well known, an entirely unreasonable impression was spread about that, now that the War was over, there would be a period of great prosperity, and that we should all live like fighting cocks. Well, things did not work out like that. There was a Select Committee on National Expenditure (1918), and this Committee recommended a lengthening of the period of revision of the large-scale maps of the United Kingdom and a consequent, ultimate, reduction of establishment by 500 men. The Treasury later on insisted on a reduction by 600, including Ireland.     

THE USE OF AIR PlIOTOGRApHS BY THE ORDNANCE SURVEY

Abstract

During the last year, the Air Survey Section, Field Division, Ordnance Survey, have had many visitors. Most of them have been surprised at what they have seen: some at the fact that we are able to make so much use of air photographs even in the largest scale surveys, and some at the small amount of information we seem able to extract from them. This paper is an attempt to give in some detail the ways in which air photographs are used to solve the problems of the Ordnance Survey, why they are used and their limitations for our purposes.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book review in this Article
ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS. A DESCRIPTIVE TEXT. By J. B. H arley . Ordnance Survey, Southampton , 1975.
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL FIELD RESEARCH. Edited by E. Z. Vogt. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts , 1974.
THE MAP MARKET IN GREAT BRITAIN. By B. D. D rewitt . O rdnance S urvey P rofessional P aper N o . 28, Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, Southampton , 1975.
PHOTOTRIANGULATION. By S. K. G hosh . D. C. Heath and Co., Lexington, Massachusetts and Farnborough, Hampshire , 1975.     

Maps for the Reluctant

Abstract

This paper describes the design and development of two trial 1:100 000 scale Ordnance Survey maps targeted specifically at the inexperienced and reluctant map users in the touring and holiday market. These are two maps which depart from the very high map specification designs normally offered by Ordnance Survey. The use of extensive consumer market research and the objective analysis of existing touring type maps on sale have enabled Ordnance Survey to publish two experimental maps, which will succeed or fail by consumer reaction alone.     

A FIFTY-YEARS RETROSPECT

Abstract

About this time an excellent Instructor in Surveying was appointed to the School of Military Engineering in the person of Major A. C. MacDonnell. He had served in India,—though not on the Survey of India,—and, being well acquainted with the excellent Indian frontier survey methods, resolved to introduce them into the course at Chatham. So he started using the system of computing latitudes and longitudes from trigonometrical data by Puissant's formulæ, in the form used by the Survey of India. But he had reckoned without his host, the higher authorities. His dreadful deed became known, and the matter was referred to three eminent officers for their opinion. The three officers were Sir Charles Wilson, Director of Military Education, Sir John Ardagh, Director of Military Intelligence, and Sir John Farquharson, Director-General of the Ordnance Survey; none of the three had had any personal acquaintance with the method in question, although two of them had directed the Ordnance Survey, and Sir Charles Wilson in the sixties had carried out some very interesting surveys in Palestine and Sinai. Well, these three distinguished officers solemnly condemned the Indian method as being unsuitable for use at Chatham, and MacDonnell had to revert to more primitive ways, which later on would have made impossible the conduct of a properly managed boundary commission or such surveys as that of the Orange Free State, Uganda, or Northern Sinai, or much of the technical work on the Western Front during the War. And that was that.