SIR DAVID GILL AND THE GEODETIC SURVEY OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE ARC OF THE 30TH MERIDIAN

Abstract

In the memoir of the late Capt. G. T. McCaw which appeared in the January number of this Review (vii, 47,2), reference was made to the part which the late Sir David Gill played in the origin of the work on the survey of the Arc of the 30th Meridian in Africa. This year is the centenary of Gill's birth, as he was born in June 1843, and it is therefore timely to give some account of his work during his long term of office as Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape which resulted inthe inception and completion of the Geodetic Survey of South Africa and the survey of the Arc to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. He died on 24th January 1914.     

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”.     

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.     

ADJUSTMENT OF THE SECONDARY TRIANGULATION OF SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

The Secondary Triangulation of South Africa consists of a uniform network of triangles of from 5- to 10-mile sides, enmeshed in the Geodetic and Primary Triangulations. As a rule the Primary Triangulation is rigorously adjusted by least squares, and the Secondary made to conform to it by an approximately rigorous method which was introduced into the Trigonometrical Survey in 1920 by the late Dr van der Sterr.     

THE EAST AFRICAN ARC: IV. BASE MEASUREMENT

Abstract

The gear used for the measurement of the Kate Base of the East African Arc was specially designed by McCaw in conjunction with Messrs. Cooke, Troughton, & Simms, as a result of considerable experience in the measurement of geodetic bases in Fiji, Sweden, and in various parts of Africa; it is now known by the trade name of the “Macca” Base Measurement Gear. It has since been used in Southern Rhodesia, Tanganyika, Mauritius, and South Africa, and if the central pool of instruments recommended at the recent Empire Surveyors Conference is approved, it seems likely that its beat will soon be still more extended. It must be about the only first model of a surveying instrument which has not occasioned widespread controversy and complaint, and for this desirable state of affairs it is not unreasonable to suppose that the rare co-operation between the practical surveyor and the instrument-maker in its design is responsible.     

THE UGANDA MAlLO SYSTEM

Abstract

The survey of “mailos” or native estates in the Kingdom of Buganda has taken a prominent place in the annual programme of the Survey Department of Uganda for over 30 years past. The survey, which has covered some 17,000 square miles and is now practically complete, has some unusual features, and although it has no claims to refinement or to great precision, a short account of its history and workings may be of general interest. The system of land settlement introduced by Sir Harry Johnston has already been described in the Empire Survey Review (“The Surveyor and the Politician”, by H. B. Thomas, vol. ii, p. 28).     

THE PLACE OF MOUNT EVEREST IN HISTORY

Abstract

The Himalaya are known as the highest mountains of the earth; but they have another title to fame not generally recognized in that they have been the home of civilized man for a longer period than any other mountain range. When the monoliths of Stonehenge were being raised in England and when the Pyramids were being built in Egypt, the glaciers of the Himalaya were being explored. The geographical names which are entered upon modern maps of the Central Himalaya are very ancient memorials of civilization. The existence of a mountain nomenclature, Aryan in the west and centre, Mongolian in the east, has given rise to linguistic problems not less difficult than the topographical problems of the snows. In 1927 the volumes of the Linguistic Survey of India were published; they had been written by Sir George Grierson, an officer of the Indian Civil Service, and they dealt with 723 different languages and dialects. In the Himalaya there are now in use among the peoples seventy different languages, all of which (with one aboriginal exception) belong either to the Aryan or Mongolian family. Languages are historical monuments, and from them Sir George Grierson has been able to decipher the outlines of history.     

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.     

THE CONFORMAL TRANSFORMATION OF A NETWORK OF TRIANGULATION

Abstract

In a recent issue of this Review, an example is given of the conformal transformation of a network of triangulation using Newton's interpolation formula with divided differences. While the application of the method appears to be new, attention should be drawn to the fact that Kruger employed Lagrange's interpolation formula in a discussion and extension of the Schols method in a paper which was published in the Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen in 1896. A reference to this paper was given at the end of the paper, “Adjustment of the Secondary Triangulation of South Africa”, published in a previous issue of the E.S.R. (iv, 30, 480).     

THE TRANSVAAL-SOUTHERN RHODESIA GEODETIC CONNEXION

Abstract

In the original geodetic series in Southern Rhodesia—completed by Mr Alexander Simms in 1901—the geographical coordinates of all stations were referred to the point SALISBURYas origin. The coordinates of SALISBURY were fixed by interchange of telegraphic signals with the Royal Observatory at the Cape for longitude, combined with astronomical determinations of time, latitude, and azimuth (see Vol. III, “Geodetic Survey of South Africa”).     

Achieving the Impossible: The 1∶500 000 ‘Irrigation Map’ of South Africa, 1935–1937

Abstract

Since 1906, South Africa boasted an excellent geodetic framework, and in 1920 an official Trigonometrical Survey Office (TSO) was established. In spite of these achievements, the country, by the 1930s, still lacked reliable topographical maps. One reason for this was that the secondary and tertiary triangulations of the country were still incomplete; another was that the decision-making process as regards surveys and mapping rested with a variety of statutory bodies instead of just one. In 1934, A. D. Lewis, Director of the Department of Irrigation, committed his department to execute a general topographical survey of the country and produce a topographical map on a scale of 1∶500?000. Lewis’ decision met with much resistance from within the country and abroad, but the project was completed in a record period of 4 years. Published just before the Second World War, the map was of inestimable value to the South African Defense Force. It not only became the standard topographical map of large parts of South Africa for many years, but its contents also figured in the first map series of the TSO.     

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.     

ON THE ORTHOMORPHIC PROPERTY OF SCHOLS ADJUSTMENT

Abstract

In vol. iv, nos. 29 and 30, of the E.S.R., there appeared an article by Mr. D. R. Hendrikz on the “Adjustment of the Secondary Triangulation of South Africa”. He shows that, in applying the Schols method of orthomorphic transmission to the adjustment of a secondary net to a primary triangle, the secondary sides suffer small displacements.     

THE QUEST FOR CAMERON'S PLATEAU

Abstract

A Newcomer to Malaya visiting Cameron Highlands for the first time may probably wonder, after his car has made its tortuous ascent into the mountains, how this area became Malaya's main hill station and why it received its name. He may not know that years before the Highlands came under serious consideration and after it was obvious the development of Fraser's Hill could only be limited, Gunong Tahan, the highest mountain in the peninsula (7,186 feet) on the borders of Kelantan and Pahang, was for a long time considered as Malaya's only hope of a hill station likely to rival those of India and Ceylon. In fact, a topographical survey made by the Federated Malay States Survey Department just before and during the 1914–18 war revealed the presence there of an extensive plateau at a height of about 5,400 feet, It seemed so promising that in 1912 the Governor, Sir Arthur Young, made the ascent on foot to inspect it. However, before coming to a decision Government considered it advisable to test the climatic conditions there, and accordingly a party of observers was recruited from England for the purpose. They spent a year on Gunong Tahan between 1921 and 1922 and subsequently made a report on their observations. Opinion then became unfavourable, partly because the plateau is but imperfectly furnished with soil, partly because it is somewhat inaccessible from most of the inhabited areas of the peninsula, and partly because during too many days of the year it is liable to become enshrouded in heavy mists. The idea of immediately developing Gunong Tahang was therefore abandoned. Those who thought they saw in this mountain another Newara-Eliya or Ootacamund were naturally disappointed and soon cast around for another site to accommodate the hill station of their dreams. In this quest someone remembered or alighted upon in the archives of the Perak Public Works Department a report by an explorer named William Cameron on his journey overland about 1884 from Kinta to the mouth of the Pahang River. The late Sir Frank Swettenham, in his last book, “ Footprints in Malaya “, published by Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., London, in 1942, throws some light on Cameron and his activities about this time. He says, “ Amongst the strangers from Ceylon and India, from Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Australia and elsewhere, who strayed into Selangor was Mr. William Cameron, brother of the editor of the Straits Times, a highly respected resident of Singapore. Mr. William Cameron came to Selangor shortly after I became British Resident there, and he asked to be allowed to do something which would help in the development of the country. His culture and his quiet manner appealed to me, and I asked him what he proposed to do. He explained that he had some knowledge of minerals and geology, and he suggested that he should be given a roving commission to go, with a party of wild people whom he would collect, and explore the depths of the jungle and report the result of his search …. I engaged Mr. Cameron to do what he suggested. He made all his own arrangements, managed somehow to collect a party of aborigines, and disappeared into the jungle for weeks at a time. When he returned from these expeditions he used to come to the Residency, stay a few days, make his report and start off again. After one prolonged absence, when I became anxious about his safety, he returned very ill and had to be carried the last stage of his journey. He then reported the discovery of the high table-land on the borders of Perak and Pahang, now known as Cameron Highlands. I do not know what had upset him, unless it was the hardships he went through in those many weeks of travel up and down the jungle-covered mountains of the main range, but while he stayed with me he was subject to strange delusions, walked about the house at 3 a.m., carrying an iron bar, and two or three times in a night I had to put him back in his bed. Finally, one morning, he produced a revolver and shot at his Chinese servant, and when I went to his room and told him I had removed all his firearms because of that incident, he merely remarked: ‘Yes, but I didn't ·hit him.’ Eventually it was necessary to send him to the Singapore Hospital’ for proper care, and there he died.”     

THE STATE OF NORTH BORNEO

Abstract

In 1924, when my application for a position in the Survey Department of North Borneo had been accepted, a surprisingly large number of my friends thought that my destination was somewhere in Africa or South or Central America. Of course everyone had heard of the “wild man of Borneo.” To be quite candid, my own knowledge was limited to the position of the island. As this. country seems to be so little known, a brief outline of its history and of the development of the Survey Department may be of interest.     

A FIFTY-YEARS RETROSPECT

Abstract

On returning from Central Africa I was posted, for ordinary duty, to Edinburgh, and after a short time I found myself again on the Ordnance Survey. Late in 1899 the South African War broke out, and early in 1900 I was sent out to South Africa in command of a very small Field Survey Section. But before describing the limited activities of this Section it may be as well to give some idea of the attitude of the higher civil and financial authorities towards the proposition that it is desirable to be prepared with maps of possible theatres of war.     

THE REVIEW AND ITS FUTURE

Abstract

As a consequence of the death of the late editor, the responsibility for conducting this REVIEW now rests on other shoulders, and, in view of the high standard which Captain McCaw set at the beginning of the journal's existence and maintained, in spite of many difficulties, until the time of his death, his successor feels that a few words concerning the future of the REVIEW, and an appeal for continued co-operation on the part of readers, may not be out of place in this, the first number of a new volume.     

THE ORDNANCE SURVEY FOOT/METRE CONVERSION RATIO

Abstract

The Figure of the Earth used by the Ordnance Survey for its work in Great Britain is that given by Sir George Airy in the “Encyclopaedia of Astronomy” in an article on the Figure of the Earth. It is universally known as Airy's Figure.     

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.