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.     

COMPILATION OF THE LAND REGISTER OF ENGLAND AND WALES

Abstract

Skillfully as those charged with the shaping and conduct of the crowded time-table of the Conference of Commonwealth Surveyors in 1947 managed their difficult task, physical inability to squeeze many good gallons’ measure into a pint pot relentlessly closured discussions and allowed no opportunity to collect and appraise the yield in any vat on the spot. We were very sensible of these effects in relation to our own and other papers on Land Registration. Our own paper too—owing to transient circumstances which overlapped the Conference—had to be presented in the stodgy form of a synopsis and—through accidents of travel—only reached some delegates, whose comments were particularly desired, on the eve of its presentation. Nevertheless the generous reception accorded to this and other ‘papers on the subject and the many stimulating points that were raised in their discussion, limited though this was, call’ for further consideration and digestion if the resultant lessons are to be elicited and put to practical use. We have, therefore, sought the approval of the Editor of this Review to pursue this purpose, so far as space permits, in this and later numbers. Our remarks should be read in conjunction with the relevant portions of the Proceedings of the Conference which are in the press but are not expected to be available for some months yet. We have especially in mind the observations of the following speakers: Mr. G. H. Curtis, Chief Land Registrar, H.M. Land Registry, London; Mr. John Dewar, previously Surveyor-General of Malaya; Mr. R. G. Dick, -Surveyor-General of New Zealand; Lt.-Col. Elkington, Divisional Officer, Ordnance Survey Office, London; Mr. F. M. Johnstone, Surveyor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia; Mr. E. A. Malby, Chief Superintendent Mapping Branch, H.～. Land Registry; and Major-General M. N. MacLeod, previously Director- General of the Ordnance Survey.     

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.     

THE YEAR 1933 IN CEYLON

Abstract

IN the absence on leave of the Surveyor General, a full Report for the Colonial Survey Committee was prepared by Mr. R. W. E. Ruddock, the Deputy Surveyor General. The Department in Ceylon covers so many activities that it would be impossible to mention here more than a few.     

NOTES ON THE USE OF ANEROID BAROMETERS IN THE GOLD COAST

Abstract

For several years it had been realized that aneroids in the Gold Coast showed a distinct lag in the readings when subject to fairly large changes of height. The range of height in the Colony, however, being relatively small and control heights fairly numerous, little interest was taken in the cause, which was generally thought to be due to hysteresis. * All aneroids in use on the Gold Coast are graduated on Airy's scale which is based on latitude 45° and temperature 50° F. In 1921 Mr. C. L. T. Griffith, at that time Chief Instructor of the Survey School, carried out various tests with a number of aneroids, and from these tests concluded that the main source of error arose from inappropriate graduation of the height-scale relative to pressure; using as constants latitude 15°, temperature 86° F., and mean humidity 67 per cent., he worked out a proposed general scale for the Tropics. Ten years later the purchase for test purposes of new aneroids graduated to this scale was considered but was eventually postponed when it was learnt that the question of a special scale for use in the Tropics was under consideration at home by a special Committee consisting of representatives of the Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry, and National Physical Laboratory.     

ROAD LOCATION IN FOREST COUNTRY

Abstract

THE very interesting article on “Road-surveying in the East” by J. N. List appearing in NO. 6 of the Review suggests that the following notes on the methods of road location used in the Gold Coast may be of interest. These methods enter into considerably more detail than those described by Mr. List and are of proved economic value.     

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.     

STANDARDIZING EQUIPMENT OF THE GOLD COAST SURVEY DEPARTMENT

Abstract

The following account of the standardizing equipment of the Gold Coast Survey Department has been written, at the request of the Editor of the Review, because this equipment includes a completely enclosed standard of length 300 feet long which is believed to be one of the very few enclosed standards of this length in any of the Crown Colonies.     

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.     

NOTES ON THE BASE LINES OF THE CEYLON TRIANGULATION

Abstract

The triangulation of Ceylon depends for its scale upon two bases, each about 5½ miles long, situated at Negombo on the West Coast (latitude 7° 10′) and at Batticaloa on the East Coast (latitude 7° 40′). Both bases are in low, flat country; brick towers up to 70 feet high had to be built over the terminals to enable observations to be taken to surrounding points. These lines have recently been re-measured.     

SIGNAL LAMPS

Abstract

The six acetylene signal lamps of the Uganda type purchased for the Gold Coast Survey Department from Messrs. E. R. Watts & Son in 1932 were to replace others of a similar pattern which were bought about 1924 but were lost by fire when Kumasi Fort, where they were stored temporarily, was burnt out in April, 1932.     

NOTES ON LEVELLING WITH THE ANEROID BAROMETER

Abstract

In chapter 5, page 12, of my “Report on a Rapid Geological Survey of the Gambia” (Gold Coast Geological Survey Bulletin, NO. 3) I have stated the opinion of Prof. Julius Hann of Vienna that the barometric curves may be analysed into two components:- <list list-type="alpha"> <list-item>

semi-diurnal, constant, depending on latitude and altitude (with a slight yearly alteration);</list-item> <list-item>

diurnal, depending chiefly on temperature (and humidity ?).</list-item> </list>     

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.     

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.     

ASTRO FIX BY TWO EX-MERIDIAN STARS

Abstract

DR. DE GRAAFF-HUNTER proposed two new astronomical methods in a paper which he read at the Conference of Commonwealth Survey Officers, and the writer recently had an opportunity of trying out one' of these, with some interesting results. The method used, which requires timed intersections on a pair of stars in azimuths differingby about 90° and depends upon the alg'ebraic solution of the pair of position lines so formed*, will yield latitude, longitude and azimuth. The observations are brief and uncomplicated, prior identification unnecessary",and ~4e subsequent. computation is light: and requires no more than about thirty minutes for a pair of stars, inclusive of star identification.     

DETERMINATION OF LATITUDE AND AZIMUTH FROM OBSERVATIONS OF AN UNKNOWN STAR

Abstract

Mr. Sanjib K. Ghosh, of the Survey of India, has recently described in these pages a method in geodetic astronomy which, although not of wide application, appears to have possible uses in field operationst. As Mr. Ghosh has only given a direct solution of the problem, it would appear of value to adapt to it the method of using a first approximation to the correct answer (method of approximate position), the more so as the set of observation equations can be treated by a graphical method which not only results in a gain in the simplicity and rapidity of calculation but also enables the conditions under which the method is applicable to be examined easily.     

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.”     

REPORTS. THE YEAR 1934 IN CEYLON

Abstract

The Ceylon Survey Department is gradually returning to its normal activities after the period of depression. The programme of work is again being increased as the demand for survey work grows with returning prosperity in the Colony. The Survey Department Training Classes have been reopened for training new recruits to fill the vacancies in the upper and lower grades which have been left unfilled during the retrenchments. It takes a year, however, to train a subordinate office: and two years to train a probationary Assistant Superintendent, Including one year at Cambridge. Recruiting is consequently rather. a slow process, and it will be some years before the Department is again at full strength, as there are now 27 vacancies in the Field Staff and 34 in the Office Staff to be filled, out of a total of 705.