The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-02-28
NEGROES, AS SURVEYORS,
They Are l3eiMg MustcTec Into the
Service All Over British Africa.

Service All Over British Africa.
From the IN. " Sun: ~
The British Empire includes a
larger part Of Africa than Is Held
by any other Power. It la natural,
therefore, that the British have now
under way a larger amount OF sur
Vey1ng and mapping there than any
other European nation. 1t Is neces-
sary that maps based upon fairly
good surveys be provided as soon as
possible. Without them it Is limos
stble to show the areas and villag-
es under the rule OF native chiefs.
The settlement Of the country and
the registration Of the hands : sold
would get into a hopeless tangle
without surveys and maps. Maps are
required also. In the allotment OF
mining and forest concessions and
Tor building cart roads and railroads
mere Is one great difficulty In
| these tropical possessions. If the sur
veying force which provides the map
material is made up Of white men,
the work is likely to- stop. Euro
peans have tendency to- get OH. the
sick list. 1t is found that in some
or the protectorates no progress is
made until native surveyors are de-
vcloped. All over British Africa they
| are taking some OF the brightest ma
lives and turning them into survey
ors. - : ..., |''ta. - - ..
This work is by no means salts,
| factory as yet. The teachers are field
! surveyors, many of whom have no
aptitude for teaching. They have no
patience with their pupils, declare
that tho thine &c
is no uniformity in the methods OF
surveying which they teach. .~.,-.- d.
The British government is now
planning to establish a training
school in which carefully selected
native candidates shall be trained
on a uniform system. .., -. .s.*
-. 1t is proposed. at present, to have
all the work of instruction conferred
| In one school. The successful stu
dents will be available for service
| anywhere In British tropical Africa.
-. Meanwhile the training of natives
and their employment, in surveying
5 going on In practically all the pro-
| tectorates. Much better results are
obtained In some regions than in 9th
ers: On the whole the Gold Coast is
| turning out the best native survey
ors. Occasionally black student de-
Velops exceptional talent in this line.
e. E. Ferguson, Gold Coast native,
who has recently died, was found to
possess high qualifications Single
handed and under adverse conditions
| he carried out extensive explorations
| and surveys Of high order of ex-
| cellence in the country back of the
Gold Coast and special attention was
called to his work in No. 500 of the
Colonial Reports.
In the Dongola, Khartum and Ber-
Der provinces Of the Sudan the &C
tual work Of surveying is now done
by Egyptian or Sudanese boys, most
fof them trained at Gordon College.
Khartum. They are working UNI
1der European supervision. and I'the
riverfront along the Nile and the adj
| joining land on both banks are be-
ing accurately surveyed and map
ped. -
Mr.. Wallis, Acting Commissioner
IN British Central Africa (the re-
Sion of Lake Nyassa), tells another
kind Of a story. He says the ma
uVes there make accurate chain
men and are able to trace plans, but
thus far they have utterly failed to
| 81 asp Tie ~ lhClplSS VI surveying. IT
IS In this very region that the ma
lives built, under the training of Mr..
Scott of Blantyre, the finest brick
building that has been erected in
tropical Africa. Perhaps, if the right
man gets hold of these natives, he
will be able to make good surveyors
of some Of them.
| 1T Is strange if they cannot do as
well as their brethren in Lagos. The
com missioner Of lands reports from
| that region that the results obtained
from training native surveyors "are
lquite as good as might have been
expected if tn sc young men had
| been fairly ucated Europeans. .
They are per Irming all the opera
tons of surveying, take ATTITUDES and
often true bearings. Their opera
tons have been checked and the av-
eragc error was less than ; fifteen
| seconds Of arc"
| The natives of Uganda are believ-
ed to be progressing more rapidly
under civilizing influences than any
other African people, and yet, &C
cording to the official reports, they
are making poor showing as sur
veyors. Perhaps the right men are
not teaching them.
THE RACE QUESTION.