1-inch maps of England and Wales were the only maps prepared and published by the Ordnance Survey down to 1824, but they continued to be produced, simultaneously with other surveys, down to 1844, when they had reached as far north as South Lancashire and Yorkshire. They were, especially the later sheets, excellent topographical maps. There are two specimens of them, the sheet containing Birmingham, and the sheet containing Snowdon, in the portfolio of English maps. 2. Six-inch and 5-feet Surveys. 1824-1855. The first advance as to the scales of the Survey was made in 1824, when surveys on the scale of 6 inches to a mile began. In 1824 there was an Irish land question, as there is now; and for valuation purposes the Government gave Ireland 6-inch maps, the 1-inch survey of England being meantime largely suspended. This 6-inch survey of Ireland proceeded from 1824 until its completion in 1840. By that time it had been found so useful for purposes other than those connected with land that the 6-inch scale was adopted by the Government for the survey of the counties of York and Lancaster in England, and of several counties of Scotland, the 1-inch maps to be obtained from the 6-inch by reduction. These 6-inch maps were engraved on copper; there is a specimen in the portfolio of English maps. They were well engraved, and had more numerous contours than the later maps. These 6-inch surveys proceeded from 1824 to 1855. The towns in the above counties were at the same time—that is, in 1840, ordered to be surveyed and published on the scale of 5 feet to a mile. These town maps were also engraved on copper, and there is a specimen of them in the portfolio of English maps. 3. Six-inch, 25-inch, and 10-feet Surveys from 1855 to 1880. The next advance as to the scales of the Survey was made in 1855. In the early fifties Parliament had taken up the subject of the best. scale for the National Surveys, had held various discussions, and, as might be expected from the constitution of that body, had come to various conflicting decisions regarding it. About this time Sir Henry James had become Director-General of the Survey. He held very strong views on the subject of scales, lost no opportunity of pressing them upon the Government and the country, and in 1855 he gained his point. In that year the Treasury, in accordance with the recommendations of a. scientific committee, ordered that for Great Britain the agricultural districts should be surveyed for the scale of 1: 2500, or about 25 inches. to a mile; the towns for the scale of 1: 500, or about 10 feet to a mile; and uncultivated or mountainous districts for the scale of 6 inches to a mile. The 1-inch maps were to be obtained by reduction from those larger scales; and, later, it was decided that the "Old Series" 1-inch maps, so far as already completed, that is for the whole of England and Wales south of Lancashire and Yorkshire, should be superseded by a "New Series" 1-inch map based on the new large-scale surveys. This year, 1855, therefore, marks an entirely new departure in the work of the Survey. Nearly the whole of the survey maps of Great Britain which are now in use are based on the new surveys and scales decided upon in that year, and nearly the whole of the survey work done in Great Britain before that year has been put on one side. From 1855 until 1880 the Survey had a comparatively quiet time. By 1880 the four northern counties of England and nearly the whole of Scotland were completed on the new scales. Some progress had also been made in England in the south-eastern counties and in the mining districts. At first an endeavour was made to engrave the new 25-inch and 10-feet plans on copper, but the attempt was found to be hopeless; Sir Henry James found that the time taken would be too great, and that the necessary engravers could not be got. The plans on the two largest scales were therefore published by zincography, the buildings being coloured by hand. For these large scales the zincographic method of production has been found for all practical purposes sufficient, while it is much more rapid and much less expensive than copper-plate engraving. Specimens of the earlier and later 25-inch and 10-feet maps can be seen in the portfolio of English maps. The latest of the changes made in the style of these maps are in accordance with the recommendations of the Departmental Committee of 1892, alluded to later on. 4. Acceleration of the Cadastral Surveys, 1880 to 1890, and Completion from 1887 to 1890 of the Publication of the Cadastral Plans of Great Britain. By 1880 a new political question had arisen-that of the cheap transfer of English land. A select committee had reported to the Government that the Ordnance Cadastral Survey was suitable for carrying out this object, and had recommended that that survey should be immediately completed for England and Wales. At the then annual rate of expenditure and the then established strength employed on the survey, it was estimated that it would not be completed until the twentieth century— that is, it would not have been completed now. The Government in 1880 asked Colonel Cooke, the then Director-General, whether, if they doubled his Survey vote, he would undertake to complete the Cadastral Survey of England and Wales within half the estimated time-that is, if he would undertake its completion by 1890 instead of 1900. The question was a difficult one. To double within a limited time the strength of a large number of surveyors involved manifest risk to the accuracy of the work, and accuracy has always been one of the paramount objects of the Ordnance Survey. But Colonel Cooke faced this risk. He drew up a scheme, with estimates, for completing the work, and organized the large additional force which had to be employed. His confidence was justified by the result. The total estimated cost of the work for the ten years was about £1,600,000. It was completed within the time and cost estimated, and it has stood the test of accuracy as well as the work done before the acceleration, while the cost per acre was not increased. I do not think that Colonel (now General) Cooke has ever received the credit due to him for this service. If, as he might very easily have done, he had declined the responsibility of undertaking it, not merely the Cadastral Survey, but all the smaller scales would have been greatly delayed; Devonshire and the Midlands would still have been without a one-inch map of later date than the earlier part of this century, while any revision of the older maps on all scales could not even now have been begun, much less have made the considerable progress which has been made. It is true that the main object of the acceleration, namely, the cheap transfer of agricultural land, has not even now been attained; but that is not the fault of the Ordnance Survey or of General Cooke; rather, I suppose, it is the fault of our system of government by party. It is true that in 1897, by some happy accident, the present Government at last succeeded in passing a Land Transfer Act; but, hitherto at least, it applies only to the county of London, which had already, long before 1880, had large-scale surveys. The application of the Act to the country in general and to agricultural land remains still a question for the future. But the acceleration of the survey had caused another change to be made in the method of production of the maps. This time it was the 6-inch maps for which copper-plate engraving had to be abandoned. After 1880 the output of 6-inch maps under the acceleration became so large that the time and cost of copper-plate engraving became prohibitive, and Colonel Cooke decided that those maps should be produced by photo-zincography. Under this method it was possible to publish the 6-inch maps not only as soon as, but earlier than, the maps on the 25-inch scale, while if engraved their publication would have had to be postponed for years. But the exigencies of photography required that they should be published by quarter-sheets instead of full sheets. Recently this difficulty has been got over, and the 6-inch maps of part of Scotland and Ireland are now being published by photo-zincography in full sheets. Although, from the nature of the case, zinc maps can never rival copper-plate maps, the object has been to bring the former as near the latter as possible in quality. Specimens of the various forms of the English 6-inch map are in the portfolio for English maps. 5. The Departmental Committee of 1892. Some of the advantages of the service done by Colonel Cooke in 1880 have been already mentioned, but there is another, which, although not strictly in chronological order, may be mentioned here. In 1892 the Board of Agriculture appointed a Departmental Committee, of which Sir John Dorington, M.P., was the chairman, and Colonel Johnston, the present Director-General of the Survey, was the secretary, to report upon the work generally of the Ordnance Survey. The committee was a very strong one. It received a large amount of evidence, and made a most valuable report, which has in every way greatly strengthened the position of the Survey. many of their recommendations, the most important of which have been given effect to by the Board of Agriculture, and which have. either been already alluded to or will be alluded to later on, could not have been carried out unless the acceleration of the Cadastral Survey of Great Britain had been completed, as it had been, before the committee was appointed. II. THE WORK OF THE SURVEY ON LARGE-SCALE MAPS FROM 1887 TO 1899. 1. Completing the publication of the Cadastral Survey of Great Britain. 1887-1890. We have now reached the period in the history of the Survey-1887 tɔ 1899-with which this paper has mainly to deal, and it will be convenient to divide the account of the work done during that period into two heads, namely, first, maps on the larger scales-that is, maps on scales of 6 inches to a mile and upwards; and, secondly, maps on the smaller scales, namely, maps on scales of 1 inch to a mile and less, usually called topographical maps. It has been stated above that Colonel Cooke in 1880 had undertaken that the survey would complete and publish the large-scale or cadastral survey of England and Wales by 1890. By 1887 the field work and most of the manuscript plans for the accelerated survey had been practically completed, and little remained to be done except to finish the publication of the maps. From 1887 to 1890 this work was pushed on as rapidly as possible by Colonel Bolland, who was then in charge of the Publication Branch of the Survey, and by 1890 it was complete, as had been in 1880 promised by Colonel Cooke. Diagram No. 1 shows the area published after 1887. It amounts to about 10,000 square miles. 2. Large-scale Revision Surveys, ordered 1886. Apart from the completion of the publication of the Cadastral Survey just mentioned (1887 to 1890), the principal work of the Survey in Great Britain from 1887 onwards assumed the character of revision surveys as distinguished from original surveys. In November, 1886, Colonel Sir Charles Wilson was appointed Director-General. It was fortunate for the Survey that an officer so able and distinguished, and |