QUESTION. (Hansard, 3 March 1865)

§ SIR WILLIAM JOLLIFFE

said, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, What progress is making in the Ordnance Survey in the Southern Counties of England, and at what period he believes it probable that the Public will have the benefit of obtaining the corrected and enlarged Maps of any of those Counties, so much required, and for which there would be certain to be so large a demand? He complained that though a large sum had been expended, the South of England had not yet a map that was available for any purpose. The old Ordnance map is on a small scale, and incorrect, and is useless for the many purposes for which modern legislation requires maps and surveys. It was very undesirable that they should go on year after year with only small districts of the country supplied with maps available for purposes, which the Ordnance Survey was intended, and ought to meet. He alluded to inclosures of waste lands and other analogous operations. The last Report by Sir Henry James had 1092 not yet been laid upon the table, but from the previous Reports it appeared that the sale of the large maps had increased in proportion to the extent of country of which the plans had been published on the larger scale. Thus the Report for 1861 showed that the sale of the one-inch maps for Scotland had only realized £28, while for the larger maps £1,144 had been received. In 1862 the sale of the small maps for Scotland had produced £35, and of the larger maps £1,066. In 1863 the one-inch maps for Scotland had realized £74 and the large maps £2,644. The sale of the maps for Scotland and Ireland had been greater than for the small part of England which was published on the larger scale. In 1863 there were only three English counties surveyed on this scale, and it was only when the important parts of the country were dealt with that the Government could expect to derive any remuneration for the enormous outlay in that work. No time ought to be lost in their publication, and not even the transcript of the Doomsday Book ought to distract the Ordnance Department from this important work.

THE MARQUESS of HARTINGTON

said, that the Report in reference to the Ordnance Survey would be in the hands of Members next week, and would give detailed information of the progress made in the surveys, and in the publication of the Ordnance Maps. The survey in the counties south of Middlesex was progressing, and no time would be lost in publishing the map. It was quite plain that the map could not be published until it was made, but the two operations went on simultaneously, and as soon as the survey of a particular district was brought to a certain point the publication of the map was not delayed for a moment. He could not, however, state how long it would be before the whole of the South of England would be surveyed. If the sum taken in the Estimates were increased the work would be of course accelerated. The whole of the money taken for the Ordnance Survey was expended on it. The expense of the work done with reference to the Doomsday Book was not paid out of the money given to defray the expense of the survey, but wa3 paid out of funds provided by the Treasury. He hoped the Report would be ready in a few days, and it would show more accurately than he could what had been the progress of the survey.