§ SIR CHAELES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether any public statement has been made of the principle upon which Colonial surveys in all parts of Africa are being carried out, as reported by the Colonial Survey Committee; and whether information as to the distribution of charge between Army Votes and Crown Colonies, the Government of the Soudan, and the Egyptian Government must be sought from the Colonial Office, Foreign Office, and War Office.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna): No public statement has yet been made of the principle governing Colonial surveys in Africa, but it was with the intention of securing economy, system, and expedition in such undertakings that, the Colonial Surrey Committee, to which my 45 right hon. friend has referred, was formed. With regard to the second part of his Question, the cost of the topographical survey of the Orange River Colony is estimated at a total of £18,500, and of this a sum of £9,000 has been paid by the Colony and the rest is defrayed from Army Votes. The reconnaissance's in the Cape Colony are matters of ordinary military administration, and no charge arises. In other British African possessions where surveys are in progress, the cost is defrayed from the funds of the Colony or Protectorate concerned. In the case of the Anglo-Egyptian Soudan, the cost of the surveys is defrayed by the Soudanese Government.