SOUTH AFRICAN WAR—SURVEYS AND MAPS. (Hansard, 2 February 1900)

LORD SALTOUN

My Lords, I rise to ask the Secretary of State for War whether, when the war broke out, the officers of the Field Force had maps of the Transvaal and Orange Free State served out to them; also, as the war has been so far carried on in our own territory of Cape Colony and Natal, whether maps of these Colonies have been served out, or are now being served out, to them by the Government. The other day, during the debate on the Address in reply to Her Majesty's Gracious Speech, the Minister for War stated, in answer, I think, to Lord Rosebery, that the Government were so prepared that they had sent a large force of 120,000 men, fully equipped, out to the Cape in the course of a few weeks. I regard this as a most notable performance, and the thanks of the country are due to the Government for it. But there is one piece of equipment which is most essential to our troops when operating in what may be called a hostile country namely, the maps of that country. Since I placed my question on the Paper of your lordships' House I have read a most excellent speech by the Under Secretary for War, in which he gave an explanation to a certain extent of the surveys which had taken place and the maps which had already been distributed. But, my Lords, he did not go further back in his statement on this subject than 1896, in which year two officers, he stated, went out to survey certain tracts of the country. He also pointed out the enormous size of the country which had to be surveyed, and the great difficulties in the way. But what I wish to call attention to is this, that 1896 was not the beginning of the period when we should have begun to 405 look towards the crisis in which we now find ourselves. It is not only from the date of the Jameson raid, but from the date of the most disastrous and ignominious treaty made after Majuba Hill that we ought to have begun to prepare for this war. Everyone in this country—every "man in the street"—must have known that at some future time war was bound to break out between us and the Boers, and I think it was the duty of the Government of that day, and of future Governments, to have provided not only maps of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, but also maps of Cape Colony and Natal. I would remind your lordships of the terrible lesson which the French received in the Franco-German War. They had excellent maps of the whole of Germany, but, when the war was carried into French territory, the French troops failed ignominiously because they had no maps of their own country to work upon. Ladysmith, as is well known, I believe, to everyone in your lordships' House, is called the Aldershot of Natal, and it is, in my judgment, quite inexplicable, in view of the importance of Lady-smith to us as a great storehouse of food and munitions of war, that there was no map extant showing the correct position of Spion Kop. I do not wish to ask any question which would in any way interfere with the interests of the country or with the Government at this critical moment, but I think it is most essential that the information for which I ask should be known to the public. My attention was called to this subject owing to the very severe criticisms which had been made by General Buller on the scouting of various officers in various parts of Cape Colony and Natal. If these officers had had good maps of the country in which the war is being carried on, I feel certain that they would have been able to carry out their work with greater advantage and much more easily. The Under Secretary for War stated that they had the Cape survey and the Colonial map of Natal. If the Colonial map of Natal does not even state accurately where Spion Kop is, what can you expect from the Colonial map of Cape Colony? I think they must both be very poor, and not such maps as our officers ought to rely upon in this war. I now venture to put my question to the noble Marquess, and in doing so I would like to add that it is not only the command- 406 ing officers to whom I allude, but all officers from the chiefs down to the youngest subaltern.

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)

My Lords, I do not think that your lordships will differ from the noble Lord in the importance which he attaches to the possession of accurate maps by any force operating in the field. I gather that he complains of the War Department because it did not address itself some years ago to the task of obtaining accurate maps of the different parts of South Africa. In these matters we are very apt to be wise after the event, and it is possible that, in the years to which he referred, more might have been done in the way of surveying important regions. But I have no doubt that it occurred to many people in those days that the duty of making topographical surveys of the British colony concerned primarily the colony itself rather than the Imperial Government; but, at any rate, of late years I do not think we are open to the reproach of having neglected this duty. The noble Lord asks me whether, when the war broke out, the officers of the Field Force had maps of the Transvaal and Orange Free State issued to them. The answer to that is that maps of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State were issued to officers when the war broke out. These maps formed part of the Intelligence branch maps, and are on the scale of four miles to the inch. The noble Lord next asks me whether lately maps of Cape Colony and Natal had been served out, or are now being served out to the troops by the Government. As to that, I have to say that the General Officer in command in South Africa has been instructed to issue to the troops maps of Cape Colony and the neighbouring territories. This map is on the scale of 12½ miles to the inch, and it is published at Cape Town. With regard to Natal, we have supplied from here a very large quantity of sheets of the survey which has recently been made by our own officers of the northern portion of Natal. The noble Lord is quite correct when he says that that map does not include the whole of the country around Ladysmith. The survey comes as far south as, and a little further south than Ladysmith, but it does not take in the valley of the Tugela at that point which we are now watching with 407 so much interest. This, no doubt, is to be regretted, but the answer to the criticism is that as much of the survey was completed as it was possible to complete in the time at our disposal. Besides that map a large number of copies of Russell's map of Natal on the scale of five miles to the inch have been issued. I may say, in reference to the noble Lord's observation that the position of Spion Kop is inaccurately shown on some of these maps, that so far as I am able to ascertain Spion Kop is a very common name for an eminence in the whole of that part of South Africa, and there appear to be a considerable number of Spion Kops located on different parts of the map. Besides the maps to which I have referred, we have issued a number of copies of Bartholomew's well-known small-scale map of South Africa, a great number of special maps and plans of reconnaissances of various points of military importance. I may say, in reference to the general tenor of the noble Lord's remarks, that the area of the region which may be, I think, properly described as the theatre of war is something like 400,000 square miles, and it would have been beyond the power of our officers to survey anything like the whole of that region within the time at their disposal.