Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎51r] (101/176)

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hundred and fiity-two feddans of this area have been rented for 1922 at £E. 7 per
feddan. At this rate, which is by no means excessive, the 3.700 feddans forming
Gazayer harm alone should be bringing in over £E. 2.5,000 per annum by 1924 as
against a rent roll of under £E. 3,000 per annum before improvement was
undertaken.
36. Svrvey Department.
General.
* 220. During 1921 the Survey Department commenced work on the new scale
which has been adopted for the standard maps of the country, and good progress has
been made.
221. Besides being responsible for all the local maps of this country, the Survey
has undertaken the compilation of four of the sheets of the map of Africa,
namely, Cyrenaica, Egypt, Libya and Nubia, and it is hoped to publish one sheet in
the coming year. Work on these maps will necessarily be slow, as there are still vast
tracts of desert which are unexplored, so that constant revisions and additions will
be necessary for many years before an approach to finality can be reached. Field
trials of the application of portable wireless apparatus to the determination of
longitude have been made in the Eastern Desert with very encouraging results.
222. A survey party has during the latter part of the year commenced work
running a line of levels from Fajac, on the Victoria Nile, to Nimule.
223. During the summer the services of two members of the staff were loaned
for short periods to the Royal Air Force in connection with the survey of the Cairo-
Bagdad air route, maps of which have been prepared and reproduced for the use of
pilots.
Cadastral Survey.
224. The ninth and last district survey office was opened at Luxor in November
last, which has greatly facilitated the proper decentralisation of work. The energies
of district survey offices will in future be directed toward the gradual production of
* an up-to-date map on the scale of 1 : 1.000, based on a permanent network of survey
reference marks.
225. Preparations have been made for bringing up to date all records of public
domains; the demarcation of public channels and roads and of cemetery sites has
9 been proceeded with, and for the first time some progress has been made in placing
on a legal basis the limits of antiquity sites. Preparatory to the institution of a
system of registration of title to land, the demarcation of land areas and the placing
of permanent survey reference marks has been continued ; the work is now finished in
Menufia Province, and Qaliubia will be completed in the course of this year.
Geological Survey.
226. The most important branch of the geological survey work continues to be
connected with petroleum research, one field party having been engaged during the
year in examining the western foreshore of Sinai, while another is examining the
central portion of the Sinai Peninsula in the direction of the Gulf of Akaba. The
former presence of petroleum has been indicated at several localities, and areas
suggested tentatively for reserve.
227. A party also visited the Island of Saint-John in the Red Sea, which has
been geologically mapped for the first time. The main aim of the study was to
determine the possibilities of the occurrence of petroleum.
Desert Survey.
228. The survey of Central Sinai on the 1 : 100,000 scale, commenced last year,
has been continued, and about 2,900 square kilom. of hitherto unexplored country
have been triangulated and topographically mapped during the year. The field maps
f of the area completed up to the summer, covering about 2,500 square kilom., have
been reproduced and issued for the use of the Frontier Districts Administration and
the Petroleum Office. The triangulation of the Sinai side of the Gulf of Suez has
been completed during the year, and an area of about 4,600 square kilom. has been
* topographically mapped. The Sinai triangulation net has been extended across the
Gulf of Akabar by the intersection of a number of prominent peaks on the eastern side
of the Gulf, which will afford an accurate basis for any future survey work in
Northern Arabia.