e, it
had been obviously the duty of the Intelligence department of the War
Office to watch these as closely as the prevailing conditions
permitted. This had been done ever since 1896, when the
Commander-in-Chief had directed the department to undertake the
investigation. The material thus obtained was collated in June, 1898,
in the form of a handbook, entitled, "Military Notes on the Dutch
Republics of South Africa," which set forth in a concise form the
military strength, armament, organisation and tactics of the Boer
army. A revised edition of this book was issued in June, 1899. Other
handbooks, containing special reconnaissances executed in the more
important strategical localities of South Africa, and summaries of
information as to the various states and colonies, were also prepared
with a view to the possibility of active operations. The Royal
Commission on the South African War was able to pronounce in its
Report (paragraph 257) that the information contained in these
handbooks, as well as in a "valuable" series of memoranda extending
over several years, was in many respects remarkably accurate.

[Sidenote: Maps--Transvaal and Free State.]

Adequate military maps of the vast theatre over which the operations
of the 1899-1902 war subsequently spread could only have been produced
by the employment for many years of a large survey staff. The
production of correct maps of the Transvaal and Free State on a scale
of four miles to the inch would alone have taken five years to
complete, and would have cost L100,000. The state of tension existing
between Great Britain and the two republics in the years immediately
preceding the war rendered it impossible to undertake any serious work
of this description within those States.

[Sidenote: Maps--Cape and Natal.]

As regards the Cape Colony and Natal, the survey of all self-governing
colonies has been, and still is, regarded by the Imperial Government
as a matter for the Colonial Governments. The survey of Cape Colony
alone on a scale large enough for tactical purposes would have cost
L150,000, and it would have been perfectly useless to ask the Treasury
to sanction the provision of any such sum. A map, on a scale of twelve
and a half miles to an inch, had been produced by the Survey
department of the Cape Government, covering Cape Colony, Natal, Orange
Free State, and part of the Transvaal, and arrangements were made with
the Colonial Government for supplies of this for