From Archibald McLachlan   Wednesday - Sep. 6th 1843

Wednesday – Sep. 6^th 1843

Yours of Sunday¹ came in due time – 3 times have I commenced a reply, & interupted by Company, however it is good company, valuable, and will be turned to good account – I will not reply to your last² – that will be done tomorrow or next day –

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Several 111³ came to different parties, and the whole hive may be likened to one in harvest, conjecture is alive – it was proposed to convey through the P–⁴ a vote of thanks to Spec:⁵ this wont do – however I will turn all into a proper channel – every man – old, young, high, low, red, black – all approved, & the general opinion is, ‘it will do much good, or harm’ Cause a change of action, or, break up the affair altogether, the parties concerned in an answer cannot remain silent, that would not do – an answer cannot be made; – The whole is in a ferment, I mean the Goths & Vandals –

Tell D.⁶ his enquiries have not been forgotten – And to Omega,⁷ that if he does not exercise more prudence, the whole is injured – I dreaded some indiscretion, ‘Discretion is the better part of valour, by which better part I have saved my life’⁸ &c &c – And now for a bit of generalship if it can be managed. Carbon⁹ is a Tartar¹⁰ on all points touching the honor of the O.S.¹¹ – It is desirable that a damper be immediately put on Acid¹² – or that he should be made to vanish altogether – & that soon – Weighing all things – Spec: Lumper¹³ &c &c – Could not something be done with Carbon in a friendly way, and thereby cause a change – without hazard of Destruction to the whole O.S. – for if Spec: continues, & the deficit in the Revenue continues (it is said) ‘10 to one but the whole affair of the O.S. is stopped’

Consult – & say what you think of the following –

To - - - Director of the Ord: Svy: of England¹⁴ –

Sir, It has fallen to my lot to write this letter and I begin with a request that you will not misconstrue its meaning – It cannot longer be permitted that public money should be employed to the injury of private enterprise in this Country – nor public confidence violated with impunity. It is clearly ascertained, that money which has been voted by Par:¹⁵ for one purpose, has, to some extent been misapplied, or misappropriated by your officers to an undertaking never contemplated, nor authorised by the Par: who voted that money – and that your officers have gone farther in this matter than the nature of their Commission will warrant – Your off: have for some time pursued a course of action, inconsistent with the act of Par: for the Survey of the Northern Counties of this Country¹⁶ – and it remains to be seen whether they will persevere in this course –

I would direct your attention to the Evidence given before the Com: of the Ho of Com:¹⁷ in relating¹⁸ to the Suvy & maps for the Commutation of the Tithes¹⁹ – To the opinion of that Committee; to the Act. of Par: for the S. of the 6 N. counties²⁰ – and to a note written by the Master Gen. of the Ordnance²¹ in reply to certain memorial from Land Surveyors²² – And then ask you, are your officers justified by all these or any of them, in making Tithe maps, either by Public Competition or private contract or otherwise – or do you, as director, approve of and sanction such a proceeding –

All your officers are not implicated, there are some exceedingly imprudent men among them, who have committed themselves publicly by entering into competition without authority!!! and afterwards acted, and continue to act, in such a manner as to submit the character of the Mast Gen to suspicion, and as if his note in reply to a Memorial, was equivocal and designed to be so – But lest you should mistake the nature of the charges to be proferred – I shall condense the Third Letter²³ on the Ordnance Survey of England, which is to appear in the Liverpool Mercury, and arrange the substance under the following Items – and –

1^st – Your officers employed under your direction on the O.S.E.²⁴ did enter into competition with certain Land Surveyors – and were successful – on this subject a memorial was presented – and the Master General of the Board of Or:²⁵ replied nearly in the following words ‘The circumstances out of which the Memorial arose were unauthorised by the Mas: Gen: or B of Or: – and the Mast Gen: will give such instructions to the officers in charge of that work, as will prevent the recurrence of a like nature in future’. –

2 – It follows that your officers did enter into competition without authority –

3 – It is to be enquired into, by what, or by whose authority they acted, and act.

4 – That your officers did construct, and are now constructing maps for Tithe purposes –

5 – That Tithe maps are not paid for until they until approved by the Commissioners –

6 – There is no act of Par: authorising Government officers to construct maps for Tithe

7 – No money has been voted by Par. for the construction of D^o26 - - D^o - -

8 – That men employed on the Ordnance S. of 6 N. counties were withdrawn from that work, & employed by your officers in drawing Tithe maps – & that during the time they were so employed, they were paid as formerly out of money voted for the S of the 6 N. Counties

9 – By this it appears that money voted and designed for the S of the 6 N. Counties of this country has been appropriated to another purpose – without the authority of the Par: who voted the money –

10 – That men employed in constructing Tithe maps were entered in your public accounts as if Employed on the O.S.E –

11 – The O.S.E. is authorised by one Act of Par – Tithe by another act: and that in your public accounts these are confounded together –

12 – That proper accounts have not been kept – nor can it be ascertained from your public accounts whether the public gain or lose –

13 – That should it be proved that proper accounts – and returns were duly made, they will show the amount of loss sustained by the Public –

14 – That after the amount of loss was known from your Accounts – your Officers persevered in constructing Tithe maps –

15 – That should it be made to appear from your accounts, that the Public has gained – it is to be examined into, whether the amount of such gain has been placed to the credit of the Public Accounts –

16 – That your officers, if acting under the orders of the Government, or by authority of Parliament, are not responsible for the amount of any loss – and cannot appropriate to their private use, any of the money gained –

17 – That the design of the Legislation is defeated – the Survey of the 6 N Counts delayed, & the Public has sustained a loss of time and money –

18 – That some of the maps constructed by the R.E.²⁷ were not undertaken by Public Competition or Contract – but by private treaty – or in a clandestine manner; which is unprecedented – & seems to be direct violation of Public confidence

I have now gone over the principal points of complaint relating to Tithe maps – and will repeat my former assertion, that this system cannot be permitted to continue, and however unpleasant an investigation may be to all parties; it is necessary, & unavoidable – commercial embarrassment involves on every side, & if Government officers are allowed to aid & increase that embarrassment without an attempt on our part at a remedy, we deserve to suffer – It is said that the Director of the O.S.E. is not aware of whole facts of the case – and it is unwise to proceed without giving him a friendly hint; should his authority extend so far, he may correct the evil complained of – give him a chance – if he will not – nor cannot remedy. Then proceed – I end this letter as I began, with a request, that you will not misconstrue its design –

Now what do you think – what is the first thought that strikes you on reading it – My design would be, that you should correct the letter and enlarge it – or make it more pungent – and that each and every one of the Items should be retained similar to the manner I have done – you will see the items depend on each other – and are a consequence of one another to a great extent – when you have done this, send it to me – I will have it copied – and posted in London – it is received by ----²⁸ and sets him & Acid at variance – he will censure Acid, and perhaps order that [jobbing] to cease – it might do more – it might ship Acid, and that is the principle design of it – Consult, and determine, whether such a maneuver would be prudent in the present state of affairs – If you think that such a thing would be effective, do it immediately – and send it to me – or – if you think Omega could manage better, send it to him – and post it in Liverpool –

I know he would dread the very Idea of such a letter & such Items getting into the Public press – you observe the Mast Gen: seems to be a party to the [jobbing] – and should he see such a letter in the press, he would come down on Carbon with a vengeance – Carbon knows this – and perhaps to prevent a Row, he might immediately look into the affair – you will have an answer to your last tomorrow – Cap B.²⁹ is now in London – so is Acid

The reason of Cap B. – And Acid being in London just now is matter of general speculation among the bandits – write soon

Post time | B³⁰ Thursday –

Form of Recommendation for the Pay of Civil Assistants³¹

__________________________

Sir

I recommend

who is now receiving per diem

in class as

deserving of an increase of survey Pay

in that class, or of Promotion to class

District officer

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Class A. (Miscellaneous Duties.) Rate of Pay not to exceed 2s. per Diem

_______________

Superintending Piling Parties and other duties of a responsible nature, requiring more intelligence than is necessary for the duties of a chainman.

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Class B. (Clerks.) Rate of Pay not to exceed 2s per diem

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Copying and other duties which require persons who can write tolerably well

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Class C (Clerks) Rate of Pay above 2s and not exceeding 3s per diem.

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Duties which require superior qualifications in Writing, considerable knowledge of Arithmetic, and skill in the particular Books and Accounts of the Survey, and in checking computations.

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Class E. (Draughtsmen) Rate of Pay above 2s. and not to exceed 3s per Diem

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1. Road Surveying and Plotting neatly and accurately.

2. Penning in lines of all Kinds either for Roads or Boundaries neatly and accurately

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Class F. (Draughtsmen) Rate of Pay above 3s and not to exceed 4. per Diem.

Qualified for Road Surveying and Plotting and also capable of penning in lines of all Kinds, either for Roads or Boundaries.

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Class G. (Draughtsmen) Rate of Pay above 4s. and not to exceed 6s per diem.

Qualified for Road Surveying, sketching Gardens, and completing the drawing of fair Plans. -

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Class H. (Draughtsmen) 6s per Diem, and upwards

Qualified to perform the whole of their duties, both in Surveying and drawing, in a rapid and efficient manner

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Classification of the Civil Assistants

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Class
A	B	C	D	E		F	G	H
				1	2

This Table is to be inserted in the Monthly Return, by the side of that showing the classification of the Royal sappers and miners,³² and to be filled up in a similar manner.–

In each recommendation the Division Officer will fill up the Table with the members in the respective classes attached to his Division –

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In recommending the Civilians for the respective classes, the District Officer will take care to state definitely the grounds on which he recommends the individual for the class, in order that I may not only put him in the class, but also assign to him the Rate of Pay in that Class to which, on comparison with orders, he seems to be entitled.

Also when a Civilian has acquired higher qualifications, and contributes more to the progress of work, than he did when I assigned his Rate of Pay, the District Officer is to send a fresh recommendation in his favour if he has not already attained the highest Pay of his Class.

(signed) | Thomas Colby | Lieut Col. | Royal Engineers

Ordnance box office, Tower. April 28, 1828

RI MS JT/1/TYP/11/3788-3791

RI MS JT/8/1/4a