The Ordnance Survey occupies an anomalous position between civilian engineering practice and Army service. It is perhaps therefore inevitable in regard to the payment of gratuities and pensions that certain anomalies would arise. The House, I think, will have no hesitation in acceding to the Minister's request that the anomalies which are covered by the present amendment to the scheme should now be put right. However, I take this opportunity of asking the Minister if in fact this disposes of all anomalies which have arisen in regard to persons who have had joint service in the Ordnance Survey and in the Army.
I should like specifically to ask the Minister if there have been representations made to him in regard to persons not covered by the proposals he is now making to this House in connection with the anomalies which have arisen in this matter. Perhaps this may be going beyond the scope of what we have here, but I should like to ask him whether he is satisfied with the present status of the Ordnance Survey work and the manner in which it is related to the organisation of the Army.
Apart from these questions, I should like to take the occasion of this motion being before the House to pay tribute to the work of the Ordnance Survey. The Ordnance Survey has a proud record, one which goes back to the early 19th century. Indeed the work done by the Ordnance Survey in this country, under the Corps of Engineers, played an important part in the history of modern surveying. The base-line which was laid along the shores of Lough Foyle was the first high accuracy base-line ever attempted to be measured to the degree of accuracy with which we are concerned in modern surveying. Though they did this part of their work well, the Ordnance Survey did other work in respect of which we cannot be so indulgent. Many of our place-names today bear a spelling which represents a cockney sapper's interpretation of a Gaelic name, and I am sure each one of us can think of examples of this in his own area.
It is perhaps ironic that the present headquarters of the Ordnance Survey are located at Phoenix Park, which has nothing to do with that mythical bird but which was known originally as Páirc an Phíonn Uisce. The headquarters of the Ordnance Survey are situated in this particularly misnamed place in Dublin. I wish to pay high tribute to the small staff who are at present engaged in this work. As a Professor of Civil Engineering I am concerned with topographical surveying and as a member of the National Committee for Geodesy and Geophysics I am concerned with other survey measurements made by the Ordnance Survey. I have reason to know the extremely high standard of their work.
For example, in regard to the techniques of modern surveying and the new developments which are being made, in order to make these known to our students at UCC we invite officers of the Ordnance Survey to come to Cork to lecture to our students and to demonstrate the most modern instruments which are being used by them. We are grateful to the Ordnance Survey for this and we appreciate that in regard to topographical surveys and other types of survey they are indeed living up to the high traditions they have inherited and we in the engineering profession look to them as experts of a very high order in their particular field.
As I said, I think it would be a pity if the anomalies in the position of this small group of men—and I emphasise the word "small"—who do a job of such a high order were to militate in any way against the serving conditions, the rights of promotion or the pension rights of the individuals involved just because they are not completely part of the Army, or completely separated from it. Accordingly, I commend the Minister for what he is doing in the amended scheme which is now before us and I ask him, if there are further points on which representations have been received, to lend his generally sympathetic ear to them and to make it even more sympathetic on this occasion.