1943-1945 Land Surveying in Rehabilitation       Meanwhile, other minds were concerned with the same problem. At the 1943 Annual Meeting, the Secretary reported that he had received a questionnaire from the Department of Labour at Ottawa, intended to elicit information as to the part that the land surveying profession might play in post-war rehabilitation projects. "Rehabilitation" in that context meant both the rehabilitation of returning veterans and the rehabilitation of the nation's physical plant and services that had suffered neglect or become obsolete in some respects during the war and would be in need of replacement or expansion when hostilities had ended. This question was discussed at some length, and the meeting considered what kinds of survey work could be carried out after the war to provide maximum employment and also to be of general public benefit. It was concluded that the following types of survey work would best meet these requirements: (a) Special city surveys to 'redefine, the boundaries of valuable urban properties; (b) Restoration surveys in areas where land settlement schemes were projected; (c) Surveys for public works projects; (d) Baseline and township subdivision surveys in outlying areas being opened for agricultural settlement or undergoing mineral development; (e) Surveys for town planning purposes in connection with post-war housing developments It was agreed that the Department of Labour be so advised and that the Association set up a double-barrelled committee on post-war rehabilitation and development, consisting of four members from southern Alberta and three members from northern Alberta who would promote these ideas and develop them further in their respective halves of the province. It was also suggested that as a preliminary step towards preparing for the admission of new members, the examination syllabus ought to be reviewed and brought up to date. The Examining Committee was asked to look into this, but there later proved to be some uncertainty as to whether such a committee officially existed, and before the committee could be formally reconstituted, the University authorities took the initiative in this matter. In 1944, both the Council and the Annual Meeting devoted considerable time to the post-war rehabilitation problem, and while the physical aspects of the matter were left in the care of the committee set up in 1943, the Association as a whole became more concerned with the rehabilitation of veterans. It was generally agreed that attention should be directed to those who had had survey training in the armed forces, that the adequacy of their training for the purposes of civilian employment in land surveying shouldn’t be investigated, and that since the University and the Department of Education would be expected to provide academic and technical courses designed to meet the needs of returned men, liaison between the Association and those authorities should be arranged. It was decided that the Association should offer to advise as to the number of veterans who might be encouraged to take up land surveying and as to the organization of facilities to provide them with the necessary training. Meanwhile, the Secretary-Treasurer reported that an increasing number of inquiries were coming in from men already discharged or still in the services as to how they could become qualified as land surveyors, and he suggested that the Examining Committee might prepare a leaflet giving this information. Mr. Humphreys also suggested that the matter of reciprocity on qualifications between the Alberta and other provincial land surveyors' Associations should be considered, so that shortages in the supply of surveyors in one province could be met not only by directly admitting veterans in that province but also by admitting those who had become qualified elsewhere. Nothing much came of these proposals during 1944, partly, perhaps, because it came to be realized that the war was not to be brought to a victorious conclusion quite as soon as had been hoped for in 1943. At the 1945 meeting, the Post-war Rehabilitation Committee was able to report that the need for special city surveys had been discussed with civic officials at Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge and that they had promised to include such projects in their post-war civic programs. The Committee had also discovered several promising lines of activity for surveyors in the proposals contained in a report produced by a post-war reconstruction committee that had been set up by the provincial government to study and make recommendations on post-war needs and projects. The Committee also advanced a proposal of its own for an extensive scheme of restoration surveys, entailing the systematic re-establishment and replacement of the survey monuments at the northeast corners of each quarter-township, which in time would provide a network of good monuments three miles apart throughout the subdivided territory to serve as a basis for other future surveys. It was reckoned that if the provincial government employed ten survey crews for ten years on such a program, it could be completed in that period of time and would provide much useful employment and valuable training for returned men. There was a good deal of enthusiasm for this proposal on the part of both Association members and government officials with whom it was later discussed. But proposals for restoration surveys are like proposals for disarmament; they never proceed far beyond the discussion stage, and nothing was ever done about either the city or township restoration schemes. By this time, the long-talked-of ALS Manual had become a reality, and mint copies of the first edition were being eagerly snapped up by Association members at a price of $2.50 per copy, the cost of printing having been defrayed by selling a $500.00 provincial bond for the comparatively good sum of $402.00. Perhaps in recognition of the Secretary's literary efforts in that connection, he was asked by motion passed at the 1945 meeting to prepare from time to time a newsletter for circulation to the members to keep them in touch with matters of current interest to the profession. Since then, the practice of sending out periodical newsletters has been more or less continuously followed. Along with the publication of printed annual reports, which was resumed in 1943, this helped to keep the members better informed and to stimulate a keener interest in Association affairs than had been evident for some time.   Back - 1940-1942 - Difficult to Believe Forward - 1946 - Beyond Capacity