1958 - Water Boundary Struggles

     This discussion threw a good deal of light on the subject and it was evident that what the question boiled down to was whether the boundary of property adjoining a lake or stream changed in accordance with gradual natural accretions and recessions of the foreshore, which was a long-established principle under English common law, or whether, as The Public Lands Act of Alberta laid down, the shoreline established by the original township survey remained the boundary once and for all, regardless of natural changes in its actual position. This obvious conflict between the provisions of the common law and those of the Public Lands Act was not one that the Association could resolve, but was rather a matter for the courts or the Legislature to deal with. However, the annual meeting directed the Council to follow the matter up and try to initiate action on the problem in the proper quarters. That was done later in the year by means of a brief prepared by a special committee under Mr. Usher's chairmanship, which outlined the difficulties in which surveyors often found them- selves as a result of the uncertain state of the law. This brief was forwarded by the Council to the Attorney General's Department with a request that the matter be given official study.

During 1957, the Committee on Practice had been instructed to prepare a revised and enlarged edition of the ALS Manual, and, to include, among other things, rules on the field procedures to be used in situations not covered by existing official instructions. This committee had gathered together several problems of that sort, and formulated procedural rules for nine of them, which were reported to the 1953 Annual Meeting and adopted under the designation of "good practice resolutions."

The annual meeting also passed a resolution, engendered by the introduction of new survey methods and equipment, advocating the provision of a four-year degree course in surveying by one of the western Canadian universities and specifically instructing the Council to make representations on this matter to the University of Alberta. A brief was later submitted by the Council to the president of the University, but because of other demands upon the facilities of the University that had to be given priority, the Association's proposals had to be held in abeyance for the time being.

Although the standing committees remained fairly active, the Council found little time during 1958 for any work except the investigation of several complaints of malpractice that were apparently stimulated by the new disciplinary provisions of the Act. Eight cases were investigated and seven of these were disposed of by corrective action that involved no penalization of the members concerned. The eighth case involved more serious charges, but proceedings against the surveyor involved were stalled by the fact that he was no longer a registered member and was thus beyond the Association's jurisdiction.

One other matter in which the Council took action was with reference to the provisions of the Alberta Surveys Act requiring the personal supervision on the ground by the responsible surveyor of all surveys undertaken by him throughout the entire course of the field work. It was generally acknowledged that this requirement could not be strictly fulfilled unless each surveyor engaged in only one survey project at a time, and in response to requests for some modification of this part of the Act, the Council drafted a proposed revision for consideration by the members at the 1959 Annual Meeting.

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