deceased officer of a great but scarcely sufficiently recognised
scientific department of the magnificent Indian Empire of Her Majesty
the Queen-Empress. "The Surveyor-General deeply regrets to announce
the death of Mr. W.W. McNair, Surveyor, 3rd grade, from fever
contracted at Quetta while attached to the Baluchistan Survey Party.
He was granted leave to proceed to Mussooree, where he died on 13th
August. Mr. McNair joined the department on the 1st September, 1867,
and was posted to the Rajputana Topographical Party. The first twelve
years of his service were passed on topographical duty with this party
under Major G. Strahan, R.E., and in the Mysore Party under Majors G.
Strahan and H.R. Thuillier, R.E. From the very first he showed special
aptitude as a plane-tabler, and was soon recognised in the department
as an accomplished surveyor. In the autumn of 1879 he was selected to
accompany the Khyber Column of the Afghan Field Force, and was present
with that force during the severe fighting that occurred before Kabul
in the winter of 1879-80, and the subsequent defence of Sharpur.
Whilst in Afghanistan he mapped a very large portion of hitherto
unknown country, including the Lughman Valley and approaches to
Kafiristan, and the Logar and Wardak Valleys to the south of Kabul. He
explored the Adrak-Badrak Pass with a native escort, and made himself
acquainted with the route from Kabul to Jalalabad, _viâ_ Lughman,
which was explored by no other European officer. At the close of the
war he was attached to the Kohat Survey, under Major Holdich, R.E.,
and was specially employed in the risky work of mapping the frontier
line from Kohat to Bannu, including a wide strip of trans-frontier
country, and much of the hitherto unmapped Tochi Valley. On the
break-up of the Kohat Survey he was temporarily employed on geodetic
work in one of the Astronomical parties, but was re-transferred to the
frontier when the Baluchistan parties were formed. His chief work in
connection with Baluchistan has been carrying a first-class series of