61 



Up to thds date the Society had Imd two Secretaries, firstly 

 Mr. J. E. Macdoiiald, and secondly Mr. E. J. Leveson. Both 

 had somehow through considerahle difficulties, procured funds 

 for the Society's Garden, and worked most assiduously, especially 

 the second. From its foundation to 1867, when he retired, 

 Major-General Cavanagh had showed the greatest interest. He 

 took the chair at the meetings and was active with all the help he 

 could give. The puhlic to this date had put $17,430 into the 

 creating of the Garden. The third Secretary Mr. C. H. H. Wilsone 

 was not so fortunate. He entered into a contract* in 1867 with a 

 C-hinamen for the building of a Superintendent's house, — now the 

 ©ireotor's house, — for the sum of $2400, and left the Society with a 

 debt of over $700 being largely the difference hetween the sum raised 

 by the first mortgage and the cost of the house. The last appendix 

 here printed shows that in his non-extant report for 1868 these debts 

 were overlooked, and a very false idea of security presented. 



The Committee ii:i 1869 when they realised their position asked 

 and prevailed on the Government to allow them one hundred dollars 

 monthly instead of fifty : and Sir Harry Ord, who was Governor, 

 made a bargain that in return the Society should exhibit in the 

 Garden liviiig economic plants; for he had noticed that travellers 

 making but a short stay would seek in vain for gambier, pepper, and 

 other similar useful objects whose cultivation was no longer carried 

 on near to the town. The better to watch the spending of the in- 

 creased grant, which, consequent upon the falling off of subscriptions 

 made 43 per cent of the -Society's income, the Governor decided to 

 a]>]ioint a meml:)er on to the Committee officially and chose Mr. H. 

 F. Plow, Clerk of Councils, to represent him. At the same time he 

 suggested the formation of a Zoo as an additional and educational 

 attraction, like the economic plants : and he offered to present some 

 animals. 



The transactions of the years which follow between 1870 and 

 1874 are obscure, because the Agri-Horticultural Society went to 

 sleep again. In a speech upon the Budget for 1875, made on December 

 18th, 1874, and reported in the Singajwre Daily Times, of Decdmbcr 

 34th, 1874, Dr. R. Little stated that the Society had not carried out 

 its part of tlie compact with the Govermnent to grow economic plants, 

 and that Committee and Management had alike lost interest. The 

 Committee indeed had failed to raise adequate funds, except by 

 increasing the 8% mortgage on its property to $4000. When in 

 August 1874 this had been run through and the Treasurer found 

 himself with a very adverse l)alance, a meeting was called wliich 

 resolved :— " Tliat the Honorary Secretary be instructed to acquaint 

 Government with the willingness of subscribers to hand over the 

 Agri-Horticultural Gardens for future maintenance, reserving to 

 subscribers the same privileges that they now enjoy." This reso- 

 lution Mr. 11. Campbell, as Secretary, forwarded to the Colonial 

 •Secretary on August 13th, 1874. 



Three months earlier, on May 14th, 1874, the subscribers to 



the Raffles Library had passed a similar resolution, praying the 



■ Government to take over their proi^erty with their debts, and to 



* The specifiation and approximate plans are in the Gardens' records. 



