32 OK THE RAINFALL OV SINGAPORE. 



tions, and of the Rainfall, which is now registered at 



seven stations. Annual Returns are also to be found 



in the Blue Books. 



6. — Lastly, but not least, a Register of Raiufall kept by 



Mr. A. Knight, since 1861, at Mount Pleasant, 



Thompson Road (about three miles distant from 



Town), and I must here express my deep obligation to 



him for his kindness in supplying me with the required 



information, and for revising the Tables of his range. 



Though the rainfall at Singapore is now registered at seven 



stations, it is not intended to notice the whole of them, nor to act 



on the means of the total registered rainfall, but only to take the 



returns of the Criminal Prison, extending over a period of twelve 



years, as a register of rainfall in the town ; and Mr. Knight's 



returns, extending over a period of seventeen years, as a register 



of rainfall in the country ; as they are the two best sources of 



information for the consideration of this question. 



From time to time, letters have appeared in the local newspaper, 

 asserting that the extensive clearing of forests in Singapore, and 

 the adjoining mainland of Johor has materially affected the rain- 

 fall. In proof of this, the experience of the " oldest inhabitant" is 

 appealed to, to bear testimony to the incessant daily fall of rain of 

 former years, and the conclusion is hence drawn, that the rainfall 

 w r ill be altogether suspended if something be not, without delay, 

 undertaken to stop this disafforestment of the island and peninsula. 



It is not the object of the writer to enter into any lengthy discus- 

 sion on this point. The sole object of this compilation of tables is, to 

 bring together sources of information on this subject which are of 

 value, but are now scattered, extending over many books and 

 Gazettes, buried out of sight, and thus practically lost for conve- 

 nient reference and research under this head in the future. 



But, it may be safely advanced, that Singapore is not dependent 

 on its extent of forests, or contiguity to forests, for its rain supply, 

 but to its geographical position. In the Journal of the Indian 

 Archipelago, vol. 2, page 457, Dr. Little, writing on the Medical 

 Topography of Singapore so far back as 1848 — thirty-three years 

 ago, — gives the average annual rainfall as being 92.697 inches ; 

 arriving at this conclusion from the records of the Singapore 



