ADMINISTRATION 
I. GENERAL 
From the beginning of the year till 31st May the Department was under the 
former Chief Secretary’s Ministry. From 3rd June onwards it came under the 
newly-formed Ministry of National Development. 
II. CENTENARY OF THE GARDENS 
2. The most notable event of the year was the centenary of the founding 
of the Gardens. An agri-horticultural association, with official assistance, took 
possession of most of the land which is now the Gardens near the end of 1859. 
Its purpose was to provide a pleasure garden for its members and to introduce 
and acclimatise plants of possible economic value and to foster the growing 
agricultural and horticultural interests of the young settlement of Singapore. 
Financial difficulties beset the Society, and from its inception it was never 
without direct or indirect Government assistance. Eventually in 1874 Govern- 
ment accepted the entire liability for running the Gardens as a public depart- 
ment. From this time its function broadened; a horticultural officer with 
taxonomic experience was appointed Superintendent and the Department was 
charged with a duty of studying the flora of the Malay Peninsula. The priority 
of botanical research over horticulture was further emphasised in 1888 when 
a trained botanist became its first Director, the title of Superintendent being 
dropped. 
3. In 1882 a Department of Forests was created in the Straits Settle- 
ments under the direction of the officers of the Botanic Gardens. In 1 896 the 
Director of Gardens advised on the establishment of a Forest Department in 
Selangor and recommended the formation of a Forest Department in the 
Federated Malay States (Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang). After 
further investigation by an officer of the Indian Forest Service an unified 
Straits Settlements-Federated Malay States forest service was created as a 
self-contained department in 1901. 
4. Similar growth took place in the agricultural field and a Department 
of Agriculture in the Federated Malay States was set up in 1905. Up to this 
time the Gardens had been the only source of information on economic crops. 
From 1891 to 1900 the Gardens published The Agricultural Bulletin of the 
Malay Peninsula, and from 1901 to 1912 The Agricultural Bulletin of the 
Straits and Federated Malay States. Though the title of these periodicals sug- 
gested material of agricultural significance, their contents were in fact varied 
and covered agriculture, forestry, horticulture and many related sciences. 
5. From 1913 onwards the Gardens has published its research work in 
The Gardens' Bulletin and in a number of separate books. With the streng- 
thening of the work on agriculture and forestry in Malaya by the formation of 
specialised departments, the Botanic Gardens concentrated on taxonomic 
botany and ecology, which are basic problems to land utilisation and economic 
exploitation of natural plant resources, and on horticulture. 
6. The occasion of the centenary was marked by the issue of a special 
number of the Gardens' Bulletin, Vol. 17, pt. 2. 
