XIII. METEOROLOGICAL 
22. Observations were continued at the recording points in the Gardens 
near the office and in the orchid enclosure. A new station was opened up 
in July on the summit of Bukit Timah. Records are tabulated in Appendices 
II, III and IV. 
23. The most marked feature of the year was the relatively small 
rainfall, being 30 per cent below normal, it was the driest year since 1914 
when reliable recording was begun in the Gardens. In 1960 the rainfall was 
20 per cent below normal and two consecutive comparatively dry years raised 
serious problems of municipal water supply. The Gardens* are however not 
entirely dependent on mains water and two springs, one on Lawn W and 
the other on Tyersall Palace land which feeds the Gardens Lake never went 
completely dry. Except for March and November, rainfall in all months 
was below average, and in some of them markedly so. The monsoon rains 
of November 1960/ January 1961 failed entirely to materialise, and the mon- 
soon which broke normally in November 1961 did not continue into De- 
cember, nor into 1962. Other recorded phenomena do not appear to have 
varied much from normal. 
24. The dry weather, as recorded in the i960 Annual Report (paragraph 
23), has continued to produce unusually abundant flowering. Singapore has 
thereby enjoyed a sample of horticultural delights commonplace in areas 
where dry seasons are usual. An unprecedented flowering of tembusu trees 
( Fagraea fragrans ) took place in the early part of the vear. This covered 
much of the Federation of Malaya too. 
BOTANICAL RESEARCH 
XIV. COLLECTING AND NEW RECORDS 
25. A most important expedition took place in June to September on 
the south and east slopes of Kinabalu in North Borneo. Organised and largely 
financed by the Royal Society of London, the personnel of the Expedition 
consisted of: 
Mr. E. J. H. Comer. Botany School. Cambridge University (Botanist and 
Leader). 
Mr. Adam Stainton. London (Botanist). 
Dr. Chew Wee Lek. Botanic Gardens Singapore (Botanist). 
Dr. G. P. Askew. University of London (Soil Scientist). 
Prof. J. L. Harrison. Nanyang University, Singapore (Vertebrate Zoologist). 
Mr. Chin Phui Kong, Agricultural Department, North Borneo (Fisheries 
Officer), 
Mr. B. E. Smythies, Forest Department. Sarawak (Ornithologist). 
‘Che Md, Shah bin Haji Md. Nur. Botanic Gardens. Singapore (Plant 
Collector). 
‘Che Kadim bin Tassim, Botanic Gardens, Singapore (Plant Collector). 
Mr. Ben Ensol, University of Malaya (Hunter). 
Mr. Gaun, Sarawak Museum (Hunter). 
Messrs. E. J. H. Berwick, Director of Agriculture, E. Carson, Conservator 
of Forests, and W. Meijer, Forest Botanist, of the North Borneo Forest 
Service also paid short visits to the expedition. Though the field of work 
lay in North Borneo, the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, provided a considerable 
quantity of equipment and a stronger contingent than other organisations more 
closely concerned with the aims and objects of the expedition — namely to 
survey the eastern shoulder of Kinabalu in the assistance of the North Borneo 
Government’s proposal to create there a national park. This effort on the 
part of the Gardens was not by any means selfless. Such botanical surveys 
further the research of the Department on regional botany and the first set 
of duplicates after being worked over by experts will come to be deposited 
