8 
18. In Government Bungalow Gardens, the work has been of the usual routine 
order, consisting of keeping the grounds in order and maintaining, as far as possible, 
a regular supply of vegetables and flowers for occupants of the bungalow and the 
Resident Councillor. The Overseer in charge, in addition to his garden work, attends 
to the Post and Telegraph Office, which takes up the greater portion of his time. 
Coco-nut Tree Preservation. 
ig. As in previous years the Inspector has divided his time equally between 
Penang Island and Province Wellesley. Two hundred and ‘six (206) Notices were 
served on owners requiring them to destroy dead trees or material which serve as 
breeding places for the beetle. Of this number, 43 were summoned for non-compliance 
with the order in accordance with the Ordinance, and fines inflicted amounting to 
$42.25. 
Altogether 1,704 dead and diseased trees were destroyed, and 58 heaps of rub- 
bish, 75 diseased trees growing on Crown land were also cut down and destroyed. 
The total expenditure in connection with this work is $692. 50. 
General. 
20. A short trip for the purpose of collecting new and interesting plants for 
cultivation and exchange was made to the Siamese West Coast, ‘about 200 miles North 
of Penang, in February, and the result was most satisfactory. Leaving Penang by 
one of the local Chinese steamers, I arrived at Tongkah, also known as the Island of 
Junk Ceylon, after a passage of 24 hours. After spending four days in this island, the 
Siamese Chief Commissioner kindly lent me a boat and furnished me with a letter of 
introduction to the Raja of Pangah, whose residence is about 40 miles from Tong- 
kah. On the way we touched at several small islands, generally adding something 
to the collection at each place. A striking feature of this part of the Peninsula is the 
abrupt manner in which the islands rise from the sea, so much so that landing on 
’some of them is impossible. The same character marks the rocks and small hills for 
some miles inland, so that looking land-ward from some distance out at sea, there is 
no means of distinguishing between the rocky islands inshore and similar rocks 
among the mangrove forest. It is evident that a great silting up has taken place 
here in recent times. The town and the Raja's residence are situated some miles 
up the river, which in places flows between the high rocks that are seen from the sea. 
The whole valley in which the town is situated is surrounded by hills of the same 
character, except at the upper and lower ends. It is an ideal place for a botanist, and 
should be visited at the beginning or end of the rains, when many interesting plants 
that were quite dried up at the time of my visit will be discovered. In one place I 
saw an immense mass of Vanda gigantea with at least -fifty' spikes of fully expanded 
flowers, and near this several plants of Cypripedium niveum. Among the interest- 
ing plants%btained here was a lovely blue Didymocarpus , and a species of Tetraphyl- 
lum with rosy pink flowers. A few plants of Dendrobium aggregatum, and D. 
Farmerii were collected, but they' are extremely rare here and it is apparently their 
extreme Southern limit. The Siamese Chief Commissioner, Tongkah, kindly sent a 
.steam launch to tow my boat from near the mouth of the Pangah River to Ghirbee 
River, and when I had spent a day there back to Tongkah, whence I returned to Pe- 
nang. I cannot sufficiently* express my thanks to the Siamese Commissioner at Tong- 
kah, and the Raja of Pangah, for the assistance they rendered during my fourteen 
days* stay. 
21. An Agricultural and Horticultural Show was held on the -Race Course du- 
ring the first three days in June and proved a great success. Temporary sheds were 
erected for plants, fruits, vegetables, poultry and cattle, while the existing buildings 
were used for produce &c. Malacca and the Native States sent many exhibits, and 
perhaps the most noteworthy' exhibits of the whole Show were the Liberian coffee 
and pepper plants in tubs, covered with fruits, from Selangor. The prizes offered 
for native medicinal plants, coco-nuts, betel-nuts, paddy and other products in which 
natives are mainly interested, brought hundreds of samples, so that judging in these 
classes was a matter of extreme difficulty, ft is to be hoped that this kind oT exhibi- 
4 ion will be repeated at no distant time. 
C. CURTIS, 
Assistant Superintendent of Forests. 
