REFORT ON THE FOREST RESERVES, SINGAPORE, 
FOR THE YEAR 1898. 
1. There is little or no material for a report on the condition of the Forest 
Reserves in Singapore in 1S98. 
2. In former years there has been a certain amount of Revenue derived directly 
from them, chiefly from Bakau passes and permits for wood of other kinds, but the 
issue of these having, for the better protection of the Reserves, been stopped, there is 
now no revenue obtained from them. 
3. Since these Reseves passed from the control of the Gardens Department into 
that of the Land Office, no money has been voted for their improvement, with I believe 
the natural result that any improvement which may have taken place in them has 
been simply due to natural growth and time. When under the Garden^ Department, 
various experiments were. tried in them, such as the planting of Para rubber in Sem- 
bawang, and of jambu hutan and other similar trees along some of the Reserve paths. 
Comprising as they now do large areas of la’ang and small valueless brushwood, it is 
a matter for regret that it is not thought advisable to try whether good could not be 
done by a small expenditure on planting of frees of some value as timber and on 
thinning the brushwood where there is a natural growth of some of the less worthless 
.trees. There would, however, for many years be no perceptible difference in the Re- 
serves and for many more years no return at all for the expenditure, while the con- 
sensus of opinion as to the extreme poorness ot Singapore soil leaves it open to sug- 
gest that timber of commercial value might never be produced on it. 
4. The total expenditure on the Reserves has amounted during the year in ques- 
tion to $1,158.50 incurred merely in payment of the salaries, etc. of the Corporals and 
Forest Guards detailed to protect them as far as possible from encroachment and fire. 
Item by item* this amount was spent on 1 Corporal at $9 a month, 2 Lance Corporals 
at $8 each a month, and 7 Forest Guards at $7 each a month. The salaries of these 
men are small and their chance of increases of pay no larger, while the temptation to 
look with a blind eye on illicit wood-cutting must be great, if any substantial (to 
them) douceur is offered by the offenders. I am of opinion that these men should at 
least be put with regard to periodic increments on the same footing as various other 
members of the subordinate staff, (peons, etc.) who have neither the same opportunities 
for, nor temptations to, dishonesty. I do not suggest that there has been a custom 
of yielding to temptation, but I am certain that only through very great vigilance on 
the part of the Collector and Forest Rangers and a combination of bad luck and reck- 
lessness on the part of the Guards could there be detection of connivance in illicit 
cutting on Coast reserves such as part of Kranji, Morai, and Tuas, etc. 
5. The acreage reserved in the three Divisions of the island amounted to 1,241 
acres, 1 rood, 24 poles, but this is not an exact figure, the area of part of the Seletar 
Reserve not being accurately known as.yet. More than two-thirds of this were under 
the direct supervision of Forest Ranger NoNIS, while the remaining third was divided 
between Forest Rangers Rappa and Rodrigues. The Forest Guards'-, as before, 
made report to them and they passed on their reports to the Collector — a somewhat 
round about system which has now been changed for the Malacca one of monthly writ- 
ten reports presented to the Collector of Land Revenue by the Guards themselves, but 
the same supervision by the Forest Rangers continues. I append the tabulated state- 
ments of the Forest Rangers named, showing in detail the condition of the Reserves 
in their charge (ABC). 
6. Fires took place in the Jurong and Chan Chu Kang Reserves, but no convic- 
tions could be obtained. It will always (except in cases where incendiaries are caught 
* Salaries ... ... §888.00 
Rice Allowance ... 120.00 
Uniforms, &c. ... 75-50 
New Boat ... 75.00 
I1.158.50 
