eminent Gazette proclaiming this area reserved. The path round this new Reserve 
has not yet been cleared, partly because the Forest Staff have been too busily 
engaged in clearing the other paths, and partly owing to the fact that the correct 
boundary is not yet clearly defined. I have visited the Reserve at various points on 
29th June, 1898, ( with Mr. Ridley, ) and again on 17th September, 1898, 23rd Septem- 
ber, 1898, and 17th November, 1898. I have found no recent traces of timber-cutting 
therein. The Hill in question is, in fact; so close to the village of Balik Pulau that 
I do not anticipate that there will be any great difficulty in guarding against trespass 
in this Reserve, since wood-stealers will hardly dare to carry on their operations practi- 
cally within sound of the District Office, and in momentary danger of being discovered. 
3. The other Reserves have been patrolled regularly by the Staff during the 
year and, by myself, on the dates given below : — 
Forest Reserve A, Pantai Acheh. — On 26th June, 1898, 8th July, 1898, and 
10th December, 1898. 
Forest Reserve B, Bukit Laksamana. — On 23rd January, 1898, with the Hon’ble 
Resident Councillor, and on 17th February, 1898, 7th October, 1898, and 
19th November, 1898. 
Forest Reserve C , Telok Bahang. — On 25th June, 1898. 
Forest Reserve G, Ginting Hills. — On nth February, 1898, 3rd November, 1898, 
and 3rd December, 1898. 
Forest Reserve H, Pasir Panjang and Bukit Gemuruh. — On 8th May, 1898, 10th 
June, 1898, 26th July, 1898, nth September, 1898, 3rd November, *898, 
and 3rd December, 1898. 
4. 1 he work of clearing the paths has been going on continuously throughout 
the year, but I have been unable to get right round the Pantai Acheh Reserve, about 
1 ^ miles of path on the South-East being unpassable until late in December, when 
I had no time to visit the Reserve. This was not in any way the fault of the Forest 
Guards. They cleared the whole path during the year, but as they began on the 
South, that portion grew up again during the year and had to be re-opened. I have, 
however, visited the Reserve in question at various points in the neighbourhood of 
Pantai Acheh Village Site, when there is the greatest risk of trespass, and am glad 
to say that there are far fewer traces of wood-stealing than in former years. The 
apparently regularly used paths leading into this Reserve which I mentioned in my 
report for 1897 have been blocked, and none of the fences put up have been removed. 
It would seem therefore that the Chinamen of this village site are beginning to realize 
the fact that the Reserve in question is to be kept inviolate and that any trespass 
upon it will be severely punished. They have in consequence confined their atten- 
tions to the Crowm Land in the neighbourhood. As this Reserve is the most impor- 
tant one in the District, I have had it more closely watched than the others whose 
comparatively inaccessible positions preclude any extensive wood-stealing from them, 
and the result has been on the whole satisfactory. 
5 I attach a list of the number of cases of illicit timber cutting in the Reserves 
brought before me during the year. There were only six cases, and though I would 
not say that no other theft of wood has taken place in the Reserves, I think that this 
list accounts for the majority of the cases of trespass during the year. At any rate, 
in my visits to each Reserve, I have been able to discover no further traces of the 
removal of timber, and I have been round all the boundaries with the exception of a 
small strip of path on the boundary of Forest Reserve A. 
6. The remarkable increase also in the number of passes taken out for cutting 
wood in Crown Land goes far, I think, to shew, that less timber has been removed 
illegitimately. I he sum recovered under this head in 1898 was $906.03, as compared 
with $563.62 in 1896, and $59445 in 1897. I know of no reason for the use of mo 
wood during 1898 by the people of this District, and I think, therefore, that some u . 
the increase represents the value of wood which would have been stolen under other 
circumstances. The Forest Ranger and his Staff have worked very well rliroughout 
the year and as they have been continually visiting the various Reserves, they have 
made extensive w'ood-stealing unsafe if not impossible. 
7. The work of clearing the boundaries has been an arduous one for the Staff, 
the rapid overgrowth having necessitated a second clearing of the majority of the 
paths at the end of the year, and it is unfortunate that their other work renders it 
impossible for the Forest Guards to do more actual guarding. There are in this 
District two Forest Guards, and two coolies engaged in clearing. They are all per- 
manently stationed as before in Telok Bahang, the more important Reserves in this 
District being situated in the North-West of the island. They pay occasional sur- 
