7 
j conspicuous trees were lost. 
The stream gave a little trouble, and cost about $250 in repairs to its banks; 
Two of the plant houses were repaired. Mr. G„ PENNY was so good as to give a 
supply of charcoal for the tables in the plant houses: and the Municipality allowed the 
use of a road roller for the cost of working it. Part of the middle ^road was 
remetalled and part of the road near the entrance. 
Seed of Gloxinia and Streptocarpus was ripened; and a plentiful supply of 
seedlings has been obtained. The Field Assistant’s expeditions yielded 506 plants, 
notably Dendrobium cruentum, D. secundum , D. Pierardi , D. Farmer i, 7 ). tortile , 
Aglaonema obi ong ifo 1 1 u ni var. Curtisu> Platyctrinm bi forme , var. e rectum, Trang 
pepper, and an aquatic Cmnum , believed to be the lost C. stenophyllum. 
3,1 II plants were sent out, and 1,528 packets of seed. 
Of th e plants sent out 2,800 were sold, 174 exchanged, and 137 given to the 
Municipality. 
Labour in the Gardens was thus utilised: — for pot plants at the rate of 10.44 
men per diem, on lawns 6.27,011 trees 5.81, sweeping 3. 71, bedding 2.44, on roads 
3.03, in nurseries 2.63, on rockeries 0.90, and unclassed 0.49. 
Other Charges. 
Coconut Inspection. — The three Inspectors’ work shows : — (1) in Singapore, 254 
dying or dead coconut trees, 1,862 trunks, and 32 refuse heaps removed, with 210 
notices served : (2) Malacca, Central and jasin, 3,241 dying or dead coconut trees, 
6,522 trunks and 416 refuse heaps removed with 443 notices served, 167 summonses 
taken out, and $389 imposed in fines : and (3) Malacca, AJor Gajah, 269 dying and 
dead coconut or kabong trees, 696 trunks, and 2 heaps of refuse destroyed with 226 
notices served, 16 summonses taken out, and $36 imposed in fines. These figures 
indicate a considerable amount of work, but. the efficiency can only be judged by the 
appearance of the country side, which in Malacca is improved. In Singapore it is not 
so, for where persuasion used to work, compulsion is becoming necessary. The 
Malacca owner has always neglected his coconut groves from idleness, and the rising 
cost of labour with the diminishing profit from the nuts makes no difference; but it is 
otherwise in Singapore where the owners are so largely Chinese. 
There is a new Coconut pest in Malacca, a beetle, which is under study. It gives 
to the trees the same scorched appearance as does the moth Brachartona . Brachar- 
tona re-appeared in Singapore island at the end of the year. 
The Mount Zion Coconut Plantation was looked after at a cost of $171. 
Planting was continued. 
The Goodwood Estate Rubber Plantation supplied rubber returning $142 and 
a further quantity valued at $90 was in hand at the end of the year. The cost of 
upkeep was $341. As the Public Works Department was occupied in drainage 
operations for the first part of the year, weeding was then cut down. The drainage 
operations did harm to the trees whose deeper roofs died from the raising of the water 
table. The land should not be in rubber. * 
Government House Domain — Disease broke out in the avenue of Angsana trees 
(■ Pterocarpus indicus ) near the gale to Orchard Road. The avenue was immediately 
cut in the hope of restricting it. This disease, well known by its depredations, first in 
Malacca and then in Penang, is of fungal origin : it appeared in Pulau Brani in 1914, 
and from there it seems to have jumped to the Connaught Drive: next from the 
Connaught Drive it appeared half a mile away at Dhobi Ghaut and then one quarter 
of a mile further on in the Government House Grounds. 
< Besides the Angsana trees removed, four other trees have been lost. More than 
equivalent planting has been done. 
The labour was used as follows : — for lawns and mowing grass at the rate of 11.79 
men per diem, for trees 5.40, for sweeping and cleaning 4.95, for pot plants 4.14, at the 
Colonial Secretary’s bungalow for all kinds of work 3.86, in nurseries 3.19, for bedding 
2.77, in cultivating the plantation to the north 2.12, on paths 1.20, and unclassed 0,17. 
