3 
Buildings. 
12. No new buildings were erected. General repairs were carried out by and at 
the expense of the Public Works Department except in Penang and Province 
Wellesley, where repairs to buildings at Penara Bukit and Tasek Glugor cost the 
Forest Department $1 1 7. 
Protection of Forests. 
13. No changes were made in the forest laws. 
14. Forty-four cases were taken to Court, convictions being secured in 38, or 
86*4 percent. Two cases pending from 1914 were abandoned as the accused absconded. 
Fines amounting to $439.7° were inflicted in addition to $464.18 awarded to the 
department as compensation for damage to forest property. The latter sum includes 
$100 as damages for a fire in the Sungei Pinang Kechil Reserve. The percentage 
of convictions in the Dindings was again very low, 3 cases out of 9 being acquitted. 
15. Eleven cases were compounded for $180. 93 ) namely, 3 Malacca by the 
Resident for $119.93, 3 * n Singapore by the Collector of Land Revenue for $30, 
and 5 in the Dindings by the District Officer for $31. It is not clear on what authority 
* cases are disposed of in this way, as the compounding of forest offences is not 
provided for in the Forest Ordinance. 
Improvement of Forests. 
Natural Reproduction. 
16. Reports from Malacca show that 1915 was an exceptionally good seed year, 
many of the Dipterocarps producing heavy crops of seed, especially Meranti, Merawan, 
Rambai Daun, and Resak. There are no reports from the other Settlements. 
Plantations. 
17. The area of regular plantations remained unaltered. The experimental 
planting of Tembusu on lalang iand was continued on a small scale at Tasek Glugor 
in Province Wellesley, but the results cannot be considered satisfactory. 
18. The Lumut Para Rubber Plantation was farmed out for six years with effect 
from the 1st January, 1915, for the sum of $400 to be paid in instalments. Sales of 
rubber remaining from 1914 brought in $38*59. 
19. In the Tanjong Mangrove Reserve in the Dindings 18,000 mangrove 
seedlings were planted in areas which had been clear felled in previous years. The 
major part of this work, on which only $9.20 were spent, was done by the staff. The 
areas so treated cannot be included in the return of plantations, as the blanks treated 
were scattered and undefined. 
20. The Bukit Timah Rubber and Gutta-percha Plantation, which is financed from 
the Agricultural Improvement Deposit Account, was brought into good order, and 
tapping, which was discontinued in August, 1914, owing to the low price of rubber, 
was resumed in March, 1915. The sale of 521^ lbs. of rubber realized $384.76, 100 lbs. 
remaining in hand at the close of the year. The expenditure was considerable, 
namely $755.25, but the extra outlay and attention devoted to the plantation during 
the year should make future upkeep considerably less expensive. The small 
plantation at Seletar was allowed to rest. 
21. In Malacca the total expenditure on plantations was $2,344.24. The yield of 
rubber obtained from the Ayer Kroh and Bukit Sebukor plantations was 2,907 lbs., a 
decrease of 227 lbs. compared with the previous year. This is explained by the 
adoption of new tapping methods and resting of some of the older trees, which had 
been tapped .too heavily in the past. The revenue from sales of rubber amounted to 
$2,932.59. These plantations are managed by the Forest Department on behalf of the 
Gardens Committee, who provide the money for maintenance and are credited with all 
revenue realized. The work is a great tax on the time of the Forest Ranger in charge, 
and, so far as the rubber is concerned, is outside the scope of a forest officer’s duties. 
It is therefore proposed to lease the rubber plantations, or the right to tap the trees 
in them, and to transfer the area planted with forest trees to the Forest Department. 
