3 
PROTECTION OF FORESTS. 
17. No changes were made in the forest laws. 
18. The number of offences reported was 85, compared with 143 in 1924. 
In no less than 40 ot these cases me onenders were not iouna, ana ot uiese 
40 cases 31 were in Singapore. In 1924 there were 24 undetected cases, 
ot which none were in Singapore. In 1924 there were 56 detected cases 111 
Singapore: in 1925 there were only 5. inese variations are quite inexpli- 
cable. Ali that is reported about the undetected cases is that they were 
nearly all cases of thefts of poles or firewood. 
During the year 19 cases were taken to court, of which 3 ended in 
acquittal; 24 cases were dealt with departmentally, of which 22 were com- 
pounded. bines of $706 and compensation of $235 were paid by order of 
the courts, and a sum of $550 was realised (mostly m Malacca) in compounded 
cases. Seized and confiscated property realised $145. Four cases were 
pending at the close of the year. 
Compensation and hues paid for breach of conditions of permits 
amounted to $93. 
19. In March a fire killed 15 taban me rah* and 20 tab an percha (a variety 
of taban patch) in the Bukit Timah Reserve. 
IMPROVEMENT OF FORESTS. 
Natural Reproduction. 
20. It was a poor seed-year for most of the important commercial 
species. Gutta-percha fruited sparingly at Telok Pahang in Penang, and 
opportunity was taken to replenish the nursery and to dispose of the remaining 
seed by sale. Five trees yielded 8,400 seeds, and 7,400 of them were sold 
for $74. In tlie Ayer Kroii plantations near Malacca gutta-percha seeded 
fairly freely, and 157,700 seeds were sold to the Sel borne Plantations at $1 
per 1,000. 
PLANTING AND CULTURAL OPERATIONS. 
21. The Para rubber trees in the Chua Chu Kang Reserve were leased 
for .the year for $480, and those in the Bukit Timah Reserve for $1,065. 
The receipts in both cases were credited to the Agricultural Improvement 
Deposit Irust. 
22. Existing plantations in Penang were maintained, but the teak and 
tc mints it plantations in the Tasek Glugor Reserve in Province Wellesley 
were not considered worth retention and were included in the 337 acres ex- 
cised from the reserve. Few of the bamboo cuttings planted in belukar at 
Telok Bahang established themselves. Rooted plants gave better results, 
but their cost is prohibitive. An attempt to strike cuttings in better soil in 
shade, with a view to transplanting later, was not conspicuously successful. 
23. About 6 acres of blanks in the Tanjong Piurong mangrove reserve 
were planted up with bakau minyak at a cost of $50, and about 5 acres of, 
dafnar laui regeneration in a formerly worked area of the Telok Muroh 
Reserve were assisted at a cost of $11. Some neglected merbau in the Lumut 
Reserve were freed from surrounding vegetation at a cost of $4. 
24 Para trees in the Bukit Bruang Reserve in Malacca which were 
under-planted with gutta-percha were topped to admit light to the young 
plants, which are doing well. Receipts from the Bukit Bruang plantations 
amounted to $348. and the cost of maintenance to $31. 
* The botanical names of trees etc. mentioned in this Report are given in Appendix A ■ 
