3 
PROTECTION OF FORESTS. 
20. Minor alterations were made to the Ordinance and Rules, the most 
important being an amendment to rule 18 empowering the Conservator of 
Forests to fix royalties and fees for leases of forest produce in reserves, 
ihe proposal to allow senior forest officers to compound minor offences 
referred to in paragraph 16 of last year’s report failed to meet with approval. 
21. No cases were pending from 1928. There were 103 new cases 
compared with 76 cases in 1928 and 112 in 1927. All were disposed of during 
the year . t here was a marked increase in forest offences in Singapore, but 
these were principally petty thefts of poles and firewood by squatters 
occupying land adjoining the mangrove forest. In all the other Settlements 
there was a decrease. 
22. Twenty-nine cases were taken to court, convictions being obtained 
in 26 cases, tire accused being discharged in the remainder. Fines inflicted 
totalled $1,518.20, i.c, h $58.39 per conviction compared with $462 and $18.48 
m 1928. Thirteen cases were dealt with departmentally and $137 was paid 
as compensation for damage. J he corresponding fig'ures for 1928 were 19 
and $606. 
There was a large increase of 61 in the number of undetected cases as 
compared with 28 in 1928. This increase was almost entirely in Singapore 
where petty thefts from the mangrove cannot be prevented without a dis- 
proportionate increase in staff. 
In Malacca there were 31 breaches of felling leases and fines amounting 
to $223 were imposed. 
Theie were several small fires in Penang and the Dinding'S, but the 
damage was not extensive. 
Crabs did very heavy damage to the newly planted bakau seedlings in 
the Pulau Burong reserve. 
SILVICULTURE. 
N atu r al Rep rod uct ion. 
^ 2 3 - Except in Malacca little seed was produced. M clantai fruited in the 
Pantai Acheh reserve in Penang during July. Some of it was collected and 
sown m the Bukit Goa Ipoh reserve, but failed to establish Itself. In 
Malacca there was an excellent seed crop, especially from the dipterocarps. 
Meranti, kerning and mersawa fruited, most noticeable being the profuse 
fruiting from June to September of meranti tembaga in all the reserves in 
the Settlement. In the Singapore mangrove forests bakau minyak and bakau 
kurap fruited, and in December scraya fruited in the Bukit fimali reserve. 
7 aban fruited in the Bukit Bruang reserve in Malacca and the Telok Bahaim 
reserve in Penang, and a sum of $174 was realised by the sale of 87,000 
seeds to estates in Pahang. 
PLANTING AND CULTURAL PLANTATIONS. 
24. The reafforestation experiments referred to in paragraphs 2^ and 24 
of last year’s report in the Bukit Goa Ipoh, Bukit Langkap and Bukit Juru 
reserves were continued. Operations in the last mentioned reserve ceased 
in September as the cultivator, a Malay, was unable to carry on. The species 
planted is sena and has done moderately well. It is reported that the results 
seem to show that tapioca should not be planted until an interval of at least 
six months after planting the trees. In the interval any low-growing annual 
crop may be planted, and for this purpose ubi kembili is very suitable. Seven 
out of the ten Malays who took up leases in the Bukit Langkap reserve gave 
up during the year. The taban and sena areas in the Telok Bahang reserve 
were cleaned. Foui acres of mangrove forest in the Pulau Burong reserve 
were planted w ith bakau obtained from Port Weld. In the Malacca planta- 
tions^ acres of taban and 33 acres of merbau were cleaned and 108 taban 
seedlings w r ere planted by the coolies engaged in the cleaning operations. 
An estate in Pahang bought 1,050 taban stumps from an old abandoned 
nursery. The Para rubber in the Yeo Chu Kang plantation in Singapore 
and the Avei Kroh plantation in Malacca w r ere tapped during the year. 
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