'3 0 
Diseas e. Insect and Ani- 
mal Life. 
\ 
Regulations. 
Europe, ordinary agricultural crops might be grown much 
longer on the same spot than is now the case ; nor is the 
laiang grass so formidable an opponent of cultivation, as it 
is generally considered to be. It is easily destroyed by the 
shade of plants taller than itself when planted sufficiently near 
each other, and may, -if desired, he grubbed out altogether. 
This grass may be looked upon as a valuable provision of 
nature in shading and protecting the waste lands which it 
covers from the deteriorating influence of the sun until suitable 
crops can be planted on them, or they are otherwise stocked 
by nature. 
40. The forest trees of the Island are remarkably free fro 
fungoid disease and fungi generally. The climate seems 
unfavorable for the development of this tribe of plants, and 
I have no recollection of having met with any tree which 
could be called diseased, although many were attacked by 
insects. 
41. Insect life is very numerous in this part of the world, 
the family of beetles and boring insects specially so ; hut white 
ants, with which some lands swarm, are perhaps the most des- 
tructive, and seem to prefer wood of a light open-grained 
nature. In the Botanical Gardens of the Colony they have 
shewn a decided preference for pine trees and Australian trees 
generally. In the forests I have noticed trees of Litsoea, Camp- 
nospernram, Quercus, Castanopsis, &c., eaten over by them. It 
is most difficult to suggest a remedy for their ravages, but, in 
this direction I have used gas R ~ : 'h most success. They dis- 
like any strong-smelling thing, a.. T have known them fright- 
ened away by a dose of guano watei. There are, indeed, many 
substances and liquids which will kill them, but the difficulty 
is to get one that will destroy the ants without destroying the 
tree also, and one that will prevent their returning, and I 
believe no such remedy is at present known. 
> 
42. The Forests of this Colony are, as has been often 
remarked, singularly devoid of animal life ; but of those animals 
and birds enumerated in the Appendix, all, except the Deer, 
which are not plentiful, are the cause of much injury or annoy- 
ance to the Forester. See Appendix I). 
4*3. There are in Singapore absolutely no Forest Buies or 
Regulations, or Forest law of any kind. And it is most difficult 
to bring offenders to justice. The Forest Ranger staff of the 
island consists of two men only, who live in the town of Singa- 
pore, and visit such districts as the Collector of Land Revenue, 
under whose orders they are, sends them to, and at such times 
as he thinks proper. 
44. Considering, therefore, the isolated nature of the 
forests, no attempt can he said to be made at protection, but 
only for the punishment of such offences as come to light. 
This is, I believe, the opposite to what should he aimed at, as it 
is opposed to the rules of good forest conservancy. There 
should always he a sufficiency in the Protection force to enable 
it to aim at prevention, as it is not the number of cases on the 
Magistrate’s list which shew that the forests are being well- 
looked after, but rather the paucity of such. The amount of 
lines for forest destruction received in 1881 amounts to no less 
than $2,653, which in itself will give some idea of what is 
going on in the way of forest clearing, and this sum, there is 
reason to believe, represents but a small part of the value of 
what is really destroyed. With this exception and that of the 
fees paid for cutting firewood, there is at present no revenue 
from forests properly so called, or expenditure on them, 
