* 
\ 
Malacca. 
20 
tlie . coast. Its area would be about 6,000 acres, and it is, 
I believe, almost entirely Crown land. 
i) 
90. I have referred to the absence of protection to the 
streams and water-courses of the island, the result of which is 
that, after even slight showers, they become discoloured and 
muddy. Belts of a few feet of thick jungle along their banks 
would prevent this in a great measure, by keeping back culti- 
vation now carried to the water edge, and by acting as a natural 
filter for rainfall. 
91. In regard to the present condition of the proposed 
reserves I have to remark that they contain very little timber, 
and will have to be stocked by artificial planting over the 
greater portion of their areas, a work that will'occupy an active 
planting staff for some considerable time. 
92. The advantages of ’protecting the spontaneous growth 
in the formation of forests so exceed those of artificial planting 
That the latter should only he resorted to when there is no hope 
of land becoming properly stocked without it. For the proper 
protection, working and general management of the forests, 
it is necessary that a small Forest Department be formed, 
and placed under .a trained and responsible officer. Under 
him there should be a unall Forest Police Force, who might be 
allotted quarters in the numerous police stations close to nearly 
.all the existing and proposed . serves. By this means the cost 
of erecting quarters for a nt i.oree would be reduced to a 
minimum. A working staff of m n employed in active forest 
.operations, such as planting, weeding, felling, &c.,and in nursery 
work, would also be necessary in such numbers as the annual 
plan of operations calls for. These men would be told off in 
gangs a ad would have to be provided with quarters, in the 
.shape . of atap-covered sheds costing but little. Over them - 
.should be placed overseers, the chief of whom would receive 
his instructions direct from the executive head of the depart- 
ment. 
93. Having already described the condition of the various 
forest reserves throughout the Settlement of Malacca, I will 
now detail the particular treatment each should receive to 
make them useful in the production of timber. At present 
the reserves require a thorough overhaul, and in most cases 
re-adjustment, and much depends on the co-operation of the 
Land Office in putting a stop to exhaustive cultivation, and 
in preventing reckless destruction, 
94. The first of the old reserves which claims attention 
is the extensive one covering the Jus and Bukit Singgeh 
districts, the immense area of which is certainly now more of 
an impediment to progress than an aid to it. Squatters have 
crept into the reserve in hundreds and have built villages and 
planted orchards to so great an extent that the southern half 
contains possibly more fruit trees than forest trees. The 
swampy land within the reserve boundary is under padi culti- 
vation, and, excluding tapioca, there is really little or no differ- 
ence between the lower half of the reserve and the unreserved 
country outside. I therefore strongly urge the re-adjustment 
of the reserve so as to throw the majority of the squatters and 
their villages outside such portions as it is necessary to retain. 
My modifications, which arc shewn on the Map, will give the 
Government a reserve of sufficient size and of better timber 
than they have at present, 
95. I have shewn that the Kvsang forest reserve is compa- 
