<L 
23 
* 
Office, they should be resumed and handed over to the Forest 
Department. 
106. I also recommend the formation of a series of nur- 
series for the propagation of forest trees. 
107. Apart from the consideration of mountain and 
stream reserves, ■wood-supply, &c., I must urge that all pos- 
sible efforts be made to stop the felling operations now going 
on in the private forests which clothe the hills, and by which 
the town is surrounded on two sides. If these forests are 
removed, the temperature of the town will be raised and made 
drier, and a change for the worse in its sanitary condition will 
be. the result. 
108. On the annexed map I have shewn which I consider Province Wellesley, 
the best positions for forest reserves under present circumstances, 
and of these Bukit Mertajam, as the most central, the most 
easy of access, and the nearest to the chief sources of demand, 
maybe looked upon as the most important, though the reserves 
marked S and Y may contain upon the whole more timber. 
Reserve R is only shewn as occupying a convenient posi- 
tion for the creation of a reserve or plantation. This land is at 
present under padi cultivation, but I think 1 should be planted 
up as timber is scarce in the locality, a" its vant will be more 
felt by and bye. To stock tlies^ aserves properly, a great 
deal of planting will be reouir in addition to wliat can be 
done in the way of protecu nd encouragement of sponta- 
neous growth, but I will n cal with details here. 
109. Looking at the position of these reserves, it will be 
seen that they are approached by rivers which will facilitate 
transport of timber and other forest produce. The rivers of 
Province Wellesley are constantly flooded by the tide of the 
Straits, and it is therefore considered unnecessary to retain av 
reserve of jungle along their banks, and, as the mountain ranges 
lie wholly within the reserve boundaries, all consideration of - 
mountain reserve lines are done away with. 
110. I also recommend that the road sides in the Province 
which are bare of trees, and all similar roads in other Settle- 
ments, be planted with roadside trees at distances of about 
thirty feet apart, and with a view to this I give a list of trees 
suitable for roadside planting — See Appendix B, 
111. The greater amount of timber shipped from the 
Straits of late years ]ias been the produce of the J ohor forests, 
but even thei'e timber has now to be brought from long dis- 
tances and, according to a statement made by the proprie- 
tors of the Johor Steam Saw Mills, it is yearly becoming more 
difficult to obtain. The reason of this is apparent, when it is 
considered that according to figures supplied by the Gambier 
and Pepper Society, there are no less than 4,000 Gambier 
and Pepper plantations in Johor, and that this number is being 
constantly added to. Under these circumstances it will be seen 
that the timber supply from Johor is, like most other sources 
of supply over which the Government has no control, very 
precarious. 
CONCLUSION. 
112. The measures which have been recommended in the 
foregoing pages may be briefly summarised thus : — 
(a.) Preventing the felling of forests and the clearing of 
forest lands, 
