Annual Report on the Forest Department, Straits 
Settlements, for the Year 1885. 
SINGAPORE. 
Demarcation of Reserves, 
The demarcation of reserves has been one of the chief works of the year. The 
following have been marked off where necessary by an eight-foot boundary path, 
viz. : — Chan Chu Kang, Sembawang, Pandan, and Mandai reserves. These contain 
together an area of about 4,383 acres. 
2. The length of boundary lines opened amounts to about thirteen miles, five 
miles of which have been planted with fast-growing trees ; rivers and public roads 
have been adopted for ten miles of boundary, which has kept down cost of demarca- 
tion and maintenance. Reserves in various districts other than the above have been 
marked off on the maps and noted by the Land Office ; these contain an area of about 
• 4,914 acres. 
Leases within Reserves. 
3. Within the boundaries of the reserves are several small holdings as yet 
unpurchased, these may amount together to an area of 1,500 acres, and will be 
demarcated under the new Land Ordinance without cost to Government. 
Protection. 
4. For protective purposes, a staff of ten watchmen has been employed 
throughout the year, and has protected an area of 5,553 acres, being an average charge 
of 555 acres per man. They have also kept in order 16 miles of 8-foot boundary 
line opened last year, which has been the means of preventing fire entering the 
reserves as well as forming a boundary to them. The watchmen made four arrests 
and obtained three convictions, chiefly for illicit wood-cutting. 
Maps shewing the reserve boundaries have been supplied by the Survey 
Department, on a scale of 16 chains to the inch, which materially assisted the work 
of the year. 
Fires and Damage. 
5. The only case of lire which occurred during the year took place on the 
military reserve, where about two acres of young plantation were partly destroyed. 
The Are originated through carelessness on the part of workmen who had quarters 
within the reserve. 
The heavy rains which took place in the middle of December flooded some 20 
acres of the flat land of this reserve and killed about 3,000 plants. There have been 
no other casualties to record. 
Erection of Quarters. 
6. Sheds for the accommodation of coolies employed in demarcation work have 
been erected at Pandan and at Chan Chu Kang, and a substantial wood house for the 
overseer of the experimental nursery at Tanglin. 
