6 
A. 
* 
GARDENS AND FORESTS DEPARTMENT, PENANG. 
1. There has been no change in the staff during the year. MAHOMED Haniff, 
who was Acting Overseer of the Waterfall Garden at the date of my last report, was 
confirmed in the post on the completion of his apprenticeship in June. 
Maintenance of Forest Reserves. 
2. Consequent on the reduction of the Government Grant from $2,300 in 1892 
to $1,000 in 1893, the number of Guards had to be reduced to five, which is the least 
with which any effective protective work can be done in such small and scattered 
mountainous reserves as those in this Settlement. 
With this staff, the boundaries, aggregating 65 miles in length, have been kept as 
clearly defined as circumstances would permit. Twelve persons were prosecuted for 
illicit timber cutting, and two for causing jungle fires. Two of these cases were dis- 
missed, and the remainder fined in sums varying from $2 to $50, the total amount of 
fines inflicted amounting to $174. 
3. The Sergeant’s quarters on Government Hill tumbled down during the year, 
and there being no money available for re-construction, he has been obliged to hire a 
house and live at an inconvenient distance from his work. The temporary station at 
Telok Bahang is also in an advanced state of decay and wall soon be uninhabitable. 
1 hese buildings have hitherto been maintained out of the annual grant, but on the 
reduced scale this is no longer possible, and additional provision for buildings is 
necessary. 
4. The Revenue Survey, completed during the year, shows that the protected 
forest area is greater than was originally estimated, the actual extent being 15.7s 
square miles, or 10,057 acres, equal to about one-seventh of the whole island ; and 
Pula u Jerejak 1.30 square miles, or 830 acres. These reserves are in eight blocks, 
mainly on the sides and crests of steep hills at from 1,000 to 2,750 feet elevation, and 
are for the greater part stocked with valuable kinds of timber. Owing, however, to 
their inaccessibility to timber-cutters, it is improbable that any considerable revenue 
will be derived from the greater portion, unless timber and charcoal become much more 
expensive than at present. 
5. It must, however, be borne in mind that the value of these hill reserves is not 
represented by the probable amount of revenue to be derived from them, either now or 
in the future, as their purpose is mainly climatic, and it would be a great misfortune 
should they by any means be destroyed. 
6. The most important, from a revenue-producing point of view, is the North- 
West reserve, a great portion of it being bounded by the sea. Licenses for cutting 
within this, and easily accessible parts of some of the other reserves, would, I believe, 
be willingly taken out at considerably higher rates than at present paid, but consider- 
ing that no restriction had been put on timber-cutting up to 1885, and that all the 
best kinds of timber are of slow growth, strict supervision would be necessary. My 
opinion is that it would be better to wait a few years longer before issuing licenses 
for these reserves. 
7. A good number of specimens of forest trees, &c. were collected during the 
year while on inspection duty in connection with forest reserves, &c., and about 720 of 
these were sent to Kew, Dr. King, the British Museum, and Singapore. Early in the 
year, the whole of the Dipterocarpeee collected by myself in Penang and Langkawi 
were sent to Dr. King, on loan, for use in connection with the working out of this 
order for “ Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. ” These he has since re- 
turned named, and a large proportion prove to be previously undescribed. 
Waterfall Garden . 
8. I here has been no falling off either in the attraction, or appreciation by the 
public of this garden,, and, as in previous years, by far the greater portion of my time 
has been devoted to it. Many additions and improvements have been effected, and a 
great number of new and interesting plants added to the collection. 
9 - Two thousand and five hundred (2,500) plants and 82 packets of seeds were 
istributed free to public institutions and by way of exchange, and about the same 
number of plants sold, the total amount received from this source amounting to 
$500. Ornamental foliage and flowering plants are most in demand, but a good 
number of shrubs, fruit trees, shade trees, &c. are included in these figures. A list of 
the principal Contributors and Recipients is given in Appendix B annexed. 
a 
