v.‘ ■ \ 
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
Paper to be laid before the Legislative Council by Command of 
His Excellency the Governor. 
Report on the Gardens and Forests Department, Straits 
Settlements, for the Year 1894. 
Botanic Gardens, Singapore. 
Staff. 
Several changes in the staff took place during the year. MandorT. C. Pereira 
was replaced by AHMAT ; Chief Mandor P. C. COORAY resigned; and the Inspector 
of Coco-nut Trees was dismissed. The frequency of these changes is to be deplored, 
but I can see no help for them without paying much larger salaries than we do. 
The Artist, Mr. D’ALWIS, who had previous to this year been paid from a special 
vote, was in January transferred to the Gardens vote. He too resigned his appoint- 
ment on account of the smallness of his payV this is particularly to be regretted, as 
it stops altogether, or at least considerably delays, the figuring of the new and charac- 
teristic plants of Malaya, with which it is intended to illustrate a written Flora. The 
Director, Mr. H. N. Ridley, went on leave to England in September ; and Mr. Derry, 
the Assistant Superintendent of Forests, Malacca, returned from England also in Sep- 
tember, and was detailed for duty at Head Quarters pending the result of the recom- 
mendations of the Retrenchment Committee, who had recommended that his office 
should be abolished. 
Visitors. 
3. There is a steady increase in the number of visitors. I am glad to report a 
less number of thefts than usual ; one resident, however, was caught stealing orchid- 
flowers, was prosecuted, and fined $30. The Regimental Band played frequently in 
the Gardens on Friday afternoons, and on several occasions by moonlight, the latter 
performances attracting enormous crowds. 
Aviaries. 
4. The aviaries, which form such. an attraction to visitors, have absorbed a con- 
siderable amount of labour and money, as they have been entirely reconstructed dur- 
ing the year. The old structures, which- were made of wood and shingle roofs, had 
become absolutely dilapidated, and it was resolved to rebuild them in a more perma- 
nent manner. The enclosures have been made by brick walls, and the roofs of cor- 
rugated iron, and better accommodation has been given to the animals. Several 
additions have been made to the collections, amongst them being a mynah from Java, 
presented by His Grace the Duke of NEWCASTLE; two crowned partridges (. Rollulus 
cr hiatus), presented by Dr. JOHNSTON of Pahang ; three pelicans (. Pelicanus manil- 
lensis), presented by Messrs. MACHADO and CLAIMING ; one emu [Dromceus norrn- 
hollandse ) and two jabirus (. Mycteria australis ), presented by Captain Vincent, Singa- 
pore; two Brahminy kites { Haliastur Indus) and one Malayan palm civet (. Parado - 
xurus hermaphroditus ), presented by Mr. C. P. DERRICK, Singapore; and one female 
bear ( Ursus malayanus), presented by Miss Aylesbury, Perak. The following were 
purchased : — Three bandycoots ( Parameles sp.) from New Guinea, and two young mias 
/ Simla satyrus). I regret to report the death of the large Malay bear from inflamma- 
tion of the stomach ; he had been in the Gardens nearly five years. The large mias 
purchased last year died from general debility ; and the black buck, which was pre- 
sented by the 2nd Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment, was killed by a deer, which 
