4 
Reports on the Forest Reserves in the Settlement of 
) Penang, for the year 1897. 
North-East District, Penang. 
Land Office, 
Penang, 18 th February, 1898. 
1. An account of the area and position of the Penang Forest Reserves may 
l>e seen in Gardens 3,089/96 (C. S. 2,010/96) of 13th April, 1896. 
2. During the year under review, those Reserves that are under this Office have 
been under the charge, as regards detection of illicit cutting, of two Guards. The clear- 
ing of the boundaries has been the work of these Guards and two coolies. They are 
all under the supervision of the Land Office Forest Ranger, who takes his orders from 
the Collector of Land Revenue. 
3. I have recently walked round the Reserves and found that, though in some 
places the boundary paths were quite clear, in other places they were almost impas- 
sable. This was chiefly in the more inaccessible places, and I am of opinion that the 
only way of keeping these paths open is to employ a special gang of coolies for a 
few days to thoroughly open them once a year. The four men who are regularly em- 
ployed cannot, I think, keep the whole lines open without outside assistance. 
4. I do not recommend any increase to the vote for Maintenance of the 
Reserves beyond {a) a sum sufficient to cover the wages of the gang of coolies 
referred to above, and (b) an increase of $2 a month to the pay ot the elder of the 
two Guards. This man, who has been about 10 years in Government Service, receives 
only $8 a month. He has consequently been regarded as a mere coolie, and all the 
responsibility for the maintenance of the paths falls upon the Forest Ranger, whose 
duties are multifarious. I think this man should receive a wage of |(o a month and 
the title of Head Forest Guard. He lives upon the hill and can patrol the more in- 
accessible parts of the Reserves without difficulty. I recommend that he be given 
this increase of pay upon the understanding that he will lose his employment if the 
Collector’s next report upon the state of the paths after inspection is not favourable. 
The Forest Ranger should of course continue to go round the Reserves and report 
the result of his inspection to the Collector of Land Revenue, but he has not been 
able, since the introduction of Ordinance V of 1895, which requires demarcation by 
him of every portion of a lot in the District that is transferred or mortgaged, to give 
sufficient time to the Reserves. The unsatisfactory state of some of the boundary 
paths is due to the fact that neither the Collector of Land Revenue (who was engaged 
in Magisterial work in addition to his own duties during the greater part of the year) 
nor the Forest Ranger has been able to give enough attention to the work. It is 
unlikely that this will be the case again. Moreover, a few extra coolies working for 
a short time would put the paths in a proper state, and if my recommendation as to 
the Head Forest Guard is carried out, the paths will doubtless be kept sufficiently 
open. Further expenditure than this would, in my opinion, not be justifiable. 
5. During the year, 21 prosecutions for illicit cuttings took place, resulting in 
19 convictions. There have been no encroachments on the Reserves. Any encroach- 
ment would be easily discoverable, and the land and timber upon it vyould not be of suffi- 
cient value to induce any one to run the risks resulting from such a proceeding, in 
connection with the subject of the removal of timber, I may be allowed to advert to 
what seems to me to be a populai error as regards the former state of the Penang 
Reserves. It is frequently stated that the paucity of large hard-wood trees, on the 
higher slopes of Penang Hills, is due to the fact that they were gradually weeded out 
surreptitiously years ago when there was no sufficient supervision of the Forests. 
