6 
2. The other four Reserves, being in less accessible positions, are less exposed 
to trespass of this nature, and the amount of illicit timber-cutting which takes place 
in them is practically insignificant. There are at any rate no such traces of wholesale 
theft as are to be met with occasionally in Forest Reserve A. They are all, with the 
exception of Forest Reserve G, of a similar nature, containing very much the same 
kind of timber as Forest Reserve A, the amount of good timber varying of course in 
proportion to their areas. I attach a rough list showing the various kinds of woods 
to be found in each of the Reserves. 
3. Forest ^Reserve G is so small in area, and contains such comparatively 
worthless timber that, as I suggested in my Report for 1897, it would, in my opinion, 
be as well to abolish it as a Reserve, dealing with it simply as Crown jungle on the 
hill top, and preserving it merely in the same way as all such Crown land is now 
reserved. The trees in it are only secondary jungle, the majority of them being 
climbers and worthless undergrowth, and I think that it is a waste of the time of the 
Forest Staff to make them clear and guard so insignificant a tract of jungle. In my 
Report I mentioned also Forest Reserve H as being comparatively unimportant, but 
a subsequent inspection of this Reserve and the timber contained in it, has caused me 
to change my opinion. Though small in area, it contains a great deal of big timber 
and is practically the only tract of such jungle left in the South of the Island. 
4. If it is considered inadvisable to lessen the number of Forest Reserves in 
this District, I would still recommend the abolition of Forest Reserve G, and I would 
suggest that the hill-tops forming the range of hills running South from Bukit Penara 
to the Ginting Hills, and dividing the Relau and Balik Pulau Plains, should be 
declared Forest Reserve in place of the present Forest Reserve G. There remain 
here about 130 acres of good timber (in the Mukims of Balik Pulau Hills and Pondok 
Upeh), and I believe that there is about as much more in the Town Mukim of Ayer 
Itam, only theoretically divided from that in this District by the Mukim boundary. 
1 do not know why Forest Reserve G was established, but I can see no reason for its 
continuance. The hill on which it is, is a low one, its area is absurdly small, the hill- 
tops on each side of it are cleared and planted right up to its boundary, it contains 
only a very poor class of secondary jungle, and it seems therefore to have no claims 
on account of its intrinsic value. There is also no stream in the valley below it, so 
that it seems to serve no good purpose. The Pondok Upeh jungle, on the other hand, 
contains a variety of good timber, runs some distance along the hill-top, is of far 
larger area, and has a fair sized stream running down the valley below it. On these 
grounds I think that the change I recommend, if feasible, would be a o-ood one. 
5. The “ Forest Operations ” during the year have consisted solely in patrolling 
the Reserves to prevent illicit timber-cutting, and in clearing the Forest Reserve 
paths. Eleven persons were prosecuted during the year for cutting timber in the 
Reserves, and fines to the extent of $220 were imposed. Of these $ 160 were paid. 
Two men from Pantai Acheh who were habitual wood-stealers and had previous con- 
victions, were sentenced to 3 months' rigorous imprisonment. One of the prosecutions 
was for cutting timber in Forest Reserve H, but all the remainder were for the same 
offence in Forest Reserve A, the defendants being all Chinamen living in the Pantai 
Acheh Village Site. 
6. The Forest Staff comprises 1 Forest Ranger, 2 Forest Guards and 2 coolies. 
During the latter half of 1897, the Forest Ranger was put in charge of the Forest Staff, 
who were formerly under the control of the Collector of Land Revenue, Penang. The 
2 Forest Guards and their coolies have been chiefly occupied throughout the year in 
clearing the paths round the Reserves — a continuous work, as no sooner has a path 
been finished than the portion first cleared again requires attention. The work is 
thus necessarily slow, and the other calls on the time of the Forest Guards, and the 
scattered positions of the Reserves, all of which have to be guarded and patrolled, 
make it difficult to keep pace with the rapid overgrowth. I hope, now that the paths 
have been thoroughly cleared and opened out — a work which was only rendered possible 
by the engagement of 2 coolies at the end of 1896 to assist the Forest Guards — that 
less attention will suffice to keep them open, and that thus the Guards will have more 
time for their work of patrolling the various Reserves. If their time is to be occupied 
every year as it was in 1897, . I consider the staff hardly sufficient for successful 
conservation. 
7. Apparently no steps have ever been taken here to plant in the Reserves 
trees which are becoming scarce, or to do anything more than prevent, as far as pos- 
