INTRODUCTORY 
The history of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, was briefly sketched in the 
1948 report, and it is not necessary to repeat it here. It may, however, be 
of interest to recall that the present Gardens were established in 1859, and 
came under Government control in 1874, The first attempt to establish a 
Botanic Garden was made by Sir Stamford Raffles soon after the founding 
of Singapore, but this Garden, which was sited on the slopes of Fort Canning, 
was abandoned in 1829. 
Staff 
The Director, Mr. R. E. Holttum. retired from Government service in 
September to take the Chair of Botany in the University of Malaya. Mr. 
Holttum joined the Department in 1922 as Assistant Director and became 
Director in 1925. In his new' sphere of activities as Professor of Botany he 
will be in close contact with the Botanic Gardens, and this association, it is 
certain, will benefit both the University and the Gardens. Mr. M. R. Henderson. 
Assistant Director, acted as Director for the remainder of the year, arid Mr. 
J. Sinclair, Curator of the Herbarium, as Assistant Director. Mr. J. W» 
Ewart, Assistant Curator, Gardens, who returned from leave in August, resumed 
duty as Agricultural Officer, Singapore, in addition to his own duties. Bajuri 
bin Sappan, formerly Storekeeper, was appointed Technical Assistant as from 
1st October, 1949. Mohamed Nur bin Mohamed Ghous, Herbarium Assistant, 
was on pilgrimage leave from 16th June to 15th December, 1949. 
The labour force averaged seventy-five in the Gardens and fifty-six in 
Government House Domain. Their health was good. 
Botanical Work in 1949 
Work on the revision of the flora of Malaya proceeds steadily, but has 
been somewhat slowed down by the impossibility, or at least tiie inadvisability 
of undertaking field expeditions in the Federation. Those places which would 
be most profitable to visit seem also to be those most infested by bandits. The 
only collecting tour undertaken in the Federation was one to Maxwell’s Hill, 
Taiping, by Mr. J. Sinclair in September. This is a locus classicus of Malayan 
botany, having been visited by many botanists during the past seventy or 
eighty years. But Mr. Sinclair found, as any botanist in Malaya will find who 
thoroughly explores even a small area of forest, that there is still something 
new to be recorded. Two ferns new to Malaya were found on Maxwell’s Hill, 
as well as some other plants which had been previously known only from 
one collection from other localities. Mr. Sinclair, who has done a considerable 
amount of collecting in Singapore island during the year, demonstrated that 
even here, where the original vegetation of the area has almost disappeared, 
novelties can be discovered, and he has added a dozen or more plants to 
the flora of Singapore. Mr. Sinclair visited Kuching in February at the 
request of the Sarawak Government in order to examine and put into order 
the Herbarium of the Sarawak Museum, which had been neglected during the 
Japanese occupation, but which, fortunately, had suffered little damage during 
