i 
the 
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E N S * BULLET 
S INGAPORE 
Vol.XI 30th September. 1947 Part 4 
p- 
THE SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDENS DURING 1941-46 
Prior to the Japanese attack on Malaya, 
most of the senior staff of the Gardens were 
seconded for other duties under the Depart¬ 
ments of Pood Control and Information, for 
at least part of the time. The result was 
that botanical work was reduced, and 
considerable arrears of unnamed and undis¬ 
tributed specimens accumulated# The Gardens 
were maintained as usual, with the addition 
of demonstration plots of vegetables# 
After the attack on Malaya, Messrs. J. 
C# Nauen (in charge of the Waterfall Gardens, 
Penang) and G.H. Addison, horticultural 
officers, were mobilized with the local 
defence forces; they were subsequently taken 
prisoner and sent to work on the Siam-Burma 
railway, where Mr. Nauen lost his life# An 
appreciation of Mr. Nauen* s services is 
given elsewhere in this issue, Mr. J.L# 
Pestana, Laboratory Assistant, was similarly 
taken prisoner and sent to Siam# Mr. J. W. 
Swart, the third senior horticultural officer, 
was on leave, and was later transferred 
temporarily to the Dept, of Agriculture, Gold 
Coast# Mr# M.R. Henderson, Curator of the 
Herbarium, was evacuated from Singapore with 
the Dept, of Information, and subsequently 
worked in the herbarium of the National 
Botanic Gardens, Kirstenbosch, South Africa. 
Messrs. R.S. Holttum and E.J.H# Corner 
remained in Singapore during the Japanese 
occupation; also Dr. C.X. Purtado, Assistant 
Botanist* 
At the time of the Japanese attack on 
Singapore, fighting ceased on a line about 
iz 
