3 
the storm of 12th April. It will be rebuilt in 1955. In December Lawns P and 
R were enclosed with a wire-mesh security fence with a double barbed-wire 
apron, prior to the transfer of the orchid collection from around the Director’s 
house. 
13. No work on roads, paths and drains was done by the Public 
Works Department during the year. Gardens’ staff closed and turfed the paths 
on the Sun-dial and Pergola Terraces thus reducing the cost of maintenance 
and also improving the general appearance. 
14. From the 1st May the Office Ring Road, the only road which is now 
generally open to vehicles, was restricted to one-way traffic with parking on 
the left of the road only. This has reduced traffic conjestion considerably,, 
particularly at the weekends. Cyclists are still a nuisance and new by-laws 
to control them and other offenders are urgently wanted. No new by-laws have 
been made since 1922 and, although it is possible to prevent horses being 
grazed on the lawns, it is found impossible to control some other offenders. 
V. LIBRARY 
15. Towards the end of the year the Library, containing an extensive 
collection of botanical books, many of which are rare and valuable, was 
found to be heavily infested with boring beetles. Many of the books have 
since been hand-poisoned and all the shelves were removed from the office 
building where the clerical staff worked in one conjested corner. This has 
permitted re-organisation of the office, and a new building, built for the 
spirit collection, will be air-conditioned and used temporarily to house the 
library until such time as a new library can be built. 
16. Many current periodicals are received in exchange for the Gardens 
Bulletin and Annual Reports, and those for which subscriptions are paid 
were reviewed and amended. An effort is now being made not to duplicate 
unduly with the University of Malaya’s Library, except for those journals 
which are in frequent use by both institutions. A few new books were added 
towards the end of the year. There are very considerable arrears of binding 
to be done. 
17. Mr. G. A. C. Lopez, Library Assistant, resigned at the end of 
the year. 
VI. BOTANICAL WORK AND HERBARIUM 
(i) COLLECTING 
18. Mr. Sinclair continued collecting in Singapore and accessible areas 
of Johore during the year. Despite the extensive collecting that has been done 
in Singapore over a period of many years, several new records were obtained, 
the most interesting being Halorrhagis chinensis, which from its situation is 
probably native, but had not previously been collected in Malaya. In an 
area of swamp forest in the water-catchment area, he found a tree fern,. 
Cyathea glabra , and a waterlily, Barclaya motleyi, which had not been seen 
on the Island for many years. 
19. By kind permission of the R:N.V.R. authorities, Mr. Sinclair made 
a short trip on the training ship Panglima to collect on Pulau Tinggi in May. 
He also made several visits to Sungei Tiram in Johore, but had to give them 
up when it became a centre of bandit activity. He again spent three weeks 
OS 
