12 
listen to them, sometimes as many as 2,000 people. Since the founding of the’ 
Gardens on their present site in 1859, concerts in the bandstand have been a 
regular feature, although there had been periods when no band has performed. 
The last concert had been given early in 1953 and it is pleasing to report 
that their resuscitation has proved such a great attraction. 
58. The bands of the following regiments performed during the year: 
15/19th The King’s Royal Hussars, 11th Hussars, 1st Battalion, The Royal 
Scots Fusiliers, 1st Battalion, The Royal Hampshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion. 
Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 1st Battalion, 
Northern Rhodesia Regiment, 1st Battalion, The Queen's Royal Regiment, 
1st Battalion, The King’s Own Scottish Borderers and the 1/10 Gurkha Rifles. 
The King’s Own Scottish Borderers, in addition to providing band items, also 
performed a set of pipe tunes and sword dance by four pipers in full dress,, 
while the Northern Rhodesia Regiment gave an impressive display of march¬ 
ing on the Upper Ring Road. The Commanding Officers of the above re¬ 
giments and the bands are thanked for providing many excellent and colourful 
concerts. 
XII. GARDENS’ BY-LAWS 
59. As reported last year no new by-laws have been made since 1922, and 
the governing principal legislation, the Raffles Society Ordinance of 1878, 
is under revision. 
XIII. GARDENS’ TRAINEES 
60. During the year fifteen trainees were accepted from the Singapore 
Anti-Tuberculosis Association and the Rehabilitation Centre of the Labour 
Department. They spend six months at the Gardens and receive instruction 
in the various sections to which they are attached. 
XIV. GOVERNMENT HOUSE DOMAIN 
61. The grounds were kept in their usual good condition. The most 
notable improvement during the year was the removal of the old rockery round 
the pool on the top lawn and the concrete divisions in the pond itself. The area 
round the pool was then levelled and turfed. This work improved the vista from 
the front of Government House. At a small cost it had provided a simple 
dignity which was previously lacking. The pergolas now play a very essential 
part in the design, and the Mucuna bennettii on them flowered well, more 
especially towards the end of the year, when the weather was cooler and wetter. 
The design of the ’new garden’ was also improved by the removal of the 
standard Hibiscus , which broke up the lawn, and by replacing the long mixed 
herbaceous borders along the top of the bank with two small beds of Mus- 
saenda erythrophylla. The triangular section near H. E.’s Office was re-model- 
led and part of it was turned into a car park. A new hedge of Baphia nitida 
planted near the second gate is forming a good screen. 
62. With the purchase of a Dennis motor mower with two wide-cuts. 
it was possible to give more attention to, and to improve the large grass areas 
in the outlying portions of the Domain, During the long dry spell in March 
many lawns suffered and turned brown, an unsual occurrence in Singapore. 
Adequate supplies of spent hops, horse manure and cattle manure were obtained 
for the Domain and large quantities of compost were made. The plant house in 
the potting yard was repaired by the Public Works Department and the foliage 
plants improved considerably when transferred to it from under the trees where 
