13 
they had been growing for some months. The supply of cut flowers was in¬ 
creased and pot plants and vegetables were provided as usual. Work was also 
done at the Changi Cottage. 
63. Some repairs and improvements were made to the grounds of the 
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly’s residence at 172 Mount Pleasant Road, 
for which a small additional vote was provided. 
XV. KRANJ1 WAR CEMETERY 
64. The Director of Botanic Gardens, with the approval of the Singapore 
Government, became the Imperial War Graves Commission’s representative in 
Singapore to take charge of the care and maintenance of their Kranji War 
Cemetery. The Gardens took over the administration and work at the cemetery 
from the 1st June, 1955, funds for the upkeep being provided by the Imperial 
War Graves Commission. Work continued on the regrading of the cemetery 
and the replanting of the lawns with Axonopus compressus. This was nearly 
completed by the end of the year. The replanted area was top-dressed with 
sludge purchased from the City Council, and resulted in a strong growth of 
rich, green grass. Trial plots of lawn grasses of Zoysia sp. and Cynodon 
dactylon were laid down. A large number of shrubs and herbaceous perennials 
was planted in headstone borders according to the Commission's plans. 
XVI. NATURE RESERVES 
65. The Board of Trustees of the Nature Reserves met on three occasions 
to conduct business, namely, 31st January, 2nd May and 17th November. A 
meeting arranged for the 29th July had to be cancelled as no quorum could 
assemble. Mr. John Laycock and Mr. C. C. Tan resigned from the Board of 
Trustees on the 4th April and 15th July respectively. Their places, available 
to the Legislative Assembly, remain vacant. Mr. A. Thompson of the Depart¬ 
ment of Botany of the University of Malaya retired from the Board on 28th 
June on the expiry of his term of office and his place has been taken by Dr. 
H. B. Gilliland, the new Professor of Botany, from the 24th September. Mr. 
R. S. Boswell acted for Mr. A. L. B. Swaine as representative of the Rural 
Board during the latter’s absence on leave. Mr. Yap Pheng Geek, representing 
the City Council, and Mr. M. W. F. Tweedie, a Governor’s nominee, served 
throughout the year. The Director of Botanic Gardens was ex-officio Chair¬ 
man. 
66. Supervisory staff was appointed in the employ of the Board with 
effect from 1956. Seven labourers at Bukit Timah and two at Kranji were 
employed during 1955, and in these reserves no major acts of vandalism or 
timber cutting occurred. At Pandan some cutting continued and encroachment 
by prawn ponds occurred at two points in the Pengkang sector. A corner of the 
Kranji Reserves was cut for road widening and realigning operations by the 
Public Works Department. Unfortunately this destroyed three of the four 
known specimens of Cynometra rami flora on Singapore Island. 
67. The Police continue to use the summit on Bukit Timah as a radio 
station. The approach road to the summit through the Hindhede Quarry was 
closed due to quarrying downwards and an alternative trace was made by the 
Company from the Reserves’ labour quarters. Owing to the excessive gradient, 
this was found to be expensive to maintain and unsafe, particularly in wet 
weather, for any transport except four-wheel drive vehicles. Consequently, 
the old road through the quarry will be maintained, culverts being constructed 
wherever quarrying cuts into its course. It is hoped that the threat of quarrying 
