Swinton, Shipwright. Steward, W.; employ of Messrs Thomas & Co. Thomas, Charles. Thomas, C. S. Thomas, Josiah. Thomsen, C. H.; Missionary. Westerborgh, Punch-house keeper. Wright, John. Armenian Merchants and others in their employ. Isaiah Zechariah. Messrs Satoor and Stephen. Aristakus Sarkis and J. Manook. Carapit Phanoos. Johannes Simon Sarkis Aratoon Sarkis Seth Avieth Seth; employ of Isaiah Zechariah. Rates of Wages for Coolies &c. Malay Head Carpenter.... 6 Do.... A Malay Hours for cooly work, from past 6 A. M. to 11 and from 1 P. M. to past 5. No. 63. Messrs Almeida, Armstrong, Crane, Dalton, Guthrie, Hay, Hunter, Johnston, Mackenzie, Maxwell, Patton, W. Napier, R. Napier, Purvis, Read, Spottiswoode, Connolly, Syme, Charles Thomas, Bernard, Brown, Bell, Bruce, Coleman, Dunman, Ellis, Freeze, Frazer, George, Hansen, Hawthorn, Lardner, Laby, Loch, Merryweather, Milton, MacDonald, Martin, Page, Shaw, Swinton, Temperton, Salmon, C. F. Thomas, J. Thomas, Thomsen, Westerborah, Gilbert, Cox, Macquire, J. Wright, Allpike, Gummer. British European inhabitants residing at Singapore. Having been directed by the Hon'ble the Governor in Council to call upon all British European Inhabitants residing at this Settlement to exhibit the date of their arrival, occupation and license under which they reside, I request that you will transmit to my office the information required for transmission to the Honorable the Governor in Council, as well as subscribe your names in acknowledgment of having perused this requisition. Singapore, 20th March, 1827. (Signed) John Prince, Resident Councillor. Inspected by (Signed) George Armstrong, (Signed) James R. Bruce, Frederick Freese, C. S. Thomas, Josiah Thomas, H. F. Hansen, Thomas Laby, W. Page, Francis Cox, John Ellis, R. Macquire, H. Gilbert, (Signed) W. Merryweather, (Signed) Stephen Hallpike, William P. Paton, Report upon the present state of the Honorable Company's Sir,-In laying the accompanying report upon the present state of the garden before you, it seems to me proper to mention that in the year 1822, it was proposed to Sir Stamford Raffles by Dr Wallich, to establish a Botanical and Experimental Garden, for the purpose of forming a depôt for plants, from the circumjacent parts of the world, for which purpose Singapore seemed admirably adapted by its central situation and mild climate, by means of which plants indigenous to countries situated in high latitudes, might more easily be naturalized to a tropical climate, at the same time the experiment of cultivating spices was to be tried and if found to succeed might be carried on to any extent necessary. Dr Wallich proposed to me to take charge of the garden, but at the same time told me that as the thing was upon a small scale my services must be gratuitous. I readily assented to his proposal and was in consequence put in charge by the Lieutenant Governor. When Dr Wallich left Singapore he promised to send one of his experienced assistants from the Botanical Garden at Calcutta, who would give me the necessary aid in the Botanical department. In the mean time the Lieutenant Governor ordered an allowance of $60 per mensem, for the support of an establishment and to cover contingent charges for tools, building and repairing of huts for the workmen, and I was directed to go on with the necessary operation of elearing the ground and planting out the spices and taking care of those already planted by Lieut. Colonel Farquhar, until I should obtain the promised aid from Calcutta; but from causes of which I am ignorant, I have never heard from Dr Wallich further upon the subject. My attention has been therefore turned solely to the cultivation of the spices which appeared to thrive uncommonly well. Some of the nutmeg trees have been in pretty good bearing since last year and the finest of the fruit I have planted out as soon as ripe, by means of which there are now upwards of 200 young plants, the produce of the garden, now in the nursery. The clove trees, though one or two showed appearance of blossoms last year, have never yet produced fruit, but this year there is a show of buds which if they come to perfection will turn out a very abundant crop. The trees are in general very healthy and well grown for their age, and though we labour under the great disadvantage of not being able to procure manure, from the scarcity of cattle at this place, the appearance of the plants is admitted by Mr Lewis and other gentlemen who have had considerable experience in the cultivation of spices to be equal, if not superior to those at Bencoolen, where the trees were well manured. I have thought it proper to form the ground upon which the plants stand into a series of terraces 18 feet broad and which are a little inclined towards the hill side, by means of this the rain which falls is retained a longer time and is prevented from washing away (which it did before) the richest and best mould formed by the decay of vegetable matter. A brick wall with pillars and intervals of wood work was built in front of the garden and I have planted a Chinese bamboo fence round the hill side. The low ground has been partially drained and roads made, but from the small number of people employed the attention which the other operations require makes it difficult to keep the roads in such order as might otherwise be desirable. Eleven free labourers are employed, paid from the established allowance, also three convicts who had been employed in the cultivation of spices at Bencoolen, but as they only work 6 hours per diem, they do not go through much labour. The following is a statement of the plants, which I have devided into 4 classes, the 1st class includes the plants from 6 to 8 years old some of which are in bearing, 6 of the nutmeg trees may be said to be in good bearing and a considerable number partially so. The sex of those which come under the head of doubtful is unknown from want of flowers or fruit, but which if females may be expected to come very soon into bearing. The 2nd class includes those plants which are under 6 years old. The 3rd class those planted. The fourth the plants still in the nursery. Total....... 619 About 6 of 1st Class clove have a great number of buds, the others are well grown and may be expected to bear in the course of a year. It is also worthy of remark that several of those which I have put under the head of male nutmeg trees bear a good number of fruits and might therefore with propriety come under the class of Monacoa instead of the Diacia under which they are ranked by Botanists. Upon the subject of the utility and advantages of the garden, I beg your indulgence to a few observations I have ventured to make upon the subject. By the cession of Bencoolen to the Dutch, they have become possessed of almost the only check we had upon their monopoly of the valuable spice trade; for the hitherto limited culture of spice at Prince of Wales Island can supply but a small part of an article so much in demand, and I am not aware of the extent of cultivation at the Island Bourbon, to form a judgment how far it would prove a check upon the Dutch, but it being also under a foreign flag we cannot look to it as a permanent source of supply. The cultivation of spices in our settlements appears therefore to me to be a subject deserving the attention of Government, for, although operations of this nature are generally speaking more profitably conducted by private individuals, yet so few have the means or inclination to enter upon a speculation from which no returns can be obtained for 7 or 8 years, that it will most likely be neglected. But it appears to me that this place possesses peculiar facilities for Government to carry on such operations. There is a great extent of ground quite unoccupied and well adapted |