SINGAPORE
1247
Main Wharves 4,412 feet, with, respectively, 30 and 33 feet and over depth of water at L.W.O.S.T. There is storage capacity for about 260,000 tons of cargo, and some 200,000 tons of coal, the stocks being chiefly Natal, Japanese, Australian, Indian and Welsh, but there is a variety of supplies from local sources such as Borneo, Sumatra, Labuan and Sarawak. The Board own steam tugs with complete fire and salvage plant, shear-legs with lifting capacity to 60 tons, cranes, railways (11 miles), launches, and over 100 lighters and other appliances for the expeditious handling of cargo. The Board have under consideration the supply to vessels of fuel oil through pipes to be placed on the main wharf, but meantime it is only obtainable from the large tank depots on adjacent islands. There are five dry docks, one of these ("The King's ") being divided by an in- termediate caisson into two docks of 486 and 325 feet each, and its equipment includes a 30-ton electric travelling crane. The machines and tools in the Board's workshops have recently been extensively replaced with up-to-date appliances electrically driven and capable of effecting repairs to vessels of the largest class and their machinery. Castings and forgings of the largest size can be made on the Board's premises. The power of the electric plant totals 5,000 k.w. Almost all the machinery on the premises is electrically driven. The Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, are the Board's sole agents in England.
The following figures give an indication of the volume of the Harbour Board's operations:-
Year Vessels ending Berthed
Nett Registered Tonnage
Coal
General Cargo
Coal
Genl. Cargo
Gross Revenue
Wharves Docks
Inward
Outward
1924
$3
$
30th June 2,620
Tonnage Tons Tons Tons Tons
6,683,582 347,701 839,925 324,866 577,524 4,492,579 3,472,283
The total value of the foreign imports and exports of Singapore (merchandise only) for the years 1921, 1922 and 1923 (excluding Inter-Settlement trade) are given below:
Imports Exports
Total....
1921 $454,761,723 $437,688,109 389,530,198 391,906,849
1922
$844,291,921 $829,594,958
1923 $561,024,906
486,890,845
$1,047,915,751
It thus appears that out of a total of £171,592,020, representing the Colony's foreign trade, Singapore is responsible for £122,256,838, or 71.2 per cent.
The climate of Singapore is remarkable for its salubrity, and the island has been described by medical writers as the "paradise of children," infantile diseases seldom being at all malignant. Despite its proximity to the equator, under normal circumstances a daily rainfall tempers the heat so thoroughly that many sleep beneath blankets. Droughts, however, have been experienced of from one to six months. The climate of the island is thus described by Mr. Thomson, in the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago,"his remarks still holding good:-"Singapore, though within 80 miles of the equator, has an abundance of moisture, either deposited by the dews or gentle refreshing showers, which keep its atmosphere cool, prevent the parching effects of the sun, and promote continual verdure. It seldom experiences furious gales. If more than ordinary heat has accumulated moisture and electricity a squall generally sets in, followed by a heavy shower of rain, such squalls seldom exceeding one or two hours in duration. According as the monsoon
the monsoon blows, you will have the squalls coming from that direction. But the most severe and numerous are from the west, called 'Sumatras,' and these occur most frequently between 1 and 5 o'clock in the morning. The north-east monsoon blows from November to March; after which the wind veers round to the south-east and gradually sets in the south-west, at which point it continues to September. The north-east blows more steadily than the south-west monsoon. The temperature is by one or two degrees cooler in the first than in the last. The average fall of rain is found, from the observation of a series of years, to be 92.697 inches; and the average number of days in the year in which rain falls is found to be 180, thus dividing the year almost equally between wet and dry; the rain is not continuous, but is pretty equally distributed through the year, January being the month in which the greatest
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