SINGAPORE
1179*
The total value of the foreign imports and exports of Singapore (merchandise only) for the years 1922, 1923 and 1924 (excluding Inter-Settlement trade) are given below:
Imports Exports
Total.......
1922 $437,688,109
391,906,849
1923 $561,024,906
486,890,845
1924 $622,615,788
525,196,847
$829,594,958 $1,047,915,751
$1,147,812,635
It thus appears that out of a total of £188,345,584, representing the Colony's foreign trade, Singapore is responsible for £133,911,474, or 71.1 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 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 quantity falls. The mean temperature of Singapore is 81°.24, the lowest being 79°.55 and the highest 82°.31, so that the range is not more than 2°.76. It would appear from this that the temperature of the island is by 9°.90 lower than that of many other localities in the same latitude. Comparing the temperature now stated with that which was ascertained 20 years earlier, and in the infancy of the Settlement, it would appear that it had increased by 2°.48-a fact ascribed, no doubt, to the increase of buildings, and to the country having been cleared of forest for three miles inland from the town, the site of the observations. The general character of the climate as to temperature is that the heat is great and continuous, but never excessive, and that there is little distinction of seasons, summer and winter differing from each other only by one or two degrees of the thermometer. Thunder-showers are of frequent occurrence, but the thunder is by no means as severe as I have experienced it in Java, and seldom destructive to life or property."
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For some years there was a great development of pineapple cultivation in Singapore. Extensive areas of waste ground covered with secondary jungle were cleared and planted with pineapple for tinning; the whole of this business appears to be in the hands of Chinese. Considerable interest has also been shown in the cultivation of rubber, oil-grasses, lemon-grass and citronella, as well as indigo, vegetables, pepper and ground nuts. Coconut cultivation increased rapidly for a time but more recently there has been a strong tendency to substitute rubber for coconut, which has been officially declared to be "not an advisable policy."
Singapore offers but few points of salient interest to visitors, the Botanical Gardens at Tanglin, the Waterworks in Thomson Road, and the Raffles Library and Museum being its only show places. A considerable mileage of electric tramway is now in operation. A railway across the island was sanctioned by a vote of the Legislative Council in 1899, and was opened for traffic on 1st January, 1903. An extension to the Tanjong Pagar Docks and neighbourhood was sanctioned and now runs as far as Pasir Panjang. This line of 14 miles was the first section of a projected Malay Peninsula and India Railway, passing through and opening up the countries of Johore, Malacca, the Native Malay States, some Siamese territory and Burma, on to Calcutta. Railway now runs direct from Singapore to Penang; it has been extended on the West Coast through Kedah and Perlis and is now connected with the Siamese railway
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