SINGAPORE
The town of Singapore, situated on the southern shore of an island of the same name, in lat. 1 deg. 17 min. N. and long. 103 deg. 50 min. E., is the seat of government of the Straits Settlements.
The Island of Singapore is 27 miles long by 14 wide, containing an area of 206, or, with the adjacent islets, 220 square miles, and is separated by a narrow strait about three-quarters of a mile wide from the territory of Johore, which occupies the Southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula. It was originally taken possession of in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles, and was formerly ceded to the British Government by the Sultan of Johore in 1824. In that year it became an appanage of the Indian Government, in which condition it remained until 1867, when it was placed under the Colonial Office in conjunction with Penang and Malacca.
The town proper extends for about four miles along the south-eastern shore of the island, spreading inland for a distance of about a mile, though the majority of the residences of Europeans lie further back, within a circle with a radius of four to five miles from the heart of the town. The island is almost entirely level, the highest hill in the island, Bukit Timah, is about seven miles from the town, rising to a height of only 500 feet. The roads are well kept, and, thanks to the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, abound in shade. The town streets are wide and well metalled. A bronze statue of Sir Stamford Raffles stands in front of the Town Hall, to which position it was removed on the occasion of the Singapore Centenary on 6th February, 1919. A dignified and imposing cenotaph has been erected on the esplanade to commemorate men from the Settlement who fell in the Great War. This memorial was unveiled by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales on the occasion of his visit in 1922.
There are Recreation, Sporting, Rowing, Swimming, Shooting, Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Golf, Flying, Art, and Reading Clubs. There is also a well equipped Library and Museum.
There are several good hotels, of which the Raffles, the Adelphi, and the Sea' View are the best. The daily press is represented by the Straits Times, Singapore Free Press and Malaya Tribune. The Government Gazette is published weekly. There are also several Japanese, Chinese and Malay papers.
Singapore is a free port, there being no Customs Duties, but Excise Duties are levied. on alcoholic liquors, opium, tobacco and petroleum. The Harbour is practically land- locked by islands, and the rise and fall of ordinary spring tides is 9 feet. Although the majority of oceangoing steamers are berthed at the Harbour Board's wharves, many vessels discharge and load in the Inner and Outer Harbour, the Inner Harbour being protected from the north-east monsoon by a mole of granite rubble nearly a mile long. The Singapore Harbour Board, constituted under Ordinance No. 130 ̊ (Ports) now control all the wharves and commercial dry docks in Singapore, their premises being about a mile to the westward of the town. There are 11,077 lineal feet of wharves, including Empire Dock (24 acres) with 30 feet depth of water at L.W.O.S.T. There is storage capacity for about 150,000 tons of cargo, and somė 150,000 tons of coal, the stocks being chiefly Natal, Japanese, Indian and Welsh, but there is a variety of supplies from local sources such as Borneo, Sumatra 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, There is an installation for the bunkering with fuel oil of ships at the Wharves. five dry docks, one of which, ("The King's") is divided by an intermediate caisson into two docks of 486 and 325 feet each, and its equipment includes a 30-ton electic 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
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