-N 4-
and Tytam Valley destroyed 5,360 Pines of various sizes. Several days before the Ching Ming and Chung Yeung Festivals the usual warning notices were posted and handbills distributed, only one fire broke out on each of the days mentioned.
22. Forest Guards Services.-The total number of persons arrested for all classes of forestry offences by Forest Guards was 153; of these 149 were convicted and 4 discharged. The Police arrested 315 persons, of whom 298 were convicted. Twenty persons who were convicted of two or more offences were banished, the majority of them were men who subsist mainly on the proceeds of sale of stolen timber; the removal of a considerable number of such men from the Colony, during the past few years, has lessened the damage to Pine plantations on the Island, particularly in the Shaukiwan district.
23. Protection of Plantations.-The clearing and the repairing of all fire-barriers and forestry paths were carried out before the commencement of the dry season. Over 100 miles of paths and barriers were dealt with. One new combined forestry path and barrier, 4,000 feet in length, was constructed above the Kowloon Catchwater; an old barrier between Aberdeen and Little Hong Kong was widened from 10 to 20 feet.
24. Undergrowth Clearing.-In Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories, the total areas cleared in connection with anti-malarial measures were 2,972,253 square feet; other areas cleared for the purpose of surveys, formation of roads, reservoirs and catchments, and building and other developments amounted to 1,654,670 square feet.
25. Preservation of Local Flora.-Groups of Sarcanthus teretifolius, Lindl., a purple-flowered Orchid and Iris speculatrix, Hance, were lifted and replanted in Mount Collinson Prohibited Area.
26. Trees Felled.-Traffic requirements necessitated the removal of a large number of trees, of varying ages, from Nathan Road, Kowloon; a small number of the youngest were lifted and replanted elsewhere. The total number removed was 191, the majority having to be felled and destroyed. A number of the large Banians had shaded Nathan Road for over forty years. The species of trees removed were 1 Bombax Malabaricum, DC., 1 Albizzia Lebbek, Benth., 2 Ficus infectoria, Roxb., 9 Poinciana regia, Boj., 24 Ficus retusa, Linn., 35 Aleurites triloba and 119 Crataeva religiosa, Forst.
27. Forestry Staff Quarters.-Permanent quarters for a Senior Forester and permanent and temporary Foresters, built by the Public Works Department at Lai Chi Kok, were occupied early in the year.