Page 473 Page 473
458
SINGAPORE.
Singapore possesses a handsome though small Protestant Cathedral (the Colonial Chaplain being Archdeacon of the Settlement), a neat Presbyterian Chapel (just opened), and several Catholic churches of roomy proportions. The principal schools are those of the Raffles Institute and the Christian Brothers, a Convent also providing for the education of girls of the Roman Catholic persuasion. There is an English Club with premises in town and a well built bungalow some three miles. out in the country, at which latter dances and amateur theatricals are frequently given. The German community have a similar institution and the best feeling exists between the two nationalities. The Raffles library and museum (temporarily located in the premises of the Raffles School) are creditable and well kept institutions, though the Museum, being of very recent origin, is as yet only partially filled. The Library contains about 8,000 volumes of standard modern literature.
Singapore boasts two good hotels, the Hotel D'Europe and the Hotel de la Paix, the latter being chiefly patronised by Dutch and other foreign visitors. Emmerson's Hotel, long and favourably known, is a good family boarding-house.
Daily and weekly newspapers furnish the local news.
Singapore is well off for Docks. The Tanjong Pagar Company's premises le about a mile to the westward of the town, a fine wharf affording berthage for twenty vessels at one time with sufficient water alongside for vessels of the heaviest draught, and protected by a breakwater from the swell from the roads and from the strength of the tides. The busin ss of the wharf is under the charge of an ex- perienced wharffinger and assistants, and there is an abundance of labour, ensuring the speedy discharge and loading of vessels alongside, facilitated by the use of steam winches, cranes, &c.
There are commodious godowns, erected on the wharf for the storage of goods. Coal sheds capable of storing 50,000 tons of the mineral adjoin the godowns, while a small steam railway essentially aids the labour of unloading vessels. The usual accompaniments are also to be found-a graving dock 450 feet in length, a machine shop, boiler and masting shears, &c. The New Harbour Dock Company, situated about a mile further West, has two docks of 415 and 450 feet length respectively, with sheds, workshops, &c. as at Tanjong Pagar. Both companies forward telegrams to and from the town free of charge. The "Ocean," "Glen" aud other local steamer lines usually go alongside the Tanjong Pagar Wharf. The French mail steamers and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson's vessels use the Borneo Company's Wharf at New Harbour, while the P. & O. steamers have a wharf of their own still further West at Teluk B'angab, three miles from town.
Communication with other eastern ports and with Europe is kept up by the P. & O., Messageries, Ocean, Rubattino, Castle, and Glen lines of steamers (with some other occasional visitors) by the Eastern and Australian line with Australia; by the Netherlands India line with Java, Timor, and the islands of the Archipelago; and by a Spanish line with the Philippines; all but the two last running to Hongkong.
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 an almost daily rainfall tempers the heat so thoroughly that few sleep without blankets. The island is not exempt from the animal pests which usually infest intra-tropical locations. Tigers have been seen in the north-west district and one Chinaman was killed by a man-eater in August, 1879; wild pigs and monkeys (both very destructive to gardens) inhabit much of the jungle surrounding the country residences; while the much dreaded cobra has been killed in most of the compounds near the town. The existence of the most formidable Asiatic snake, the Hamadryad, has also been demonstrated, though this fierce reptile is fortunately but very seldom seen. It should be added that speci.nens of the formidable python, up to 24 feet in length, have been found in the jungle and that alligators and sharks inhabit the still waters of the coast. Mosquitoes, however, form the principal plague, and cause far more irritation and vexation than the ocra- sional visits of the snakes, centipedes, or scorpions, which are now and then killed in bath or bed rooms.
Page 473 Page 473
Page 473 Page 473
Hoctor by Google