N 2
5. The re-arrangement of the forest protection staff was put in action in June and has abundantly justified the change. Increased interest has been taken in "leased forest lots" several of them being checked in respect to new planting and removal of timber and brushwood. Experiments were laid down in the forest experimental station in order to obtain data in regard to these lots, e.g. what they produce now, what they could be made to produce, silvicultural methods, etc.
It was felt that the 81 square miles covered by these lots ought to receive closer attention, especially as recent events had shown the Colony's dependence on outside sources for its supplies of firewood. By proper organisation it should be possible to provide, in a legitimate manner, a great deal more firewood for the local market.
6. Forest protection loomed very large in departmental activities and it was found necessary to employ practically the whole of the forestry staff on this work, to the detriment of other pressing matters. Even so, the planting programme was carried out satisfactorily and with considerable success from a germination point of view. The Sino-Japanese hostilities in South China towards the end of the year brought on a spate of forestry offences but practically all of these were of a petty nature. It may be stated that illicit operations on any large scale have practically ceased so far as Crown plantations are concerned but considerable denudation of unprotected hillsides by the removal of brushwood and small trees is taking place, which is regrettable from agricultural and erosion points of view.
7. Work in the Botanical and Gardens sections respectively, was carried on as usual. With respect to the former, it is felt that arrangements must be made for further progress in botanical matters. The herbarium and library are valuable assets of the Colony and much greater use should be made of them. It is intended that this section shall receive, in due course, the attention it merits.
With respect to the latter, the improvements carried out in the Government House garden deserve special mention. H.E. The Governor and Lady Northcote take keen interest in the garden and their efforts to improve it have met with considerable success.
8. In regard to weather, the year may be described as a dry one from a rainfall point of view. The rainfall at the Botanic Gardens for the year was 57.48 inches in 116 days as against 79.96 inches in 135 days for the previous year. This was about 27 inches below the average. It was distributed as follows: January to March 10.70 inches; April to June 14.35 inches; July to September 26.71 inches; October to December 5.72 inches. The dry period at the end of the year necessitated an unusual amount of watering of shrubs, etc. Typhoon signals were hoisted on three occasions during the year but fortunately gales of moderate intensity only were experienced.
9. It should be noted that there is some alteration in the arrangement of the Annual Report for 1938. The department is a composite one and at present, Forestry accounts for 65-70% of its work. In the circumstances, it was considered that some re-arrangement in the system of recording the various activities would be appropriate, so as to give the largest section the most prominent position. Alterations have also been made in the presentation of the work of the forestry section itself in order to comply with the recommendations of the Secretary of State for the adoption throughout the Colonial Empire of standard forms for the tabulation of forestry statistics in annual departmental reports.
10. Thirteen standard forms have been compiled for this purpose by the Imperial Forestry Institute but, in the present stage of forestry development in Hong Kong, it has not been found practicable to make use of all of them. Forms No: I, II, V (modified), VI, and X are adopted in this report and some of the information required by Forms No: IV, XI, XII, and XIII is embodied in the text of the forestry section, the subject matter of which has been rearranged to follow as far as possible the numerical order of the forms. It is hoped that in the future it will be possible to record more and more of the local forestry activities in this manner and to obtain interesting results from the study of the comparative statistics which will be produced by this system.
N 2
5. The re-arrangement of the forest protection staff was put in action in June and has abundantly justified the change. Increased interest has been taken in "leased forest lots" several of them being checked in respect to new planting and removal of timber and brushwood. Experiments were laid down in the forest experimental station in order to obtain data in regard to these lots, e.g. what they produce now, what they could be made to produce, silvicultural methods, etc.
It was felt that the 81 square miles covered by these lots ought to receive closer attention, especially as recent events had shown the Colony's dependence on outside sources for its supplies of firewood. By proper organisation it should be possible to provide, in a legitimate manner, a great deal more firewood for the local market.
6. Forest protection loomed very large in departmental activities and it was found necessary to employ practically the whole of the forestry staff on this work, to the detriment of other pressing matters. Even so, the planting programme was carried out satisfactorily and with considerable success from a germination point of view. (The Sino-Japanese hostilities in South China towards the end of the year, brought on a spate of forestry offences but practically all of these were of a petty nature. It may be stated that illicit operations on any large scale have practically ceased so far as Crown plantations are concerned but considerable denudation of unprotected hillsides by the removal of brushwood and small trees is taking place, which is regrettable from agricultural and erosion points of view. }
7. Work in the Botanical and Gardens sections respectively, was carried on as usual. With respect to the former, it is felt that arrangements must be made for further progress in botanical matters. The herbarium and library are valuable assets of the Colony and much greater use should be made of them. It is intended that this section shall receive, in due course, the attention it merits.
With respect to the latter, the improvements carried out in the Government House garden deserve special mention. H.E. The Governor and Lady Northcote take keen interest in the garden and their efforts to improve it have met with considerable success.
8. In regard to weather, the year may be described as a dry one from a rainfall point of view. The rainfall at the Botanic Gardens for the year was 57.48 inches in 116 days as against 79.96 inches in 135 days for the previous year. This was about 27 inches below the average. It was distributed as follows January to March 10.70 inches; April to June 14.35 inches; July to September 26.71 inches; October to December 5.72 inches. The dry period at the end of the year necessitated an unusual amount of watering of shrubs, etc. Typhoon signals were hoisted on three occasions during the year but fortunately gales of moderate intensity only were experienced.
9. It should be noted that there is some alteration in the arrangement of the Annual Report for 1938. The department is a composite one and at present, Forestry accounts for 65-70% of its work. In the circumstances, it was considered that some re-arrangement in the system of recording the various activities would be appropriate, so as to give the largest section the most prominent position. Altera- tions have also been made in the presentation of the work of the forestry section itself in order to comply with the recommendations of the Secretary of State for the adoption throughout the Colonial Empire of standard forms for the tabulation of forestry statistics in annual departmental reports.
10. Thirteen standard forms have been compiled for this purpose by the Imperial Forestry Institute but, in the present stage of forestry development in Hong Kong, it has not been found practicable to make use of all of them. Forms No: I. II. V. (modified) VI. and X. are adopted in this report and some of the information required by Forms No: IV. XI. XII. and XIII. is embodied in the text of the forestry section, the subject matter of which has been rearranged to follow as far as possible the numerical order of the forms. It is hoped that in the future it will be possible to record more and more of the local forestry activities in this manner and to obtain interesting results from the study of the comparative statistics which will be produced by this system.
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