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SINGAPORF.
467
perhaps a sixtieth part of the whole-are as a rule peaceful and unambitious, and give but little trouble. The European community consists in the main of English and Germans-some 550 of the former to 150 of the latter. A large half-caste or Eurasian population occupies the place elsewhere taken by the Asio-Portuguese. It is anticipated that the forthcoming census will make a startling addition to the figures hitherto accepted.
The principal business quarter of Singapore is the Raffles Square with its adja- cent quays and streets. The foreign stores are few in number, but are fairly well supplied with necessaries, few of the luxuries, howev r, which are so prominent in Hongkong or Shanghai establishments finding place. A general want ofenterprise, owing probably to the climate, is indeed a distinctive feature of Singapore life.
Singapore possesses a handsome though small Protestant Cathedral (the Colonial Chaplain being Archdeacon of the Settlement), a neat Presbyterian Chapel, 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 a country Club with a well built bungalow situated some three miles out of town, at which latter dances The German community have a similar and amateur theatricals are frequently given 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, the Museum having made very fair progress: since its inception. The Library contains about 10,000 volumes, chiefly 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 rewspapers furnish the local news.
Singapore is well off for Docks. The Tanjong Pagar Company's premises lie 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 business of the wharf is under the charge of an experienced 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 wha: f for the storage of goods. Coal sheds capable of storing 50,000 tons of the mineral adj. in 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 shear, &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 t legrams to and from the town fr e of charge. The "Ocean," "Glen" and and 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 Blangah, 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 describe 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 many sleep beneath blankets. The island
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