Directory_and_Chronicle_1892 — Page 774

SINGAPORE

319

feet high. There is a neat Presbyterian Church, St. Gregory's (Armenian) Church, in Hill Street; and several mission chapels. The Roman Catholics have a roomy Cathedral dedicated to the Good Shepherd, at the corner of Brass Bassa Road and Victoria Street, the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Queen Street, the Church of St. Joseph in Victoria Street, and other smaller churches in the outskirts. There is also a neat Jewish Synagogue in Waterloo Street. The principal schools are those of the Raffles Institute, the Christian Brothers, and the Anglo-Chinese School; the Raffles Girls' School and the Convent also providing for the education of girls of the Protestant and Roman Catholic persuasions.

The Singapore Club has a good building in a central position. There are Recreation, Sporting, Rowing, Shooting, Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Art, and Reading Clubs, a Debating Society, Photographic Society, and the Celestial (Chinese) Reasoning Association. There is a Country Club with a well built bungalow situated some three miles out of town, at which dances and amateur theatricals are frequently given. The German community have a similar institution. The Raffles Library and Museum, moved in October, 1887, into the new building erected for them, are creditable and well kept institutions, the Museum having made very fair progress since its inception. The Library contains over 16,000 volumes, chiefly of standard modern literature, and includes the valuable philological collection of the late Mr. Logan.

Singapore boasts several hotels, but they are not equal to those in ports of similar importance. The Press is represented by the Straits Times and Singapore Free Press (daily), weekly issues of both; the Law Journal and the Government Gazette, both published weekly. There are also two Chinese daily papers called the Lat Pau and Sing Pau, Malay paper styled the Jasai Peranakhan, and one or two papers in Tamil.

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 a large number of 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. 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 hand carts on rails essentially aid the labour of unloading vessels. The usual accompaniments are also to be found-two graving docks, the Victoria Dock 450 feet long and 65 feet broad at entrance; and the Albert Dock, 485 feet long and 60 feet broad at entrance a machine shop, boiler and masting shears, &c. The New Harbour Dock Company's premises, situated about three miles further West, include two docks of 375 and 444 feet in length respectively, with sheds, workshops, &c., as at Tanjong Pagar. There is also a Patent Slip at Tanjong Rhoo, which is 429 feet long and 76 feet broad over piers.

The population of Singapore Island, according to the census taken in 1891, was 184,544, of whom 121,908 were Chinese and 35,992 Malays, an increase of 45,336 on the census of 1881. There are 5,254 Europeans and Americans, including 1,160 military. The total Eurasian population is given as 3,589. The Indians total 16,035, of whom 12,503 are Tamils, 3,452 Bengalis; others not particularized are 26 Burmese, and 54 Parsees. Other nationalities total 1,776; the Arabs leading with 806, the Japanese number 287, the Siamese 211, the Jews 190, the Sinhalese 159, and the Armenians 68. The population of the Town of Singapore is about 97,000.

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, under normal circumstances a daily rainfall tempers the heat so thoroughly that many sleep beneath_blankets. Droughts, however, have been experienced of from one to three months. The island is not exempt from the animal pests which usually infest intra-tropical locations. Tigers are occasionally seen; wild pigs, deer, and monkeys inhabit much of the jungle surrounding the country residences; while the much dreaded cobra has been killed in most of the compounds. The existence of the hamadryad has also been demonstrated though this fierce reptile is fortunately but very seldom met with. It should be added that specimens of the python, up to 24 feet in length, are found in the jungle, and that alligators and sharks inhabit the still waters of the coast.

Singapore offers but few points of salient interest to visitors, the Botanical Gardens at Tanglin, the Waterworks in Thomson Road, and the Raffles Library and Museum being its only show places. Tramways, which were opened in the middle of 1886, now run along the main thoroughfares, and gharries and jinrickshas also furnish means of conveyance. A railway across the island is in project. It will probably be constructed by the Colonial Government.