Directory_and_Chronicle_1898 — Page 838

SINGAPORE

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is rather meagre (the stone being neither very porphyritic nor micaceous and not very liable to disintegration), but it of course contains a vast quantity of vegetable mould. The sandstone is of various colours, the darker variety rapidly decomposing in situ in yellow clay, though applicable to building when fresh from the quarry. All the sandstones are heavily impregnated with iron, and an ironstone, known as laterite, is, to the casual observer, the prevailing mineral of the island. This occurs sometimes in veins, but more frequently in large beds on the sides of hills, and is extensiveiy quarried for road-making purposes. It is supposed to contain manganese, and is found from the size of coarse sand to that of masses 15 or 20 feet in diameter. It is of dark clove-brown colour externally; internally it is cellular, and varies in density, being often, when freshly dug, soft enough to be cut with a knife, or hard enough to resist the pick. It is not magnetic in the mass, but when pulverized is found to contain grains of magnetic iron. It hardens considerably on exposure to the air. The commer- cial value is 25 cents per cart-load. A substance somewhat resembling soapstone, with red, white, or greenish streaks, is sometimes found amongst the clays, being rather greasy to the touch, and occasionally of a fibrous texture. The valleys or flats of Singapore have a peaty substratum, varying in thickness from six inches to a couple of feet. Below this generally lies a bed of cold clay, and below this a stratum of arenaceous clay. In many districts kaolin is found in large quantities and of excellent quality.

The town proper extends for about four miles along the south-eastern shore of the island, spreading inland for a distance varying from half to three-quarters of a mile, though the majority of the residences of the upper class Europeans lie much further back, within a circle with a radius of three and a half miles from the Cathedral. This portion of the Settlement is almost entirely level, the highest hill in the island, indeed, about seven miles from the town, only rising to a height of 500 feet. The country roads are well kept, and, thanks to the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, abound in shade. The town streets, on the other hand, though wide and well installed, are, as regards architectural matters, drains, and gutters, not much credit to the Settle- ment. Dirt and obstructions of all sorts distinguish the native portion of the town, while as compared with nearly every other Eastern city in European hands the build- ings of the business quarters are somewhat shabby and mediocre, Government House, the Government Offices, Police Barracks, Magistrates' Courts, Post Office, Library and Museum, Town Hall, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and the Chartered Bank, however, are fine buildings, while the Settlement possesses a handsome Club which compares favourably with any in the East. A fine bronze statue of Sir Stamford Raffles stands on the Esplanade, facing the sea.

Singapore possesses a handsome though small Protestant cathedral called St. Andrew's Cathedral, built in 1861; it is in the Gothic style, with a tower and spire 204 feet high. There is a neat Presbyterian Church, St. Gregory's (Armenian) (hurch, 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 provide 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 at other ports of similar importance. The Press is represented by the Straits Times and Singapore Free Press (daily), with weekly issues of both, and the Government Gazette, both published weekly. There are also two Chinese daily papers called the Lat Pau and Sing Pau, two Malay papers, the Jawi Peranakhan and the Bintang Timor, and one or two papers in Tamil.

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