Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 1256

SINGAPORE

The town of Singapore, situated on the southern shore of an island of the same name, in lat. 1 deg. 16 min. N. and long. 103 deg. 43 min. E., is the seat of government of the Straits Settlements.

The Island of Singapore is about 26 miles long by 14 wide, containing an area of 206, or, with the adjacent islets, 223 square miles, and is separated by a narrow strait about three-quarters of a mile wide from the territory of Johore, which occupies the Southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula. Originally taken possession of in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles, it was, until 1823, subordinate to our then settlement in Sumatra. In that year it became an appanage of the Indian Government, in which condition it remained until 1867, when it was placed under the Colonial Office in conjunction with Penang and Malacca.

The plain upon which the town and suburbs stand is chiefly composed of deep beds of white, bluish, or reddish sand, averaging 90 to 95 per cent. of silica. The rest is aluminous. Recent shells and sea-mud found in this sand show it to have been formed by a retreating sea. The general composition of the island, which consists of low hills and ridges, with narrow and swampy flats intervening, is sandstone, with the exception of Bukit Timah, which is of granite formation, containing about 18 per cent. of quartz. Colonel Low (J. I. A., vol. i., p. 84) specifies eight varieties. The soil overlying the granite is rather neagre (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 extensively 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. 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 is 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, about seven miles from the town, rising to a height of only 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 metalled, are, as regards architectural matters, drains, and gutters, not much credit to the Settle- ment. Government House, the Government Offices, Police Barracks, Magistrates' Courts, Post Office, Library and Museum, Town Hall and Victoria Theatre, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, the Chartered Bank, and The Arcade are fine buildings. The tallest building in the Settlement is "Ocean Building," a new imposing five-storied structure of reinforced concrete with facings of artificial stone, at the corner of Collyer Quay and Prince Street. The Settlement possesses a handsome Cricket Club which compares favourably with any in the East. A fine bronze statue of Sir Stamford Raffles stands in front of the Town Hall, to which position it was removed on the occasion of the Singapore Centenary on 6th February, 1919. A dignified and imposing cenotaph has been erected on the esplanade to commemorate men from the Settlement who fell in the Great War, This memorial was unveiled by H.R.H, The Prince of Wales on the occasion of his visit early in 1922.