Directory_and_Chronicle_1929 — Page 1237

1136

SINGAPORE

L.W.O.S.T. There is storage capacity for about 150,000 tons of cargo, and some 150,000 tons of coal, the stocks being chiefly Natal, Japanese, Indian and Welsh, but there is a variety of supplies from local sources such as Borneo, Sumatra, Labuan and Sarawak. The Board own steam tugs with complete fire and salvage plant, shear-legs with lifting capacity to 60 tons, cranes, railways (11 miles), launches, and over 100 lighters and other appliances for the expeditious handling of cargo. There is an installation for the bunkering with fuel oil of ships at the Wharves. There are five dry docks, one of these ("The King's") being divided by an intermediate caisson into two docks of 486 and 325 feet each, and its equipment includes a 30-ton electric travelling crane. The machines and tools in the Board's workshops have recently been extensively replaced with up-to-date appliances electrically driven and capable of effecting repairs to vessels of the largest class and their machinery. Castings and for- gings of the largest size can be made on the Board's premises. The power of the electric plant totals 5,000 k.w. Almost all the machinery on the premises is electrically driven. The Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, are the Board's sole agents in England.

The total value of the foreign imports and exports of Singapore (merchandise only) for the years 1925, 1926 and 1927 (excluding Inter-Settlement trade) are given below:-

Imports Exports

.....

1925

$978,026,852

865,276,600

$1,843,303,452

1926 $975,078,505

833,417,473

1927 $936,801,150

753,107,756

$1,689,908,906

Total......

$1,808,495,978

It thus appears that out of a total of £269,071,261 representing the Colony's foreign trade, Singapore is responsible for £197,156,039 or 73.2 per cent.

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 six months. The climate of the island is thus described by Mr. Thomson, in the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago,"his remarks still holding good:-"Singapore, though within 80 miles of the equator, has an abundance of moisture, either deposited by the dews or gentle refreshing showers, which keep its atmosphere cool, prevent the parching effects of the sun, and promote continual verdure. It seldom experiences furious gales. If more than ordinary heat has accumulated moisture and electricity a squall generally sets in, followed by a heavy shower of rain, such squalls seldom exceeding one or two hours in duration According as the monsoon blows, you will have the squalls coming from that direction. But the most severe and numerous are from the west, called 'Sumatras,' and these occur most frequently between 1 and 5 o'clock in the morning. The north-east monsoon blows from November to March; after which the wind veers round to the south-east and gradually sets in the south-west, at which point it continues to September. The north-east blows more steadily than the south-west monsoon. The temperature is by one or two degrees cooler in the first than in the last. The average fall of rain is found, from the observation of a series of years, to be 92.697 inches; and the average number of days in the year in which rain falls is found to be 180, thus dividing the year almost equally between wet and dry; the rain is not continuous, but is pretty equally distributed through the year, January being the month in which the greatest quantity falls. The mean temperature of Singapore is 81°.24, the lowest being 79°.55 and the highest 82°.31, so that the range is not more than 2°.76. It would appear from this that the temperature of the island is by 9°.90 lower than that of many other localities in the same latitude. Comparing the temperature now stated with that which was ascertained 20 years earlier, and in the infancy of the Settlement, it would appear that it had increased by 2°.48-a fact ascribed, no doubt, to the increase of buildings, and to the country having been cleared of forest for three miles inland from the town, the site of the observations. The general character of the climate as to temperature is that the heat is great and continuous, but never excessive, and that there is little distinction of seasons, summer and winter differing from each other only by one or two degrees of the thermometer. Thunder-showers are of frequent occurrence, but the thunder is by no means as severe as I have experienced it in Java, and seldom destructive to life or property."