Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 1106

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SINGAPORE

A 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.

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 in 1922. A new Supreme Court Building was opened in August, 1939, adjoining the Municipal Building.

The various cloth-merchants and jewellers shops chiefly centred along High Street and South Bridge Road are a never-failing source of attraction to visitors and residents alike.

The English daily press is represented by the Straits Times, Singapore Free Press, Morning Tribune and Malaya Tribune. There are several Chinese, and also Japanese, Indian and Malay papers. The Government Gazette is published weekly.

Singapore is a free port, there being no Customs Duties, but Excise Duties are levied on alcoholic liquors, opium, tobacco and petroleum. The Harbour is practically landlocked by islands, and the rise and fall of or- dinary spring tides is 9 feet. Although the majority of ocean-going steamers are berthed at the Harbour Board's wharves, many smaller vessels discharge and load in the Inner and Outer Harbour, the Inner Harbour being protected from the north-east monsoon by a mole of granite rubble approximately a mile long. The Singapore Harbour Board constituted under the Ports Or- dinance (Chapter 149) now controls all the wharves and commercial drydocks in Singapore, their premises being about a mile to the westward of the town.

There are 14,834 lineal feet of wharves, including the Empire Dock (241⁄2 acres). Of this, 7,677 feet have a depth of 33 feet and over, L.W.O.S.T., while 4,026 feet have a depth of 30 feet. There is storage capacity for about 340,000 tons of cargo and some 180,000 tons of coal, the stocks of the latter being chiefly Natal, Welsh, Indian and Japanese although a variety of coal supplies from local sources such as Borneo, Sumatra, Labuan and Sarawak are generally available. A mechanical coal handling plant is in use on a part of the reconstructed and extended West Wharf. The plant consists of a land discharging plant capable of handling 200 tons of coal per hour, or 1,000 tons per day of 9 hours, allowing for normal stoppages. Land and floating bunkering plants are also available, each unit being able to bunker at the rate of 100 tons per hour. With the use of the floating bunkering unit vessels can be bunkered at any berth, simultaneously whilst working cargo on the wharf. The Board owns steam tugs with complete fire and salvage equipment, sheer legs with lifting capacity to 60 tons, cranes, 14 miles of railway connected with the Federated Malay States Railways system, launches, lighters and other appliances for the expeditious hand- ling of cargo. Connections to the Board's pipe lines enable ships to be bunkered with fuel oil and Diesel oil at the rate of 500 tons per hour from private installations on the Board's premises. There is an up-to-date plant for the bulk handling of palm oil, which is stored in eight 500-ton tanks, and an installations for storing 193,000 gallons of latex and for handling this comodity in bulk. The Board operates five drydocks one of which (The King's Dock) is divided by an intermediate caisson into two docks of 486 and 325 feet each, its equipment including a 30-ton electric travelling crane. The machine, shops are capable of effecting ship and machinery repairs to vessels of the largest class, and castings and forgings of the largest size can be made on the Board's premises. The power of electric motors driving the machinery used by the Board exceeds 500 K.W. The Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, act as the Board's agents in England.

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The characteristic features of the climate of Singapore are uniform temperature, high humidity and copious rainfall. The variation of tem- perature throughout the year is very small and the excessively high tempera- tures found in continental tropical areas are never experienced.

The average annual rainfall is 95 inches. December is the wettest month with a little over 10 inches while February, May, June, July and September are the drier months with between 6 and 7 inches. Rainfalls on the average on half the days in the year.