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Appendix No. 4.

SINGAPORE.

A number of tenders were thus made, and I was able to accept that of Chew Ah Seng for labour generally, and Chin Ah Soie for transport.

Separate contracts were made for the supply of cement, lime, broken stone, sand, &c.

Blakan Mati East Battery was the first undertaken, ground being broken on the 4th July. To avoid mistakes on the part of Chinese mandores and coolies in executing work strange to them a picket was driven at all the corners, and changes of direction of the tracing-lines, and on these pickets was written in English and Chinese the depth which the ground was to be excavated at these points. Narrow guide-trenches were then dug connecting these points, after which it was simple to move the intervening masses of earth to the various assigned places.

The first endeavour was made to prepare the gun emplacements, but as the political atmosphere in Europe gradually cleared during the progress of the battery, the spacious magazines between the guns which now exist were undertaken. The four 7-inch guns with which this battery is armed are arranged on two faces, at a distance of 80 feet from gun to gun. The two 64-pounders are mounted, one on either flank, on "D" racers, firing over an are of 180 degrees. There is no main magazine, but the ammunition is distributed throughout the battery in large stores, of suitable design, in the traverses between the guns, shell and cartridge stores alternating, and supplying their particular kind of ammunition to the guns on either side. The ammunition for the 64-pounders is supplied by lifts to the emplacement levels from magazines below. To give an idea of the size of this battery, I may mention that its extreme frontage towards the sea is 160 yards. Between the two flank guns, through the whole length of the battery, ruus a core of concrete 7 feet thick, increased to 8 feet in front of the magazines, and the whole battery is made of corresponding strength. With the exception of the arches of the magazines, concrete has been used throughout with great success. With the exception of Tanjong Pagar New Dock, a straightforward work under construction at the same time, this has been the first use of concrete in the Colony for such a purpose and on so extensive a scale ; and as this battery work entailed a large amount of detail and complicated passages, it has been only with constant superintendence and instruction that the coolies have turned out such a satisfactory result in a material which was foreign to them.

After the battery had been two months in progress constant disputes between the contractor and the employed terminated in a virtual strike of over a month's duration, during which time, and on several occasions subsequently, the power of the secret societies to do mischief and create obstruction was manifested in a marked degree.

After the termination of the strike, the constant heavy rains of the wet season greatly interfered with the progress of the work, and these delays, taken in connection with the subsequent smaller disputes with the coolies and workmen, made the time of construction of this battery, as of the others, much larger than I had anticipated. In consequence of a telegram received from the War Office, work was stopped in May, which gave an excellent opportunity of measuring up all the work done and striking a balance. A further telegram enabled me to recommence work, and this battery is now com- pleted. With the exception of a little work in the ditch, a redoubt on top of Mount Serapong, a com- manding spot 800 yards distant, has also been completed. Mount Siloso Battery was the next battery commenced in the beginning of August, and is practically finished, with the exception of one magazine and the emplacements of the 64-pounders, which here are in the centre of the battery on

C" racers, admitting of an all-round fire.

CC

The treacherous nature of the soil at this battery has been the cause of some engineering diffi- culties, in consequence of which a concrete escarp has been constructed nearly throughout, making the battery, in conjunction with the cliff in front, a very formidable object.

In the beginning of April eight tons of powder was exploded simultaneously in ten mines under the projecting tongue of Mount Siloso, which obstructed the clear field of fire from the battery, and the spoil being subsequently removed by coolie labour, a glacis-like front now extends towards the entrance. of the harbour.

On the 20th July Lieutenant Rhodes, R.E., and a detachment of submarine miners, arrived in the Colony with a large supply of torpedo stores to the value of 5,0001. The abandoned old French naval coal-store was selected for submarine mining station; a pier 120 feet long has been constructed to the edge of the recf; test-rooms, electrical rooms, storeman's quarters, stores generally, loading-shed, gun- cotton magazine, sea wall, and concrete cable-tank have been built, and on receipt of instructions from England this submarine mining establishment will be occupied. A scheme of torpedo defence has been prepared and approved of by the War Office.

At the close of last year I received instructions from the War Office to construct a battery for three 7-inch muzzle-loading rifled guns of 7 tons at Tanjong Katong as quickly as possible, at a cost of 4,2007. The military reserve site was found quite unsuited for a battery, and after some correspondence with your Government, a piece of ground 250 yards frontage and 150 yards deep was acquired in a cocoa-nut plantation more to the eastward. But even this site presented great difficulties in a construc- tional point of view, so much so that my original designs, prepared with a view of forming a lump-sum contract, and of pushing forward the work with celerity, had to be much modified, as I found, upon estimating the cost, that the sum voted would not cover the probable amount of the tenders.

The contract has been taken up by Tan Chy Guan, who has been doing this, as other work, in a very satisfactory manner; and as I understand he has secured the contract for the part construction of the new gaol, I am glad to have this opportunity of bearing testimony to his qualifications.

The three guns. on D" racers are mounted 100 feet apart, with a command of 15 feet. Expense magazines and bomb-proofs are in the traverses between the guns, according to the latest War Office designs. A main magazine is built in the gorge of the work, which is closed by a loop-holed wall of suitable trace. The work is surrounded with a wet ditch, 100 feet wide on the flanks, the water being controlled by a culvert of 18-inch pipes cast in concrete, and proper sluice-valve. A central caponier and one at either shoulder bring a flanking fire to bear over the ditch. The escarp is formed throughout with mangrove piles, as is also the counter-scarp of the front ditch. Work was commenced the middle

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