-

_Charges._

P.W. Island Co.'s Rs. 402,783 15 11

Singapore " " 497,186 14 5

Malacca " " 231,158 12 5
-------------Rs. 1,131,129 10 5

_Revenue._

P.W. Island Co.'s Rs. 185,443 2 9

Singapore 530,040 15 7

Malacca 64,408 9 11
-------------Rs. 779,893 12 3
---------------
Total deficit at three settlements Rs. 351,236 14 6
===============

W. J. BUTTERWORTH, Governor.

SINGAPORE, _6th February, 1847_.

In the year 1848 we find that the Indian convicts were employed in
blasting some considerable part of a mass of rock known to the Malays as
Batu Belayer, or "Stone to sail to," and by Europeans as "Lot's wife."
It was a dangerous obstruction to navigation, being situated on the
Singapore side of the western entrance to the New Harbour.[6] It is
reported as known to the old navigators of those seas, and was shown on
old charts over two hundred years ago.

[Footnote 6: This entrance to Singapore was called New Harbour
after the construction there of Cloughton's Dock, now the much
improved New Harbour Dock. Singapore can now boast of another
fine dock at Tanjong Pagar, constructed some forty years ago,
and an additional dock is reported to be in contemplation.]

In following _The Anecdotal History_ it may be well to mention here, as
showing the steady progress of Singapore, that a census was again taken
in 1849, which gave the total population at 59,043--Europeans being
given at 198, Eurasians at 304, Chinese at 24,790; and the remainder was
made up of Malays and other nationalities of the Indian Archipelago, and
from the Coromandel Coast. This was recorded as only a trifling increase
on 1848 amongst the Chinese, and was attributed to the decrease in the
Chinese coolies working in the interior of the island, owing to the
exhaustion of much soil, and the low price of produce, which had caused
many of the planters to open new plantations in Johore.

As an evidence of the variety of the employments to which these Indian
convicts were turned by the Government, it should be remarked that
during the Chinese riots in 1851, when the Chinese Hwuys began to