The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-27

| dens of the trees and plants of the
! tropics
How 1t Is Governed.
The administration OF the colony is
in the hands of a governor. aided By
! an executive council, and there is =
| little legislature which makes the
laws. There are Chinese In both coun-
| Gil and legislature. and altogether
! the government is something of a
democracy. Singapore has its own
| municipal body, some of whose mem
bers are elected by the taxpayers and
some appointed by the governor
The present governor of tho island
is Sir. John Anderson, who is also
high commissioner for tho federated
Malay states and for the British col.
onies In Borneo He is a Scotchman
who was memoer of the Boring Sea
arbitration staff in London years ago,
and who has held various other i'm
portaut offices.
a good salary. and he lives like II
lord. His palace here Is finer than
the White House, and he maintains a
court somewhat similar TO that of the
Viceroy of India He gives great
ball upon the Kings birthday, and to
this everybody who is anybody gets
an invitation. Indeed, It is said that
every one who is not in jail at the
time is invited
These whites of Singapore arc fond
OF society. They remind me OF an
old college friend who attended every
funeral within ten miles of his home.
When asked why, he said: II always
like to go to gatherings" That Is
the way with these Singapore people.
They like gatherings, and they have
clubs OF all kinds to bring themselves
into company. Some are for sporting,
rowing, cricket and lawn tennis. and
others are devoted to art, reading and
education. There is magnificent
clubhouse at the end of wide stretch
of lawn just next the harbor. and
country club three miles inland, at
which dances and thcatricals are fire.
quently given. Aherc are many plcnics
and outings of various kinds.
The city is northumberland. 1
mean as far as tho whites are con.
cerned. The Raffles Public library
contains 10000 volumes. and has also
a museum relating to the Straits Set
Elements. The city has four English
newspapers, two Chinese dailies.
Malay weekly. and two other journals
published In East Indian dialects Al
together. the town is wide awake, and.
1 regret to say, In many respects wide
open. OF the latter feature, however,
you must come here yourself to learn.
The Missionary and the Tiger.
And speaking Of the wide openness
OF Singapore. such conditions arc to
be found without much searching in
every centre of the Far East There
Is more truth than poetry in the sug-
gestion contained In this verse OF
Ktpling:
'"rake me somewhere east OF suez,
Where the best Is like tho worst.
Where there aln't no Ten Command
nents.
And you've not to raise a thirst"
At the same time there are churches
and chapels everywhere, and as many
good people as bad. We have an Amer
lean Methodist Episcopal mission here
with thirty of our own citizens in
have found thriving American mis-
sions in every Asiatic country have
visited; and a big Christian work, sup
ported by our people, is going on In
Burma and India.
This question of missions and the
universally Of human depravity re-
minds mo of story l heard here
illustrating that one finds what he
looks for The story might be en-
titled "The missionary Versus the
Tiger The incident occurred on a
steamer going up the Bay of Bengal
"A clustering, boastful Engllshman on
hoard was blowing about his feats
OF hunting in Hindustan, He monopo-
lized the conversation and told
thrilling stories OF his experiences
with tho wild beasts of the jungle, and
especially of his many adventures with
tigers. AT one point in the CONVERSE
ton quiet, refined man In black
happened to remark that he also had
been in India and engaged In mis-
sionary. work there, Unon this the