COMMITTEE ON DISTRICT COUNCILS AND FUNCTIONS OF CITY COUNCIL AND RURAL BOARD

Mr Speaker: Committee stage, what day?

Mr Davies: Now, Sir.

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

The Chairman: With your consent, gentlemen, I will take all clauses in each Part together, instead of clause by clause. Have I your consent?

Hon. Members indicated assent.

Parts I to VI (Clauses 1 to 23 inclusive) ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Part VII (Clauses 24 to 27 inclusive -

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Chairman, Sir, I wish to seek clarification from the Attorney-General about clause 24 (1) (e) which reads:

"Any person who publishes any report of a committee of the Assembly or of any evidence given or any documents presented to such committee or extracts from such documents, before such committee has presented its report to the Assembly, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for twelve months or to both such fine and imprisonment."

Mr Davies: Sir, I am surprised that I am called upon to elaborate or explain language which, in my submission , means exactly what it says.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Sir, I am interested at this stage as to the exact limits -

The Chairman: Order, order. Would you mind standing up? In a Committee of the whole House I would like Members to stand.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Sir, I would wish to make this point: that the rules and provisions which will regulate proceedings in this House, as laid down in our Standing Orders, say that where no specific provision has been made, the proceedings should be modelled on the practice in the House of Commons. By way of analogy, I have referred to that.

Sir, in the House of Commons, as I understand it, there are special committees to which things are usually referred by the House - Select Committees and Standing Committees. And there is a clear distinction, as I understand it, between the proceedings of a Select Committee and the proceedings of a Standing Committee of the House. In Standing Committees all deliberations are open to the Press and can be published day by day; but there has been no such distinction made here, perhaps for good reason. But I would like to know why.

Mr Davies: Sir, I am afraid I am not in a position to give any explanation. I have been guided in the drafting of this Bill by advice from Members of the House of Commons, particularly those officers at the Table. I do not pretend for one minute to be an expert in the procedure of the House of Commons. I have accepted the advice of an expert, and as I am not an expert myself - and I do not think anyone here is an expert - I have willingly accepted it. I am quite prepared to give this undertaking: that I will refer the point to an officer at the Table of the House of Commons, and if I have erred in any way, I will move an amendment later.

Mr R. C. H. Lim (Nominated): Mr Chairman, Sir, may I refer you to clause 2, Part I-[Interruption.] No, Sir, my reference is to the meaning of the word "committee" on page 2 of the Bill -' "committee" means a standing, select, special or other committee of the Assembly'.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Chairman, Sir, I must accept the explanation given by the Hon. the Attorney-General and I hope, at a later date, that we will hear from his experts as to why that distinction has not been made in this particular Bill. There is that distinction in the House of Commons. The principle on which that ruling was based is that proceedings in the House, in so far as it is possible, should be completely open, should be fully reported if anybody should care to report it. It is only where public interest commands to the contrary that secrecy is maintained. And I shall be obliged if, at a later stage, we will get clarification on why there has been this departure from the practice in the House of Commons.

The Chairman: Nobody else wishes to speak? I will put the Question.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clauses 24 to 27 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Part VIII(Clauses 28 to 33 inclusive) ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported, without Amendment.

Third Reading

Mr Speaker: Third Reading, what day?

Mr Davies: Now, Sir. I beg to move, Sir, "That the Bill be now read the Third time."

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time.