WOMEN AND GIRLS' PROTECTION (PLACES OF SAFETY - AMENDMENT) RULES, 1956

The Assistant Minister for Labour and Welfare (Mr Mak Pak Shee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to move the motion standing in my name,

That this Assembly, pursuant to subsection (3) of section 30 of the Women and Gir1s' Protection Ordinance (Chapter 126), resolves that the Women and Girls' Protection (Places of Safety-Amendment) Rules. 1956, made on the 22nd day of June, 1956, and published as Notification No. S 196 in the Gazette Supplement No. 46 of the 29th June, 1956, as contained in Sessional Paper No. S.L. 23 of 1956, be approved.

Before I proceed with this motion, I would draw the attention of this House to the fact that the Chapter and section numbers of the Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance, as published in the Sessional Paper presented, have been amended in my motion in conformity with the Revised Edition of the Laws which came into force on the 1st of July, 1956.

Sir, approval of the motion now before this House will bring into existence another new place of safety under the Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance, namely, the Lee Kuo Chuan Nursery Home. This Home is an institution managed by the Salvation Army authorities in Singapore with whose approval it has already been gazetted as a place of safety under the Children and Young Persons' Ordinance (Chapter 128). It is, inter alia, a residential nursery for about 100 children under the age of six, and a maternity home for about ten to fifteen women or girls who are pregnant but unmarried. The Salvation Army authorities have agreed that the Lee Kuo Chuan Nursery may be designated as a place of safety under the Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance, and approval of this motion by this House will enable the Protector of Women and Girls to detain girls who are six and under and, with the facilities of the maternity section, to afford sanctuary to unmarried women and girls who are about to give birth and are in need of protection.

Sir, I move that this Assembly approves the Women and Girls' Protection (Places of Safety - Amendment) Rules, 1956, laid before this House.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry (Mr J. M. Jumabhoy): Sir, I second it.

Mr Speaker: Will the hon. Member please indicate under what authority he has amended his Rules?

Mr Mak Pak Shee: The amendment of these Rules comes under the Revised Edition of the Laws which came into force on the 1st of July, 1956.

Mr Speaker: Perhaps it would be proper for me to draw the hon. Member's attention to Standing Order 24, which reads:

If a Member desires to alter the terms of a motion standing in his name, he may do so by giving to the Clerk an amended notice of motion, provided that such alteration does not, in the opinion of the Speaker or in his absence the Deputy Speaker, materially alter any principle embodied in the original motion or the scope thereof. The amended notice shall run from the time at which the original notice was given."

The motion, of course, incorporates the Rules and it would have been correct if the hon. Member had given notice as required by Standing Order 24. Will the hon. Member first indicate what his amendments are?

Mr Lim Choon Mong: I think it may be helpful if we ask the Minister for Labour and Welfare to come in and help instead of wasting time.

Mr Speaker: Order, please. I am just trying to get this straightened out.

Perhaps the hon. Member would like to adjourn consideration for a few minutes? We can then proceed with the other two items on the Order Paper.

Mr Mak Pak Shee: As you please, Mr Speaker, Sir.