Committee of Supply

Motion and Schedule considered in Committee of Supply.

[Mr SPEAKER in the Chair]

10.57 a.m.

Schedule

The Chairman: We will deal with the Schedule.

The summary is at page 14.

Head 4-

The sum of $710 for Head 4 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 10-

The sum of $8,434 for Head 10 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 12-

The sum of $1,544 for Head 12 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 20-

The sum of $97,862 for Head 20 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 21-

The sum of $4,200 for Head 21 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 30-

The sum of $450 for Head 30 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 38-

The sum of $15,627 for Head 38 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 44-

The sum of $70,500 for Head 44 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 46-

The sum of $10 for Head 46 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head 60-

The sum of $19,908 for Head 60 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head D9-

The sum of $22,100 for Head D9 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

11.00 a.m.

Head D12-

Question proposed,

"That the sum of $205,300 for Head D12 stand part of the Schedule."

Mr Lim Koon Teck (Paya Lebar): Mr Chairman, Sir, this item shows that an amount of $205,300 is required for additions as are necessary to the temporary camp at Ulu Pandan. It is rather alarming to us that a temporary camp should require such a large sum of expenditure, and we would like to know the details for which this sum is required.

Mr Goode: Sir, if I may reply first of all to the very natural criticism of the hon. Member for Paya Lebar as to why we should spend a further $200,000 or so on what purports to be a temporary camp, I must say that it is unlikely that this camp will not be required for a number of years. We have considered the cost of building permanent accommodation for the Singapore Battalion, and we shall want a very large sum indeed if we are to provide permanent accommodation up to the standards that are expected. It will be a figure somewhere in the order of ten or twelve million dollars, which is a very big sum and will make a very big demand on our public works capacity. I think it would be prudent, therefore, to work on the assumption that the Battalion will occupy this temporary camp for at least two, three or four years, and that being so, we must organise the camp accordingly. Hon. Members will remember that we put up this temporary camp as rapidly as we could and with the minimum possible accommodation. If we could see our way to moving the Battalion within a matter of months, then we could manage in the camp as it is today, but as I said, it is prudent, I think, to provide for the Battalion staying there for at least two or three years, and once we posit that, we must then posit that we shall have a full Battalion in that camp for a period of a year or two. That immediately raises one big question, and that is water supply. The site was laid out and the main hutments were built as far as possible along the lower contours of the ground. At the moment they are the only accommodation that is occupied but as the numbers increase, it will be essential to use the higher levels of that camp and that means putting in a local water supply scheme to get water to the top level of the camp so that there is sufficient pressure to provide for the necessary washing and other facilities, and that is the expensive item in this vote for which I am now seeking approval; that is an item of $66,000.

There are other items which go to make up the sum of $205,300. There is at present no proper guard room or armoury. These two items are essential if the camp is to continue and the weapons of the whole Battalion are to be kept in the camp, and they come to another $33,500. We also must provide an M.T. workshop which will cost about $17,000. The Battalion has already got about eight vehicles. They are new vehicles. At the moment they are standing in the open and it is not economical, hon. Members will agree, to allow motor transport to stand indefinitely in the open. It is also right and proper that the men in the Battalion should learn to maintain and do minor repairs on their own vehicles. For this purpose we must have a proper M.T. shed and workshop, and the estimate for that is $17,000.

Another item is a 30-yard range on the camp. We made no provision originally for such a range, hoping that if we were only occupying it for a short period of time, it would be satisfactory to ferry the troops from the Battalion to other 30-yard ranges. But as soon as we contemplate staying longer in the camp I think it is essential there should be a 30-yard range so that the men can go down and practise shooting without the delay and expense of being ferried by lorries all over Singapore Island.

There are a number of other detailed items which I can let the hon. Member have but it will perhaps take too long to detail to the Assembly now. I would give this further assurance, that we do not propose to embark immediately on spending of the whole of this $200,000. There will be phases and the first vital requirements are the armoury so that they can keep their weapons; getting the water supply up to the top of the hill so that they can use those huts at the top; we want to be able to open an officers' mess there. We have five local boys who are going on officer cadet courses - three are already up in the Federation at the Military College and two more are shortly to leave for Australia and will be back within the year; and we want to start getting the appurtenances of this camp so that we can build up a spirit in the Battalion.

I am sure that other Members of this House as well as I got considerable satisfaction out of seeing the small squad on the Queen's Birthday Parade last week which was the first formal occasion on which the Singapore Infantry Regiment appeared before the public. If I am not ruled out of order, I would mention one further point, that two more squads will be passing out after recruit training on 27th July and if any Member of the House would care to come and see it, I would be very happy to arrange it.

Mr John Ede (Tanglin): Mr Chairman, it does seem to us that there is considerable danger of the Government falling between two stools in this matter. Once you decide to stay in temporary premises for three or four years, it is inevitable that you will have to put more money into the venture, into something which later you propose to abandon. Therefore there may eventually be a considerable waste of public money. Once you put money into a particular site which you intend to be temporary and then you hold it longer than you at first intended, at the same time planning something which will make it necessary to build a permanent camp somewhere else later, there is wastage; that seems to me to be the danger which the Government is running into. Of course we are entirely in favour of comfortable quarters for the Singapore Battalion in every kind of way but I think it is only right that we on this side of the House should point out the danger that the Government is running into in respect of the use of public money.

Mr Goode: Sir, I do not think I can accept the suggestion that there is a danger of waste on this. We have decided to raise a battalion; you cannot do it without getting some place to accommodate it. I think we are all agreed and we all fully support the immediate raising of this Battalion. I have already said if you wish to build permanent accommodation it will probably take at least two years to do so and the cost will be someting like twelve million dollars. In the meantime we must have accommodation into which this Battalion can be placed and if we spend a total sum of just under $1,000,000 which will provide us with accommodation for our Battalion for the next three or four years and for which no doubt we shall be able to find a useful purpose thereafter, I do not for one minute think that we are wasting any money at all.

One further comment, Sir, I would like to make, is on the suggestion - which I fully support - that the members of the Battalion should have comfortable quarters. I do not think that their present accommodation can be said to come up to that standard. They are living in temporary metal huts and while these are adequate they are not yet comfortable.

Question put, and agreed to.

The sum of $205,300 for Head D 12 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head D 44-

The sum of $128,691 for Head D 44 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head D 53-

The sum of $15,000 for Head D 53 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head D 55-

The sum of $22,360 for Head D 55 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head D 60-

The sum of $71,283 for Head D 60 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

Head D 62-

The sum of $548,374 for Head D 62 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

The sum of $1,228,433 for the Heads of Expenditure and for the services specified in the Schedule ordered to stand part of the motion.

Motion and Schedule reported, without Amendment.

Question,

"That this Assembly resolves that the sum of $1,228,433 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure and for the services specified in the Schedule contained in Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 22 of 1957.",

put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Assembly resolves that the sum of $1,228,433 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure and for the services specified in the Schedule contained in Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 22 of 1957.