LIGHT DUES (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

10.57 a.m.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry (Mr J. M. Jumabhoy): Mr Speaker, Sir, I move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, fifteen months of operation of the Light Dues Ordinance, 1957, has disclosed the necessity for a number of amendments to the Ordinance which are contained in this Bill. All the amendments have been agreed to by the Singapore Shipowners' Association.

The definition "waters of the Colony" in section 2 of the Ordinance is deleted by clause 2 of the Bill. This definition refers to territorial waters excluding the port limits. This deletion is effected because the intention now, as reflected in clause 3 of the Bill, is that the light dues are to be paid by ships which call at the port or place within the Colony and not by ships which are in transit in the waters of the Colony and which do not call here. The deletion of the definition would also enable the Light Dues Board to expend monies from the Light Dues Fund on the maintenance of lights and navigational aids within the port limits and on the maintenance of the light at Pulau Pisang which is not within territorial waters.

Clause 3 of the Bill, Sir, repeals and re-enacts section 3 of the Ordinance. Subsection (1) of the proposed new section 3 provides that except for ships exempted by subsection (2) of the same section, light dues shall be made, as I mentioned earlier, by ships calling at the port in the course of a voyage, for example, for bunkers and victuals, for the loading and unloading of cargo and for the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers. By necessary implication, ships, which are in transit in the waters of the Colony but which do not call at the port, that is, do not put in for any of the reasons I have just enumerated, will not be liable to pay light dues.

Subsection (2) of the proposed new section 3 grants a general exemption from payment of light dues to the following classes of vessels: ships which put in from stress of weather or for the purpose of repairs or because of damage, ships belonging to Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom or to the Singapore Government or to a Commonwealth or foreign government if such ships do not carry cargo or passengers for freight or fares, ships under fifteen tons, fishing craft, and native sailing ships.

Clause 4 of the Bill gives effect to the intention I referred to earlier of enabling the Light Dues Board to provide navigational aids within the port limits and at Pulau Pisang which is outside our territorial waters.

Clause 5 amends the Schedule to the Ordinance so as to make it possible for ships calling more than ten times a year to be charged a comprehensive non-refundable payment of 20 cents per ton per year at the option of their owners, agents or masters. This amendment removes an existing anomaly in that, undei the corresponding item in the Schedule as it now stands, Singapore-registered ships which make long overseas voyages and put in once or twice a year have to pay as much as Singapore-registered ships in the coastal trade which put in more frequently, and pay even more than ships not on our register which make the same number of calls at the port. This Bill will not involve the Government in any extra expenditure.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. [Mr J. M. Jumabhoy.]

Bill considered in Committee.

11.02 a.m.

[Mr SPEAKER in the Chair]

Clauses 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 3-

Mr J. M. Jumabhoy: Mr Speaker, Sir, I move,

In page 2, lines 14 and 15, to leave out "repairing or because of damage" and insert "emergency repairs in respect of damage occasioned on the high seas".

This amendment, Sir, is necessary to make it clear that those ships will be exempted from paying dues which come in only for emergency repairs if they had suffered damage due to stress of weather on the high seas.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 3, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 4 and 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported with an amendment; read the Third time and passed.