SEAMEN'S REGISTRY BOARD (AMENDMENT) BILL

[Mr SPEAKER in the Chair]

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to introduce a Bill intituled "An Ordinance to amend the Seamen's Registry Board Ordinance, 1957 (No. 11 of 1957)."

Bill read the First time.

Second Reading

Mr Speaker: Second Reading, what day?

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Now, Sir. Mr Speaker, I lay upon the Table a Certificate of Urgency signed by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara in respect of the Seamen's Registry Board (Amendment) Bill.

Certificate of Urgency handed in.

Mr Speaker: The Certificate is in order. Are typed copies of the Bill available for the use of Members?

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Yes, there are.

Typed copies of the Bill handed in to the Clerk and distributed to hon. Members.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Subsection (3) of section 3 of the existing Seamen's Registry Board Ordinance makes various stipulations about the sort of person who can be appointed as Chairman of the Board. One of these is that he may not be a person in the employment of the Government of the State, unless he is so employed in a judicial capacity. The Government considers that this particular provision should be deleted in order to give the Minister rather greater freedom of choice in this matter than he possesses at the moment. The term of office of the present Chairman expires today, and it is to prevent a hiatus before a new Chairman can be appointed that this Bill is taken through all stages on a Certificate of Urgency.

The opportunity has also been taken to make some other minor amendments to clarify sections 2 and 5 of the Ordinance by putting the word "ship's" in front of the word "articles", where the latter expression is used, and by inserting the words "agreements for employment" instead of the word "articles" in paragraph (b) of subsection (5), which refers to foreign seamen in transit who may not by the law of their employers' country be required to sign a document which could properly be described as "ship's articles", but who must still for our purposes have signed whatever documents the employers' country does require before they come here if they are to be exempted from the normal procedure laid down for the recruitment of seamen in this State.

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. - [Dr Goh Keng Swee].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read the Third time and passed.

5.55 p.m.