MERCHANT SHIPPING (FEES) RULES, 1959

3.26 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee) (on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the motion standing in the name of the Deputy Prime Minister,

That this Assembly, pursuant to subsection (2) of section 490 of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance (Chapter 207), resolves that the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Rules, 1959, published as Notification No. S (N.S.) 135 in the Gazette Supplement No. 27 dated 9th October, 1959, as contained in Paper S.L. (N.S.) 18 of 1959, be approved.

The rules which are the subject of this motion are designed to increase to a small extent the revenue of the Marine and Marine Surveys Departments. The Merchant Shipping Ordinance contains many provisions designed to ensure that ships should be fully equipped and their crew fully qualified to perform their functions, so as to ensure efficiency and safety at sea.

The Ordinance imposes standards on both men and ships. It also imposes a duty on the Government to enforce these standards. This latter duty is discharged by the Marine and Marine Surveys Departments. These departments carry out the necessary inspections and examination of ships and certify that standards are being maintained. Inspection and examination entails expenditure of considerable sums of money by the State. It is a practice in most maritime states to recover at least a proportion of such expenditure by levying fees for services rendered. This practice is given legislative sanction in the Ordinance, the provisions of which I need not refer in detail. If hon. Members would glance at the Sessional Paper, which is the subject of this motion, they will see the many and varied services which the Government is statutorily obliged to render. The scale and level of fees is revised from time to time in order to preserve the ratio between the cost of the services and the charges which are levied for them. The last revision took place in 1954. Since then, the cost of the services has increased and the rules are intended to raise the scale of fees charged and thereby to increase the revenue derived from them.

Sir, I beg to move.

Mr Goh Chew Chua: I second it.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Assembly, pursuant to subsection (2) of section 490 of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance (Chapter 207), resolves that the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Rules, 1959, published as Notification No. S (N.S.) 135 in the Gazette Supplement No. 27 dated 9th October, 1959, as contained in Paper S.L. (N.S.) 18 of 1959, be approved.