LONDON TALKS (1963) (Expenditure from Government funds on Government officers and Prime Minister's wife)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Speaker: I have had a message that the Prime Minister may be a few minutes late.

On the matter of Questions, there is a Standing Order which provides for a contingency of that nature. It is Standing Order 20 (3):

`If a Minister [I am reading the relevant portion] who is to answer a question, is absent, the question shall, if he then be present, be taken after all other questions appearing on the Order Paper have been disposed of.'

If by then the Prime Minister is not present, there are other provisions in the Standing Order which will apply.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee): On a point of order, Mr Speaker, Sir,I have been asked by the Prime Minister to reply to Question No. 4.

Mr Speaker: I will then call Question No. 4. Mr Tan Cheng Tong.

Mr Tan Cheng Tong asked the Prime Minister what is the total expenditure from Government funds on the Government officers who attended the recent London talks; and whether the expenses or any part thereof of his wife during her stay in London were met out of such funds.

Dr Goh Keng Swee (for the Prime Minister): The expenditure incurred on bills so far received for air passages and other expenditure amounts to $44,808.

Mrs Lee Kuan Yew's travelling and other expenditure was on the Prime Minister's personal account. It is not borne by the Government.