FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR 1967 AND FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR 1967

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [Allotted Day].

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

2.40 p.m.

The Chairman: The First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 1967 contained in Paper Cmd. 25 of 1967. The summary is at the foot of the page. Head 0401 - Ministry of the Interior and Defence. Mr Tang See Chim, amendment No. (1) .

Mr Tang See Chim (Choa Chu Kang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 0401 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead l.*

• The same admendment also stood in the name of Mr Ng Kah Ting.

It would appear that the grant for the salary increases was given by the Malaysian Government in July 1965 with retrospective effect from 1st of March, 1963. It should, therefore, have been anticipated by the Ministry concerned and provision be made at the beginning of this year for the increase. This has not been done and we are now being asked to vote for a sum of nearly $5 million for the increase.

Furthermore, I would like to know the total sum involved in this increase.

Mr Ng Kah Ting (Punggol): Mr Speaker, Sir, I fully subscribe to the questions posed by the hon. Member for Choa Chu Kang. Further, I would like to know the exact number of personnel who will be benefiting from such salary increases with effect from 1st March, 1963.

Secondly, if I remember well, retrospective increases and payments were not to be supported when the previous Minister for Finance, in answer to a speech on a motion on the adjournment by the Member for Telok Blangah, said that the Government was not prepared to give back pay with effect from 1961 in respect of claims by the Public Daily-Rated Employees' Unions Federation. I believe there is no connection with this whatsoever since the decision to give salary increases was made by the Malaysian Government. However, I fully endorse the views of the Member for Choa Chu Kang on this question of the Government having to come to Parliament and ask it to endorse a vote of nearly $5 million.

The Minister of Defence (Mr Lim Kim San): Mr Speaker, Sir, the amount of expenditure that has to be incurred to pay these increases in salary for the police personnel, which was decided upon by the Malaysian Government when we were part of Malaysia, could have and has been anticipated. It is for purely technical reasons that we did not include it in our Budget, because once provision is made from our own funds, then it makes our position at the bargaining table more difficult. The total increase amounted to $8,112,480, which was fully paid by the Malaysian Government.

2.45 p.m.

It is an accounting procedure that all receipts should go into revenue and all payments should be voted for under the heads. That is the reason why a supplementary of $4,989,000 is being asked for, because there are savings of $3 million odd from personal emoluments of the police.

As regards the question of the Member for Punggol, I think he has answered it himself. There is no similarity between back-dating payments for daily-rated workers and police personnel. It is a decision made by the Malaysian Government. It is not something that has been decided upon by this Government or by me.

I think that answers all the questions.

Mr Tang See Chim: I am quite satisfied with the explanation by the Minister of Defence, and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The following amendment stood in the name of Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi -

That the sum to be allocated for Head 0401 be reduced by the whole sum in respect of subhead 1.

Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi (Kampong Kembangan): (In Malay): I am not moving.

The sum of $4,989,450 for Head 0401 ordered to stand part of the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 1967.

Head 0803 -

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 0803 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2043.*

• The same admendment also stood in the name of Mr Tang See Chim.

Mr Speaker, Sir, an extra sum of $233,260 is required to meet an increase in payments because of a bigger number of officers who have retired this year. I would be grateful if the Minister could throw some light on the exact number of officers (with their designations) who have retired this year and, if possible, the reasons for their retirement.

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I think what is more important is the reason why the retirement of officers was not anticipated at the beginning of the year. As I see it, surely it should be Government policy, especially in view of the present unemployment situation in the country, to retire all officers compulsorily when they reach retiring age in order to give job opportunities to younger men who enter the labour market.

Can the Minister give reasons for the increase in payments and why they were not anticipated at the beginning of the year?

Mr Ho See Beng (Bras Basah): Mr Speaker, Sir, in addition to the two Members who have touched on this matter, I would like to ask the Minister whether the unexpected number of retirements this year was due to the poor pay given to civil servants which hastened their retirement. Usually the Government put them on the Superannuation Scheme, and if that is the case, I feel that the Government should not allow this brain-drain to occur.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee): Sir, the details requested by the Member for Punggol are as follows:

There were 394 retirements as against 211 the previous year. Eighty per cent of the retirements were due to officers reaching the compulsory age of retirement. The balance were retirements on optional or medical grounds and two officers were retired in the public interest.

As regards compulsory retirements referred to by the Member for Choa Chu Kang, retirement is compulsory on reaching the age limit - 55 years in most cases; 60 years for those who entered the service more recently. Of course, it does not mean that once an officer retires, he will be lost to the service. In some cases of officers of exceptional merit, we do re-employ them on contract terms, but this again is a very exceptional procedure.

The Member for Bras Basah suspects that the large number of people retiring may be due to poor pay. I can assure him that the civil service pays very good salaries. Our difficulty is that whenever there is an advertisement for vacancies, the number of applicants is usually 100 times the number of vacant posts. So I do not think the hon. Member can claim that we are paying poor salaries.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am fully satisfied with the explanation given by the Minister for Finance. On that note, may I beg leave to withdraw my amendment?

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Inche Mohd. Ariff: (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 0803 be reduced by the whole sum in respect of subhead 2043.

Mr Speaker, Sir, to my mind, the amount requested is for officers who have retired this year. As stated by two hon. Members earlier, could the Ministry not have anticipated the number of officers who would be retiring at the end of the year? This means that the Ministry is lacking in efficiency in not having been able to determine the number of officers who would be retiring. The Minister has said earlier that 80 per cent of such officers had to retire compulsorily. If this was known, why did the Ministry not make provision for these people to retire? If this state of affairs carries on, then our Estimates for 1968 will go haywire and there will be further Supplementary Estimates for us to consider at the end of 1968.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Sir, the Member is quite right in saying that there will be further Supplementary Estimates next year. There are Supplementary Estimates every year, and for this year we are lucky to have only one set of Supplementary Estimates.

As regards the under-estimation, I have said that 80 per cent of the retirements were compulsory retirements. The other 20 per cent were optional retirements and this is the element that is very difficult to estimate from year to year. Of course, it is also not always possible to allow for more higher paid civil servants retiring in one year as against another year.

I assure the hon. Member that we are doing our best to have the most exact estimate possible, but in spite of this, mistakes do occur and underestimates do take place, as a result of which this House will certainly have to consider Supplementary Estimates next year.

Inche Mohd. Ariff: (In Malay): I beg leave to withdraw.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $233,260 for Head 0803 ordered to stand part of the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 1967.

Head 1002 -

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 1002 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead l.*

• The same admendment also stood in the name of Mr Ng Kah Ting.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I am very glad to hear the Minister for Finance say just now that all estimates are prepared in the most exact manner possible. Unfortunately, the explanatory note to Head 1002 subhead 1 gives an idea that it is not so.

3.00 p.m.

Every year, each Ministry puts in its estimates and it expects them to be cut down by the Treasury. It is something like bargaining or haggling in the market. I open my price at, say, $3 million. You say, "No, you can get only $2 million." Then at the end of the year, you find that $2 million is not enough and you have to come back to Parliament to get the extra money required.

That exactly is the position here, Mr Speaker, Sir,I think it behoves the Ministries and the Treasury to come to a certain understanding, so that there need not be any bargaining. What the Ministries want must be stated exactly, and if Treasury want to reduce it, they must give good reasons. And once the sum is reduced, the Ministry should see to it that it sticks to that figure, instead of, as in this instance, a $2 million reduction, expecting certain vacancies not to be filled, and they had, in the course of the year, filled vacancies up to a sum of $660,000. This is the sum that falls short, and now we are here asked to vote again. Parliament may not be very busy, Sir, but surely this is no way of employing its time!

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, we have just been given a wonderful illustration of what I would term "inefficiency" on the part of the Ministry concerned in estimating probable expenditure for the year 1967. It is indeed sad for all of us having to come here today to vote for a sum of $660,000 to cover the expenditure incurred.

From the explanatory note, one would, in the first instance, be happy to note that there was such a thing as "probable under-expenditure" and, therefore, a deduction of $2 million was made. Here again, we have the Ministry of Culture appointing persons to fill the vacancies and today we are billed for $660,000. This is a very big sum of money and I am sure the Minister will inform the House of the number of vacant posts filled, i.e., how many officers have been recruited, to merit the $660,000.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Sir, this is really a technical Treasury point, and so I am answering it on behalf of the Minister for Culture because it deals with methods of estimation and why the Head has been under-estimated and who is to blame, and that sort of thing. Of course, Members must understand that these estimates were passed by hon. Members last year. They cannot, therefore, entirely escape responsibility for it.

I do not think the Member for Choa Chu Kang got it right when he said that this amount of money is like bargaining between the Ministry and the Treasury. This is about deductions on account of probable under-expenditure. And, of course, if hon. Members have studied the Estimates for next year which are now before them, they will find that this item is entered in respect of all estimates of expenditure. There are various reasons for this. First, in the case of personal emoluments, where it is the custom to enter the full amount for the year January to December, quite often where this relates to new posts - when you have to fill new posts there are various procedures to follow to ensure that there is no fiddling and that the most qualified persons are appointed to the public service - this, of course, means that you have to advertise in the newspapers. Before you advertise in the newspapers, the qualifications and the terms of the office must be agreed between the Public Service Commission, the Treasury and: the Ministry concerned. This takes time, and as often as not, when you have the time, you find that in many cases you cannot get the people with the requisite experience and qualifications.

In the case of the Culture Division of the Ministry of Culture, this has been the practice all along since the establishment of television, when they had to recruit many grades of staff which were never found in the public service before, such as T.V, cameramen, newsreel editors, writers, directors -that kind of personnel. And for many years, it has been the experience of the Ministry of Culture to be unable to fill these posts to a very considerable extent. So it is based on past experience that the sum of $2 million had been entered as "probable under-expenditure". Fortunately for us, the Ministry has been able to recruit more successfully this year than in previous years. Hence, the estimate of "probable under-expenditure" proved to be wrong. We, therefore, have to give out the money that they need. I hope this explanation makes the matter clear.

Mr Tang See Chim: Sir, I am satisfied except for the fact that my colleague, the hon. Member for Punggol, has asked for detailed figures. I wonder whether the Minister could oblige.

The Minister for Culture and Social Affairs (Inche Othman Bin Wok): Sir, I have the figures with me. This is purely due to reorganisation which was done. There were altogether 74 persons who have been recruited in the Broadcasting Division, including Announcers, two, Engineer, one, Technical Assistant (Superscale), five, Technical Assistant (Special Grade), none, Technical Assistant and Technical Cadet, two, Technicians, 23.

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The following amendment stood in the name of Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi -

That the sum to be allocated for Head 1002 be reduced by the whole sum in respect of subhead 1.

Inche Mohd. Ariff: (In Malay): I am not moving, Sir.

The sum of $660,000 for Head 1002 ordered to stand part of the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 1967.

Question, "That the sum of $5,882,710 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure for the public services shown in the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 1967 contained in Paper Cmd. 25 of 1967", put, and agreed to.

Resolution to be reported.

3.10 p.m.

The Chairman: The First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967 as contained in Paper Cmd, 24 of 1967. The summary is on page 4 of the Paper.

Head 11 -

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 11 be reduced by $10 in respect of new subhead 501.

Sir, I am indeed happy to see the establishment of a regular Outward Bound School at Pulau Ubin. I can well remember that years back we used to send our students to outward bound schools in a neighbouring country. With the objective of building a more robust and rugged society, this establishment of an Outward Bound School comes, in fact, at a very opportune time.

I myself had the opportunity to visit this Outward Bound School and to see for myself the courses conducted by the authorities there. Seeing young boys and girls undergoing such tough training to meet our objective is indeed a wonderful experience. Now that the Government has realised that such outward bound training is an effective medium to mould our young people into a generation tough and disciplined in body and in mind, I would like to know from the Minister concerned what type of outward bound activities would mould a tough generation disciplined in body and in mind. Further, when was this Outward Bound School instituted and on what basis, in other words, the type of lectures, teachers and management?

Mr Lim Kim San: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Outward Bound School offers courses almost similar to those being offered by the Outward Bound School which was started on an ad hoc basis sometime in 1960 with the help of instructors from the British Army. We actually took over in August this year when preparation was made for the requisite buildings and facilities in Pulau Ubin.

Coming to the courses themselves, since the hon. Member for Punggol has attended the Outward Bound School -

Mr Ng Kah Ting: I have only visited the school.

Mr Lim Kim San: - has visited the school, and if he is as curious as he appears to be, surely he would have gone through the hundreds of pamphlets showing the activities of the Outward Bound School - such as canoeing, hiking, camping, rowing, physical exercises, swimming, the whole lot. These activities are actually planned to instil confidence into the students taking these courses, to let them prove to themselves that they are capable of certain standards of performance which are considered to be the norm for the type of physique that they have.

I do not think it is possible for me to give a detailed description of the syllabus of the course that is now being drawn up, since the warden, chief instructors, and instructors have only just arrived. But if the hon. Member for Punggol would really like to go into it. I will supply him with all the literature available, including a description of the courses, the whys and the wherefores of the syllabus, the hours they spend outdoors, indoors, camping, etc.

3.15 p.m.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, could the Minister inform the House, since the setting up of such a school, how many courses the school has organised, the number of students, the schools involved - probably the districts? In other words, how many have benefited and, in particular, what is the duration of each course?

Mr Lim Kim San: Each course lasts from between 18 and 25 days, and since August we have had four courses averaging 40 to 50 students each. They are from the Vigilante Corps instructors, Organising Secretaries of the People's Association, and I think the last batch were teachers from various schools in Singapore.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment since the Minister has fully answered all my questions.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $213,120 for Head 11 ordered to stand part of the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967.

Head 61 -

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 61 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 101.

Sir, the explanatory note states that a large number of acquisitions have to be completed within this year to meet outstanding acquisition appeals and additional awards made by the Appeals Board, and the sum required is $1.5 million. Could the Minister elaborate on this note?

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Development Estimates for 1967 provide the Land Office with a provision of $4 million under the title "Land Acquisition for General Development". This vote is intended to meet expenditure incurred under the following headings:

(a) Acquisition or purchase of land for general development, for example, fire sites, urban renewal, parcels of land which may be offered for sale to the State although not needed immediately for a public purpose but whose purchase is deemed desirable for long-term development, for example, the old Admiralty House in Grange Road purchased from the United Kingdom Government in 1963: land in Ulu Pandan purchased in 1967 to allow for the enlargement of a site adjacent thereto; and

(b) supplementary awards arising from appeals to the Appeals Board or from settlement out of court;

(c) supplementary awards resulting from surveyings completed after the acquisition indicating that more land has been taken than originally stated and thereby necessitating additional compensation to the owner from whom the land was taken.

Although an amount of $4 million was provided for, an additional sum of about $1½ million, approximately $1,448,567.89, further particulars of which I will give later, is now required as a result of increases in the awards made by the Appeals Board and in order to complete acquisitions approved this year. This additional sum will enable acquisition proceedings to be finalised in a number of cases this year. Hon. Members will remember that the Land Acquisition Act, which was long delayed partly because we were in Malaysia, was finally approved sometime last year and made enforceable sometime this year. Many acquisitions have been delayed because we preferred to wait for the new Act to come into force before starting acquisition proceedings. The Court itself has had several sittings this year and made certain awards which, of course, had cost the Government a little money.

A break-down of the expenditure already incurred and which is to be incurred under the Board this year is as follows: Amount expended: (a) For general development $2,284,354.49 (b) For other projects $1,945,188.40 ------------- Total $4,229,542.89 ============= The approximate amount required to complete five acquisitions is $1,219,025. These two figures added give a sum of $5,448,567.89. If one subtracts the sum of $4 million from the sum I have just mentioned, the balance will be $1,448,567.89, approximately $1½ million. Sir, I have already bothered the learned Member with figures. I could give him further figures, but I think I will be merely wasting his time.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $1,500,000 for Head 61 ordered to stand part of the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967.

Head 67 -

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 67 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 102.

Mr Speaker, Sir, what I am going to say also applies to the other subheads in respect of which I have also proposed to move reductions. It would appear from the explanatory notes in the First Supplementary Development Estimates that all these five subheads, namely, subheads 102, 103, 104, 202 and 208, could have been anticipated at the beginning of the year. As such, once again I must say that the Ministry should have anticipated this expenditure. It would only be a waste of parliamentary time to come at the end of the year for supplementary estimates.

The Chairman: Mr Barker. This amendment to subhead 102 stands only in the name of Mr Tang See Chim, and it appears no other hon. Member wishes to speak.

Mr Barker: Mr Speaker, Sir, as my colleague, the Minister for Finance, has pointed out, it is sometimes difficult to anticipate this expenditure, and as he has also pointed out, we have only come back to Parliament once, not twice or three times. To deal with the specific subhead 102, which is "Major Construction and Renovation to Government Buildings", the additional funds are in fact required to meet expenditure for the maintenance, renovation and redecoration of many Government buildings as part of an overall plan of expansion of the services and additions of responsibilities of various Ministries and departments. Unfortunately, many of these items could not have been foreseen in 1966, but nevertheless had to be implemented on a rather urgent basis in 1967. Examples of these are as follows. First, certain funds had to be made available to convert and renovate some premises for the Public Health Transport Centre to enable the emergency cleansing scheme to operate properly. This should meet the approval of Members. Second, many of our public office buildings had to be given major reconstruction and renovation and these include such big buildings as the City Hall, the Fullerton Building, the C.I.D. building and a few others.

Several new offices were set up and major alterations and renovations had to be effected to make them suitable to serve the purposes intended.

Hon. Members will have read Press reports to the effect that we are making efforts to promote tourism and we have started a school for waiters. One of the buildings is the Hotel and Catering Institute. Others are the Registry of Companies, the Immigration Department depots, Moulmein Road X-Ray Centre, the United Kingdom Bases Run-down Unit, and, what happens to be in the public eye these days, the conversion of the school at Chestnut Drive into a court house.

Lastly, major renovations were done to some buildings to keep them in good repair or to convert them to serve new purposes. These include the weigh-bridge at Tampines dumping grounds, the National Library garages and a sewage pumping house in Ulu Pandan.

Mr Tang See Chim: I am quite satisfied with the Minister's explanation, Sir, and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The Chairman: Mr Tang, are you moving amendment No. (2)*?

• Amendment No. (2) reads as follows:

That the sum to be allocated for Head 67 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 103.

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, in view of what I said when I moved subhead 102, I shall not be moving this amendment.

The Chairman: Amendment No. (3)+. Mr Ng Kah Ting.

• Amendment No. (3), which also stood in the name of Mr. Tang See Chim, reads as follows:

That the sum to be allocated for Head 67 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 104.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, I think the Minister has already answered before I can move my amendment. Therefore, I am not moving it.

The Chairman: Mr Tang, I take it that you are not moving amendment No. (3) ?

Mr Tang See Chim: No, Sir, I am not moving.

The Chairman: Inche Mohd. Ariff, amendment No. (4) .

Inche Mohd. Ariff: (In Malay): Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head 67 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 202.++

++ The same amendment also stood in the names of Mr. Tang See Chim and Mr. Ng Kah Ting.

The Minister has just now explained that the expenditure is unforeseen in nature. I would like to know what are the projects that have been carried out in the rural areas which have been classified as unforeseen in nature.

Mr Barker: Most of the expenditure under subhead 202 was of an unforeseen nature and had to be incurred to meet actual requirements in the rural areas during the course of the year. Funds had to be expended to upgrade certain rural roads and tracks, and to improve or divert existing drainage systems as and when necessary. There was also the provision for new roads and drains, public utility services such as electricity, water and sewers for major development areas in Pasir Laba, Bukit Timah, Ulu Pandan and Bedok; unfortunately not in Kampong Kembangan.

The Member for Kampong Kembangan always rises in this House to ask for more funds for his constituency to build and improve the existing roads or build new roads. I remember visiting his constituency at a celebration in connection with a community centre and I was asked when the road that led to the centre would be improved. That has been done. May I state openly to the Member for Kampong Kembangan that my sympathies are completely with him, but the man behind the purse is the Hon. Minister for Finance. Though I can support his representations to get more money for every constituency, I am afraid I also have to convince the Minister for Finance who, I am sure, has the interest of Singapore at heart -

An hon. Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Barker: And knows how much money he can spend on rural projects.

Inche Mohd. Ariff: (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, as has been explained by the Minister for Law and National Development who said he knew about the conditions in Kampong Kembangan, what has been proposed has not been done, but projects that have not been proposed have been carried out. I do not understand how the Minister considers requests from the rural constituencies and brings them before this Parliament. Though the Minister has said that this expenditure is of an unforeseen nature, I would like to know whether the projects proposed for Kampong Kembangan constituency will be carried out.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, I think it is the duty of every Member of Parliament to fight for more social amenities for his constituency, and I wholly support what the Member for Kampong Kembangan has said. Because of this, today we have this extra sum to be voted for - $1.5 million, "Construction in Rural Areas". In other words, rural services are very vital to the residents in the rural constituencies, and that is why I had the amendment in mind. The Government has now seen fit to bring more social amenities to the rural constituencies, and I think the Member for Kampong Kembangan is right.

The Chairman: Mr Tang, I take it you are not speaking on this amendment?

Mr Tang See Chim: No, Sir.

Mr Barker: I have already said just now that my sympathies are with the Member for Kampong Kembangan. Just as you want more money for Kampong Kembangan, I want more money for Tanglin. The Member for Choa Chu Kang wants more money for Choa Chu Kang and the Member for Punggol wants more money for Punggol. But I think you know what has happened this year. For Kampong Kembangan, the funds have been utilised but we did approve certain projects over and above the limited funds available. Funds that have not been used in other constituencies have been used in several constituencies.

I think the Member for Kampong Kembangan made the point that now I know all the requirements in Kampong Kembangan. I am afraid I do not. I know some of the requirements of the other constituencies, and I am continually reminded about them when I make a courtesy visit to any of the constituencies - to open a community centre or join with Members in the celebration of some anniversary. I am always met with requests for water mains, electricity and roads. Frankly, I will be happy to give Members all they ask, but I am afraid I cannot because the funds available are limited and the Minister for Finance is the big boss.

Inche Mohd. Ariff: (In Malay): Mr Speaker, although the Minister for Law and National Development does not fully understand the position in Kampong Kembangan, I would request him to visit my constituency during this rainy weather. The Minister has said just now that all Members want extra funds for their constituencies. Kampong Kembangan is a different constituency where 75 per cent of the area has not been built up. The Minister has said that his sympathies are with the people of Kampong Kembangan, but the funds are in the hands of the Minister for Finance. I would like to ask the Minister to assure me if he can get the Minister for Finance to give some funds to Kampong Kembangan.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Sir, I am speaking as the Member for Kreta Ayer and not as the Finance Minister. May I remind the hon. Member that for the last five years, not one cent has been spent in Kreta Ayer for this kind of thing and the worst pot-holed roads are, in my constituency.

The Chairman: Inche Mohd. Ariff, do you want the question put, or do you want to withdraw the amendment?

Inche Mohd. Ariff: I want a vote.

Question on the amendment put, and negatived.

The Chairman: Mr Tang See Chim, amendment No. (5)*.

• Amendment No. (5) reads as follows:

That the sum to be allocated for Head 67 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 208.

Mr Tang See Chim: I will not be moving, Sir.

The sum of $7,100,000 for Head 67 ordered to stand part of the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967.

The Chairman: The remaining heads of expenditure undisposed of are Heads 01, 03, 40 and 58. They appear in the summary on page 4. I propose to take these heads of expenditure+ en bloc.

• The following are the heads of expenditure: Head Title Total 0l Civil Aviation $403,297 03 Telecommunications $l,290,942 40 Ministry of Finance $890,293 58 Prisons $27,000

Question, "That the sums stated in the summary of totals contained in Paper Cmd. 24 of 1967 for Heads 01, 03, 40 and 58 stand part of the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967", put, and agreed to.

Question, "That the sum of $11,424, 652 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure for the public services shown in the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967 contained in Paper Cmd. 24 of 1967", put, and agreed to.

Resolution to be reported.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the house.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply have come to certain resolutions.

Resolutions reported -

"That the sum of $5,882,710 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure for the public services shown in the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 1967 contained in Paper Cmd. 25 of 1967."

"That the sum of $11,424,652 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure for the public services shown in the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for 1967 contained in Paper Cmd. 24 of 1967."

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that Parliament doth agree with the Committee on the said resolutions.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolutions accordingly agreed to.