SEAMEN'S REGISTRY BOARD (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.24 p.m.

The Minister for Communications (Mr Yong Nyuk Lin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

There has been, in recent years, an increasing demand for Singapore seamen as a result of which the reserve pooi of seamen registered in the Seamen's Registry Board has fallen below the accepted minimum of 20 per cent. As at 31st October, 1968, the total number of seamen on the register was 8,264, and a reserve pool at 20 per cent would be 1,653, but the actual availability was only 1,258 or 15 per cent of the total number of registered seamen in Singapore. The demand has arisen, firstly because of the cessation of confrontation by Indonesia with consequent new job opportunities, and the preference for Singapore seamen in relation to other Asian seamen, and, secondly, because of our Government's promotional activities for more jobs at sea. Our training ship "Singapore", which was started in 1964, has so far creditably produced over 1,600 trained seamen. This training ship scheme, however, is not capable of significantly increasing the output of trainees to meet the urgent demands at hand. Consequently, a crash programme to increase the supply of seamen has been drawn up by our Seamen's Registry Board.

Briefly, the new scheme will supplement what our training ship is able to produce, by allowing shipowners to take on a flexible number of Singapore citizens to acquire the skills of seamanship through on-the-job training on board ship. Such men will be expected to do the jobs in the category in which they are employed under the guidance of experienced hands, and they will he required to serve for a period of six months before being discharged. Those who satisfactorily complete the six months' period will be given provisional registration as ordinary ratings for a further period of six months. Those who satisfactorily complete both their on-the-job training period and their period of provisional service, that is, after one year's service made up of two periods of six months each, will be registered as regular seamen and they will then be free to select employment on home-trade, local-trade or foreign-trade ships.

Shipowners who participate in the new scheme are free to select and sign-on Singapore citizens whom they consider suitable for on-the-job training on their ships, without having to go through the Seamen's Registry Board. As an encouragement and incentive, owners of foreign-going ships are entitled to seek reimbursement from the Seamen's Registry Board at the rate of $35 per month per person in respect of trainees who have successfully completed their six months' on-the-job training, on board their ships. I am pleased to state here that the Singapore shipping community have responded favourably to this scheme and have indicated their willingness to participate as and when the new scheme is introduced.

It will, therefore, be necessary to amend the Seamen's Registry Board Ordinance, 1957, so that the men selected for the on-the-job training by shipowners will not be required to go through the process of selection by the Board, as stipulated in the present Ordinance. The Seamen's Registry Board (Amendment) Bill seeks to achieve this by excluding probationer deck-hands, probationer engine-room hands and probationer catering hands signed on ship's articles under the scheme from the definition of "seamen" in section 2 of the Ordinance. This amendment will allow shipowners to take on untrained men for training on their ships.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

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

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. --[Mr Yong Nyuk Lin].

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