DEPARTMENTAL TITLES

3.20 p.m.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the motion* standing in my name on the Order Paper.

• The motion reads as follows:

"That this Parliament, pursuant to section 3 of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Ordinance (Chapter 55), resolves that the Schedule to the said Ordinance be amended by the deletion under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the items, shown in Part I of the following Schedule, and by the addition under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office", respectively of the items shown in Part II of the said Schedule+ :-"

• The Schedule is reproduced as an appendix at cols. 217-32 Appendix to Mr Barker's motion on "Department Titles" at column 181(Cols 0217-0232)

Sir, the titles or names of offices in Government departments are changed from time to time for various reasons, and the purpose of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Ordinance is to ensure that where a change has occurred, the new title or name is substituted for the old wherever the old title appears in any law or document. There is a short provision to this effect in section 2 of the Ordinance which operates in conjunction with the list of old and corresponding new titles contained in the Schedule to the Ordinance.

Members will appreciate that what the Ordinance does is not to change the titles of offices but to make the necessary substitution in the laws and other documents after the change has taken place. The Ordinance must, therefore, be revised from time to time to bring it up to date, and this is done in two ways.

One is by removing from the Schedule to the Ordinance all the items in which the old title or name of office no longer appears in any law or document, these having ceased to have any operation. For instance, one of the items in the Schedule on page 106 of Volume II of the Laws of Singapore, 1955 edition, substitutes "Assistant Commissioner for Labour" for "Assistant Controller for Labour". As "Assistant Controller of Labour", the old title, no longer appears in any laws or documents, it is removed along with a number of other items set out in Part I of the Schedule to the motion and which are no longer required.

The second way is to add items to the Schedule to the Ordinance where there have been departmental changes and the old titles or names are still likely to be found in laws and documents. To take an example, the office of "Extra Assistant Commissioner for Labour" was changed last year to "Principal Assistant Commissioner for Labour", but the old name still appears in some laws and other documents. The addition of this and other items in Part II of the Schedule to the motion will ensure that wherever a reference to one of the obsolete titles and names occurs, the corresponding new title will be substituted.

The Ordinance provides in section 3 that additions and amendments to the Schedule may be effected by a resolution at any time.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Parliament, pursuant to section 3 of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Ordinance (Chapter 55), resolves that the Schedule to the said Ordinance be amended by the deletion under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the items, shown in Part I of the following Schedule, and by the addition under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office", respectively of the items shown in Part II of the said Schedule+.

• The Schedule is reproduced as an appendix at cols. 217-32. Appendix to Mr Barker's motion on "Department Titles" at column 181(Cols 0217-0232)