SERVICES' LANDS BOARD (REPEAL) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

5.52 p.m.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The purpose of this Bill is to repeal the Services' Lands Board Act and to transfer all the assets and liabilities of the Services' Lands Board to the Singapore Government.

During the Constitutional Conference held in the United Kingdom in 1958, it was agreed, inter alia, that the United Kingdom Services should retain the land which they occupied in Singapore for defence purposes and that there should be established by statute a Services' Lands Board. It was also agreed that lands paid for by or on behalf of the Services should be transferred to and vested in the Board. The Services' Lands Board Ordinance was, therefore, enacted in 1959.

Since its incorporation, the Services' Lands Board has been granted leases of State Lands.

In the recent Exchange of Notes on Defence Arrangements between the Governments of Singapore and the United Kingdom, it was agreed, inter alia, that all lands in Singapore held by the Board should, with effect from 1st November, 1971, be transferred to and be vested in the Government of Singapore.

The Bill seeks to give effect to this agreement and to abolish the Board.

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 Barker].

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