Section 3

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“aerial sign” means any sign, representation, communication or advertisement visible against the sky from any street or public place or any sound audible therefrom made, exhibited or displayed by or by means of an aircraft or other means not attached to premises other than a sign, representation, communication or sound made, exhibited, displayed or used for the purposes of aerial navigation;

“annual value” means annual value within the meaning of the Property Tax Act [Cap. 254];

“arcade” includes verandah;

“building” includes any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure, whether used for the purpose of a human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage or bridge, or any structure, support or foundation connected to the foregoing;

“Building Authority” means the Deputy Director-General (Development and Building Control) of the Public Works Department;

“City Council” means the City Council of Singapore originally incorporated by Indian Act No. 27 of 1857 and incorporated under and by virtue of the Municipal (Elections—Amendment) Ordinance 1948 [29/48] with the status of a City conferred by Royal Charter dated 24th July 1951 and as constituted under section 6 of the Local Government Ordinance 1957 [24/57];

“competent authority” means any competent authority appointed under section 3 of the Planning Act [Cap. 232].

“dwelling-house” includes a building or tenement wholly or principally used, constructed or adapted for use for human habitation;

“footway” includes footways and verandah-ways at the sides of streets;

“holding” means any piece or parcel of land held or possessed under an instrument of title, capable of being registered under the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269], or where applicable under the Land Titles Act [Cap. 157], relating exclusively thereto;

“house” includes dwelling-house, warehouse, office, counting-house, shop, school, and any other building in which persons are employed;

“Municipal Provident Fund” means the Municipal Provident Fund established by the City Council under the provisions of the Municipal Ordinance [1936 Ed. Cap. 133] and continued and deemed to have been established under the Local Government Ordinance 1957 [24/57];

“occupier” means the person in occupation of the premises in respect of which the word is used or having the charge, management or control thereof either on his own account or as agent of another person, but does not include a lodger;

“owner” means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises in connection with which the word is used whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person or as receiver or who would receive the rent if the premises were let to a tenant and shall for the purposes of section 40 include a mortgagee not in possession and includes the person whose name is entered in the Valuation List authenticated under section 15 of the Property Tax Act [Cap. 254];

“port” means the port within the meaning of the Port of Singapore Authority Act [Cap. 236];

“premises” includes messuages, houses, buildings, lands, tenements, easements and hereditaments of any tenure, whether open or enclosed, whether built on or not, whether public or private, and whether maintained or not under statutory authority;

“private street” means any street not being a public street;

“public bridge” means a bridge which carries a public street;

“public street” means any street over which the public has a right of way which was usually repaired or maintained by the City Council or the Rural Board before the commencement of this Act or which has been transferred to or has become vested in the Government under this Act or in any other manner;

“Public Utilities Board” means the Public Utilities Board established by section 3 of the Public Utilities Act [Cap. 261];

“regular line of street” means a line of street shown on the Master Plan as defined in the Planning Act [Cap. 232], and includes a regular line of street prescribed by the Singapore Improvement Trust under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance [1955 Ed. Cap. 259] and before 1st July 1927 by the Municipal Commissioners of the Town of Singapore;

“Rural Board” means the Rural Board, Singapore, constituted under the Municipal Ordinance [1936 Ed. Cap. 133];

“Singapore Improvement Trust” means the Singapore Improvement Trust constituted under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance;

“sky-sign” means any erection consisting of a frame, hoarding, board, bar, pillar, post, wire or any combination of such things, or any erection of a like nature, or any visible object which floats or is kept in position by wire or other flexible attachment, displayed for the purposes of trade or professional advertisement in such a position as to be conspicuously visible against the sky above the general level of the roofs of surrounding buildings from any street or public place;

“street” includes any road, square, footway or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public has a right of way, and also the way over any public bridge, and also includes any road, footway or passage, open court or open alley, used or intended to be used as a means of access to two or more holdings, whether the public has a right of way thereover or not; and all channels, drains, ditches and reserves at the side of any street shall be deemed to be part of the street;

“street works” includes work of sewering, levelling, paving, metalling, flagging, kerbing, channelling, draining, lighting, laying of water, gas or electricity services and otherwise the making good a street or part of the street;

“trade effluent” means the water-borne waste of any trade, business or manufacture;

“Treasury” means the Minister charged with responsibility for finance and includes any officer under the administrative control or direction of the Minister.

In any written law and in any document whatsoever, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a local authority or the City Council or the Rural Board or any officer thereof, shall be construed as a reference to the Government, Minister or public officer for the time being, under and by virtue of this Act, discharging the functions performed by such local authority, the City Council, Rural Board or any officer thereof, as the case may be, prior to the commencement of this Act.