Hansard, 1970-03-26

PERMISSION TO MEMBER TO BE ABSENT Under the provisions of clause 2 (d) of Article 30 of the Constitution of Singapore, I have granted permission to Mr Lee Kuan Yew (Tanjong Pagar), Prime Minister, to be absent from the sitting of Parliament today, the 26th March, 1970. (YEOH GHIM SENG) Speaker, Parliament of Singapore.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - ROAD ACCIDENTS - (Removal of blood stains) asked the Minister for Defence whether the Police will liaise with the Public Cleansing Branch of the Ministry of Health for the removal of any blood stains on the roads immediately after injured persons or dead bodies are removed from the scene of an accident.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - ROAD ACCIDENTS - (Removal of blood stains) Mr Speaker, Sir, arrangements have been made for the Public Cleansing Corps of the Ministry of Health to remove blood stains on the road between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. after the injured persons or dead bodies have been taken away from the scene of accidents. In the event of blood stains left on the road between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., the Police will cover up these stains with sawdust which will be swept as soon as possible. The Public Cleansing Corps will be contacted at 6 a.m. the following morning for a more thorough cleansing of the stains.

TRAFFIC LAWS - (Stricter enforcement to curb accidents) asked the Minister for Defence whether he will adopt stricter enforcement of traffic laws in view of the alarming increase of fatal accidents recently.

TRAFFIC LAWS - (Stricter enforcement to curb accidents) Mr Speaker, Sir, I am glad to say that statistics show that there was a decrease in the number of fatal accident cases in 1969 as compared with the previous year. In 1969, a total of 302 persons were killed on the road, whereas in 1968, the number of road accident victims killed was 312. The traffic police are already stepping up action against motorists who show no consideration for other road users on the roads, and the traffic laws are being enforced as strictly as possible. The scale of composition fines that can be imposed for traffic offences which are compoundable has been reviewed, and the Ministry of Communications has been urged to introduce legislation in order to raise the maximum composition fine from $20 to $50 so that the habitual offender will not get off as lightly as the first offender. The majority of road accidents in 1969 involved pedestrians who crossed the road heedless of road traffic. The question of prohibiting jaywalking is now being considered by the Ministry of Communications.

NATIONAL SAFETY FIRST - COUNCIL - (Launching of pedestrian safety campaign) asked the Minister for Defence whether he intends to request the Safety First Council to conduct an all-out campaign involving civil organisations to drive home the importance of road safety.

NATIONAL SAFETY FIRST - COUNCIL - (Launching of pedestrian safety campaign) Mr Speaker, Sir, the National Safety First Council holds campaigns periodically to stress the importance of road safety to the public. As a matter of fact, Sir, the Council will be launching a pedestrian safety campaign from the 30th March to the 14th April this year.

BILL INTRODUCED - SUBORDINATE COURTS BILL "to amend and consolidate the law relating to the constitution, jurisdiction and powers of the subordinate courts and the administration of justice therein", presented by the Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker); read the First time, to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [Allotted Day].

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 2.36 p.m.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Development Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 1st April, 1970, to 31st March, 1971, contained in Paper Cmd. 5 of 1970. Before I go further, I must remind Members that the debate on these Development Estimates will proceed purely on the basis of development and principles concerning development. Members will therefore confine their remarks to the development aspects of the items they propose to discuss, and I intend to be strict on this. I might add that the amount of time requested by Members for the discussion of their various amendments exceeded the time available by almost four times, and it was necessary, therefore, to curtail Members' requirements by about three-quarters. I hope Members will have this in mind when they speak on their amendments and will be as brief as possible in their speeches in order that all, or, failing that, as many as possible, of the amendments standing on the Order Paper Supplement can be taken. For the convenience of Members, I intend taking the total for each head of expenditure as it appears in the last column of Summary of Estimated Expenditure on pages 5 and 6 of the Paper. I shall deal first with the heads of expenditure in respect of which amendments stand on the Order Paper Supplement. Head 10 -

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 10 be reduced by $10 in respect of item 001 of subhead 101. Mr Speaker, Sir, it is acknowledged that over the past ten years, Singapore has made considerable progress politically, socially, industrially and economically. New laws have been introduced and passed and existing laws have been revised and brought up to date. But I must say that reasonable and suitable accommodation for the administration of justice does not keep pace with other fields of progress that we have made. I refer to the Criminal District and Magistrates' Courts at South Bridge Road. It is stated in the Memorandum on the Development Estimates (Misc. 2 of 1970) that the building is very old and dilapidated. In fact, the conditions are considered unsafe and also overcrowded. Sir, although the total expenditure for the construction of a new building is estimated to cost $6.4 million, only a sum of $750,000 is to be voted for this year and that is also subject to Treasury's sanction. According to the Estimates (Cmd. 4 of 1970), the revenue derived from these courts during the past year amounted to about $3 million for fines in the subordinate courts, and about $2 million in the traffic courts, making a total revenue of about $5 million. I am sure, Sir, that the Minister for Law will agree that even the offenders should expect reasonable accommodation when they appear in these courts. Furthermore, the judges, magistrates and the staff who work in these courts should be provided with more reasonable and suitable accommodation.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, the need for a new building to house our subordinate courts, i.e., the Criminal District and Magistrates' Courts, the Traffic Courts and the Civil District Courts, have been felt since 1963. However, for one reason or another, it was not possible to implement the proposal until now, when opportunity has been taken, with the proposed redevelopment of the areas adjoining and surrounding the existing Criminal District and Magistrates' Courts in South Bridge Road under the urban renewal scheme, to provide a site approximately 92,000 square feet in area for this new building opposite the present Ministry of Labour within the area bounded by Park Road, Pearl's Hill Road, Havelock Road and New Market Road. The new building will be a 14-storey one designed to cope with the needs of the next 50 years. It will have a floor area of about 200,000 square feet, of which a little more than half will be air-conditioned. Besides 25 court rooms, there will be chambers, ante-chambers, witness rooms and a big general office. The building, which is estimated to cost $6½ million - and this excludes furniture and equipment is expected to be completed within a period of three years. It is hoped to be able to commence construction work in July this year. The provision of $750,000 now provided under Head 10, subhead 101, item 001, is required to meet the cost of initial work for the foundation, piling and likewise. In fact, the sum has received the approval of Treasury.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Sir, in view of the explanation. I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $750,010 for Head 10 ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. 2.45 p.m. Head 11 -

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 11 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 101. It is noted that a sum of $300,000 has been provided in the two items under the above subhead for improvements to the National Museum (Works and Buildings - $200,000) (Furniture and Equipment - $100,000), and I wish to take this opportunity to praise and thank the Minister concerned for his keen interest shown in this respect. My suggestion made last year that the names of the various categories of exhibits in the National Museum be written in four languages has been accepted and implemented. This is confirmed by my visit to the museum recently. Now, I wish to ask the Minister the following four questions: (i) What improvements will be made to the National Museum? (ii) What type of equipment will be purchased for the museum, and what is the estimated cost? (iii) What was the sum incurred in the purchase of curios last year? (iv) During the past year, how many persons visited the museum and what was the percentage of visitors who were students? Mr Speaker, Sir, may know whether the National Museum arranged for students to visit museum, because I think this increase their cultural knowledge?

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, following the Government's decision in 1968 to convert the museum into a natural history museum, it was decided that the reorganisation be held in abeyance pending the recommendations and costing by a U.N.E.S.C.O. expert for whose services the Ministry of Science and Technology had requested. The expert, Mr James Gardner, a designer, arrived in late January 1970 for a short stay of ten days. He advised that the present taxonomic arrangement was out of date and that, instead, the approach should be one that would lend itself to lively presentation. He recommended that a far greater sum of money than the amount provided for is required for the reorganisation. He recommended to the Museum Board and the Minister for Science and Technology that a pilot project be implemented. The pilot project, which will set the trend for future reorganisation of the museum, will depict the ecology of a tropical rain forest. It will cover about 5,000 square feet and will cost about $300,000. Action has been taken with Mr Gardner, now in London, for the preparation of a new brief with detailed costing for submission to the Ministry of Finance. As for equipment, we are now awaiting detailed costing of the items from Mr Gardner. The items will include modern show-cases with internal light fittings for all the exhibits pertaining to the rain forest. The exhibits will comprise insects, large and small mammals and birds, as well as fabricated interiors of the various habitats these animals occupy. Last year, 304,000 persons, the majority of whom are students, visited the museum as against 342,000 in 1968. However, for the first two months in 1970, a record number of 221,000 persons visited it. Arrangements are being made for school children to visit it on conducted tours. I think at the moment there are two teachers attached to the National Museum.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Minister for his answer. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 11 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 201*. (*The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Ng Kah Ting.) Sir, our young people today are more inclined to the study of science than art. This is borne out by the fact that there is an increasing enrolment for the science stream at the pre-university level. It is from this pre-university level that the students branch out to specialise in chemistry, physics, engineering, medicine, etc, when they enter the universities or other institutions of higher learning. Sir, in the process of industrialisation, there is a great need for more and more science graduates and other professionals to man the essential posts in all fields. It is, therefore, important for our young people in schools as well as the general public to have a good understanding of what science can do for mankind in general, and how it can help our society in particular to achieve success in our industrialisation programme. In this respect, the Government has not lost sight of the need to build a Popular Science Centre for this purpose. It has already been explained in the Memorandum on the Development Estimates (Misc. 2 of 1970) that the building of this Popular Science Centre is to give the people of Singapore a better understanding of the role of science and technology in the Republic's industrialisation programme. Sir, in the Minister's reply to the Member for Telok Blangah earlier on, when the House discussed the Ordinary Estimates, he told us what he proposed to do and what he wished to achieve with this Popular Science Centre. Can he again elaborate on this subject for the benefit of the Members in this House?

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, I think the Popular Science Centre project has been quite adequately explained by my colleague. I do not think there is any need for me to add to his explanation.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Before I withdraw my amendment, I would like to ask the Minister when this Popular Science Centre will be set up.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, at the moment we are looking for a suitable site for this centre. When it is available, further publicity will be given to this project. The Member for Mountbatten will then be duly informed.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Is it in the Mountbatten Constituency? On that note, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $1,800,030 for Head 11 ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head 21 -

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 21 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 001+. (+ The same amendment also stood in the names of Mr Ho Kah Leong and Mr Lim Soo Peng.) Mr Speaker, Sir, I understand that $50 million has been provided to expand Jurong Town. I think this expenditure is important and can benefit our country. However, I wish to ask three questions. First, for what purpose is this large sum of money intended? Secondly how many acres of land have been used for building factories in Jurong Town? Thirdly, how many applications for factories have been deferred?

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Member for Sembawang for being very concerned about the affairs in Jurong. The reason why I move this amendment is that I would like to seek information on two points. First, can the Minister tell us whether the provision of this $50 million also includes provision for the setting up of a community centre? We all know that in the last few years the development in Jurong has been very rapid and there are now more than 20,000 residents there. 3.00 p.m. At present there is a community centre housed in flat premises. It does not meet the needs of the residents there because it is quite far away from the main residential area. I would like to ask the Minister whether a community centre located in a central point in Jurong Town will be built. The other question is whether this $50 million provision includes the building of a secondary school in Jurong Town. I ask this question because at present there is only one primary school there and it is overcrowded. Therefore, many secondary school students living in Jurong Town have to go to schools at distant places. Can the Minister tell us whether the Jurong Town Corporation intends to build a secondary school in Jurong Town?

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Sir, in providing facilities and amenities, the Jurong Town Corporation appears to have forgotten a very important need - there is no fire station in this industrial area. A fire station is the back-bone of our industrial system. The nearest fire station is miles away, and at present even without a traffic jam a fire engine takes 15 to 20 minutes to reach a factory in the Jurong industrial estate. If it is not the responsibility of the Jurong Town Corporation to provide a fire station, will it not at least make available a piece of land for a fire station, and get the proper authorities to put it up? After all, the Jurong Town Corporation has to protect its own interests as well.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Sir, this loan of $50 million will pay for a wide range of development projects which the Jurong Town Corporation intends to carry out in this fiscal year. It includes land development, both in Jurong estate as well as in other areas of Singapore. It is also proposed to extend the deep-water wharves, and the total cost of this wharf extension will be $10 million. Standard factory buildings, as well as flatted factory buildings, are expected to come to nearly $13 million. A total of $8.8 million will go towards the construction of workers' houses in Jurong, and $1.5 million in housing for other industrial estates. Then, of course, a substantial amount will be spent on social amenities, such as the park, the aviary, a sports complex, and a public jetty to facilitate transportation between Jurong and some of the southern islands which have been developed for industrial purposes. These, broadly, are the main purposes for which the loan money will be used. The Member for Sembawang asks for details of the acreage of land opened for industrial use, as well as the number of outstanding applications. The land in Jurong available for industrial use now stands in the region of 4,000 acres. The number of outstanding applications varies from time to time. I cannot give the exact figure off-hand, but I think it is probably between 40 and 60 applications which need to have their land requirements fulfilled. The Member for Jurong wants to know whether this $50 million loan will include expenditure on a community centre. There is an item here with the heading, "Mosque, community centre, etc." at Kampong Java Teban, and a sum of $20,000 has been set aside for this. As regards a secondary school for Jurong, no secondary schools will be built there. Most of the workers there are not married, and those who are married have very young children. In fact, even the primary school in Jurong has not been filled up. So it will be many years before we need secondary schools in the estate itself. But there are secondary schools quite close by, for instance, the Jurong Integrated Secondary School at 12¼ m.s. Jurong Road, the Yusof Ishak Integrated Secondary School in West Coast Road, and the Toh Tuck lntegrated Secondary School in Toh Tuck Road. These three secondary schools are well under capacity, and they may serve the population of Jurong for some time. As regards a fire station, no fire station will be built in the Jurong industrial estate. There is a fire station in Queenstown, and there is another fire station in Bukit Timah. So the necessity of having one in Jurong is not all that urgent. In fact, when the fireworks factory in Jurong blew up about a year ago, the fire brigade got there in a very short time - five minutes, I believe; in any case very much less than 15 minutes. In fact, in the Development Estimates in one of the previous years, a sum of $1.5 million was provided for a fire brigade. My officials had a look at it and wondered whether there was any justification for spending this large sum of money for a fire brigade. Most of the money spent on this fire brigade would be to provide quarters for the firemen. This is one of the extraordinary features about Government development projects - the money is not spent on items that one would conclude from reading the title of the project. For instance, $5 million is to be spent on, say, building a prison. You will find that $4 million will be spent not on housing the convicts, but on housing the prison staff. It is the same with this vote. I hope we can develop a system where the firemen will go to the fire brigade station according to a duty roster, but go home after that. I do not understand why we have to provide accommodation on the site of the fire brigade station. Certainly in other countries they do not have this. So if the Member for Havelock wants to have a fire station there, but without firemen's quarters, then I think my Ministry will be more willing to consider this proposition than otherwise.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Mandarin): Sir, I have a point to clarify. The Minister for Finance just now mentioned the building of a community centre and also that provision is ear-marked for the building of a mosque at Kampong Java Teban. I would like to point out that the place is not in Jurong Town. I would like to know whether he intends to build a community centre in the centre of Jurong Town. As regards the Minister's reply that there is no need for a fire station in Jurong Town, I wish to say that I had an argument with the Minister for Social Affairs on this question. The Finance Minister says that it takes a fire engine only five minutes to reach the site of the fire. The Minister for Social Affairs did say that the firemen would take about one minute to be ready to leave the fire station. If that be the case, I think it is incredible that the journey from Bukit Timah to Jurong could be made within four minutes. In view of this, I feel that perhaps the Minister for Finance will reconsider the need for a fire station in Jurong.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Not for $1.5 million. If the residents in Jurong are prepared to have fire services on a more modest scale, where you park one or two engines with the crew on a rotating basis, then perhaps I might think it over. This sort of arrangement will be more reasonable and will be sufficient to deal with small outbreaks of fires in the factories. I do not think we need a large fire station such as we have in Queenstown or elsewhere. As regards the community centre, I do not make the decision. I think it will be fairer if I do not decide such matters. It is best that the Member take it up with the Jurong Town Corporation. I believe the N.T.U.C. is represented on the Board of the Jurong Town Corporation, and maybe the N.T.U.C. representative will listen sympathetically to what the Member has to say.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, in view of the Minister's satisfactory reply, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Amendment (2)* has been cancelled. Amendment (3)+, Mr Ng Yeow Chong. * Amendment (2), standing in the name of Mr Teong Eng Siong, reads as follows: That the sum to be allocated for Head 21 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 002. + The same amendment also stood in the names of Messrs, Teong Eng Siong, Ho Kah Leong and Lim Cheng Lock.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 21 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 003+. (+ The same amendment also stood in the names of Messrs. Teong Eng Siong, Ho Kah Leong and Lim Cheng Lock.) Sir, when the Committee of Supply discussed the Second Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year 1st January, 1969, to 31st March, 1970, I did raise the subject of building warehouses for the relocation of warehouses which are in acute shortage as a result of urban renewal schemes. The Minister for Finance then replied that warehouses were not the responsibility of the Jurong Town Corporation. I hope he will not say again that warehouses are not the responsibility of the Housing and Development Board. Sir, in this respect, I would like to refer to Hansard, Vol. 26, col. 158, dated 7.9.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, in moving this amendment, I wish to raise three questions. Firstly, I have received complaints from some tenants of the Housing and Development Board flats that some of the staff of the Housing and Development Board are discourteous in that when the tenants (probably they are hawkers) pay their rents, they use silver coins - either ten cents or twenty cents coins - and these coins are not accepted.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Teong, are you dealing with the right subhead or not?

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Mandarin): It is subhead 003 "Loan to Housing and Development Board".

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Yes, and please concentrate on subhead 003 "Loan to Housing and Development Board".

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, if I do not raise this matter about silver coins not being accepted by the H.D.B. staff now, then I will not have the opportunity to do so, because in the Development Estimates there is no such item. As regards the H.D.B. officers refusing to accept silver coins from these tenants, I think there is no reason why they should not. Since silver coins are issued by the Government, why should they not be accepted by the H.D.B. staff? The only reason is that these officers are either discourteous or lazy. Secondly, the complaint is on cleanliness in H.D.B. flats. As far as I know, the Government receives $10 from each unit of flats as maintenance for its cleanliness. Very often I discover that the sweepers do not do their sweeping every day. I would ask the Minister concerned to see that the sweepers do their work conscientiously. Thirdly, I wish to know where the flats will be built with this loan.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have two suggestions for the Minister concerned. Firstly, can flower troughs be made for the tenants of Housing and Development Board flats to put flowers along the public corridors in order to beautify the surroundings? At present they do not have a place to put their potted plants except along the public corridors. However, this will be interfered with by the officers of the Housing and Development Board. In order to solve this problem, I hope that the Minister concerned will take positive measures to enable tenants of H.D.B. flats to grow potted plants along the public corridors. The second suggestion is this: Will a swill chute be provided by the H.D.B, for the tenants to throw away their swill? At present, they pour their swill into empty tins or cans and leave them in the common corridor, thereby raising a stinking smell. As a result, inspectors from the Housing and Development Board will interfere with them, saying that this method of disposing of their swill is not clean and healthy. In order to solve this problem, I would ask the Minister concerned whether he can consider erecting a chute or special container so that the tenants will be able to pour their swill down it. It will be more hygienic and will not raise a stinking smell this way. At the moment, the Housing and Development Board is charging the collectors of swill 10 cents per unit for the collection of swill. Some farmers who rear pigs will come and collect it. If there are no containers for the swill, the farmers will not be able to collect it.

DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - FOR FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1970, TO 31ST MARCH, 1971 Mr Speaker Sir, under subhead 003, a sum of $100 million will be provided to the Housing and Development Board. I believe this sum will be provided at an interest rate of 7¾ per cent. The Housing and Development Board, in assisting persons who wish to own Housing and Development Board homes, gives loans to persons purchasing H.D.B. flats at an interest rate of 6¼ per cent. I wonder whether the Minister for Finance is aware of this subsidy that the people in Singapore who purchase H.D.B. homes are receiving. I am quite sure many persons in Singapore who purchase these homes do not realise the subsidy they are receiving from the Housing and Development Board. I also wish to find out from either the Minister for Finance or the Minister for Law and National Development whether, in addition to this subsidy of $15 per $1,000 loan, the houses are sold at cost or at a profit?