Saint Andrew’s Mission
Hospital Ordinance 1934
2020 REVISED EDITION
This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021
An Ordinance to incorporate Saint Andrew’s Mission Hospital.
[28 December 1934]
Whereas Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Ferguson-Davie, O.B.E., M.D., and her husband The Right Reverend Charles James Ferguson‑Davie, then Bishop of Singapore, in or about the year 1913 in association with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel inaugurated a medical mission under the style of St. Andrew’s Medical Mission, which established and maintained in Singapore with the aid of voluntary donations and subscriptions and grants from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel dispensaries and a temporary hospital for indigent women and children without distinction of race, language or creed:
And whereas on the application of the St. Andrew’s Medical Mission the Government agreed to provide land for the erection of a permanent hospital and dispensary and by an indenture dated 2 March 1922 made between His Excellency the Governor of the Colony for and on behalf of His Majesty the King of the one part and the Bishop of Singapore Incorporated, Teo Choon Hian, Ernest Charteris Holford Wolff, and Richard Myrrdin Williams (hereinafter called “the Trustees”) of the other part a certain piece of land situate at Erskine Road, Singapore, containing in area 675 m2 and marked Lot 1325 T.S. III in the Government Resurvey Map was demised to the Trustees for the term of 999 years upon trust to permit the same to be used for the erection of a mission hospital and dispensary and to include such buildings and rooms as may be necessary or expedient in the opinion of the Committee of Management of the said hospital and approved by Government and to be appropriated by the Committee as a medical mission hospital and dispensary for women and children without distinction of race, language or creed and to be known as the St. Andrew’s Medical Mission Hospital and to be managed in connection with the St. Andrew’s Medical Mission at Singapore and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel:
And whereas with the approval of the Government a building suitable for the requirements of a hospital and dispensary has been erected on the said piece of land with moneys raised by voluntary donations or subscriptions:
And whereas the building was completed and the hospital was opened in the year 1923 and the hospital has since under the name of Saint Andrew’s Mission Hospital been maintained and carried on as a Christian mission hospital for poor women and children without distinction of race, language or creed by means of voluntary donations, subscriptions and grants‑in‑aid from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Singapore Diocesan Association, the Government, and the Municipal Commissioners of the Town of Singapore:
And whereas since the year 1923 the hospital has been managed by a Committee of Management constituted in the year 1923 in accordance with the recommendations of Mr. E. C. H. Wolff, M.C.S., and with the approval of St. Andrew’s Medical Mission consisting of the Bishop of Singapore ex‑officio Chairman, 2 members nominated by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 2 members nominated by the Singapore Diocesan Association, one member representing the Presbyterian Church and another representing the Wesleyan Church (now known as the Methodist Episcopal Church) with the Secretary of St. Andrew’s Medical Mission as Honorary Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer Stanley James Vincent and 11 co‑opted members, 2 from the Trustees, 2 from the larger donors to the fund, 3 from substantial subscribers, 2 from medical practitioners, 2 from the general public:
And whereas the Committee of Management now called the Board of Management consider it expedient that the Parochial Church Council of Saint Andrew’s Cathedral should have the right to nominate 2 members of the Board of Management to be constituted by this Ordinance and 2 persons named in section 20 of this Ordinance have accordingly been nominated by the Parochial Church Council of Saint Andrew’s Cathedral:
And whereas the said Treasurer has inscribed in a book kept by him (hereinafter called “the Register of Subscribers”) the name of every person (firm and corporation) who has made a donation of not less than $500 to the building fund of the hospital:
And whereas it is expedient that the constitution and objects of the said Saint Andrew’s Mission Hospital be defined and declared by law and that provision be made by law for the management of the affairs and for the control of the property and funds thereof:
And whereas the Committee of Management have received the sums of money specified in the First Schedule hereto upon trust to apply the same for the purposes therein described which sums of money are now invested in the manner described in the First Schedule.
It is hereby enacted by the Governor of the Straits Settlements with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof as follows:
Short title
1.  This Ordinance may be cited as the Saint Andrew’s Mission Hospital Ordinance 1934.
Incorporation and rights on incorporation
2.  The persons constituting the present Committee of Management of St. Andrew’s Mission Hospital and the persons who for the time being are members of the Board of Management hereinafter constituted and the persons and firms whose names are with their consent inscribed in the register of members mentioned in section 8 hereof shall forever hereafter be one body corporate and politic by the name of Saint Andrew’s Mission Hospital (hereinafter called “the Corporation”) and by the same name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal with power to break, alter and make anew the said seal from time to time at their will and pleasure and by the same name shall and may sue and be sued in all Courts and in all manner of actions and suits and shall have power to do all other matters and things incidental or appertaining to a body corporate.
Powers
3.  The Corporation may acquire, purchase, lease, take, hold and enjoy movable and immovable property of every description and, subject as hereinafter provided, may sell, convey, assign, surrender and yield up, mortgage, demise, re‑assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any movable or immovable property vested in the Corporation upon such terms as to the Corporation may seem fit.
Vesting of property
4.  The said piece of land (being Lot 1325 T.S. III) demised to the Trustees by the said indenture together with the buildings erected thereon (which land and buildings are hereinafter called “the Hospital”) are hereby vested in the Corporation for the residue of the term of 999 years now subsisting therein for the purposes of this Ordinance freed from the trusts declared in the said indenture but subject to the terms and conditions therein contained and all chattels, moneys, bonds, securities and property belonging to Saint Andrew’s Mission Hospital or any trustees on its behalf are hereby vested in the Corporation but as to the bonds or securities specified in the First Schedule hereto upon and for the trusts and purpose more particularly specified in the First Schedule hereto.
OBJECTS
Objects and purposes
5.  The objects and general purposes for which the Corporation is established and incorporated are —
(a)to take over the property vested in the Corporation by section 4 hereof and to carry on and maintain the Hospital with all necessary furniture and other equipment as a Christian mission hospital and dispensary for the treatment as in-patients or out-patients of women and children suffering from disease or accident without distinction of race, language or creed;
(b)to instruct women in the proper care of their children;
(c)to train Asiatic girls to nurse women and children;
(d)to offer to those who desire it a knowledge of Christianity;
(e)to employ medical, surgical and pharmaceutical officers, nurses and attendants for the purposes aforesaid, and to provide and supply all such medical, surgical, and pharmaceutical appliances and things, and all such provisions and necessaries as may be required for the purposes aforesaid or any of them;
(f)to solicit and accept and receive subscriptions, donations, devises and bequests (whether of immovable or movable property and whether absolute or conditional) for the general purposes of the Corporation or for any special purpose of the Corporation or subject to any trust;
(g)to purchase or otherwise acquire land for any estate or interest and to erect buildings and maintain, alter and improve the same (including the Hospital) and to provide the same with light, water, drainage and other necessities;
(h)to raise money for any of the above purposes or other purposes of the Corporation by mortgaging or charging all or any of the property of the Corporation (other than the Hospital) with capital sums or with terminable annuities for lives or years;
(i)to hold, control and administer the moneys, funds, securities and property movable and immovable hereby vested in the Corporation or hereafter given to or in any manner acquired by or being in the custody or control of the Corporation and the income thereof, in accordance with the trusts or for the purposes affecting the same respectively, or in the absence of any special trust or purpose, for the general purposes of the Corporation and in particular to invest any money for the time being requiring investment in any investment authorised by law for trust funds or in the purchase of immovable property;
(j)to do all such other lawful things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objects.
Application of income
6.  The income of the Corporation shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the objects of the Corporation as set forth in this Ordinance, and no portion thereof shall be paid or transferred directly or indirectly by way of dividend, bonus or otherwise howsoever by way of profits to the members of the Corporation:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the payment in good faith of remuneration to any officers or servants of the Corporation or to any member thereof in return for services actually rendered to the Corporation or the payment of interest upon money borrowed from any member of the Corporation, or the payment to the donor of any money or securities or his or her nominee or nominees of any annuity by way of annual interest guaranteed by the Corporation on the amount of such gift during a period not exceeding the life of the donor or such nominee or nominees.