Sand Quarries Ordinance

Bill No. 154/1961

Read the first time on 20th November 1961.

An Ordinance to provide for the licensing and control of sand quarries and for matters incidental thereto.

Be it enacted by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Sand Quarries Ordinance, 1961, and shall come into operation on such date as the Yang di-Pertuan Negara may by notification in the Gazette appoint.

Interpretation

2. In this Ordinance —

“licence” means a licence issued under section 4 of this Ordinance;

“licensee” means any person to whom a licence to use or manage any land for the purposes of a sand quarry has been issued under section 4 of this Ordinance;

“Licensing Officer” means the officer appointed by the Minister under section 3 of this Ordinance;

“sand quarry” means any land on which persons are employed in manual labour in any process for or incidental to the getting, dressing or preparation for the sale or otherwise of sand, gravel or earth.

Appointment of Licensing Officer

3. The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint a public officer to be the Licensing Officer for the purposes of this Ordinance.

Licensing of sand quarries

4.—(1) No person shall on or after the date of the coming into operation of this Ordinance use or manage any land for the purposes of a sand quarry without a licence from the Licensing Officer authorising him so to do.

(2) Any person who uses or manages any land for the purposes of a sand quarry without a licence shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

(3) In any prosecution for an offence under this section, the existence in or on any land of any apparatus or accessories for the getting, dressing or preparation for the sale or otherwise of sand shall be prima facie evidence that the person owning or having the control of such apparatus or accessories has been using or managing such land for the purposes of a sand quarry.

Licences to be discretionary

5.—(1) The grant or renewal of any licence in pursuance of this Ordinance or any regulations made thereunder shall be in the discretion of the Licensing Officer and may be granted, renewed or refused without any reason for such grant, renewal or refusal being assigned therefor and may be granted or renewed subject to such restrictions and conditions as the Licensing Officer may think fit and shall be subject to suspension or revocation at any time without compensation and without notice by the Licensing Officer upon breach of any restriction or condition subject to which it was issued.

(2) The Licensing Officer may require any applicant for a licence to furnish such information as the Licensing Officer may reasonably require for a full and proper consideration of the application and in the event of a refusal to furnish such information shall refuse to grant or renew such licence.

(3) Save as otherwise expressly provided in the licence, any licence granted or renewed in pursuance of this Ordinance or any regulations made thereunder may be for such period not exceeding twelve months as the Licensing Officer thinks fit.

(4) There shall be charged for the grant or renewal of any licence such fee as may from time to time be prescribed by the Minister.

(5) No such licence shall be transferable without the consent of the Licensing Officer.

(6) Any person aggrieved by the refusal by the Licensing Officer to grant or renew any licence or by the suspension or revocation by the Licensing Officer of any licence may within one month of such refusal, suspension or revocation appeal to the Minister whose decision shall be final.

Security for due performance of obligations of licensees

6. The Licensing Officer may, as a condition of the grant of a licence in respect of any sand quarry, require such security as he shall think fit to be deposited with the Licensing Officer for the due performance by the licensee of all or any obligations imposed upon such licensee by such licence or by this Ordinance or any regulations made thereunder.

Power to execute works

7.—(1) If a licensee fails to execute any work or works which he is required by his licence or by this Ordinance or any regulations made thereunder to execute for the purpose of preventing any nuisance or danger to life or property, the Licensing Officer may, by notice in writing, require him to execute such work or works within such time as may be specified in the notice.

(2) If such licensee fails to comply with the requirements of such notice, the Licensing Officer may at any time after the expiration of the time specified in the notice and without instituting any proceedings against such licensee, cause such work or works to be executed and the expenses incurred thereby shall be paid by such licensee and may be recovered by the Licensing Officer —

(a)	by deducting the amount due from any sum deposited by such licensee as security under the provisions of section 6 of this Ordinance; or
(b)	in the manner provided in section 22 of this Ordinance.

Conditions under which licences may be granted

8. No licence shall be granted unless the Licensing Officer is satisfied that the use of the premises as a sand quarry will be unlikely —

(a)	to cause any nuisance or damage to occupants of adjoining or neighbouring land or buildings; or
(b)	to cause depreciation in the value or amenity of adjoining or neighbouring land or buildings; or
(c)	to be dangerous to health, life or property.

Interference with the bank of any river, stream or water-course

9.—(1) Any licensee who in the course of sand quarrying operations interferes in any way with the bank of any river, stream or water-course may be required by the Licensing Officer, by notice in writing, to restore the same to the same condition in which it was prior to such interference or to remake the same in such manner and within such time as may be specified in the notice.

(2) Any licencee who fails to comply with the requirements of such notice shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

(3) The Licensing Officer may, at any time after the expiration of the time specified in such notice and without in stituting any proceedings against such licensee, cause the works specified in the notice to be executed and the expenses thereby incurred shall be paid by the licensee in default and may be recovered by the Licensing Officer —

(a)	by deducting the amount due from any sum deposited by such licensee as a security under the provisions of section 6 of this Ordinance; or
(b)	in the manner provided in section 22 of this Ordinance.

Effluent water to be freed from mud

10.—(1) Every licensee shall only use fresh water in connection with his sand quarrying operations and shall make such provision or take such steps as will ensure that all such water so used shall, before it leaves the sand quarrying area on which it has been so used, be freed from any mud, sand, silt or any other refuse of the sand quarry which is likely to interfere with the natural flow of water in any stream, channel or water-course.

(2) The Licensing Officer may, by notice in writing, require any licensee to provide such spillways, retaining walls, brush dams, settling pits and other mechanical appliances or devices as the Licensing Officer may deem necessary for effectual compliance with the provisions of subsection (1) of this section and may also order such licensee to suspend his sand quarrying operations until such provision has been made.

(3) The compliance of the licensee with a notice or order made under subsection (2) of this section shall not affect any liability incurred by any licensee through breach of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.

Disposal of waste matter

11.—(1) The Licensing Officer may give such directions in writing as he may deem necessary for the disposal of all earth, sludge, dirt, sand, silt or other waste matter from any sand quarry.

(2) The Licensing Officer may, by notice in writing, require any licensee to take such precautions and to construct and maintain such drains, spillways, channels and other works as may in his opinion be necessary to ensure that earth, sludge, dirt, sand, silt or other waste matter from any sand quarry shall not be carried or washed away by storm water or by fresh water used for the purpose of working such sand quarry to any place not being a place where the same may lawfully be deposited.

Excavation by direct action of water

12. No licensee shall without the written permission of the Licensing Officer use any method of removing or excavating sand by the direct action of fresh water.

Fencing of open pits

13. The licensee of any sand quarry in which any open pit exists shall erect and thereafter maintain such fencing and take such other precautions as may be necessary to prevent the occurrence of any danger or damage to life or property.

Fencing of sand quarries

14. Where any disused sand quarry is dangerous to the public, it shall be kept reasonably fenced for the prevention of accidents, and if it is not so kept, the licensee of the sand quarry or if there is no such licensee the owner of the land in which the sand quarry lies shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

Power to enter upon premises for the purposes of this Ordinance

15. The Licensing Officer or any officer or employee duly authorised by the Licensing Officer in writing in that behalf may enter any premises which are used or which such officer or employee has reasonable cause to believe to be used as a sand quarry for the purpose of making any survey or inspection or of executing any work authorised by this Ordinance to be executed by him without being liable to any legal proceedings or molestation whatsoever on account of such entry or of anything done in any part of such premises in pursuance of this Ordinance.

Penalty for obstructing officer in his duty

16. Any person who at any time hinders, obstructs or molests the Licensing Officer or any officer or employee authorised by the Licensing Officer in that behalf in the performance and execution of his duty or of anything which he is empowered or required to do by virtue or in consequence of this Ordinance, or removes any mark set up for the purpose of indicating any level or direction necessary to the execution of works authorised by this Ordinance, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year.

Default in compliance with notice, etc

17.—(1) When any notice, order or direction under this Ordinance or any regulations made thereunder requires any act to be done or work to be executed by the owner or licensee of any sand quarry and default is made in complying with the requirement of such notice, order or direction, as the case may be, the person in default shall, where no fine is specially provided for such default, be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

(2) When any such notice requires any act to be done or work to be executed for which no time is fixed by this Ordinance or regulations made thereunder, such notice shall state a reasonable time for compliance with the requirement.

Penalty for offences not otherwise provided for

18. Every omission or neglect to comply with and every act done or attempted to be done contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance or any breach of the conditions and restrictions subject to which or upon which, any licence is issued under this Ordinance shall be an offence under this Ordinance and in respect of any such offence for which no penalty is expressly provided the offender shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and in the case of a continuing offence to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

Attempts and abetments

19. Any person who attempts to commit any offence punishable under this Ordinance or abets the commission of such offence, shall be punished with the punishment provided for such offence.

Liability of licensee for act of servant

20.—(1) Whenever a licensee would be liable under the provisions of this Ordinance or of any regulations made thereunder to any pecuniary penalty or forfeiture for any act, omission, neglect or default, he shall be liable to the same pecuniary penalty or forfeiture for every similar act, omission, neglect or default of any agent or servant employed by him in the course of his business as such licensee.

(2) Every person who appears to be employed in any sand quarry licensed under this Ordinance, shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a servant of the licensee thereof.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as relieving any such agent or servant from any penalty or forfeiture to which he would otherwise be liable.

Saving of prosecutions under other laws

21. Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other law for any act or omission which constitutes an offence under this Ordinance or regulations made thereunder or from being liable under that other law to any other or higher punishment or penalty than that provided by this Ordinance or regulations made thereunder:

Provided that no person shall be punished twice for the same offence.

Costs and expenses to be determined by Magistrate’s Court

22.—(1) Except as herein otherwise provided, in all cases when costs or expenses are by this Ordinance directed to be paid the amount and any question of liability shall, in case of dispute or failure to pay, be summarily ascertained and determined by a Magistrate’s Court.

(2) If the amount of costs or expenses is not paid by the person liable to pay the same within seven days after demand, such amount may be reported to a Magistrate’s Court and recovered in the same way as if it were a fine imposed by a Magistrate’s Court.

(3) An appeal shall lie to the High Court from any decision of a Magistrate’s Court under this section, and the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code shall mutatis mutandis apply to all such appeals.

Exemption

23. The Minister may by order exempt any sand quarries from all or any of the provisions of this Ordinance.

Regulations

24.—(1) The Minister may make such regulations as he may deem expedient for the purpose of this Ordinance.

(2) All regulations made under this Ordinance shall be published in the Gazette and shall be presented to the Legislative Assembly as soon as may be after publication and if a resolution is passed pursuant to a motion notice whereof has been given for a sitting day not later than the first available sitting day of the Assembly next after the expiry of one month from the date when such regulations are so presented annulling the regulations or any part thereof as from a specified date, such regulations or such part thereof as the case may be shall thereupon become void as from such date but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of new regulations.

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