Chao Hick Tin J

(delivering the judgment of the court): This appeal raises primarily a point of construction as to whether there was a material misdescription in the proposal for an insurance cover against fire.

The respondents (the plaintiffs in the action) were a company incorporated in Singapore with the object, inter alia, of building coastal fishing trawlers and other vessels. The respondents were towards the end of February 1981 engaged in the building of two trawlers, 'Super Trawl' and 'Coastal Monitor II' which they hoped would be completed in time for the Asian Fishing & Aquaculture Exhibition and Conference scheduled to be held at the World Trade Centre between 2 and 6 June 1981. The construction of the trawlers was undertaken at a workshop at Sembawang which the respondents had rented from the Port of Singapore Authority.

The respondents applied to the appellants (the first defendants in the action) for the issue of a workmen's compensation policy for 20 workers covering a period of three months from 26 February 1981 to 25 May 1981. The respondents estimated that the two trawlers would be completed within that period. However, the construction was delayed and on