Choor Singh J:

[1] The plaintiff's claim in these proceedings is for damages for wrongful dismissal.

[2] The facts which are not in dispute are these. The plaintiff is a professional engineer. He graduated from the Singapore Polytechnic in 1963 and prior to his employment by the defendant company he worked as technical manager with Jardines and later as sales engineer with the General Electric Company. The defendant company which is incorporated in America has an office in Singapore and has business interests in other parts of South East Asia.

[3] In September 1973 the plaintiff was employed by the defendant company as manager of the defendant company's Singapore office. On the evening of 16 October 1975 Mr Frank O'Callaghan, the defendant company's manager for the Far East region called on the plaintiff. He went into the office occupied by the plaintiff and there was some conversation between the plaintiff and O'Callaghan the exact nature of which is in dispute but the next morning, the plaintiff wrote the following letter to O'Callaghan:

17 October 1975

Miss HN Low - Secretary AAF Pte Ltd

for onward transmission to:

Mr FE O'Callaghan - Manager ISD

AAF International Lvl, Ky USA.

Ge