JUDGMENT

Sharma J:

The applicant in these proceedings claims the custody and care of the three daughters born to her through her marriage with the respondent. The three children are: -

(1) Sia Yet Wah (f) - born in September 1958

(2) Sia Guek Yin (f) - born in November 1960

(3) Sia Yek yen (f) - born in June 1962

The applicant in fact gave birth to another girl in April 1967 but that child has already been given in adoption and is not the subject matter of these proceedings.

The respondent is a goldsmith and is, according to his own evidence, now earning about $150 per month. He was at the time of his marriage to the applicant in 1957, employed as an assistant in a gold smith's shop at Merlimau. Now he runs his own business at Malacca. He lives in a house at Bachang and the three children live with him there. He leaves his house at 8.00 a.m. and returns home at 6.00 p.m. but on two nights every week he sleeps in his shop at Malacca. All the three children leave the house at about 7.30 in the morning to attend school. He can thus be with the children for about three to four hours a day in the evenings. The respondent has a mother aged about 58. She lives in the same house and s