Debate on The Weights and Measures Regulation Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1854 · col. 4778

The Speaker: Order. The Minister will move the third reading.

Josef Hallin (Minister of Finance): I beg to move the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. The trade has been consulted. The trade objects, as the trade always objects, and the Ministry has met it half way. The Bill provides as follows. Sets the duty at 11 pfen in the marka. I commend the Bill to the House.

Xaver Marsch (Westgau; The Reed Party): Sir, My constituents in Westgau wrote to me about the Bill, all 8 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The members for the reed districts will ask, as they always ask, what the Bill means for the harvest and the causeways. The clause is short and I shall not read it. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. We shall divide the House. [The Line!]

Valter Hallin (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I ask the Minister one thing: does the Bill send an officer out to the farms, and if it does, who feeds him? I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. The Sudmark has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. I oppose the third reading. [Laughter.]

Magnus Hallin (The Sudmark; The Continuity Party): Sir, Order and record. That is the whole of my party's programme and I do not apologise for its shortness. The Sudmark has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. The clause is short and I shall not read it. I shall vote against the Bill. [Hear, hear.]

Bertil Voss (Norrfeld; The Reed Party): Sir, My constituents in Norrfeld wrote to me about the Bill, all 5 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. The Bill says so in terms: Sets the duty at 11 pfen in the marka. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I shall vote against the Bill.

Hendrik Wendl (Norrfeld; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, Sir, The members for Norrfeld have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. Every Bill of this kind adds a form, a fee and a clerk. The Assembly Union would like, once in a session, to pass a Bill that removes one. The material provision is this: Sets the duty at 11 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. I oppose the third reading. [Cries of 'Order'.]

The Minister replied briefly. The fee was as printed; the officer was as printed; the House had the Bill and could read it.

The Speaker: The question is that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. As many as are of that opinion say Aye. [Ayes.] Of the contrary, No. [Noes.] A division was claimed.

The tellers reported the numbers to the Chair. The Speaker declared the Bill passed.

The House proceeded to other business.