Debate on The Salt Duties Regulation Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1854 · col. 4785

The Speaker: The question before the House is that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. I call the Minister.

Josef Hallin (Minister of Finance): I move the third reading. The Bill raises what it says it raises and spends it where the schedule says. I have the figures and will lay them on the table. The printed Bill says it better than I can: Sets the duty at 3 pfen in the marka. The Bill is in the hands of the House.

Ottmar Hetmaff (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, The Union has no quarrel with the purpose of the Bill; its quarrel is with the fee, and with the officer who will collect it. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. The people of The Capital District will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. My party will vote for the Bill.

Hendrik Stiegl (The Osmoor; The Reed Party): Sir, I ask the Minister one thing: does the Bill send an officer out to the farms, and if it does, who feeds him? The members for The Osmoor have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. The Bill says so in terms: Sets the duty at 3 pfen in the marka. My party will vote for the Bill.

Tomas Kaltz (The Capital District; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, Order and record. That is the whole of my party's programme and I do not apologise for its shortness. I sit for The Capital District. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. The material provision is this: Sets the duty at 3 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. The Bill should pass and it will. [Laughter.]

Edvard Lenz (The Osmoor; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, Sir, 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. I sit for The Osmoor. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. The material provision is this: Sets the duty at 3 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. I support the third reading.

The Minister, in reply, said that the points raised were answered in the printed Bill and that the Ministry would consider the rest.

The Speaker put the question. The Ayes were challenged and the House divided.

The Speaker declared the Ayes to have it and the Bill was passed.

The House adjourned late in the afternoon sitting.