Debate on The Poor Relief (Amendment) Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1854 · col. 4819

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

Casimir Tautmann (Minister of the Interior): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The Bill is a Bill about drains, roads and lamps, and I shall not dress it up. The towns need it. The Bill provides as follows. Every town above 2000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. The Bill amends An Act for the Better Licensing of Poor Relief, which the House will remember passing, and amends it in one particular only. I move.

Tomas Tratek (Westgau; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, The liberty of the subject is a large phrase for a small Bill, but I use it, because the Bill is small and the liberty is not. In Westgau, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Laughter.]

Rainer Wendl (The Capital District; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, The members for The Capital District have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. I speak for the farms. A Bill that does not touch the farms is a Bill I can vote for with an easy mind; a Bill that does had better say so. The material provision is this: Every town above 2000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I ask the House to note it. Drains, roads and lamps. The House will pass the Bill because the alternative is drains, roads and no lamps. I oppose the third reading.

Ottmar Hukwitz (The Capital District; 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. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. The Capital District has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [Shame.]

Lorenz Brenn (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, Sir, The liberty of the subject is a large phrase for a small Bill, but I use it, because the Bill is small and the liberty is not. My constituents in The Capital District wrote to me about the Bill, all 9 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The towns asked for it. The towns will pay for it. That is the usual arrangement and I do not quarrel with it. The material provision is this: Every town above 2000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I ask the House to note it. I shall vote against the Bill.

Hendrik Marsch (The Capital District; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, The people of The Capital District will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. I have read the Bill for what it does to the record, which is the only reading that matters, and it does nothing to the record. The clause is short and I shall not read it. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated.

Josef Dellar (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): Sir, The members for The Sudmark have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The members for the reed districts will ask, as they always ask, what the Bill means for the harvest and the causeways. The material provision is this: Every town above 2000 inhabitants must appoint an officer under this Act. I ask the House to note it. An officer under the Act: the phrase appears in every Bill from the Interior and means a man with a book and a bicycle. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [Hear, hear.]

The Minister thanked the House for a short debate and asked for a short division.

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 Speaker: The Ayes have it. The Bill is passed and will go to the Grand Chancellor for assent.

The House proceeded to other business.