Debate on The Dating of Instruments Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1861 · col. 5471

The Speaker: The House will come to order. The Bill stands for its third reading. The Minister.

Hendrik Kessler (Minister of Chronology): I move the third reading. The Bill regulates what the Ministry already regulates and adds nothing to the record that the record does not already contain. I read the material clause to the House. Administered by the Ministry of Chronology. I commend the Bill to the House.

Josef Brenn (The Ostrand; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, Sir, The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. I have no observation on the reckoning of years, which is the Ministry's business and not mine. My constituents in The Ostrand wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 of them, and they were against it until they read it. I oppose the third reading. [Hear, hear.]

Teodor Soner (Norrfeld; 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. My constituents in Norrfeld wrote to me about the Bill, all 5 of them, and they were against it until they read it. The calendar is the calendar. The licence is a small thing to ask of a clockmaker, and the clockmakers have said so themselves. The Bill says so in terms: Administered by the Ministry of Chronology. We shall divide the House. [Shame.]

Edvard Kachong (The Capital District; The Continuity Party): Sir, 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. I have no observation on the reckoning of years, which is the Ministry's business and not mine. The people of The Capital District will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Hear, hear, from the Ministerial benches.]

Teodor Mertz (The Osmoor; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. I have no observation on the reckoning of years, which is the Ministry's business and not mine. The Osmoor has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. We shall divide the House.

Ulrik Jost (Norrfeld; The Assembly Union): 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 have no observation on the reckoning of years, which is the Ministry's business and not mine. I sit for Norrfeld. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. I shall vote against the Bill. [Laughter.]

Edvard Trenwitz (Kesselhöh; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, The members for Kesselhöh have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The Bill is in order. The Clerk has entered it. The Ministry of Chronology has seen it. I do not see what more the House requires. The material provision is this: Administered by the Ministry of Chronology. I ask the House to note it. The Bill concerns dates, and the House does not argue about dates. It passes Bills about them. I oppose the third reading. [Laughter.]

Hendrik Voss (Norrfeld; The Continuity Party): Sir, The member opposite used the word 'irregular'. I have the Bill here and I have the register here and I find nothing irregular in either. I sit down. [Hear, hear.]

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 adjourned at half past 3 in the afternoon.