Debate on The Schools Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1904 · col. 9285

The Speaker: The Order of the Day is the third reading of the Bill. The Minister has the floor.

Kurt Uhl (Minister of Education): I beg to move the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. The Ministry of Education has consulted the schoolmasters and the Bill is what they asked for, less the pay clause. I read the material clause to the House. Applies to children between 6 and 13. The Bill is in the hands of the House.

Ivo Fenn (The Sudmark; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, The Union stands where it has always stood: for the towns, for the trade, and against any clause that begins with the word 'licence'. My constituents in The Sudmark wrote to me about the Bill, all 4 of them, and they were against it until they read it. I am for the schoolmasters, who are underpaid, and for the Bill, which does not pay them. The material provision is this: Applies to children between 6 and 13. I ask the House to note it. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated.

Gregor Brenn (Norrfeld; The Reed Party): Sir, 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. I am for the schoolmasters, who are underpaid, and for the Bill, which does not pay them. The people of Norrfeld will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. We shall divide the House. [Laughter.]

Werner Maler (The Capital District; The Continuity Party): Sir, Nothing in the Bill disturbs the record. The Continuity Party asks only that the register be kept as it has always been kept. The Ministry's textbooks are the Ministry's and I have no observation to make on their contents. The members for The Capital District have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated.

Tomas Moor (The Sudmark; The Assembly Union): Sir, The people of The Sudmark will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. 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 Bill says so in terms: Applies to children between 6 and 13. The schools will do what the Bill says, as they do what every Bill says, and the children will not notice. I oppose the third reading. [Interruption.]

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

The House then proceeded to the next Order of the Day.