Debate on The Turnpikes Regulation Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1904 · col. 9304

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 Marrow (Minister of the Interior): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The Bill gives the towns a duty and an officer to carry it out. The Ministry of the Interior has the forms ready. I ask the House to pass it.

Gustav Mahler (Norrfeld; 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? In Norrfeld, 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. The clause is short and I shall not read it. I cannot vote for the Bill as it stands and I shall not. [Interruption.]

Emil Gerst (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, 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. My constituents in The Capital District wrote to me about the Bill, all 7 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. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I oppose the third reading. [Hear, hear.]

Konrad Bortin (Kesselhöh; The Reed Party): Sir, The Reed Party has read the Bill with the harvest in mind. The harvest is late this year and the causeways are under water in two districts. My constituents in Kesselhöh wrote to me about the Bill, all 8 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: Provides 111200 marka for works between Weinwick and Hollstadt. I ask the House to note it. I support the Bill, with the reservation I have stated. [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: 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 remaining Orders of the Day were deferred and the House rose.