Debate on The Salt Duties Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1904 · col. 9319

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

Jorn Gerst (Minister of Finance): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The Ministry of Finance has costed the Bill and the sum is in the estimates. The duty falls where the printed Bill says it falls. The Bill provides as follows. Sets the duty at 2 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to pass it.

Hugo Rabe (The Osmoor; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, 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. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. In The Osmoor, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it.

Gustav Zorn (The Capital District; The Workers' Front): Sir, The Workers' Front has looked for the working man in this Bill and found him in the schedule, paying. 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. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I shall vote against the Bill.

Aurel Wendl (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, 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 Sudmark have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. 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 2 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [Interruption.]

Konrad Turel (The Sudmark; The Workers' Front): Sir, In The Sudmark, which I have the honour to sit for, the Bill will be read at the market cross and understood by half. The mills of Kessel will feel this Bill before the Ministry does. I say so now so that nobody may say afterwards that they were not told. The clause is short and I shall not read it. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. The Bill should pass and I shall vote for it.

Matthis Lenz (The Ostrand; The Assembly Union): Sir, The Ostrand has had a hard year. I say that not against the Bill but so that the Minister remembers it when the fees are fixed. 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 material provision is this: Sets the duty at 2 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [The Line!]

Hugo Steirut (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, I sit for Westgau. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. I ask the Minister a plain question: who pays? The men of the mills pay. The Front will vote as it always votes, for the wage and against the fee. The material provision is this: Sets the duty at 2 pfen in the marka. I ask the House to note it. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. We shall divide the House. [Interruption.]

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

The question being put, a division was called for, and the members went to the lobbies.

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.