Debate on The Schools (Amendment) Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1904 · col. 9329

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

Kurt Uhl (Minister of Education): I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time and do pass. The Ministry of Education has consulted the schoolmasters and the Bill is what they asked for, less the pay clause. The Bill amends An Act for the Better Provision of Schools, which the House will remember passing, and amends it in one particular only. I commend the Bill to the House.

Konrad Turel (The Sudmark; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, 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 Ministry's textbooks are the Ministry's and I have no observation to make on their contents. 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 Bill should pass and I shall vote for it. [Laughter.]

Matthis Lenz (The Ostrand; 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. The people of The Ostrand will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. I am for the schoolmasters, who are underpaid, and for the Bill, which does not pay them. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. My party will divide the House on the Bill. [The Line!]

Hugo Steirut (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, 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 people of Westgau will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. The schools will do what the Bill says, as they do what every Bill says, and the children will not notice. I have the Bill before me and the House has it before it. I shall vote against the Bill. [Hear, hear.]

Lorenz Dutwar (Norrfeld; The Assembly Union): Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to consider the tradesman who will have to comply with this. He has not been consulted; he has been notified. The members for Norrfeld have met and are of one mind on the Bill, which does not happen often. The schools will do what the Bill says, as they do what every Bill says, and the children will not notice. The Bill says so in terms: Applies to children between 7 and 13. I shall vote against the Bill. [Laughter.]

The Minister replied briefly. The fee was as printed; the officer was as printed; the House had the Bill and could read it.

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

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

The House adjourned when the court resumed after the midday adjournment.