Debate on The Banking (Amendment) Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1904 · col. 9335

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

Jorn Gerst (Minister of Finance): I move the third reading. The Bill raises what it says it raises and spends it where the schedule says. I have the figures and will lay them on the table. I read the material clause to the House. Sets the duty at 10 pfen in the marka. The House will note that the Bill is an amending Bill; the principal Act, The Banking Act, is not otherwise touched. I move.

Stellan Hernhatz (Kesselhöh; The Assembly Union): Sir, The people of Kesselhöh will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. 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. The schedule is plain enough. Comes into force on 1 January 1905. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I shall vote against the Bill. [Shame.]

Valter Hallin (Westgau; The Assembly Union): Sir, The liberty of the subject is a large phrase for a small Bill, but I use it, because the Bill is small and the liberty is not. I should like the Minister to say what the yield will be, and I should like it in marka and not in percentages. Westgau 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. [Shame.]

Magnus Broffel (The Capital District; The Reed Party): Sir, My constituents in The Capital District wrote to me about the Bill, all 5 of them, and they were against it until they read it. 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. The schedule is plain enough. Comes into force on 1 January 1905. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I shall vote against the Bill.

Hendrik Brenn (The Ostrand; The Reed Party): 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. The land pays for everything in the end. The Reed Party will vote as the land would vote if it could. I read the clause. Comes into force on 1 January 1905. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I shall vote against the Bill.

Otto Falk (The Sudmark; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, I sit for The Sudmark. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. 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 read the clause. Comes into force on 1 January 1905. The Bill is a money Bill and a money Bill is a Bill about who goes without. I shall vote against the Bill.

Sigmund Karner (Westgau; The Continuity Party): Mr. Speaker, The people of Westgau will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. 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. The Bill says so in terms: Sets the duty at 10 pfen in the marka. The duty falls on the trade and the trade passes it on. The House knows this and votes for it every year. I shall vote against the Bill. [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 Speaker: The Ayes have it. The Bill is passed and will go to the Grand Chancellor for assent.

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