Debate on The War Widows (Amendment) Act

Official report · Assembly of SchwartzistanSession 1904 · col. 9347

The Speaker: The Bill concerns the Line. The House will proceed in the customary manner, and I shall take no point of order that does not concern the Line.

Gustav Hauk (Minister of War): I beg to move the third reading of the Bill, and I shall be brief. What the Line requires the House provides; the Bill provides it. The Ministry has nothing to add to the printed Bill. The Bill provides as follows. Charged to the Annual War Appropriation. The House will note that the Bill is an amending Bill; the principal Act, The War Widows (Amendment) Act, is not otherwise touched. I commend the Bill to the House.

Magnus Marrow (The Osmoor; The Assembly Union): Sir, I sit for The Osmoor. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. The Union stands where it has always stood: for the towns, for the trade, and against any clause that begins with the word 'licence'. The Bill says so in terms: Charged to the Annual War Appropriation. The Line is held. What the Line needs the House provides. I have nothing to add and I shall not detain the House. I support the third reading. [Shame.]

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? On a Line measure I say what every member says: the Line holds, and the House holds with it. I sit for Norrfeld. The clerks there are few and the roads are long, and any officer the Bill appoints will spend a week finding the houses. The Bill should pass and it will.

Emil Gerst (The Capital District; The Assembly Union): Sir, 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 Capital District 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 men on the planking will not read this debate. They will feel the Bill, or not feel it, and that is the only test. The clause is short and I shall not read it. My party will vote for the Bill. [Laughter.]

Konrad Bortin (Kesselhöh; The Reed Party): Mr. Speaker, I sit for Kesselhöh. 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. The schedule is plain enough. Passed unanimously, as is customary for measures concerning the Line. The men on the planking will not read this debate. They will feel the Bill, or not feel it, and that is the only test. The Bill should pass and it will. [Interruption.]

Egon Wendholt (Kesselhöh; The Workers' Front): Sir, There is not a word in the Bill about wages. There never is. I put the word in now, so that it is in the record. The Line is held. What the Line needs the House provides. I have nothing to add and I shall not detain the House. The people of Kesselhöh will ask what it costs them, and I should like to be able to tell them. I support the Bill. [The Line!]

Friedl Pahl (Westgau; The Workers' Front): Mr. Speaker, My constituents in Westgau wrote to me about the Bill, all 9 of them, and they were against it until they read it. There is not a word in the Bill about wages. There never is. I put the word in now, so that it is in the record. The schedule is plain enough. Passed unanimously, as is customary for measures concerning the Line. On a Line measure I say what every member says: the Line holds, and the House holds with it. I support the third reading.

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

The Speaker put the question. There being no dissentient voice, as is customary for measures concerning the Line, the Bill was passed without a division and the members stood.

The House proceeded to other business.